I woke early and used the quiet morning stillness to proofread and edit a quotation request wed received hours before leaving Australia, and one that I so desperately wanted to finish.
We left our hotel (the People Place Hotel) at 8:30am in search of a breakfast caf that had been in our Lonely Planet guide, but alas, couldnt find it. We received some very helpful directions from a young local boy on his way to school, although I should point out that he had no choice in the matter. Wed actually approached his friendly mother for directions, and she told him to help us. He looked up the restaurant on Goggle Maps, then described how we should get there. We werent convinced, so we gave up on the restaurant and went for our second choice (LOpera), which was very close to our hotel, but had been closed the day before.
We settled at an outside table and ordered Thai milk teas on ice and a pistachio and almond croissant each. It was a perfect breakfast! The tea was incredibly refreshing,
and the croissant was The French have had such an influence (in terms of bakery products) in Indochina.
We decided to dedicate the entire day to exploring Chiang Mais Old City, so we set off from the caf in the direction of the Old City walls. On the way we stumbled upon the street the young school boy had directed us to earlier, and lo and behold – there was the restaurant wed been looking for. Hed been right all along. Of course he had! He was local and knew his way around. It shouldnt have made any difference that he was only eight years old! I felt ageism and guilt weighing heavily on my old conventional shoulders. I remember him waving goodbye to us and calling out ‘Good luck. Maybe he knew wed have trouble finding the place, and that wed end up having to settle for our second choice. In the end it worked out well for us, because LOpera was an amazing bakery.
We continued on until we arrived at the Old City walls, then followed the moat until we could cross. We entered the Old City and wandered aimlessly for a while. We
stumbled upon an odd temple with gaudy statues everywhere, then followed a few narrow laneways to the impressive Wat Chedi Luang. Despite visiting this temple nine years earlier, its grandeur hadnt waned with time. It was (and is) an amazing place.
On our way to the old chedi (a towering ruin behind the modern temple), we met two young students from the University of Chiang Mai who were both studying a Bachelor of Education. They were on assignment, and they needed to interview foreigners to practice their English. They asked for ten minutes of our time, and we were more than happy to them. I was interviewed by May Tee, and Ren was interviewed by Ying. They asked a set of standard questions, such as ‘Where are you from; ‘What do you like the most about Chiang Mai; What is your favourite Thai food; and ‘What is the best tourist attraction in your country. Some of these were easy to answer, while others were not easy at all. What is Australias best tourist attraction? I initially said Maria Island off the eastern coast of Tasmania, but poor May Tee looked confused, so I relented and said the
Sydney Opera House, which made him smile immediately. He agreed with (and recorded) my second answer! I hope he gets a chance to study objective research methods. 😊
As we wandered around the base of the chedi, we noticed a bustle or activity amongst the monks. We surmised that a festival of sorts was about the start, and then I noticed tents in the distance with signs saying: ‘Free food and drinks. It was the Celebration of the Master, and volunteers were feeding the masses. We enjoyed an amazing bowl of kway teow ruea (noodles with broth, pork and fish balls known as boat noodles), along with endless glasses of cold Thai milk tea, macha tea, and lemon and tamarind juice – that latter of which was an absolute revelation. We also enjoyed a few cones of coconut ice cream.
