We would bid farewell to chilly Pai and brave the twisty highway to Chiang Mai, the major city of the North and a magnet for handicraft shoppers. Like us. In past years I’ve snuck out to a local restaurant for karaoke one night after dinner, but with our unusual schedule (Tuesday we rise before dawn to drive to the Hmong village of Mae Sa Mai for the New Year celebration) I don’t know whether that will be possible this time.
Breakfast at Hut Ing Pai operates as a buffet, so there is less pressure to try to finish anything. On the other hand, there was so much to taste. Nothing leaped out at me as worth a second serving, however.
About an hour down the road, we stopped for a much needed bathroom break and visited one of Kasma’s favorite sour sausage vendors. The “sour” in sour sausage comes from fermented sticky rice, but today the vendor was low on pork and there was a lot more rice in the sausage. Imagine a one-dish meal of flavorful pork sausage fried rice stuffed into a sausage casing. Not what we were looking for, a bite or two will tide us over to lunch. (We used to taste tea at this row of shops as well, but not today: our schedule is just too tight.)
Orchid and Butterfly Farm
This touristy attraction charges no entry fee, apparently sustaining itself on sales of jewelry and cute knick-knacks. They have an interesting technique of preserving orchid flowers with a clear hard coating (acrylic?) and then edging them with 24K gold. I could imagine that someone back home would want one of these pins, but which one? The range of different shapes and colors (both of the flowers and of the flower pins) was bewildering to the uninitiated, and the butterflies were shy today, so I took a bunch of photos and then escaped outside.
Across the busy highway was an enormous pile of jars reminiscent of the classic pickled mango jars. Formed into pyramids, they made an interesting subject for a few “through the fence” photos.
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Lunch
We dined at a local establishment that is famed for its yentafo (also sometimes written yen tafo or yen ta fo). When our bowls arrived, we puzzled over the mixture of various kinds of fish cakes, boiled dried squid or cuttlefish, pork blood, tree fungus, morning glory stems, wide ribbons of rice noodle, and crispy wonton skins in a vibrant pink broth, colored naturally by a kind of fermented tofu. When stirred together, the soup was fun to eat, but the fish items were a bit fishy and the broth perhaps a touch too sweet. The hot and sour noodles (dry style) and pad Thai looked good here, so there are many choices. Patience is required, however; fast service is not their forte.
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Temples!
We visited Wat Jedyod and Wat Phra Singh. I don’t think I saw anything new in either place, but I’d have to compare photos.
Mengrai Kilns
Our first major shopping destination, Mengrai Kilns features ceramics with a crackle-glazed celadon finish. Some of these definitely say “Thailand” with their elephant designs, while others could be considered more generically tropical with their orchid, bamboo, and fish designs. I was shopping primarily for a friend, but I think I might keep a couple of these pieces for myself. The real challenge is getting them home. Although not very heavy, they are bulky and fragile. I had the shop pack me a box for the airline, but with so much more to carry, I’m hoping I can squeeze lots of other stuff in there. Repacking again? I just can’t break the habit.
The Diamond Riverside Hotel
Basic it is, but with quiet A/C and a 110 volt outlet to recharge my expired electric toothbrush, it suits my needs. The hotel is one block from the famed night bazaar, so getting to the 7-11 through the congested sidewalk is a bit of an ordeal in the afternoon and evening. Probably best to go first thing in the morning.
Dinner at Comedara
We dressed up a bit for one of Chiang Mai’s more fashionable outdoor eateries. Our first plate was the miang kum appetizer. Unlike traditional family style restaurants, here they pre-load individual wild pepper leaves with a mix of items (including dry shrimp, toasted unsweetened coconut shreds, and bits of ginger and lime) and provide a bowl of sweet sauce to spoon over. Hidden under your leaf are optional chopped chillies. Very tourist friendly, and how you often will see this dish presented in the U.S., but not as vibrant in flavor as some of the others we have tried.
A salad of chayote greens with segments of salted egg needed to be eaten together to achieve the right balance of sweet, sour, and salty. A dark green stir-fried vegetable with thin stems and slightly tough leaves probably was pak-wan. Roasted duck was served in a nice duck-flavored gravy, although this did leave the skin a bit rubbery. Green curry chicken was served in rolls made from roti bread. I like this idea, although the bread was a bit too thick and chewy for my taste. A fried fish (tilapia?) was dressed at the table with a sort of sweet, sour, spicy sauce with bits of lemongrass, lime, cashews and mango. By this time I was feeling very full, but I nevertheless splurged on dessert: glutinous rice balls filled with black sesame paste in a warm ginger broth.
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The Night Bazaar
Back at the hotel, we ambled over to the night bazaar. Perhaps because it was Sunday night, many of the stalls in the main building were closed, including one vendor I was hoping to find again (very cute hand-painted shirts). After checking out t-shirts and various other (unnecessary) items, we headed back for the night. I was too zonked for a foot massage.
Tomorrow we are scheduled to graze our way through the morning market, then hit several “factory” shops featuring higher quality silk, silver, hand-made paper, laquerware, and even more celadon. Can’t forget the credit cards.
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