Chiang Mai

This morning, instead of a treadmill, which I had to use in Bangkok, Ben and I ran around the old part of Chiang Mai. It was pretty and except for the traffic, the run was really nice. Our guide, Jeb (a woman), picked us up and we drove to the mountain to visit a Hill tribe village and a Wat. Our first stop was the Meo Hill tribe village. I'm not sure when this village was converted to a touristy area, but it was pretty touristy. It seemed like a market rather than a village, but it had some great views. Ben shot a cross bow (traditional hunting tool for this tribe) and we got our picture taken with some children dressed in traditional dress. The tribe used to grow and harvest opium, but that is now illegal, so the only remnants were some pictures and old tools. We also saw woman hand stitching clothing. We didn't spend a whole lot of time in the village, just enough time to get some sense of it all. We then drove up the mountain, passing the palace in the north for the king and queen when they visit that region of Thailand. Jeb told us there are 5-8 palaces throughout the country. Also that each day is assigned a certain color. Because the king was born on a Monday (if I remember correctly) his color is yellow and his flag is yellow. The queen was born on Friday and her color is blue. The Thai people were plastic wrist bands, like the ones for Livestrong, (yellow and blue) out of respect for their King and Queen. The temple, Wat Doi Suthep, had an awesome location on the top of the temple. Legend has it that where ever a white elephant died, a temple would be built there. At this temple our guide explained that each day, besides having a color, had it's own Buddha. I was born on a Wednesday and my Buddha was standing with a pot. Ben was born on Friday so his was standing with his arms crossed. The view of Chiang Mai from this Wat was pretty amazing.After walking around the Wat, we drove back down the mountain to yet another jewelry place, much like the one in Bangkok. We didn't stay but a few minutes, and Jeb seemed to be ok with it. We then had lunch (Thai buffet) and went to see how silk was made. From the worms to the actual clothing. It was cool, but we didn't buy anything. We then went to see how lacquer ware is made and I got a small elephant there. We asked to be dropped off in the old city so we could see some of the Wats. The first we saw was Wat Pra Sing. It had a huge Chedi in the back and was pretty famous. While we were there 2 university students asked if we would have a short English conversation with them. Their homework was to find native English speakers and talk to them. They recorded our conversations, but didn't really ask any revealing questions. The girl who interviewed me was really excited about it and I don't think she understood everything I said, but it was still fun. We then ventured to Wat Chedi Luang with yet another huge Chedi. It was pretty neat looking. Just as it started to rain (and boy did it rain) we found the Chiang Mai cultural center, which was a museum about the history of the region. It had a lot of dioramas and we made something with a palm branch, but I'm not sure what it was. Eventually the rain became just a sprinkling and we tried to find Wat Chiang Mai. We got lost, but found it. There we saw a crystal Buddha and a pretty cool chedi. It had elephant around it, which meant that the King supported this Wat. For dinner we ate at a place called Whole World. it was pretty good. I had green curry (by far my favorite kind of curry) which was very awesome. After dinner we ventured to the night market where there were tons of stalls selling all kinds of things. The first price was never the buying price and it was kind of fun bargaining for things. Ben also found a tailor that would make him a pair of pants within 24 hours, so he got measured for those.