Chiang Mai

Once we arrived in Chiang Mai our first stop was at Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep where, according to legend, Buddha's shoulder bone is buried. There were lots of bells, and lots of Buddhas, including ones for everyday of the week.

Apparently I'm supposed to know what day of the week I was born on so I know which Buddha to make wishes to.

There was a cable car to the top of the mountain which I opted for instead of the 306 steps to the top. I had made the mistake of taking the stars up to the Golden Triangle look out point and found out what the beginning stages of heat stroke felt like. We had a beautiful view of the city below:

When we arrived at our hotel, we decided that our first activity would be to hit the town. We started by walking after being told that the night bazaar was only about 15 minutes away from our hotel. While that my be true, it would be necessary to find a sidewalk to make that walk. We got about a block before our way was completely obstructed by a group of men handling live wires. We managed to sprint between the traffic Frogger-style to get to the other side only to find out that we would have to cross several busy intersections without crosswalks to get to our final destination. We hailed the first tuk-tuk we could find and told them we wanted to go to the night bazaar. We arrived while the stands were still setting up so we stopped for some dinner. Almost all of the food choices were big western fast food chains so we stopped by "McThai" for some quick food and free Wi-Fi. I skipped the corn and tuna pie and settled for a regular cheeseburger. The one good thing about McDonald's is that the quality is always the same no matter where you are in the world...below average but edible. After that we hit the Bazaar:

I faced the reality of how weak the US dollar had become while we were hunting for deals at the bazaar. I felt like the prices were comparable to a Wal-Mart. I found a stand selling Hello Kitty items but when my tour mate pointed out that we could get the umbrella for the same price in the US the stand owner threw down the umbrella and told us we could go buy it in the US then. The worst part was that it was pretty clear that the items sold in the stands were mass produced and poorly made. Every third stand was selling the same T-shirts or purses or Buddha statues. But miraculously the shop owner "made it themselves!". After tuk-tuking back to the hotel (it was hard to find one who would do it for the same price we paid to get there) I became sick for the second and last time on the trip. I guess that's what you get for eating at "McThai".