Chiang Mai; Frowning Farangs

If you had told me a couple of weeks ago that I would be in Chiang Mai the Wednesday after getting in Thailand, I wouldn't have believed you. But somehow it feels as if I've lived a lifetime each day in Ayuthaya, Lopburi, and Sukhothai.

I caught the bus to Chiang Mai this morning and a lot of the ride, especially the section between Lampang and Chiang Mai, was lush jungled hills and lots of up and downs on the road. I was excited to be getting into Chiang Mai but at the same time I had dampened down my expectations. I've considered Chiang Mai to be one of the cornerstones of my trip, particularly because I can use it as a base to explore Northern Thailand.

Well, where to start? I have mixed feelings about the city. I'll start with the good-- it's absolutely beautiful, there's green hills in the distance, and shimmering green water in the moat around the city. It's urban in a very approachable way, noisy in its busy streets and suddenly quiet on the side streets.

But Chiang Mai seems like the type of city I'd want to arrive in after two months of travel on the road. Like Thamel in Kathmandu, I would be excited to eat some falafel and meet other farangs and maybe have a taste of the west. In the area I'm in (and I've only explored a little bit so far), there are more farangs than Thais. I can't complain about farangs being here-- after all I'm one, too.

And first off, I'd like to start by saying there are lots of great traveling farangs, too-- people who are respectful and interested in the culture, and most importantly, who are good and kind and aware that we are very fortunate to have these adventures.

However, what's with the frowning farangs? So many of them look as if they have just been ripped off or as if they were forced to go to Thailand and get drunk by their parents. I see frowns and haughty expressions and it really annoys me. Particularly, I've been noticing the difference in my interactions with Thai people. Now, maybe Chiang Mai is just different, but when I was walking from the bus station on the outskirts of town, and I was in a farang-free environment, everyone was very friendly. As soon as I got to the old town and the travel agencies and the massage parlors and the western restaurants and the guesthouses and the endless farangs, no more smiles.

I went into a bookstore to look for a Laos guidebook and within a minute of going in a German girl was in there making a scene with the Thai owners. I could see that they were very embarrassed. She was talking about how she'd been ripped off on some books she was selling-- apparently she was getting 50 baht instead of a hundred baht. You would have thought that a buck fifty was her heart and soul.

If I were Thai, I would automatically charge frowning, haughty farangs double. And considering that Chiang Mai has been on the well-worn travel path since the 60's, that's a lot of frowning farangs over the years, so I would have raised my rates wholesale by now.

To these frowning farangs, I can only say one thing: smile, you're on vacation! You're in a beautiful land of beautiful people and hopefully you are experiencing things you've never experienced before. I see this aura of entitlement in the haughty frowns, and it really rubs me the wrong way.

Unless I can find a more low-key area of Chiang Mai, I will probably only be here a couple of days. Of course, I plan to be back, perhaps for longer. I actually think this would be a great place to take a month and write-- it's very accessible and easy to live in, and it is an absolutely beautiful city. I'm sure I'm going to meet some great travelers over the next few days, and since in the states I've had my fair share of frowns myself, I'll give these frowners the benefit of the doubt. I will say, however, that I've had a smile plastered on my face since I got here and my smile muscles have never been so exercised in my life.

Maybe all of these farangs just have very tired smiley muscles.