I did it Chang Mai way

We escaped the madness of Bangkok for the slower pace of Chang Mai. We anticipated some peace and quiet and we were looking forward to it. The flight was an easy hour and a half journey. I fly with earphones so I can tune out screaming babies, incessant talkers, and anything that is generally annoying to me. I sat next to a tall American guy from Southern California and strangely enough we hit it off and talked the entire way. He was an expat that lived in Chang Mai off and on over the last five years, so he was a wealth of information about what to do and see in the area. He was very thorough and wrote everything down neatly on a barf bag. It was extremely kind of him. After the flight we exchanged emails. I contacted him a few days later to thank him for the guidance since we had used much of his direction and he invited us to dinner at his favorite restaurant, The Burmese Swan. We took him up on it and agreed to meet him later in the week.

Over our time in Chang Mai we had been touring the multiple Buddhist temples it is famous for throughout the city by tuk tuk. I was getting bored with not exercising much over the last few days, so I decided I would walk the perimeter of the old walled city of Chang Mai. It was a hot afternoon, but it was a really nice self guided tour of the city and its ancient walls and moat. I got about 6 miles in and I felt good.

                                             The moat around the "old city" of Chang Mai.

That evening we went to the night market near our hotel. It was after dinner time, and we were both hungry. Lu and I were really tired of bowls of rice, bowls of rice noodles, bowls of broth and missing our normal servings of lean protein like we usually have. There's not much protein to eat here, so we looked around and decided we would attempt street food. We have heard that street food is traditionally good and extremely cheap here. We found a guy that had what amounted to a chicken gyro or doner wrap. It was unexpectedly good quality, fresh and tasty. We felt accomplished! Our first street food of Thailand! Now if we would just feel ok and not get sick.  The next day we awoke feeling great. No street food problems.

                              Indian feast. Naan bread, hummus, followed by tandoori chicken.

The day after that I was feeling pretty brave in the food department.  With Lu's advice I sought out an Indian food restaurant for lunch. It was off of the beaten path, got good reviews, and looked clean. Lu had eaten elsewhere. Every week or so we take some alone time to ourselves so we don't drive each other crazy, so I tried this new place by myself. Fresh naan, hummus, chicken tandoori. I ate like a king for only a few baht. I was REALLY proud of myself now. I found this place on my own with the help of TripAdvisor. Yay me!

                   Burmese feast. I can't remember what each dish was, but I know it was delicious!

That night we met my new airplane friend at the Burmese restaurant and we had a delicious meal and conversation. Lots of conversation. He's a talker, but that's ok because he was interesting. We had fun and had some really unique food that we both really enjoyed. I particularly enjoyed it right up until the time when I had to quickly excuse myself from the table and try to hot foot it back to the restroom where I took up residence for quite a while. Once I broke away from the bathroom I went back to our table where Lu and our new friend were still seated and talking. I interjected that I hated to be rude, but I had to leave soon and find the fastest tuk tuk back to the hotel ASAP! We made a less than graceful but quick exit and got back to the hotel just in time for me to begin a week of what I thought was the worst food poisoning bout I've ever experienced. It's a blessing to us all that I have no photos to show of that part of the week.

The only thing that Lu didn't eat that I did was my lunch at the Indian restaurant. That had to be it. She felt fine. She took great care of me and I appreciate that very much! She visited the pharmacy many times and got me all of the necessary medications and a year's supply of butt wipes. She even sought out an English speaking pharmacist which was really huge. The amazing part was that all of the meds including antibiotics were maybe $5 US.

   

                                                                On the rough ride in.

Oh, I don't feel well.

So the next morning after our Burmese feast we had scheduled a trip into the mountains to visit an elephant sanctuary. It was a bucket list item for Lu and I knew she really wanted to do it, so I took my medication and loaded myself into the back of a covered pickup truck crammed full of 8 full sized tourists from around the world. Ireland, Australia, England, China and us from the US. We bounced around in the back of the truck through a rainstorm for a 2 hour ride. I felt dreadful when we arrived. I was sweating and pale like I was kicking a really bad heroin habit. We had to hike a mile downhill to the elephants. Not fun. I got to pet some elephants, but I spent most of my day lying horizontal under a shelter. The worst part of the day was when the guide led me and Lu out of the jungle straight up the side of the mountain with me walking a few steps, puking and repeating. Needless to say,  it took a while for me to get out of the jungle.

Fun to feed the elephants. Not fun to be sick while doing it. 

                                                The hike out. This is going to take a while.

All this time I thought it was the Indian restaurant that made me sick, but a few days later Lu got sick with the same thing I had. We were both taking the same meds and taking turns running to the bathroom. We were pitiful. I guess we caught some kind of bug. It made me question my food choices and not really like Chang Mai in general. We were stuck in our hotel room and felt terrible. We left Chang Mai only feeling marginally better and flew to Phuket where we soothed ourselves at the beach. It's amazing how when we feel bad it colors our complete outlook. Most people love Chang Mai, but I think it will be a while before we go back. Meanwhile we're loving Phuket!!