chiang mai
M A R C H 2 0 , 2 0 0 9
night market // chiang mai, thailand
the last two hours of our 13-hour train ride from bangkok to chiang mai felt like a lifetime.
maybe it was our sweet-and-sour schmirnoff ice hangover (ugh) combined with the pre-ordered ‘ham’ sandwich, which was accompanied by 13-hour old mcdonald’s french fries that had been re-plated to look like they were provided by the train service (double ugh).
or maybe it was the train attendant, who kept responding to pat’s inquiry of arrival time with a heavily accented “two hours” despite the fact that it had already been two hours since he last said that.
we were very excited when the train crept up to the chiang mai station and we were able to hop onto solid ground.
we stumbled out into a sea full of ‘tuk-tuk’ drivers, shouting for us to go with them to our hotel, but one in particular stood out to us. it was a woman – something we had not yet seen. we were drawn to her and asked how much it would cost for her to take us the 15 miles to our hotel. she gave us a good price right off the bat, so we were happy to join her. as we walked out onto the pavement i was curious to see what kind of tuk-tuk a woman might drive, but surprised to find that she brought us to a van where her husband and 1-year old baby waited for her. pat and i smiled at each other, happy to see a little family with a fair (and smart) business model. had the husband been in the crowd, we probably would not have gone so easily.
we arrived at our luxury sanctuary, thanks to sissy Missy yet again! the le meridien chiang mai — another breathtaking resort near the famed chiang mai markets (the best in all of thailand!) -- most of all, the Sunday market.
