After the build...

Okay, this is way overdue, but I've been busy and then the internet wasn't accessible, so I'll try to squeeze as much interesting stuff in as quickly as possible....

So, by the end of the build, I had been in Chiang Mai for a week and all I'd seen was my hotel, the bus and the build site, with a few visits to some restaurants and the night market.

Despite my attempts to find someone or a group to travel with after the build, I had come up dry, except for a few people who were going to hang around Chiang Mai for a couple of days.

I met one woman - Sonya - who wanted to go to Cambodia, but because I had booked the elephant camp for the end of the week, I would've had to fly to Cambodia via Bangkok and then fly back here via Bangkok - 5 hours of flying both ways, plus travel time to and from the airports. It would mean spending two days travelling, and that didn't seem worth it.

So I decided I'd stay here and do day trips.

On Saturday, I walked around the old city with Vikki from San Diego. It was good just to get a sense of where I was. The Park Hotel where we were staying was fine, but it's kind of on the outskirts of town, so I didn't really have a sense of what Chiang Mai was all about.


In the afternoon a group of us went on Handicrafts Tour - first to a silk place, then to a silver place and finally to a place where they make rugs (there are members of my family who are beginning to chortle now - and with good reason.)

The silk place was interesting - there was a woman who spent the day drawing the silk off the silk worms that were bobbing in a pot.

Then other women wove the silk. And then of course there was a store where we could buy silk products if we wanted.


In the silver place, we saw how they melted and stamped and shaped the silver, and then of course there was a store where we could buy jewelry if we wanted.



And in the rug place, or salesguy, Ajaz, showed us how silk rugs are made and why they're so much better than wool rugs ... and then he started rolling them out to prove his point. They are indeed beautiful, and having been to two previous rug tours - one in Istanbul and one in Morocco, I have to say, this was the most pleasant experience, as Ajaz and his "brother" Ayoub were very polite and not pushy. So of course I bought a rug. After the deal was done (and this is the part my family is really going to love) Ajaz gave me his card and said if I needed anything, or even just wanted to have a cup of tea I could call him. Apparently I'm just the kind of woman rug sellers like ... or maybe it's just that I buy the rugs?

Anyway, I've resisted calling him.

In the evening, a whole group of us went on a dinner cruise on the Ping River. It was very pleasant and a nice way to say goodbye to some of them.

Here's the group of us - left to right Steve & Barbara from California (they're 76 & 77 and have done many Habitat builds), Jan fro Connecticut (she's done 10 builds), Georgina from Calgary (first build) Kris and Mike from California (several builds) and Vikki (this was her first international JImmy Carter build).

The next day, Barbara wanted to go to the Celadon ceramic factory, so four of us went - Steve quite reluctantly (if he had his way, he'd be fishing in the Ping River). It turned out to be quite interesting - especially since it was a Sunday and there were very few people there, so we could see what was going on and spend a little time. It's a huge factory and they do it all by hand.

Then Steve and Barbara left and it was just Jan and me. What are two girls to do ... except go next door to the massage palace and have a two hour oil massage. For 800 Baht - or about $25 we got oiled and rubbed ALL over!

I'm going to end this one here and move on to Monday in a new blog.

See you there!