Loy Krathong & a Do-Over

Good evening/Good morning from Chiang Mai!
Night 2 of Loy Krathong. They’ve closed the street and bridge off in front of me and there are more tourists tonight than last night.
So apparently you can put a flower offering in the river all 3 nights!! So I totally got to do a do-over.
I slept in today, got up, had coffee, fruit and pad Thai.
Washing my tattoo for the 1st time was interesting, parts were a tad hard to reach, so I got a good morning stretch in to wash it and apply aquaphor. I mainly rested today. 3 1/2 hours of tattooing is hard on the body, so I like to rest the next day. That and I had given myself permission to not do much during the day this week. I knew the activities would be on once the sun goes down and also I’m on vacation. My bedroom is cool in the daytime with the windows open and the floor fan going.
So I laid down to read and ended up falling asleep for a few hours. I woke up at 4:30 and ventured out around 5:30-6. I made a bee line for the local market down the street. I knew I wanted to try this one lady’s stall. I knew it had to be good because her picture was on the big sign behind all the big pots simmering away. I had been eyeballing her for the last few days and this evening I was going to try her out. She has quite the operation going . A long table with small plastic stools ( this week she has had 4 long tables) all laid out with condiments: fresh cilantro, bean sprouts pickled greens, fish sauce, sugar, chili paste, rice vinegar, and I’m sure something else. I ordered the Khao Soi (the Northern Thai coconut curry with chicken.) I told the girl what I wanted, she motioned me to sit. I plopped down on a low plastic stool next to a local lady and it was brought to me immediately. I like to take a picture or 2, but try to be discreet. It was delicious, and from what I’ve seen, only locals eating there. Only 50 baht ($1.34)
So I finished, and walked back to the apt. On the way to dinner I had been eye balling all of the flower offerings. So I got another one on the way back.
I was doing to do this again and not chuck it this time, damn it!
Last night, after my debacle, I had noticed long wooden poles with a wide flat square screen on the end at a 90 degree angle. Hmmmm, those would be perfect for putting your Krathong in the river, nicely. DOH!! Apparently that’s exactly what they are for.
So tonight, I got one of those poles, sat down, ran through my resentments, fears and sorrows (yeah yeah, we all know why I’m doing this again. I can be competitive all by myself 😆) AND, I got it on video this time.
So afterward, I came back upstairs and have been watching the festivities from my balcony. The bug spray is coming in handy and the breeze is nice.
The fireworks are insane and in the hands of every Thai male under the age of 30. The smell of grilling skewers and something sweet are wafting up from the vendors below. They have closed the street to traffic and as I was sitting here a parade came through! Apparently the big parade is tomorrow night.
The Yi Ping festival is tonight too I think. That’s where they release floating lanterns into the sky. But from what I have read, it’s riddled with all kinds of issues. So they only let people release them in some University field and charge people, it’s this whole deal. I have seen a few go up in the distance in one area, but if I had had to choose, I’d stick with the offerings to the river. And it also means I don’t have to leave my balcony.
The roads here are weird. They have very high curbs, and a lot of places, the curb to street area is sloped, so you can be walking very sure-footedly and still roll an ankle. I diid something like that (a 2nd time, Mom, other foot 🤦‍♀️) it’s the side of my foot, not my ankle. So I’m just trying to take it easy and not push it.
I’ve been wearing my Keene’s the whole time I’ve been in Chiang Mai. The 1st night I went to the local market, I hit something heavy, metal and protruding with my toe; About 5-6 times. And I just laughed, because the front of these keene’s are the best protection for your toes. And the whole time before I left, I kept saying, “ I have this overwhelming sense that I need to protect my toes at all costs.” Holy cow I was right.
So, it’s about 9 pm here. I’m going to do a load of laundry, shower, clean my tattoo and go to bed and read for a while. I found ear plugs, an eye mask and melatonin work to sleep with a festival going on downstairs.
I’ve really enjoyed it here. This apt is the vibe I was going for. It’s definitely a place I could see staying a month or 2. I bet this area is great in the rainy season. Although they said it was becoming winter, so it was cooler and drier. And having such a good local market so close by. How nice to know there are places like this in the world.Read more