7/11's Make Us Proud To Be American

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  Chiang Mai, Thailand
Thursday, July 17, 2008

     Today was our first day of rain, but, surprisingly, rain here isn't that bad. It isn't very hard, and in this heat, it is almost a relief. After a late start, we headed over to the day market in Chinatown, which is only a few blocks from our guesthouse. On the way, we discovered a store which sold the elusive "king polos." Let us explain. These are polo shirts boasting the insignia of the king, that Thais seem to own in every color. We have been looking for them everywhere, and had almost given up - deciding that farang were not worthy enough to buy or wear the symbol of the king - just spend money with him on it. But, there they were! We both chose blue, which we discovered later is the color of the prince. His day, we're pretty sure, is Wednesday. Monday is King Day and Tuesday in Queen Day, so that's why everyone wears yellow and pink polos on those days, respectively. It's so weird to be in a country where everyone loves their leaders so much! Can anybody imagine "Bush" and "Mrs. Bush" and "Bush Twins" polos?! Well, ones without insults? That everyone would actually wear (yes, even hookers!) on the right days?! Actually upon further invesitgation we're feding out that the crown prince is already like 50, looks creepy, and has had three wives, one being his cousin. Needless to say he's not as revered as the king. That's probably why on Monday like 90% of the people wear the yellow polos and only like 10% wear the blues on Wednesday.
     Anyways, after scoring big with the polos, we got to Chiantown and wandered around the brightly colored (and strong smelling!) stands, checking out all of our various food options. Passing up pig heads and chicken feet, Nick decided on an assortment of fried (whole) fish and chicken, while Susan opted for some delicious dumplings. After she ordered, the vendor began to pour some sort of pepper shaker over the dumplings. When Susan realized what it was - tiny dried whole shrimp with little eyes and everything - she motioned for the lady to stop. But, apparently, the "no" hand motion in America means "yes, please give me more little dehydrated shrimp bodies for my dumplings." That was unfortunate, but Nick was triumphant that we had found the Thai version of Bacon Bits. Just what you want to find, right? We, of course, finished off our meal with two servings (no sharing for us!) of mango sticky rice. We swear that it must be drugged, because we certaintly have become addicts. Luckily, at 75 cents a pop, it's a little bit more affordable than most other addictions.
     The only downside of street eating, unfortch, is the neverending quest for the trash can. Like napkins, and unlike children on motorbikes, old white dudes with young Thai girls, and mango sticky rice, you just can't ever find them. That's where 7/11 comes in. We feel like a long time ago the 7/11 CEO came to Thailand and realzied that this country was sorely missing many of the things that his store could provide exactly, especially for Americans abroad. 7/11 is a farang heaven with napkins, AC, garbage cans, and even frozen Cokes,a dnt ey're located on every corner! We really will never look at them the same way; we will forever be indebted.
     We then headed to Justin and T's hostel to say goodbye to them, as everybody but T was leaving for the Full Moon Party on Ko Phagnan that night. We wish them the best of luck! T is still here to finish up his massage course, and we will hopefully be able to meet up with him when we head down to the baches in a few weeks. We stopped by a little market and then headed to a restaurant run by an Italian expat to get some pizza. Susan, accustomed to traveling with Jen, was shocked that we still hadn't eaten pizza and have been here for over a week. So, we had to stop. And, they had Tabasco sauce there, so it was definitely a good decision! On the way back, an Asian man said "Excuse me" to us, and we kept on walking, assuming he had some "great tour" to sell us. Turns out he just wanted us to take a picture, and Susan's true Japanese-ness shone through when she took like eight different shots of them, trying to get the perfect one. Then, her white-ness shone through when, even after all those attempts, she still coudln't get it right. Oh well; you can't win 'em all! And though we may complain about touts, one thing we have noticed in Thailand, and particularly in Chiang Mai, is that there are no beggars here. Susan was saying that there were so many more in New York, Paris, etc, and then Nick pointed out that there are even five times the amount in Ann Arbor! So, maybe even though everyone is always trying to sell stuff, that is keeping them off the streets. We're doing a little trek/touristy exploration around CM tomorrow and will update soon!

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