After the hijinx of last night I needed a bit of extra sleep this morning, which thankfully worked out well because we did not have any real plans for the day.  Thomas had arranged to go mountain biking for the day so Mrs. Columbus and I walked around the city a bit and then stopped at Ginny Cafe for some lunch (or late breakfast in my case).  After lunch we walked back to the hotel for some time at the pool and a bit of catch up at work and so went the afternoon.

The night before we had agreed with Ian, Richard, and Landon to meet up and go to the Muay Thai boxing match this evening – there is a match every Saturday and usually at least one foreigner is featured in the final pairing.  I am not a huge boxing fan, but I have never seen a live Muay Thai fight so this seems like a good time to go.  Landon is training with a local gym and knows all the fighters so he is a great resource to ask questions to for those of us that seem like newbies. Mrs. Columbus is not at all interested in fights of any sort, and conveniently it is Saturday night so she has once again decided head off on her own and tackle the Saturday night market and let the boys head off to the boxing stadium.

A night of Thai Boxing consists of usually 7 or 8 matches, each match is up to 5 rounds, and each round is 3 minutes with a 2 minute break between rounds.  Some fights can be quite quick if there is a knockout, and in theory if every fight ended in a 1st round knockout, the whole thing could be over in about a hour, but we see a variety of different levels of matches with some ending in knockouts in various rounds, and some going all five rounds and ending with a judges decision.  Unlike American sports there is no TV contract to sell advertising for, so once a bout is complete the next one is already getting ready to go so the action is mostly non-stop.

There is a sort of ‘half-time’ show before the last two bouts where they get 4 boxers into the ring and blindfold them and then they go for 3 minutes of flailing around throwing punches at anything they come into contact with.  Even the referee gets caught up in the melee a few times, but it is mostly for show so no-one is taking any serious hits.

The final match features a guy from England vs a Thai fighter and after a fairly even first round, the Thai fighter starts to get the upper hand and it looks like the fight may be over quickly, but in the 3rd round the Thai guy has run out of his burst, and now the English guy comes out from behind and towards the end of the 3rd round scores a victory with a knockout.

Most of the fighters train a lot, and they are in very good physical condition (much like myself of course so I can relate) and overall the fight is quite a bit more entertaining to watch than I initially expected it to be.  I am really glad I went, and while I may not seek them out specifically, I am sure I will go to one again on a future visit.

The fight ends at around midnight and after a nightcap it is time to head home for the night.  Well except for Thomas who I think maybe feels challenged by my late night last night, and in a bit of one-upsmanship stays out with Richard until almost dawn the next morning!!

Mrs. Columbus and I have allocated a week or so here in Chiang Mai and are in no particular rush, but our new friend Thomas has a limited amount of time here and wants to see as much as he can before he goes back to Ireland so we decide to start out straight away with some activities.

After we check into our hotel it is right back out and onto the streets to walk down to Ginny Cafe for some dinner and to say hi to our local friends Tee and Ian. The food is fantastic as usual (Khao soy gai you sweet bowl of yumminess) and catching up with friends makes for a great evening.

For our first full day here we have decided to go for a zip line adventure.  We did this back in 2009 when we were here with the kids and it was a lot of fun.  It has become quite popular here in the north, and there are now about 7 or 8 different companies that offer zip line packages.  This gives us the opportunity to try somewhere different than last time and we end up selecting the Eagle Track zipline.

Our afternoon in the jungle is perfect – there is a bit of cloud in the sky, so it is not too hot, and the zipline provides for excellent entertainment. The track we are on has 35 platforms with a combination of different types of bridges and climbing, and 16 zips so we cover a lot of ground during the afternoon.

After a full afternoon on the mountain they drive us back to the city where we are meeting up again at the cafe for dinner and then a bit of a night out on the town.  Me, Ian and Thomas are meeting up with Richard (who we met last year) and Landon (who is a a friend of Ian and Richard) to go out to a few pubs and Mrs. Columbus is going to avoid the rooster party and go for a massage and an early night – probably the smart money bet, but what fun would that be!

