Well elephant riding was a bit disappointing. I went to the elephant conservation center, which is subsidized by the government and they say its one of the places where the elephants are treated kindly. Unfortunately, kindly treated elephants do not make for a good show. The center is out on the way to Lampang, almost an hour outside of Chiang Mai. I got an early start to try to avoid crowds, but it seems that tourist attractions in Thailand don't get pack the way they do in NYC. This is one of the top attractions and it was completely empty! I saw the show, which involves elephants bowing, pushing logs around, painting pictures (with the help of an attendant) and the most impressive thing was they could turn the tap on the water fountain themselves! After the show I went to the elephant nursery and played with a baby elephant and his mother for about an hour, feeding them sugar cane and bananas. I know it's terribly touristy, but when am I going to be able to pet baby exotic creatures in the states?
Next stop was the Sankamphaeng Hot Spring. I do not recommend following suit. I thougt it would be a hot spring spa, I brought a bathing suit in preparation to sit in jacuzzis filled with natural spring water... But it was a far cry from that image. Apparently the thug to do is to boil little speckled eggs in the springs and eat them while sticking your feet in the seriously-close-to-boiling water that flows in a stream from the geyser. There's even a sign that tells you how long to keep your eggs in. Want a soft boiled egg? Only three minutes. Hard boiled? Well that's closer to ten. The smell was a bit overwhelming and the water was too hot, so I had a curry (delicious northern style) and left.
Mr. Nikon dropped me off in downtown Chiang Mai and I strolled throug the night markets, dying many many things, but chickened out of trying the bugs. The best thing here is a cocunut treat where they pour a coconut liquid into circular Madeleine trays and add chives or a bit of egg and fry it up in front of you. Don't know what it's called but it's delicious. After marketing for a while I met up with krit on the eastern side of the river, which is more quiet and filled with cute shops and restaurants. We went to Regina Kitchen, where we must have a resident stay. It's a combination antique shop, coffee shop, restaurant, bar, and guest house. They have a million baby kittens running around and the staff will come and deposit a variety of them in your lap if you show interest. I am seeing a theme in my trip to thailand: baby animals galore. And I'm not complaining. Krit and his friend and I stayed out rather late, testing his friends motorbike, and admiring the view from several of the riverside bars, then called it a nit and hailed a tuk tuk home.
Yesterday I traveled back to Bangkok, but in the morning before I left, krit took me to the private collection of Dr. Disaphol Chansiri which was a mix of Jeff kooks, Cindy Sherman things mixed with modern thai artists. The Thai work is far more interesting, but perhaps that's because ive seen the kooks before. The collection is housed in his complex which includes an old palace once used by the royal family and painteed bright yellow, and a very modern gluckman like gallery space for the art work, and a sculpture garden. Very beautiful.
Then it was off to the airport and back to Bangkok. I had plan need on going to Brian curtin's opening and since logatold me traffic to that part of town would be murder, I walked it. Didn't seem to far. One hour later... Even though it was a long haul, the walk was pretty interesting. I paced the kings house with all the armed guards and crossed over some serious super highways. Nothing like that exists in new york. Did I mention the kings house is pink?
At the opening Brian introduced me to most of the ex pat community here in Bangkok: artists, curators, writers, and permanent travelers. I also got to meet the author of Very Thai, a book about all the quirks and customs here, who is absolutely great to talk to since he knows all the underground happenings in these parts. He told me that there's a really big interest in cults and dark magic here. Who knew!
Later on I went to visit Logan at his dj gig and then met up with sandy at a rooftop bar closse to my apartment.
Today is my last day here and I'm more than a little upset about it. Early this morning I went to the Chatuchak weekend market, which is the biggest market in the world. I spent hours getting lost among the stalls, but what I really lost was all of my money.
I'm now all packed up and sitting in the cafe at the end of my street, trying to get in touch with one more person, a woman who runs an art library here, to finish off my trip. It's been a wonderful adventure and I've met some truly wonderful people. Mt recommendation for a next residency here would be to split the time between Bangkok and chiang Mai. Bangkok is quite interesting but also very much like all big cities whereas Chaing Mai has a very local flavor and is farther from all the hustle and bustle, you can really digest it. Plus krit would make an excellent contact!
Thank you Steven, thank you apex, and see you Tuesday morning!
