Raining in Chiang Mai

It’s late on St. Paddy’s day, and a rain, thunder and lightning storm is raging over Chiang Mai. The monsoon season is not due for a couple months, so I don’t know how unusual it is, but seeing the lightning flash over the old temples and ruins in the center (visible from my 4th floor window) is spectacular. I felt the suffocating heat start to break up with a breeze earlier this evening, and this show may be the hammer to drive it away.

I am again having culture shock in Thailand. I think I am just happy to be in a country that wasn’t bombed by the U.S. But like my return to Bangkok from Burma in December, my arrival in Chiang Mai from Laos has me a bit stunned. First, there are loads of foreigners here, not all tourists, but lots of ex-pats. There are gleaming shopping malls and flashy cars, fast food restaurants, and even, gasp, Starbucks (but a good latte is easy to get from a local place, so no need to go). I was contemplating what Thai people think of all the foreigners in town, but then I considered that in the U.S. alone we have a lot of Thai immigrants, so maybe we can look at it as one big exchange program. I guess some Thais would rather live in the U.S., and some Americans would rather live in Thailand. I can see why: all the comforts of home (nearly), and a fraction of the price. Indeed, Thailand is proving to be the cheapest of the bunch, confirmed by my informal “Cost of Coronette Index”, which is a comparison of the cost of a pre-packaged ice cream cone (think Drumstick) across Laos, Vietnam and Thailand. (This is similar to my “Cost of Burrito Index” for California).

Other than the obvious tourist factor, Chiang Mai (although it is a big city) is laid back, and a good place to just be for awhile. I think there as many Thai massage places in Chiang Mai as there are coffee places in downtown S.F. (2-3 per block??), packed in among loads of ancient temples (no, I haven’t gone in one yet).

Tomorrow is cooking class – more ammunition for my home culinary adventures!