Chiang Mai, Thailand: our guesthouse, tour of handicraft villages and the Night Market

Thailand: yet another new country to discover and language to get used to.  I think we've handled really well the transition from one country to another this whole trip thank goodness.  One thing that has been interesting is getting used to the basics of one language so that it becomes second nature after a few days in a new country to say hello, thank you and POSSIBLY something else only then to move on after a week or two. 

• Coming to Thailand meant not only new words to use but also putting both hands, palms together and raised, in front of your chest as if to pray at the same time you say hello or thank you.  Oh yes, you need to bow your head too at the same time!  Saying thank you in Thai is different for a man and a woman: a man says what sounds like "kop kun krub" and a woman says "kop kun ka."
• Our flight from Xian didn't get us to Chiang Mai (CM henceforth) til well after 8 so we got a fixed rate 120 Thai Baht (THB henceforth!) taxi to the Top Garden Guesthouse run by an older retired man formerly from Chediac, NB and his younger (and second) Thai wife.  Lina - you know Chediac well as I recall, don't you?
• How lovely to be staying in a lovely place that had "real" toilets and being able to put toilet paper actually IN the toilet and not in a wastebasket beside it for a change.  After not doing that for a good long while, as crazy as it might sound, I sure had to think twice about not putting t.p. in the basket.  I promise you though if I'm lucky enough to be invited to your home, I'll remember what to do by the time we get home!!
• We thought we'd died and gone to heaven seeing the guesthouse and our room for the first time; what we loved most was having our own patio just outside our room on the second floor where we enjoyed our breakfast each morning and spent as much time as we could reading our kindles or, in my case, posting blog posts in an effort to catch up from having no blog access the whole time we were in China.  I was able to borrow a kettle from Victor and Thunya, the owners, and therefore could make tea to our hearts' content at any hour of the day or night - what bliss.
• I had made reservations with a CM tour company months ago so much of our time was taken up with day tours.  Our first afternoon, the plan was to go on a guided tour to some of the " handicraft villages" outside of CM but I got an email saying we'd be the only ones so they gave us a private driver to take us out for several hours.  That meant we could stay as long as we wanted at each place without worrying about anyone else - we thought that was rather sweet and could get used to that but there was also a downside - no new people to chat with and get to know!
• Toured 2 Thai silk stores, the World's Largest Gem Store, a cotton factory, rice paper/umbrella making center as well a lacquer factory, all located east of CM in a small town called Bo Sang; in each place there was indeed a demonstration  and tour where we saw items being made before we were led directly to the adjacent store of course!  The whole thing was a bit of a scam but fun to do nonetheless with our own private driver.
• Met a Malaysian couple at the lacquer store who had come with their own tour guide; she had graduated, Andrew, from St FX - thought you'd love that one!

Our snazzy bed decoration at Top Garden Guesthouse; only had seen this in the movies before and not in real life.

Our private patio; our bedroom door is in the middle of the picture where the light is  I hooked up the computer every morning to the switch on the wall by "my" chair.

OK - every time after this, I moved to the other chair and this was Steven's!

One tired hubby after getting up at 4 in Xian, flying to Kunming and seeing at least some of the sights there!

Silkworms at the silk factory.

 

 

Outside the umbrella factory.

Also at the umbrella factory: there were a number of painters set up each with their own board showing all the designs he/she could paint on literally anything for just a few bucks.

The artists with their boards showing the designs that could be painted on anything.

Beautiful designs on rice paper; wish we had room for all these to bring home.

At the Night Market.

Wish you could smell these flower creations - each one more beautiful than the next.

These young ladies were threading the flower garlands flower by flower.

Very intricately carved candles each with a different scent; saw and smelled these at so many different stalls and markets throughout CM and later Bangkok too.