Chiang Mai, Mae Rim, ThaiGers & Manta Rays

Chiang Mai is a place that I would like to get to know better. This is my third time here, but on each trip it’s been the last leg of a multi-part journey, and has been both rushed and relaxed - but never long enough to settle in and fully explore and appreciate the city and the surroundings.

Road in front of Ginny Place - Ian and Tee's guesthouse and cafe

To me, Chiang Mai is one of the most seemingly livable cities that I’ve visited. As a whole, it feels prosperous, yet still very inexpensive. And even though tourism is a huge part of the economy and activity here in the old town center of the city, it doesn’t have the same overwhelmingly invasive feel that it has in other tourist destinations like Phuket. There are plenty of western and modern conveniences that can keep an expat as close to an “at home” experience as they choose, but the local people, food, culture, and way of life are all attractive to the point that making a few changes to adapt to the local ways would be easy to do. This would be a nice place to spend an increasing amount of time down the road…

Wat Umongmahatherachan (say three times fast) near Ginny Place

I got to Chiang Mai Saturday afternoon – just in time for Ian and Tee’s wedding celebration dinner. They got married the previous Monday, January 30th, marking 8 years together. Many of their friends came, including a few that I had met before on previous trips. The food and drinks were plentiful, and it was a great wind down for me after my two weeks of diving and travels.

newlyweds

The next morning, Tee dug up a scooter for me, and Ian, Tee, Tee’s 11 y/o son Audi, and I all rode out to Mae Rim, and village just outside of Chiang Mai where Tee’s family has lived for many decades. I got to meet Tee’s parents, bother, and 96 y/o grandmother.

Ian, Tee, and Grandma

Duk Dik - the family dog. His name means 'jittery'

Tee’s family is the center of their community and there were many cousins and other extended family working in the shop and in the garden. The ice cream guy came by for some needed relief to the heat.



600 meters up the road is Ian and Tee’s new homestead. They bought a parcel of 1.6 rai (~2/3 acre) that has been a rice patty, and plan to bring in enough dirt to bring it above water level and eventually build on it. I love the picture below. Someday, it will have significant historical value.

Happy landowners in their rice field -

The whole Mae Rim area is full of “experiential tourism” activities – bungee jumping, quad racing, zip lining, etc. You can also find places to get up and close with animals ranging from elephants to monkeys to tigers. We took the bikes and went over to Tiger Kingdom – a place where you can not only see tigers ranging from little kittens to 400lb adults, but you can also climb in the cages and snuggle with them.

teenage tiger & the farang bros.

With flashbacks to Siegfried and Roy, the question comes up – how safe is this kind of thing? I was relieved to know that a portion of my ticket price included personal insurance – so no problem there. The other question that comes up is – do they drug these cats? How can they possibly tolerate being petted by an endless line of farangs day after day?

nice kitty!

The answer seems to be that 1) they are raised and live in these conditions their whole lives, so know no other way, and 2) the trainers “correct” bad behaviors as they happen – leaving the adults who have been there and done that very mellow/broken, while the cubs push their limits and get bonked on the nose with a stick every so often.

Audi & the littlest tiger

Exploitation and breaking wild spirit in the name of adding to my photo journal and in some ways helping to preserve and promote the species…I’ll withhold judgment and just say that I did enjoy getting close to these guys.



With most of my trip behind me, my plan for the last few days was to just kick back and relax a bit. The whole trip has been go go go since the start, and some time to just sit in the café, relax, have some food and a beer sounded like a great way to wrap things up. But I had one more thing I had to do…

My tribal manta ray drawing that I posted at the start of this blog has been with me for a while. Beyond being a cool drawing, to me it’s been symbolic of past travels and adventures, and living life in a big way – even if that only happens from time to time.



For my milestone birthday, I committed to making it a bit more of a permanent reminder to keep going and to keep adventuring. Here’s the finished result of that. Note the change in the center where my former Polynesian Tiki has turned into an Asian/Buddhist/Hindu Ohm symbol, which I thought was much more appropriate for both the place and meaning.

tattoo by Eak of Chiang Mai

Plan next - find a way to do this every year...

last dinner of the trip with Ian, Tee, Oy, and Ying from Singapore

Mr & Mrs Tee - I pitty the fool that don't eat at Ginny Cafe