For dinner I had to have the ‘Steve Special’ – penang curry served with garlic bread – it sounds like an odd paring, but it is a small piece of heaven, and the night is off to a good start!  After dinner and a few beers it is time to venture out into the city. Our first stop is a bar that has dozens and dozens of different beers from around the world – the menu is huge and selecting something is mostly a crap shoot, but that is part of the adventure I guess.

The next stop on the tour is down towards the night market and there is a side street (soi) with dozens of small bars one after another.  There is a Thai boxing ring in the central plaza and there are some ‘demonstration’ Muay Thai fights being put on for the tourists / bar patrons. Landon is studying Muay Thai and is pretty quick to point out that these fights are fairly staged to bring in the crowd and not nearly as intense as the real thing which leads to a plan to take in a real match another night at the Chiang Mai boxing stadium.

As midnight approaches Thomas decides to call it a night as he has booked a full day of mountain biking tomorrow, but the rest of us push on to what will be our last stop – the Crazy German Bar – owned in fact by a somewhat crazy german!  It is a great night, having a few drinks, visiting, people watching and just generally carrying on, but as it turns out 3am in Thailand is just as late as 3am everywhere else and I am glad that I have just an open day planed for tomorrow! I guess that even without the influence of the people back in the neighborhood I can still get into some mischief 😉

Well sadly our time in our beloved Chiang Mai has come to an end 🙁

We packed up our belongings and are getting ready for the trip to Laos.  We will be excited to see something new, but after getting so settled in here it is difficult to think about moving on.

On a positive note we did get the massage issue sorted out!  After trying some different things it still felt to me like something was missing.  I guess after going to the same place for 3 summers in a row, it is hard to reshape old habits.  Well it turns out that all was not as it originally seemed with Sopa.  We were doing some walking around that part of the city and decided we would just go by and have a massage for old time sake – we walked in and were immediately greeted by Wan (Sopa’s right hand person when we were there before)!  It turns out that Sopa did sell the place, but has really worked out some sort of partnership with Wan as she was getting a little older and her hands were starting to bother her.  She now spends most of her time at her home in Lampang but still comes into the shop from time to time – unfortunately we did not see her, but it is good to know things have only changed a little.  Confusion resolved, we went back the next three days in a row to get back into our zen massage place.

We slip in a quick stop at Ginny Cafe to say goodbye to Ian and Tee.  They have been great help to us in discovering new things to do in Chiang Mai, helping us plan for Laos, and just great to visit.  Now hopefully their lives can get back to normal as I am sure that they are all topped up on Roberts time 😉

We had been trying for a few days to set up some time with our friend Riam to go out and spend the day seeing a few sights including a stop at her ‘garden’ (about an acre of fruit trees so not really what we would call a garden).  We had a few temples that are off the normal tourist track that we wanted to see, and she also wanted to take us by her home so we were very honored to be invited to meet her family.  We finally were able to set something up for Sunday, so after our night out for Muu Kata we were ready for another day of good sights and good company.  We met Riam on our very fist trip to Chiang Mai when we came with all the kids and have made a point to met up with here every time we have returned, sometimes just for a visit, but often to hire her for her guide/car services as we explore Chiang Mai and the surrounding area.

Oddly enough on one of the only mornings we actually have a schedule, we actually slept in until just after 8am this morning.  I guess the change of hotel is working out and the somewhat softer beds and the absence of a roster across the road crowing at 5am does wonders for my sleep!!  We get ourselves sorted out and have a quick breakfast before heading out to the street to meet Riam at 9am.

Our first stop takes us out of the city and up towards Mae Rim to see the garden.  The Longan fruit is in season and there are several trees loaded with fresh fruit – it is hard to beat something fresh from the source like this and Riam gives us a bunch of clusters to take with us.  The garden has changed a little bit since we were last here a couple of years ago, they are raising fighting chickens now and have a small building where they keep the birds.  The adult birds are kept in bamboo cages as they need to be separated or of course they will fight with each other.  They have a few prize birds that have done well in previous matches, so now they can breed those birds and sell the offspring.  The sale of a couple of chickens can add up to about a month’s wages so having good birds and lots of male offspring can be quite profitable.

