The overnight train to the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai provides some peculiar sleep. It's tough to slumber soundly while keeping in mind the possibility of unconsciously rolling off of the narrow top bunk. What a terrible mess that would make!
On the train I meet Craig, a suave photographer fellow from Scotland, Hazel, a bubbly medical student gal from The Philippines, and Dorris, a mega-enthused, fresh graduate from China who's experiencing complete freedom from her oppressive father for the first time in her life. All four of us are traveling Southeast Asia solo, attempting to soak in as much of this otherworldly land as we can before reality takes hold again.
The train pulls into Chiang Mai not a moment too soon. In fact, it's about an hour late, and I just happen to have plans to meet a familiar face from back home for breakfast in town. I hop in the back of a modified red pickup with benches and a cover-shell over the bed (the standard mode of transportation in this city). Luckily my friend is running late as well, so it all works out.
Chiang Mai is arranged with an old town in the city center consisting of a square surrounded by an old moat and wall, and a more modern city spread all around the center. All it's missing are crocodiles in the moat and a wizard living up in a nearby tower! For all I know maybe it's all there.
Cassandra and I went to college together back in Boulder and she's been living in Thailand teaching English for the past year or so. The kids she teaches all have the most peculiar pseudo-Western nicknames like "Mickey Mou". We meet at Bird's Nest Cafe, a quiet little spot down an alley in old town.
It's been a while, and as she fills in the blanks I begin to get an idea of what it's like living in a very foreign country where you have to learn to speak and act all over again, something most people do just once in life. Cassandra rails off her coffee order in Thai with dizzying speed and orders a couple Northern Thai dishes. The place is packed and the staff run to and fro, somehow they managing to keep everyone satisfied. I relish in the fact that I'm not in their place as I was not but one month ago.
The dishes arrive and my taste buds get to work attempting to decode, analyze and categorize these dense new flavors. The local jungle forests of Northern Thailand provide spices and herbs completely unique to the region, and therefore alien to my pallet. Something like sage and rosemary but at the same time entirely different. These dishes are heartier than those I've had in central Thailand - lots of warm spices and of course plenty of heat. My taste buds are like thousands of Columbus's and Marco Polos.
After I drop off my gear at a nearby hostel we cruise into to a modern trendy neighborhood in the back of another modified red pickup. As we wander through galleries and book shops we bring each other back up to speed on our recent doings. Life in Thailand sounds peaceful and pleasant.
After parting ways I take a stroll through the bustling Sunday night market, where a long narrow alley is clogged with street vendors selling traditional Northern Thai garb and many handmade crafts laid out on blankets amongst a variety of food carts as well as a live band made up of high school kids. I sip on my first Thai Iced Tea I've had so far in Thailand (I guess out here you would just call it Iced Tea?) and watch the band rock out some Thai pop hits. The girl singing on stage has an air of confidence and passion not easily to harnessed at such an age. She rocks the mic and has the moves to boot. Rock on, girl.
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