The final days of Chiang Mai

We began our last full day in Chiang Mai at what I have recorded in my notebook as "the runny egg bakery." 'nough said. Then it was finally time to tackle Lonely Planet's Self Guided walking tour (5 temples, a pub and a massage). Our first temple was much like others we had seen around Chiang Mai - of course it was still impressive, but there comes a time when one wat seems to blend into another. The second temple though, stood apart. Instead of elaborately painted walls filled with scenes of the buddha, this temple was modest - made entirely out of teak. The spare wood really let the golden buddhas at the altar stand out and Erica and I agreed it was our favorite wat yet. Next to the temple there was a row of large bells and a tree with many paper flags hanging from it - totally beautiful. Also, near the entrance was a fortune teller! So of course, we had to have our fortunes told. This involved drawing an insane number of tarot cards (three at a time, with your left hand) and having our palms and forheads examined. The highlights: I will live to be over 80, marry wealthy, travel a lot, have two children and stay home to take care of my kids and husband. Erica will be married by 25, pregnant at 28, live by a river, will be prosperous in selling anything except food.
The Writers Bar and Pub was our next destination - food and beer. Yum.
From there it was on to the Chiang Mai Women's Prison, where inmates are taught massage and handicrafts, to save money for their release. But alas, we were too late to be massaged by the incarcerated. So we returned to our guesthouse street and instead got wonderful massages by blind Thais. Yes blind. Totally amazing.
Shortly after our relaxation sessions, we met up with our Thai friend Nik who took us to Chiang Mai's famous Night Market. (For those of you from Orange, it's like the street fair times 100). Blocks and blocks of town are shut down to traffic and filled with stalls selling every kind of food you'd ever want (many on sticks!), clothing for people, clothing for dogs, scarfs of cotton and silk, paintings, jewelry, beauty products, 99 cent store merch, and so much more. Along several corners there are rows of chairs set up and if your feet ache, you can sit down for a foot massage. Erica and I literally shopped til we dropped. But the night wasn't complete without popping into a British Pub for beer (mine), cider (erica's) and french fries (both).

The next day - with only hours left in Chiang Mai, we woke early and were picked up by Nik who drove us up to the top of a very high hill to Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep- a beautiful hill-top temple. We prayed and took in the view -- which is all of Chiang Mai, covered in haze. Totally beautiful.
Driving down we prayed once more, that we wouldn't meet our end in a Nik's car vs. TukTuk collision (everyone drives like a maniac here). We drove through Chiang Mai University and saw where Nik will study but then it was back to the guesthouse to pack, grab a quick lunch to go (from Prego, of course) and rush rush rush to the airport to catch our flight to Phuket.
It was kind of sad to say goodbye to Nik, who had been so sweet to make it his personal task of being our Thailand guide, but it would be a lie to say there wasn't also some relief (we felt guilty when we opted to do our own thing). Chiang Mai had been really good to us and it was sad to leave, but we had Part 3 ahead of us: Phuket.

-julia