Kickin' it in Chiang Mai

Bangkok was the ending point for half of our group. Mike, Dave, Rob, and Indhu all went their separate ways while the remaining members - Henry, Caryn, Giles, Charlotte, and yours truly - headed off to Chiang Mai to embark on a 3-day trek in Chiang Dao. We had one full day in Chiang Mai before our trek, so we hired a guide and a van for an afternoon to show us around.

Our first stop was a large wood carving factory where we watched the artists in action as they shaped large flat pieces of wood into incredible works of art.

In addition to reliefs (I hope I have my art terminology right) there were also sculptures and furniture for sale. One of my favorites was this sweet elephant chair and table set (see below).

Next we got a brief tour of a silk shop and learned about each stage of the silk making process from the birth of the silkworm to the final product.

But then I learned that all the silkworms used are killed in the process! I had naively assumed that silkworms were like sheep. Just like you don't kill sheep for their wool - they're just temporarily naked and cold until everything grows back - you don't have to sacrifice the lives of silkworms for their silk.

Knowing that tens of thousands are silkworms are cooked up to produce a scarf or shirt would evoke enough guilt in me to avoid buying any silk products. It's now officially on the "do not buy" list under leather and neon orange fox fur head wraps.

"Cooking" the silk.

Also on the itinerary were some temples.

Besides the usual buddha statues and monks expected at a place of prayer and worship, we discovered that temples also serve as a dumping ground for unwanted dogs. There were all kinds of dogs -- big, small, young, old, scruffy, and preened -- that hang out and basically run the joint. Most of them just lay around and nap all day, but when it's feeding time - oh boy! The whole place becomes a frenetic swirl of ecstatic yelps and doggie fur.

And I love how they were fed rice porridge each on a separate plate. Despite there being over two dozen pooches, they were impressively disciplined and even orderly about being fed. Well, except for the naughty puppies. They attempted to climb into the tall plastic pails every time the lunch lady turned her back. It was too cute.

Puppy stealing some rice porridge

In the evening, Henry and Caryn wanted to get massages so I tagged along not knowing that I was walking into the massage parlor of doom. I requested for the massage to focus on my neck and shoulders because that was the only part of my body that felt really tight, but hot damn, I had no idea that I was going to get the life worked out of me. The masseuse was like an acrobat practicing her moves using me as a prop. At one point, she was pushing so hard into my left shoulder blade that I groaned and almost lost consciousness. I tried to speak but no words could come out of my mouth. When she stopped I almost passed out again - this time from euphoria. Then this lady rested her knees on my rear end and - I swear I'm not making this up - started riding it in a forward-backward motion. While not at all painful, it felt so wrong and envisioning what this would have looked like to someone watching, I almost let out an embarrassed giggle.

And then! (yes there's more), the masseuse, using both her legs and arms, grabbed my legs and arms and twisted them in directions that I never thought was humanly possible. She held my limbs in whatever undignified position they were in and pushed my body against the mat. As I laid helpless with my face pressed uncomfortably against the pillow, I tried to make eye contact with Caryn who was next to me, hoping that my eyes could magically shoot mini distress flares her way, but she looked too blissed out to pay any attention.

Finally, the masseuse dropped my lifeless lower body to the floor and sat down behind my head and placed my head in her lap. I had gotten a massage previously, at the resort in Phuket, and when that masseuse massaged (and by "massaged" I really mean "squeezed") my head, it was more painful than pleasurable. So you could imagine the fear that flooded my body when this lady placed her hands on my temples, but to my surprise, this part was so gentle and soothing that I actually fell asleep half way through.

When it was all over, I had sore and slightly bruised shoulders for days but no remnants of a knot anywhere on my body. Man, what an unforgettable, crazy ass massage!