I am combining four day's news into one item as we have remained pretty much in Chiang Mai and we have to study our Thai massage lessons for tomorrow.
Friday we went to various local markets to do grocery shopping, went to a ladies tailor, (found it expensive), and hunted for some Thai silk for a jacket for Leslie, and then went to the gym. The electric power was out for a couple of hours in our area of town which was hard because of the heat. It tends to be above 90 degrees during the day (tomorrow and Thursday are forecast to be 104 degrees) as well as humid. We are starting to get rain in the evening and night which then let's us at least start out the morning at a cool 78 degrees.
Saturday we met with a travel agent, then visited friends of friends, Martha and John Butt, at their home with a nice pool outside of town. They have retired in Chiang Mai after living/teaching here for several decades, and Martha's sister, Carol, has decided to retire here as well and has built a house next door to them. Martha had brought her elderly mother out to Chiang Mai and had her cared for in their home with thai nursing staff until she passed away. Carol became familiar with Chiang Mai with her visits to Mom, Martha and John. We all went out to a wonderful Thai restaurant they knew for dinner. Martha and John were traveling in a couple of days to Phuket to spend a couple of weeks on the beach at a time share they have there so we were lucky to catch them when we did. Their old friend Jim Winship in Washington had kindly put us in contact with them and it was through them we got this apartment and also the travel agent above. Martha used to run Elderhostel trips to Chiang Mai and Pui and Pom of Evergreen Travel was who she used. The benefit to us is that Pui ,not only has her own training as a guide required in Thailand, but also the benefit of many years of lectures by the Elderhostel groups.
Sunday we had the full day of touring with Pui in a rented van to see the central temple of old town of Chiang Mai, then to the Doi Seputh temple on the mountain 3,500 foot altitude peak overlooking the city, which was built to house some relics of the Buddha and a charming story of the white elephant carrying the relic. There we also toured a jade factory, then visited several kind of handicraft factories/stores before returning to the old town, where we were dropped off to have dinner and walk the Sunday night walking market. At the street market, for the second time, we have come across "red shirts" in Chiang Mai. The first time was driving back in the car with the Butts after dinner and the second time at the market. Both times the surroundings were peaceful and they were talking with a loud speaker and handing out red flags in the market. There were police around as well as, interestingly enough, including expat tourist police in uniforms. (Going to have to get more information on that.)
Today we rose early, took our woman tuk tuk driver, Lee, to drop off our laundry then take us across town to our 5-day class learning to do the basics of Thai massage (Tuk Tuk cost $2, 5-day course $120 each). The Level 1 class was full, about 21 students from various countries, with a concentration of French and Brazilian. We were the oldest in the class (mostly in their 20's) and the one's who could do the warm up yoga exercises with the highest degree of awkwardness! Anyway, we have done day one but need to do our homework! We did stop off for an hour and a half professional massage, just so we could see the relevance of our coursework thus far ($12 each including generous tip). Keep tuned for further massage adventures in future posts!
About.com asks -"What does Thai massage feel like? Thai massage is more energizing and rigorous than more classic forms of massage. Thai massage is also called Thai yoga massage, because the therapist uses his or her hands, knees, legs, and feet to move you into a series of yoga-like stretches. Many people say Thai massage is like doing yoga without any work." We definitely agree with this except the person giving the massage is doing some hard yoga work! Also, Thai massage is always with clothes on.
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