Chiang Mai!

It hit my heart hard as we touched down in Chiang Mai, a northern mountain town of Thailand. I stared hard at the lush tropical forest covered mountains pushing back the horizon, trying to figure out why my gut had dropped with desire. My pulse has an entirely different beat when it is being fed the energy of high rising ridge lines and cool night breezes. Maybe next week the beach will give me comparable feelings of excitement and balance, of peace and wonder... or maybe some lives grow best in certain types of soil.

My parents and the Peterson parents (forever family friends) arrived five jam-packed days ago. I have now adjusted to the tourism-focused filled days, but I felt as jet lagged with the new busy schedule as the recent arrivals did (and they spent 24 hours on a plane and lost a day.) I am used to my Zen-ed out days filled with nothing significant but the thoughts bubbling in my head. Three days in Bangkok with the fab-four I did more sight seeing than I had done in the month here alone! It was great and informative and appreciated, but Exhausting! On Day 3.5 (or something) we hopped on a plane to Chiang Mai.

Chiang Mai is the second biggest city (area-wise) to Bangkok, but still doesn't hold a flame next to its fire in size, population, or utter chaos. The abounding street markets show that this city thrives on tourism. The streets are filled with traffic but are much more well kept. On street corners, brightly flowered bushes are found instead of piles of garbage . Freshly painted white bridges and street signs with English pronunciation are more common here. The financial juxtaposition is less prevalent, very few beggars. The streets are still dominated by Thais, but our driver Mr. Chan explained that most of the Chiang Mai tourism this year is from Bangkok because of the week the airport was closed down due to protesters.

It is beautiful here. Hot afternoons are capped with cool evenings. Vegetation overpowers industry and the stars shine bright in the unpolluted night sky. I will come back in the following few months I have in Thailand. I want to take a one-week hike in the hills that hug this city, resting each night with a different hill tribe. I yearn to play in the mountains, although I also fear the unfamiliarity of this forest and its inhabitants! Here, a day hike ends in a village holding an ancient civilization, not a view of a recognizable valley.

I am traveling with three grow-up couples and one baby. My low-key routine has currently been put on hold to travel with others who have busy lives in the states and are fortunate to get two weeks to travel across the world (they keep talking about this thing called "work" that they need to return to.) This four day trip to Chiang Mai is dominated by the goal of "seeing everything". I am willingly on the schedule of my visitors, which is ambitious and full of informative sights.

We have visited an elephant farm, the zoo, a hot springs, and a heritage village to see silk being spun and silver being cast. We spent time at the Winter Palace where the royal family frequents and a eco-cultural Reservation Center (or something) to see hand made village crafts and women who lengthen their neck via gold wire wraps. We walked the day market, the night bizarre, and 360 steps on tallest mountain (Dio Suthep) to see a temple packed with Thais celebrating the New Year. We have eaten on the river, in a treehouse, and within a tiger farm.

We all live in one huge villa made of brick and wood in some bizarre traditional Thai meets log cabin style house. Actually, it feels like we are staying in the Swiss Family Robinson's Treehouse. My parents and I share the basement that consists of three mattresses on an elevated step= great bonding! Breakfast begins around 8 a.m. in order to be picked up at 9 a.m. by our driver who whips us from one location to the next. It's vacation boot camp! The hardwood floors creek loudly with every move, so I try to move so quietly during my early morning yoga. Usually people start waking up and cooking around 7, nothing like stretching to the smell of bacon.

Weirdly, the animals we were exposed to have been my favorite part of this town. The elephants were unreal. The camp we visited values creating a natural and healthy environment and works to conserve and breed them due to the dwindling number of Asian elephants left in the wild. The elephants put on a show- dancing around, playing games, and painting pictures. They had even the biggest of children (my father) jumping out of their seat with big smiles and excited laughter. They may have been trained to be clowns but they attain a natural precision in all that I saw them do. Those elephants are amazing, both in physical stature and personality. Winning my affection, I could have spent all day watching the elephants eat huge amounts of food and parade around their grounds. I feel like maybe I was an elephant in one of my past lives (but my toes would have been painted a fantastic magenta pink)

Second to the elephants were the Rhinos at the zoo! Those enormous creatures are crazy! They floated (somehow) in a deep pool with their mouths open wide, waiting for the food that zoo visitors were encouraged to toss into their gaping grin. Entire cucumbers and carrots- into the garbage disposal of an animal. Thailand definitely has different "codes and standards" for risk management at their zoos. Hands of children were a mere three feet away from the tusk like canines of those beasts. No fences and barely a railing. Oh! and the Pandas at the zoo! (Which were behind a wall of glass.) The Pandas are on a long term loan from China and just sit on a wooden bench and eat bamboo. They resembled a fat guy on a recliner eating potato chips, except they were cute instead of disgusting. The pandas, the koalas, and the white tigers- all amazing!

I am not sure why I am choosing not to elaborate on the hill tribe village, the temple on the side of the mountain, being blessed by a monk, or visiting a silk factory (watching the process starting with the breeding of the worms!) They were all highlights and fantastic sights, but I just don't have the desire to detail each part out. I will return, and with my own schedule, I will be able to pay more respect to this area's touristic wonders.