After wandering around the area a bit and learning about how some of the land is being bought and sold for development of nice houses or resorts, we load back into the van for the short trip to Riam’s home.  As we arrive cold drinks quickly materialize, and Riam’s children come out to greet us.  They live with her husband’s parents and in I think fairly typical Thai fashion this is the same house where he grew up as a child.  The parents do not speak any english, but greet us warmly and Riam is able to translate things back and forth for us, so we quickly feel very welcome in their home.

It feels like a special treat for us to be able to invade a bit on someone’s personal space, and  to meet the members of the family.  Riam gets her daughter to play some music for us on a traditional northern Thai instrument that she has been learning and while I suspect she was a little shy about performing in front of some farang strangers, she takes it in stride and plays 3 or 4 melodies – she was very good – dee maak maak!!

I have brought along my iPad with some of our photos from last year, a few pics of the kids and a handful of photos from back home.  In hindsight I wish I had put some more photos  from home on as I’m sure looking at a bunch of photos of Thailand is not quite as interesting to people from Thailand.  We have a good laugh as Riam struggles a bit with the iPad, but her kids quickly jump in and show her how to use it 🙂  They are mostly interested in pictures of the beach – it is something we take for granted having been there several times, but for locals to travel from the north to south is a long and expensive trip and many wil never see it.  They are also impressed with a couple of pictures of our yard from when we had snow – they of course never get snow here, so it is something they have only heard about and they have a good laugh at our fountain covered in snow and ice.

After a nice visit we say our goodbyes and load into the van for the journey back towards the city and the first of the temple stops we planned.  We have been up the mountain (Doi Suthep) to see the large temple at the top (Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep) a few times, but have only really ever gone straight there and back.  It turns out that there is another temple on the road up that most people are not aware of (turns out that is not a bad thing), called Wat Pa Lad.  It is not well marked aside from a few signs in Thai and it is not as ‘grand’ as Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep so people either do not know it is there, or just bypass it on their way farther up the mountain.  This is all good for us as the temple is mostly empty except for the monks that are meditating on the grounds so the entire place is quite and very peaceful.  The grounds are beautiful and it is easy to see how buddhists that come to a place like this can find such serenity.  In all her years of being a guide Riam has never been here so it is a new experience for all of us – like us she has gone by it many times but never really had a reason to stop.

Our next stop is Wat Umong, often referred to as the forest temple.  The temple is just on the edge of the city not far from the university grounds.  As we are making our way there through the streets we drive by more of the shops and apartments where the students would mostly live and it the whole area is bustling with young people.  It is quite a change from the old city where we stay and feels a little more modern and busy – I guess good if you are a student, but a little more hectic than we are looking for as travelers 🙂

Most of the temples in the city are built on a regular type city lot – they are often surrounded by a wall and might have a few trees, but are generally quite sparse on the landscaping.  Wat Umong is completely built in the forest and we can see why this would be quite a change from the rest of the city temples. The day that we are there they are having a ceremony to induct new monks.  In the Thai buddhist culture there is a point where all young men go to spend some time living and studying with the monks.  The amount of time can vary but is usually at least 3 days and can be as long as a year (or a lifetime if you choose to become a full fledged monk).  The ceremony is attended by all the members of your family, and typically your mother shaves your head and then the older monks help you assemble your robes and then you leave your friends and family and move off into the temple with the rest of the monks.  The ceremony is interesting, but there is more to see and we move off to other parts of the grounds.  Much of Wat Umong is actually built underground, and it is the first temple that I can recall seeing that is built this way.  Historically the tunnels were covered with paintings and are now in the slow process of being restored but they are still quite interesting even in their current state so we are glad we made the journey out to see it.

