March 3, 2002: A fun but unremarkable day. Rode my rent-a-bike for a couple of hours in the morning, exploring the area about diagonally between my place and the Chang Puek bus station. More interesting than it sounds, it seems to be a mixture of bars, upwardly mobile housing, and open air markets. Encountered some dogs that were not jai dii (good heart). They were nasty but responded well to threats. Good fortune perhaps that I'd found a magazine I wanted to read, and happened to roll it up and put it in my pocket. I hope for reinforcement ("HALT" pepper spray) from the US.
After returning the bike I walked home (could have taken a taxi for 25 cents, but it was a nice day. Come to think of it, every day has been a nice day. On the way back I was accosted (this involves words, seldom acts, in Thailand) but a tuk-tuk driver who I guess just wanted to talk. Where you from? (this is all one word in Thai — and I mean as it's spoken in English). "Amerigaa". "George Bush! [makes motion of machine gun firing]. Bang bang bang bang!". Oh shit, I've got another live one. Turns out he's quite enamored of our President Shrub. Our conversation is not going to be very... rewarding; I manage to get rid of him after only 5 minutes or so.
Afternoon spent largely indoors doing homework. Finished the supermarket fare in the frig. Pneumo-porcine. Hmmm. ("Pig lungs? Is he saying pig lungs?"). After about three hours of homework, had had quite enough, and went to the weekly Lanna Fair. This is getting to be quite popular, both with me and the rest of Chiang Mai. After the sun went down, it was wall-to-wall.
Aside from the entertainment (which is quite varied) and the crafts (big overlap), the food is a big draw. Since a lot of people are sampling the fair fare it's easier to tell what's what. Had a skewer of squid on a stick with an intensely-spicy, slightly sweet sauce. Highly recommended. Almost went back for a 2nd, but didn't want to seem the glutton. Later I went for some "orange juice". Turned out to be some orange-like concoction, a bit sour and rather salty. Thai flavor preferences can get some getting used to. There were bands everywhere, plus a repeat of the amazing break-dancing from last week,
Mulled around the insect vendors in one of the food areas. One had 6 different deep-fried bugs to choose from, from innocuous looking worms, to menacing looking really big beetles. In the semi-intimidating category were crickets, grubs, and what looked like scorpion tempura. I swear I'm going to try some of these things before I go. I just didn't seem like a good place to be puking, were my reaction less... staid... than I'd have liked.
Maybe my teacher will tell me how to say: "Let's go drink a lot of beer tonight, and then eat insects!".