Friday, December 16, 2011
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Chiang Mai Part 1
Oh my Chiang Mai. Yesterday was my full first day in Chiang Mai and I hijacked the taxi driver who brought me from the airport the night before and had him take me around all day. First and most important stop: Tiger Kingdom. Here you buy tickets to pet various sizes of tigers including smallest, small, medium, and big. Hardest choice of my life. I played with the smallest tigers who are still blind and crawl all over you, then lay down with four enormous tigers. You approach them from behind and spoon them. There's no better bed mate than a big tiger. The brochure had a section of FAQs and one was , "are the tigers drugged? Why are they so calm?" Tiger Kingdom assures its visitors that the tigers are lazy, not drugged. Sure.
Next stop was the forest temple Wat Phra That Doi Suthep where you climb 306 steps to visit the golden city at the top. Everything is gilded. Buddhas, stupas, chedis, lamps, tiles, bells. Gold everywhere you look. They tell you to pray to the Buddha and make a donation and a wish. When you return home, you might not remember the wish, but the Buddha will and it will come true. Around the temple eree is a huge veranda with amazing views and monks selling amulets and other trinkets. Eveeryone here wears birthday amulets with a different Buddha for the day of the week on which you we ere born. They have a book of every year going back many decades with the days of the week so you can find out when you were born. Who knew I was born on a Monday! On Monday the Buddha hold one hand up, bent at the elbow, palm facing out. I bought a few jade pieces foam one monk, only to go inside and find some kid selling the same thing for half price!I got ripped off by a monk!
Aftere the temple wwe drover back down the mountain, stopping at scenic overviews and food markets. I asked the driver (mr. Nikon - like the camera) if he knew where I could see may Thai boxing and he said he would arrange it for me.
Went for a drnk with gridthiya's friend Krit and a bar his friend runs in the chiang Mai equivalent of Williamsburg, and then mr. Nikorn brought me muya Thai tickets and brout me to the stadium. Well, stadium is not quite right, a blocked off parking lot with plastic shares set up around a ring is more like it. They start pith young boys, 25 kilos who beat the shit out of each other. Then they move on to the 80 kilo fighters, who beat the shit out of each other even harder. Their faces are so calm and concentrated as they do it and they giver their opponent a little nod every time they get a shot in. They also do this amazing dance as they're sizing their opponent out and seeing how they move. I'll have to demonstrate in person.
Today was busy busy (same same as every day). I met Krit back at the bar in the morning and he took me to see his friend's gallery the See Scape Gallery. Amazing. It's open air and concrete at the same time and he built the entire thing himself down to the bricks. He actually fired the bricks himself! The gallery includes a one room artist residency where he provides a Japanese-like mini room where aritsts can stay for one month and work and exhibit. Sounds standard but the founder Torlap Larpjaroensook has an amazing eye and easy going attitude about the whole thing, which he funded by selling his art work. He showed me pictures of his house that appeared in a magazine. He desiged and built it all himself and it's a very particular style of modern Thai architecture, all concrete and corrugated tin with beautiful hand made furniture and bright colors. No sharp corners.
Krit them took me to the 31st Century Museum, which is really a couplle of open ended railroad cars out in the forest, started by an artist named Kamin Lertchaiprasert who is the founder of the Land Foundation. The museum is next to his studio and one of his houses (Krit tells me he is part of a group of four or so artists of that generation who have done extremely well for themselves) and he invited Rikrit Tiravanija to live next door to him. krit took me to meet Kamin and snoop around his studio and house, which was really excellent.
Last stop with Krit was a stupa in the forest, one if the oldest so i'll have to ask him the name of it. It included a tunnel dug underneath the stupa where three separate corridors lead to secret buddhas. Very cool. And very beautiful. He dropped me back off in Chiang Mai proper and I spent the late afternoon visiting the major wats of the city and walking around the old town talking to monks and eating street food. And now I'm finally back home, exhausted, and unable to communicate all the details of what I've done and seen but I can assure you that I'm considering a move...
Everyone in thailand is so nice and helpful and gracious and generous. I thick it will take some adjustment to get back into the groove on New York!
Tomorrow: elephant riding. Stay tuned.
Next stop was the forest temple Wat Phra That Doi Suthep where you climb 306 steps to visit the golden city at the top. Everything is gilded. Buddhas, stupas, chedis, lamps, tiles, bells. Gold everywhere you look. They tell you to pray to the Buddha and make a donation and a wish. When you return home, you might not remember the wish, but the Buddha will and it will come true. Around the temple eree is a huge veranda with amazing views and monks selling amulets and other trinkets. Eveeryone here wears birthday amulets with a different Buddha for the day of the week on which you we ere born. They have a book of every year going back many decades with the days of the week so you can find out when you were born. Who knew I was born on a Monday! On Monday the Buddha hold one hand up, bent at the elbow, palm facing out. I bought a few jade pieces foam one monk, only to go inside and find some kid selling the same thing for half price!I got ripped off by a monk!