Our last stop for the day is at Wat Doi Kham, sometimes galled the Temple of the Golden Mountain.  This temple is also outside of the city and not on the regular tourist track.  In fact Riam has also never been to this temple, so two new temples in one day seems like a win for all of us!!  One of the striking features of Wat Doi Kham is the large white buddha statue on the grounds.  From some parts of the city you can see the buddha sitting up on the hill but you have to be looking for it, and it certainly does not get the attention that the more well know Wat Doi Suthep gets.  Once again this is good for us, as we are a few of the less than 2 dozen people here, so it seems like we almost have the place to ourselves.  The temple is built part way up the mountain and there is a big terrace that looks out over the city.  The veiw seems a little more intimate with the city than the view from Wat Doi Suthep  and we are glad we made the trek up here to see it.  It will join the others on our list of recommended places to see, but we may keep that list in low circulation as these spots will be best enjoyed if they are not overrun by tourists – ironic isn’t it.  Another big thanks to Ian who told us about most of these spots – we would not likely have discovered them otherwise.

We end the afternoon by saying our goodbyes to Riam as we will not likely see her again before we go (she has customers for the next few days, so during the low season that is good for her).  She refuses to let us pay her anything for her time or gas money or anything so that is now an extra special treat for us.  We all have a laugh and say she can overcharge us next time 🙂

Back to Ginny Cafe as usual for dinner and then it is off to the Sunday market to do some more wandering / shopping.  I last for about the first hour and then leave Mrs. Columbus on her own to get her fill of  the market.

Thus ends another great day in paradise…..

We had planned to go out for Mu Kratha (Thai BBQ) the other night but in keeping with our fluid schedule it just never came to fruition.  It turns out though that fiddling with the schedule worked out in our favor and the net result was a great night out!

The night we had intended to go out we were a little sluggish in our wandering around, and Tee and Ian were busy at the restaurant anyway so we just wandered down to the cafe to have dinner there.  Another friend of Ian’s had also shown up and we are introduced to Rich who is originally from the UK, but has been travelling around a bunch of places for several years and now lives and works in Chiang Mai.  We join our tables together and spend the next few hours exchanging stories over some great food and a few Thai beers!  At any rate as the night breaks up we make plans for now the 5 of us to meet up the next day to go for Muu Kratha.

We have heard and read a bit about how Muu Kratha works, but as we arrive the reality is nowhere near what we had expected!  In my mind I had sort of visualized a spot with maybe a couple of dozen tables and the customers being 90% or more locals – I guess the 2nd part was right as the crowd here is easily 90%+ locals, but the unexpected part is the size of the place.  The ‘restaurant’ has 2 permanent walls and a roof, the rest is open to the air, and there are hundreds and hundres of people here!  It is a block or 2 off the main street in behind some other buildings and apartments, so unless you knew where you were going this is clearly not a place that some tourists would just stumble into.

The BBQ is basically a pot with some very hot charcoal that burns in the bottom and then they put sort of a domed cover over the top.  You season the dome with some pork fat so that your foods do not stick, and then cook your meat, seafood, etc. on the top of the dome.  At the bottom of the dome is a rim that creates sort of a moat  that you fill with water and that allows you to cook noodles, vegetables and such in the hot water that has been seasoned with the drippings from the stuff on the top of the dome.

The dinner is 200 Baht (around $6.50US) and is all buffet style.  Arranged in the center of the vast floor space are rows of tables with all sorts of meats (chicken, pork, tofu), seafoods (shrimp, squid, fish), vegetables, noodles, desserts, drinks, and some traditional cooked Thai dishes.  It is a bit overwhelming just to look at the array of choices, and fortunately we are with some people who have done this before because Mrs. Columbus and I have no idea what a lot of the things are, and left on our own might have just ended up with french fries and Phad Thai.

After filling a bunch of trays and plates with what seems like enough food for 10 we head back to our table to settle in for some cooking and chatting.  Tee explains to us that for the Thai people a dinner like this is just as much about the visiting as it is about the food, so there is no rush to get through the meal and we are able to just enjoy the food and the company.  A few Thai beers and some cold drinks and things are shaping up to be a good night.  I’m sure that the pictures wil not do it justice, but it was a great experience and one we will both remember (and recommend to others).

After we are done at the BBQ we jump into a Songthaew and head back to Ginny Cafe for a beer or two to round out the night.  Special thanks to Tee, Ian and Rich for a great night out!!