Bloke time

Well ok not really, but a blessed piece of sanity restoration for yours truly (shh don't tell)... but first I will touch on yesterday, as our attempt to make it to the night markets ended just across the moat at El Diablos Mexican Food... Chiang Mai is apparently the "alternative" town in Thailand with something of an affinity for western music, Mods n Rockers, TexMex styles and interesting fashion. El Diablo was something of an anomaly with the walls covered in photos and quotes giving a somewhat interesting Buddhist/Anarchist/Socialist vibe, promoting the rise of the workers and the freedom of Burma and the death of Lonely Planet Zombies (bless)... a bit odd but fun nonetheless and after a "half" pitcher of margaritas (and a big day of blissful ephalant communing for Evie) the girls decided that walking any further was probably out of the question and we settled in for some very good burritos and fajitas... another "half" pitcher down and we rolled home across the moat to watch bad movies on the tv ('2012'... how not great is that movie!!?) and then off to bed.

Eve's second day of pachadermyia yesterday was, by the way, apparently epic, and she returned glowing (partially from too much sun) and said it was one of the best things she has ever done. The elephant parks here vary quite a bit in their attitudes, while I have heard that treatment of the national treasure has improved greatly under govt regulation in recent years, you still get a variety of different "styles"... The first park we all went to was the "elephant show" kind where they do tricks for the assembled audience of hundreds, followed by a bit of a novelty ride and a chance to pat the babies... the elephants are (from my observation at least) treated well, given some freedom in the evenings and seem happy, but it is very much more circus-style overall. It depends on your outlook to some degree... while they are not caged and abused, some people would say they should all be set free to roam the jungle. The alternative view on this is that most if not all of them here have been domesticated all their lives and come from domestic families that used to work for a living, and they know no different. Some would even say elephants find human contact enriching like other domestic animals and they are as happy with human friends as their wild counterparts are without... I see truth in both arguments, in the end for me it is at times somewhat artificial and obviously a huge money-maker for the local economy, but then if the money also goes to help elephant conservation and promote wildlife awareness then it's not all bad.

In contrast Eve's second day was at a totally different facility where the elephants don't do tricks or shows or carry dozens of tourists a day on short walks... on this one the mahut's (sp?) or elephant handlers teach one or two tourists per elephant how to care for them, speak to them, control them, and then they learn to ride bareback as has been done for hundreds of years... a much more of personal and "elephant friendly" approach and definitely much more enriching if you are an "elephant lover" rather than just "elephant curious".

Today the girls went off to a day long Thai cooking school leaving me alone and estrogen-free for a few hours... the first no-woman time in a month!!... while there is not much guy stuff here to do (there is an "extreme sports" tour but it is all stuff I have done elsewhere), I did some of the things that I haven't done in this whole trip... as planned I slept late, watched bad tv (SE Asian tv ROCKS by the way, when you can get it... The Speed Channel which is all racing and car/bike modification... SyFy channel which is all the bad scifi movies we don't get at home... Star Sports which is motorsport half the day)... left the hotel at noon and found good iced coffee... sat and looked at the world go by at Thae Pae Gate for a little while... then set out and circumnavigated the Old City.

The walk, covering most of what we have not done as yet, took about three and a half (complaint free!!) hours, and gave me a chance to check out most of the nooks and crannies. Fair to say there are endless Wats (Buddhist temples) which I did not take the time to stop in at (after a few weeks in SE Asia you kind of get 'templed-out'... see a couple of the big ones and the small ones all look kinda the same...). Chiang Mai is certainly big on Wats with something over 30 of them within the walls of the Old City section alone... interesting if you are a Buddhist I am sure but I have never really understood any religion which devotes itself to covering huge structures in gold leaf and bright paint while its followers go hungry... likely this would get me much hatemail from the peaceful followers of said faith, but hey, call me an ignorant Farang. I also spotted a couple more good places to eat and drink and saw a bit more of the local landscape away from the tourist spots, which is always good. It all ended about 45 minutes ago at the Irish Pub (there is ALWAYS an Irish pub) nearby where I recharged on (not great) Guinness while Aussie league played on tv and I reflected on various ponderings on travel in general, which I must write down at some point.

Now back at the hotel, I returned to find the girls showered and refreshed after a great day of learning to make green curries and pad thai and all those good things that make the food over here so awesome... I have told them an Asian Buffet is in order when we get home and we will invite everyone. I think from here we will be pausing for beer somewhere handy, and then likely off to the Night Market (finally) and more street food...