Time Flies...

Riding in the Red Taxi

And before I knew it, I was enjoying my last weekend in Chiang Mai. I had to do a fair amount of running around to find gifts and organize my ticket stuff out of here, but somehow it's all getting done and I found time to enjoy the sun, warmth and chaos of this city.

This weekend I went to both the Saturday and Sunday Street Markets. They are a lot of fun and a bit more diverse than the common night market. You can find blind musicians sitting in the middle of the road, and kids dancing for a Baht or two. I even saw a boy moving a straw on a bottle with his mind - or at least it was a pretty good trick! I also finally encountered a stand selling a wide variety of bugs - cooked and dried I believe - ranging from large cockroaches to fried silk worms and many odd things in between. Yum. I could not be persuaded to try anything though!

Just Some of the Delectable Treats

Blind Musicians

Another Kind of Musician

So here's a funny tidbit. This weekend a group of us went to watch "The Happening" - one of those M. Night Shyamalan flicks that's all shrouded in mystery and a bit on the thriller side of things. Well at any rate, this one is no different and there is this Happening that's killing people off and the first signs are disorientation, then they freeze where they are, and finally they end up killing themselves - lovely, I know, but bare with me for the funny bit. So I'm at the market and there are all these people walking around, selling things, talking, buying, eating etc and then all at once I'm looking and everyone is standing STOCK STILL. Just like the friggin' movie! And over some mysterious loudspeaker a national anthem I think it was, was being played. Anyway, it was funnier to me because of the movie reference but I think you get it.

And speaking of movie going experiences here - you are required to stand at the beginning of the movie for a short film and music honoring the King of Thailand. Hmm. Wait, and they search your bags before you go into the cinema because they don't want people to video tape the movies - understandable, but when the girl went to take my tiny automatic point and shoot I straight up refused and so instead she took my battery. Goodness gracious! Good thing she didn't know i keep a spare battery in the front pouch of the camera case!

At ITM we have become a small "family" in our third week so we have a pretty good time hanging out. We also have our favourite lunch haunts - mine in particular is the small air conditioned place round the corner that serves the best yellow curry AND has some awesome chocolate related desserts. We indulge regularly. Yesterday I met up with Phil for dinner as I was in the night market area. We shared some fantastic red snapper and here's the thing. I'm not keen on a whole fish flopped onto my plate with eyes and such still in tacked, but Phil being old and wise and of the water, he knew just how to get to all the good bits and leave all the bone behind. Delish! And even better to top it off with a mango smoothie.

I craved waffles the other day. Actually, I craved french toast but changed it to waffles when I thought about how badly the British mess up french toast. The last thing I wanted was eggy bread. So a belgium waffle is normally pretty much that, and it did the trick to satiate my appetite.

I Did Not Try This One

My yoga classes are not happening this week. The studio is closed for a few months. Bummer but I guess I have a lot else going on, so it's ok. I'll do some on my own. My last class was pretty cool. The rain came rushing down as we practiced with the doors and windows all wide open.

I think I have a soft spot for Chiang Mai and I'm sure I'll be back. This will be one of the last posts from Thailand, but stay tuned for the adventures that the rest of the summer brings too.