Today in Photos…
Wat Jet Yot: Spiral Flower
Wat Jet Yot: Uneven Pavers
Wat Jet Yot: Small stone Icon placed on large brick wall
Wat Jet Yot: Deteriorating Stucco
Wat Jet Yot: Bamboo screen to greenhouse
Wat Jet Yot: Nik
Wat Jet Yot: Undulating brick wall
Wat Jet Yot: Viewing hole towards main temple
Wat Jet Yot: Prayer sticks
Wat Jet Yot: Buddha relief images
CMU: Perforated Volvo
CMU: Kittens on Stairs
CMU: Movies on the roof
The past few days have been pretty relaxed. Sunday we went to two markets, one day market selling everything under the sun, and one night market selling handicrafts. The night market was especially exciting because of the super cheap food!!! It seems like 10baht (30¢) is the standard charge for everything…noodles, omelets, banana shakes, bael fruit juice, potatoes.
Tiled dragon at a Wat near Talat Warorot
Talat Warowot: Inside the market building
Wat Muang Mang: the perfect traffic watching spot!
An English cottage in the middle of Thailand????
Monday we didn’t do anything. Literally. Nothing.
Today we ventured out into the mountains near by to visit Wat Prathat Doi Suthep. We pushed our little 125CC motorbike to its limit on the way up, but it was worth it. The temple was overcrowded with tourists and locals selling “paintings”, but the guilded chedi was beautiful.
Wat Doi Suthep: Golden chedi
Wat Doi Suthep: wind chimes
Wat Doi Suthep: Elephants Marching
After the visit to Doi Suthep, we continued along the mountain road where we ended up at this beautiful overlook.
When we came back down the mountain, Nik purchased a new little guitar. This way he can continue playing and I can enjoy the strumming that is the perfect lullaby!!
Nik's little guitar
I am gradually getting to know Chiang Mai bit by bit. Today Nik and I started by going to his favorite coffee shop. Then we finalized our apartment search, went to the mall, stopped by the apartment to pay our deposit and take photos, got a flat tire, and finished the day by having dinner with Eh, a good friend of Nik’s from his last visit to Chiang Mai.
I’d have to say that this was a pretty darn good day. It was relaxed, I learned a lot more about Thai culture, and we ate good food.
Khâo Sawy table at Central Airport Plaza Mall
The parking lots at the shopping mall are as big, if not bigger than in the US. They separate motorbikes from automobiles, and ours was near B2.
After paying our deposit, we took one more look at our future apartment. The building is a brand new “condotel”, meaning that they rent by the night or by the month. We will be leasing it for 3 months. It seems to be a good neighborhood, and we will be able to walk to a few restaurants and convenient stores. And the busier parts of town are just a short ride away.
Our front door with mountains in the background.
This was taken standing in the living room looking through the glass sliding door into the bedroom.
The apartment is a fully furnished one bedroom corner unit, with a sliding glass door between the living and sleeping area. We will have a small balcony, full bathroom with stand-up hot shower, marble floors, 2 locking wardrobes, covered parking, security, internet, weekly maid service that provides us with clean linens, and we have a distant view of the mountains. Sounds pretty good, huh?
We will be paying 8,000 Baht/month + utilities ($250). Cheap, right? As we learned this evening, by Thai standards, this is quite expensive and luxurious. The average Thai apartment is about 5,000 Baht/month max ($150), and the average salary is 7,000-10,000 Baht/month ($218-$312). After I learned this, I sort-of felt like we had been ripped off. But there are two of us, and most of the amenities I mentioned earlier do not come with the typical Thai apartment. Honestly, there is no excuse for this kind of luxury in Thailand. The only reason is that we can afford it. N and I are not wealthy people, but our nation is. I knew that this trip would teach me about economics, and this is one of my first significant lessons. We are traveling on a pretty tight budget, but today made me realize more than ever that our budget is only tight by American standards.
Flat tire
And of course, as we left the apartment, we got a flat tire. Luckily there was a mechanic’s shop just across the street, so we rolled it over and they had us back on the road in 30 minutes. Now we know where to go if we have any trouble!