In Victor’s hometown I was welcomed by his father who hardly speaks any English but gladly picked me up in a breakfast place that was over-run with Western people. It turns out that Chiang Mai is full of Americans and Europeans who teach English there and who are trying to escape their old lives and the bad weather. Speaking of which, when I got off the deep-frozen bus I stepped out and expected the wall of warmth that I was used from Bangkok. Instead the temperature did not change much and I spent the morning freezing at 15 centigrades.
Victor’s family lives on top of an international kindergarten, which his mom runs. I received first class treatment, getting the whole guest floor for myself. I had a great conversation with Victor’s mom who was impressed that I knew anything about Thai politics. Without much rest Victor’s dad and his older sister took me around town, to learn about Chiang Mai’s history. They even respected my dietary choices and we went to have some amazing vegetarian food. Lastly, we drove up the mountain from where we had an amazing view over the city. It is said that anyone who wants to go to Chiang Mai has to climb up the 344 steps to the temple on the top of the mountain.
While Victor’s sister, Katie, found the make-up covered little children really cute I was secretly outraged that they were not in school and that their parents sent them to this temple for decorational purposes. I ended up voicing my criticism in a question if Katie would not think that these children would rather belong to a school. I guess that made her think.
After resting a bit at home, we went out to dinner in a restaurant that set up a show of traditional northern Thai dances and theater combined with traditional Northern Thai food (Northern Thailand used to be an independent kingdom until 200 years ago – that’s where the distinction comes from). It was very interesting to listen to the old stories that were both narrated and acted on stage. Interestingly (for me as somebody into gender studies) was that while the image of man was very similar to that in Western narratives, the female image was brought to its continuous extreme: women were dressed and painted as to resemble puppets and they moved accordingly.
That evening I went to bed tired as hell but also with lots of stuff to think about. I expected to sleep in until noon at least but was woken up at 9:00 when Victor called me to tell me to get dressed because we would go to an elephant show. Still half asleep I got ready and there we went. It was amazing to see the elephants perform stunts that even some humans would have trouble performing (such as hand-stand and standing on one leg). Again, I could not calm my critical conscience: I really had the impression that the elephants were badly exploited and handled as things rather than beings. When we went on a trek through the (tamed) jungle we were of course told that the elephants liked doing all of this. Trying to celebrate my ignorance I enjoyed the trek and also the subsequent ox-cart ride and the raft.
After a good lunch we went home eventually where I packed my stuff to go back to Bangkok. The bus ride was sleepless and the morning went by quickly because I was rushing back and forth from Kao-San Road to Victor’s place to get my luggage before I went to the airport. On the airplane I met a German guy who is studying in Mandarin in Taipei after only one year of learning the language (I guess the sky is the limit when it comes to the extremes of how exotic you can study). Good-bye Thailand, good-bye Victor and good-bye good weather for now. The weather is expected to be 12 degrees and rainy…
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