Aftere the temple wwe drover back down the mountain, stopping at scenic overviews and food markets. I asked the driver (mr. Nikon - like the camera) if he knew where I could see may Thai boxing and he said he would arrange it for me.
Went for a drnk with gridthiya's friend Krit and a bar his friend runs in the chiang Mai equivalent of Williamsburg, and then mr. Nikorn brought me muya Thai tickets and brout me to the stadium. Well, stadium is not quite right, a blocked off parking lot with plastic shares set up around a ring is more like it. They start pith young boys, 25 kilos who beat the shit out of each other. Then they move on to the 80 kilo fighters, who beat the shit out of each other even harder. Their faces are so calm and concentrated as they do it and they giver their opponent a little nod every time they get a shot in. They also do this amazing dance as they're sizing their opponent out and seeing how they move. I'll have to demonstrate in person.
Today was busy busy (same same as every day). I met Krit back at the bar in the morning and he took me to see his friend's gallery the See Scape Gallery. Amazing. It's open air and concrete at the same time and he built the entire thing himself down to the bricks. He actually fired the bricks himself! The gallery includes a one room artist residency where he provides a Japanese-like mini room where aritsts can stay for one month and work and exhibit. Sounds standard but the founder Torlap Larpjaroensook has an amazing eye and easy going attitude about the whole thing, which he funded by selling his art work. He showed me pictures of his house that appeared in a magazine. He desiged and built it all himself and it's a very particular style of modern Thai architecture, all concrete and corrugated tin with beautiful hand made furniture and bright colors. No sharp corners.
Krit them took me to the 31st Century Museum, which is really a couplle of open ended railroad cars out in the forest, started by an artist named Kamin Lertchaiprasert who is the founder of the Land Foundation. The museum is next to his studio and one of his houses (Krit tells me he is part of a group of four or so artists of that generation who have done extremely well for themselves) and he invited Rikrit Tiravanija to live next door to him. krit took me to meet Kamin and snoop around his studio and house, which was really excellent.
Last stop with Krit was a stupa in the forest, one if the oldest so i'll have to ask him the name of it. It included a tunnel dug underneath the stupa where three separate corridors lead to secret buddhas. Very cool. And very beautiful. He dropped me back off in Chiang Mai proper and I spent the late afternoon visiting the major wats of the city and walking around the old town talking to monks and eating street food. And now I'm finally back home, exhausted, and unable to communicate all the details of what I've done and seen but I can assure you that I'm considering a move...
Everyone in thailand is so nice and helpful and gracious and generous. I thick it will take some adjustment to get back into the groove on New York!
Tomorrow: elephant riding. Stay tuned.
Monday, December 12, 2011
It's my second day in Thailand and I've already left the big city. I spent 24 hours after my arrival awake, moving, eating, staring, and tuk tuking. logan's wife sandy picked me up at the airport and brought me to the apartment in a cab at 2am and promptly took me out for some pad see ew with Logan. He suggested an extra egg on top and the chili ketchup and I followed suit and was very happy I did. The food here is amazing. Pick the street stand with a hundred Thai people waiting in line and make conversation with the little old lady serving and you will get a huge plate of delicious mish mash. Ask no questions. Eat everything on the plate. Or at least that's been my MO so far!
After food I went back to the apartment, right by the Victory Monument sky train stop and read the guide book until 6am untill I couldn't wait anymore. I dressed and hit the sky train at 7 heading for the river. The river buses at that hour are empty and I had a gorgeous ride up to tha tien and the old city. The ferry stop is a tiny wooden shack where the flood waters have made the river so swollen you walk on boards that are partially submerged, ducking your head to avoid the trinkets hanging from the low ceiling. I hopped a one stop ferry to wat arun, the dawn temple, and climbed to the top. It was almost empty, only one family of Chinese tourists there. The decorations on the temple are made from broken china plates, tea cups, and other miscellaneous shards shaped into flowers.gorgeous.
After wat arun I went back across the river to watt po, also deserted so early in the morning. The enormous reclining Buddha is incredible and I bought e coin offerings you drop in the buckets along the back wall that make a rhythmic plinking as tourist walk down the line. Most important part of wat po was the hour long Thai massage with an 100 year old woman pushing, pulling, walking on me, and putting me in a full Nelson for the sake of therapy.
I spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the old city, strolling through the park, got turned away from the grand palace since I was in a tank top, walked through the port side markets (didn't eat there since I saw one of the chefs sneezing into his wares), went to the famous backpackers alley which was a disappointing assortment of mcdonalds, cheap shirts, and tattoo parlors. I switched gears and took a tuk tuk to Chinatown and stopped at every food cart, walked down every scary alleyway, and generally had a ball. I met another American girl walking te streets a,one and we sat down at one of the sidewalk restaurants and made an agreement to meet later to see the Red light district together. And so we did. I think (since this is a work trip)I'll leave out the details except to say that thesse woman have exceptional aim with darts...
Finally. Finally. At 1am, one full day after I arrived, I went home and slept.
Day two was taken at a slower pace. I visited the exceptional coffee stand on my street corn ere where she makes fresh espresso on the sidewalk and ate at the local hole in the wall. I tried to go gem shopping near Silon but failed, and giving up found myself at the Jim Thompson house early enou to take the tour. Its beautiful and everyone talks about him like a god. His life is fascinating and his disappearance from Malaysia even more so. I, obviously, assume he was taken by aliens... Logan met me there for my meeting with gridthiya who is absolutely lovely. Once she heard I was going to chaing Mai she gave me the names of 100 young hip thai artist there who will take me out. She tells me that she is working on here phd to find a new solution to curating in Thailand. Steven Will be very interested in this.
Right after I was back on a plane and heading to change Mai. I've just arrived at the apartment I rented inside a hotel. 2 stories and 2 balconies all to myself. And it's costing me $20 a night. Tomorrow: elephants!
After food I went back to the apartment, right by the Victory Monument sky train stop and read the guide book until 6am untill I couldn't wait anymore. I dressed and hit the sky train at 7 heading for the river. The river buses at that hour are empty and I had a gorgeous ride up to tha tien and the old city. The ferry stop is a tiny wooden shack where the flood waters have made the river so swollen you walk on boards that are partially submerged, ducking your head to avoid the trinkets hanging from the low ceiling. I hopped a one stop ferry to wat arun, the dawn temple, and climbed to the top. It was almost empty, only one family of Chinese tourists there. The decorations on the temple are made from broken china plates, tea cups, and other miscellaneous shards shaped into flowers.gorgeous.
After wat arun I went back across the river to watt po, also deserted so early in the morning. The enormous reclining Buddha is incredible and I bought e coin offerings you drop in the buckets along the back wall that make a rhythmic plinking as tourist walk down the line. Most important part of wat po was the hour long Thai massage with an 100 year old woman pushing, pulling, walking on me, and putting me in a full Nelson for the sake of therapy.
I spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the old city, strolling through the park, got turned away from the grand palace since I was in a tank top, walked through the port side markets (didn't eat there since I saw one of the chefs sneezing into his wares), went to the famous backpackers alley which was a disappointing assortment of mcdonalds, cheap shirts, and tattoo parlors. I switched gears and took a tuk tuk to Chinatown and stopped at every food cart, walked down every scary alleyway, and generally had a ball. I met another American girl walking te streets a,one and we sat down at one of the sidewalk restaurants and made an agreement to meet later to see the Red light district together. And so we did. I think (since this is a work trip)I'll leave out the details except to say that thesse woman have exceptional aim with darts...
Finally. Finally. At 1am, one full day after I arrived, I went home and slept.
Day two was taken at a slower pace. I visited the exceptional coffee stand on my street corn ere where she makes fresh espresso on the sidewalk and ate at the local hole in the wall. I tried to go gem shopping near Silon but failed, and giving up found myself at the Jim Thompson house early enou to take the tour. Its beautiful and everyone talks about him like a god. His life is fascinating and his disappearance from Malaysia even more so. I, obviously, assume he was taken by aliens... Logan met me there for my meeting with gridthiya who is absolutely lovely. Once she heard I was going to chaing Mai she gave me the names of 100 young hip thai artist there who will take me out. She tells me that she is working on here phd to find a new solution to curating in Thailand. Steven Will be very interested in this.
Right after I was back on a plane and heading to change Mai. I've just arrived at the apartment I rented inside a hotel. 2 stories and 2 balconies all to myself. And it's costing me $20 a night. Tomorrow: elephants!
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