Chiang Mai: "The Rose of the North"

Our time in Chiang Mai is winding down and tomorrow we fly down to Bangkok and catch a flight to Delhi in the evening. Just a quick note about our flight here. Sitting in front of us was a very large sheikh and his four wives (?) and his two very large children, and next to him was a Hasidic Jew with his wife and kids. Globalization at its best.:)
We have had a wonderful time here, especially spending time with our friends, Kelly and Htaw, and their two little guys, Jeremiah and Joshua and a soon-to-be baby. They have been very gracious and have taken us around to see the sites. Today, we went to an international church that meets in a shopping mall. There are four international churches here in Chiang Mai due to the large expatriate community. There are many mission organizations, NGOs, US government and business people living here. You also see a lot of sixty-something Caucasian men walking the streets with Thai women. You can only guess what that is all about.
This part of Thailand is very beautiful but still hot. Chiang Mai is in a valley surrounded by mountains and reminds us of Kingston. Yesterday, Htaw drove us up into the mountains where we were able to get a nice view of the city and see a hill tribe village of the Hmong people, where we walked around and shopped for awhile.
We have been able to do quite a few interesting things during our time here. On top of the usual shopping in the local open markets, we have gone to an Elephant camp and ridden one for thirty minutes . . . think very bumpy road, seen an orchid and butterfly farm . . . beautiful, a monkey school where they performed all kinds of tricks, and taken a dinner cruise down the Ping river. All very enjoyable.
There is still evidence of the old city in Chiang Mai in that you can see parts of the old city wall with its gates, surrounded by a moat. On our first day here, we took an extensive walk into the old city and saw many Wats, or Buddhist temples. One was made from teak which was different. They are still all covered with gold, etc. The western influence here is evidenced by a multitude of restaurants and bars, catering to all the expatriates. One night, we went to Jerusalem Falafel and had some of the best middle eastern food that we’ve ever had. They had homemade pita bread! Who would have thought that you had to come to Chiang Mai to get good falafels, etc.
We have continued to eat wonderful Thai food, as well, and last night went to an open market and bought some delicious Mangos with sticky rice. Excellent! Today we ate at the food court at the mall. It is set up differently than at home. You go to a central counter and purchase the amount of tickets that you want to spend and then go and shop around at the various shops, redeeming your tickets for food. Pretty clever and it seems to work well.
Last night we went to the Night Safari which turned out to be superb. It is one of Chiang Mai’s four zoos. The whole set-up blends in beautifully with the surroundings and the animals are kept in their natural habitat. The entire experience included a walk through the grounds, two tram trips through the grounds in the dark with stops to see the various animals and a light show at the end. Jeremiah went along and was still talking about the lions and tigers this morning. We all had a great time.
The people here are very kind, gracious and helpful. We will be sad to leave this beautiful country but are looking forward to our next stop . . . Delhi, India. We’ve been told that we will smell like curry. We’ll see.