Text 19322, 115 rader
Skriven 2014-11-13 05:22:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: Asia trip 261
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The food on the breakfast buffet here was quite a bit less
impressive than that at the one in Chiang Rai. The exception
was a decent bak kut teh, tender boiled pork ribs with
wolfberry and other less palatable health herbs.

This day we saw 1.5% of the temples in Chiang Mai; first we
walked west toward the main destination of the day, passing
maybe five temples of lesser antiquity and interest and one
quite old ruined one that was just beginning to undergo
renovation; this destination was Wat Chedi Luang Worawihan,
a truly spectacular complex with amazing carvings; next is
the Wat Phan Tao with the reclining Buddha. Then northward
to visit a couple more on the northwest outskirts, and then
off to Wat Phra Singh, large and elaborate but not my
favorite, and Wat Inthakhin Saduemuang, which has been
turned into a museum.

Wat Chiang Man, rather unspectacular, is the oldest in town
and thus worth a look. Right near there is the Yes! Pub and
hostel, which is run by a Slovak guy; it serves European as
well as Asian food.

We split an order of Moravian sparrow (jocular name like
Scotch woodcock, Welsh rabbit, Bombay duck, and so on), a
big plate of somewhat dry roast pork shoulder and belly
that came with rather funky gravy, some of the best red
cabbage I've had in the world, and fusionish dumplings that
were like Chinese man tou with caraway. Beer is cheap; not
so the excessively bad red wine that was claimed on the menu
to be a Cabernet Sauvignon from South Africa.

Eastward to the Flower and Warorat markets. I wasn't
thrilled, but then I don't care for markets in general,
unless there is interesting food, and by this time, the
culinary offerings here seemed old hat. Plus the level of
hygiene at Warorat was pretty appalling, the smells almost
enough to make a vegetarian out of a man.

A couple handicrafts centers (ugh) and a few more temples,
which were beginning to look all alike by now, and then
back to the Saloon for a replay or three, and so to the
hotel lounge and bed.

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An abbreviated American-style breakfast at the lounge; we
stuck around long enough to snag upstairs seat assignments
for next day, and then we hired a taxi to the Bo Sang
umbrella factory, which my friend Annie had fond memories
of and which I'd promised to check out. It's a few miles out
of town, along a street lined with crafts stores; the driver
encouraged us to stop at several of these, but we passed.

It was a week after the Umbrella Festival, and obviously
things had wound down a bit. The factory people were unduly
happy to see us.

The craftsmen (largely women) do good work, but for some
reason, most of the wares in the gift shop are crap. I
couldn't figure this out. There were some wind chimes that
were available for a decent price and that looked pretty
good, but I found that most of them were insect-infested,
as were many of the other merchandise. Put me right off.

The driver had said it would take an hour to go through
the place, but he hardly looked surprised when we hailed
him in 40, which gave us a chance to visit an interesting
nearby temple on the way home.

It was lunchtime when we got back, so we looked for a place
that would satisfy us both. We found Mike Pizza with its
dual-focused menu, and I had a Penang pork curry, only
moderately good and less than moderately spicy. Lilli got
cheese enchiladas that could have come out of a Trader Joe's
frozen box, only maybe blander. 

Another random walk took us to the 1861 Ancient House, a
project of the local historical society, reconstructing a
rural clan lodge, kind of interesting, and the Anusarn
Market, showing promise, though it was not going to really
get going for some hours. Southward to the ferry landing,
with the first Taoist temple we'd seen, then to the
interestingly named museum Art in Paradise, which turns
out to focus on trompe l'oeil and surrealism and didn't
interest us at all.

Plenty of time to find another refreshment zone, which
today was Centara at the Duangtawan Hotel (across the
street from the Meridien). Beers were a very advantageous
B190 for a pitcher with a happy hour special of a free mug
with a pitcher, so that was under B40 a glass. Back to the
executive lounge, where the treats were chicken McNuggets
and vegetable samosas. I had a couple oranges and a banana
with a Johnnie Walker Black.

Being unsatisfied with the offerings, we wandered around
and found a satay lady who had incredibly terrific pork
belly satays, which made me happy again. Then a reprise of
the night market, hoping to determine what the charm of
the place is. Neither food nor wares appealed, and Lilli
suggested we go back for more pork satays, but alas, the
satay lady had sold out and was just packing up; she
seemed happy enough that we'd come back, though.

There were a couple places selling T-bones for $6-7
we passed nearby, but not being all that hungry and
perhaps a little suspicious of the quality of the meat
we didn't indulge, instead returning to Anusarn, which was
getting going for the evening. It was kind of amusing, I
guess, the funniest thing being a pair of dancing
transvestites being gawked at by several western children
and their nonplussed parents.

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