Chiang Mai is Mai Kind of City – Pt. 2
Sorry about the cheesy title, it was just too easy, but the more I try to think of a better one, the more I like this one… Anyways, I’m sitting in a coffee shop in Kuala Lumpur finishing this post after roughly two weeks in Chiang Mai, Thailand’s second largest city. Yes, I’m doing it Star Wars style with Part 2 coming before Part 1. This might not make much sense, but I’m not done with Part 1 and it’s been a while since I gave you something good.
Learning Muay Thai
Since climbing Kilimanjaro, I’ve done little to stay in shape. I haven’t been getting fat (well except maybe for the stint in Cali with all those In-N-Out burgers), but the bulk of my exercise has been walking (granted I probably walk about 4-5 miles/day). But really, how fit can you get from walking? I never really like the idea of working out to stay in shape so that I don’t hurt the next time I work out. I prefer to work out for a reason and have some goal to work towards. As I’ve mentioned before, Muay Thai is the Thai National Sport and I figured I might as well give it a shot while I’m here. The training for Muay Thai has been one hell of a workout. I feel like I haven’t felt this sore or eaten this much since puberty. The training begins with anywhere from a 4 to 6 km run. Half way through the run we do about 4-5 100 meter sprints up a hill and that’s just the beginning. Once you get back you hop right on a punching bag and do 100 knees. If you weren’t dead after the run you will be after the knees. Dehydration mix is a must and after sucking down a bottle of water you’re up and at it again. For the next 2 to 2 1/2 hours you rotate as you want through different exercises. The exercises are 5 minutes each and consist of around 4 minutes of exercise, 30 seconds of going all out, 10 pushups on your knuckles (to strengthen wrists) and then a 30 second break. You do this almost continually for the entire time. The first day was the most brutal because I had no idea of what to expect. I was working out at a gym called Lanna Muay Thai. It’s run by a Canadian guy named Andy, who is a really great guy and has a lot of knowledge about the sport. He’s lived in Thailand for 17 years now and pretty well knows the ins and outs of Muay Thai. Any question I had for Andy it seemed he had been asked before. From how to fix the pain starting in my wrists to why my right leg felt weaker than my left, even though it’s my dominant leg, Andy could answer it. There were loads of locals that trained there and I was surprised to find a popular book later in town that featured lots of the guys I had been training with. The 5 days I spent at Lanna were really great and it felt great to get back in shape. Training for Muay Thai unlike many other sports. The fitness you gain is not just good for Muay Thai, it’s good for everything. I feel like this is definitely something I could see myself doing when I return to get back into shape.
Doi Suthep and a Motorbike
It’s been a while since I was on a moped and Thai driving made me fear my life just walking on the sidewalk, so I was naturally quite worried about the whole situation (don’t worry Mom, I wore a helmet). Well, it wasn’t long though before I found myself weaving in and around traffic just like the locals. To be honest, I think aggressive driving is the only way to drive defensively if you’re driving in Thailand. Doi Suthep is a mountain that flanks Chiang Mai to the west. Atop the mountain is what is described as one of the Holiest sites in Thailand. There’s a monastery up there, the location of which was chosen by the final step of a white elephant with a snake or something like that on it’s back. While the monastery was alright, I found that the trip up the mountain on my motorbike was much more majestic. I rented the motorbike because I felt as usual that I’d rather do it on my own time and enjoy the experience as my own rather then simply taking a taxi to the top and back. Along the 13 km road that winds up the mountain there are parks and waterfalls everywhere. I was reading a local magazine, which said that you’re more likely to hear calls from ladyboys in the parks rather than from tigers or monkeys anymore, but nonetheless I felt the trip was awesome. I stopped at the Kuay Tiaw Waterfall for an hour to read, along the road for a while to just admire the view of the city and just stopping here and there as I pleased. I could feel wind get cooler as I rose and it felt really good to be on a bike. I have been thinking of getting a motorcycle when I get back, who knows… Anyways, Doi Suthep turned out to feel a bit less holy with all the tourist crap cluttering the base and after a little while I couldn’t wait to get back on the bike. I couldn’t have gotten on the bike more than a second later as roughly 45 minutes later I rolled into my guesthouse, narrowly escaping the oncoming downpour with just a few drops.
Where Does The Trash Go?
This is a question that I have and still have yet to find an answer to. There was a severe lack of trash cans in Thailand. However, with the lack of trash cans, there did seem to be fairly clean streets. What were people doing with their trash? I have no idea. I often found myself walking around markets and feeling like Larry David in ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm.’ There’s an episode that he walks around with those oversized toothpicks leftover from certain appetizers, complaining about how he can’t put them down and ends up poking Ben Stiller’s eye out. This same thing happened to me, well…minus the eye poking, but Thailand has quite a few meats on sticks and after I was done I could never find a trash can. The thought of poking somebody’s eye out kept haunting me, I mean, I am quite a bit taller than most people in Asia. Noticing these little differences in culture doesn’t really come very easy to me and it wasn’t until I had dripped leftover chilli sauce all over myself walking around trying to find a trash can that I realized I have no idea where Thai people put there trash. I was fortunate at that time, because when I looked down at my pants a Thai woman looked down at my pants at the same time. We looked at each other and and I raised the hand with the trash in it. Graciously she pointed out a lone trash can hidden behind the market. I realized that finding a trash can in Thailand is much like navigating the streets in Pittsburgh, better left to the locals…
We Love The King!
The King of Thailand is currently the longest reining monarch in the world, and the Thai’s are extremely proud of this. People in Thailand REALLY love the king. In every taxi you’ll get in, inside of every establishment and in everyone’s home you will be certain to find a picture or two of the King. The thing that I found most interesting with all this Monarchaphilia was the short video, entitled ‘We Love the King’, or maybe it was ‘Long Live the King’, regardless, you get the picture. The video ran just before movies at the cinema. I had read in the Lonely Planet that this existed and that you should stand up and hold your arms at your side. However, I had forgotten about this and before I knew it everyone was standing. I figured I should do the same and it wasn’t long before I realized what was going on. The video is only a couple minutes long and I was fortunate enough to see the latest version at a theater in Bangkok (I realized this after seeing another movie in Chiang Mai, which featured an outdated and frankly, awful version). The video was reminiscent of the opening scenes of the old TV program ‘Coach’ with the same feel of an ESPN Classic program, it even had the antique/sepia look. Gentle camera movements showed rice fields, monasteries and schools and in each location the camera would pan to a photo of the King performing noble actions at each location or as we would call them in an election year, ‘PR Stunts.’ It was quite interesting to watch, but perhaps most entertaining was seeing the other foreigners who had obviously not read that portion of the Lonely Planet slowly getting up and looking around cluelessly.
