Her name was Mee and she worked wonders.

Upon a recommendation from an acquaintance back home, I visited the massage office of Lek Chaiya. Currently 70 years old, Lek has developed her own style of Thai massage unlike any other teachings in Thailand. She calls this form of massage "Nerve Touch" distinguished by its deep tissue approach to muscles, tendons and nerves for full body massage and specialized therapy. For many generations in Lek Chaiya’s family, the traditional Thai Healing Arts have been handed down from mother to daughter and Mama Lek began her training with her mother. 'Nerve-Touch' is a method of working which is deeper and more therapeutically oriented than typical, Northern-Style Thai Massage. My therapist's name was Mee (one of Mama Lek's desciples,) and she worked wonders.
Mee had a way of using different parts of her palms in order to generate completely different effects. This mays sound like a simple concept — and of course, this is something that I practice all the time — but she was exceptional. She accomplished the same thing by using her whole foot one aspect at a time (as if she was pressing a gas pedal,) on my hamstrings.
Between she and I, language was not a commonality yet we were communicating the entire time. She was 100% receptive to my needs. There were noises coming from my joints which I had never before heard coming from my body. My joints were singing her praises. My belly has been hurting since yesterday morning and she somehow had the intuition to conclude this. She used an herb-pack on the floor, with me lying face-down on top of it. She was massaging my low-back while the hot-herb pouch was massaging my little Thailand-Tummy.
She did some things of which — as a massage therapist — I never would have thought to do. She pronated my hand in order to work my palm in sidelying. She hooked her extended toes superior to my sacrum as I layer supine and interlocked my fingers around her back. These are moves that are not taught in school. She rotated my pelvis with such finesse as she suspended me by one leg and one arm. The way that she finished with a towel as a tool to rotate my head into various positions: it's techniques like this which I will never forget. I think I may know someone who will be studying with Lek Chaiya in February 2013.
Coming to Thailand, it was my intention to incorporate two of my passions: yoga & massage. To be able to incorporate yet another one of my passions (the heat … yes, it's somewhat absurd that heat is a passion for me but as you know, it's something that I take quite seriously,) would be incredible. I hope that you guys don't miss me too much because I think I may know where I'll be this time next year.
(OK … you got me. The above photos is the first that I've posted — either here or on FaceBook — that is not one of my originals. I ganked it from Mama Lek's website.)

Cooking instead...

No more massage for the moment. Cooking instead.
We started off with Pad Thai, of course. We used rice noodles collected from the market around the corner. We were able to obtain all of the ingredients that we needed from different merchants all found only two blocks from the house. We used two different types of tofu. The first, was what you'd generally be able to find in The States … just your regular, run of the mill, firm tofu. We cut this into little rectangles. The second type was cured with turmeric for a yellow color on the outside. This variety, we diced finely. The Thai variety of garlic is much smaller than to what I'm accustomed and in Thailand, they generally leave the paper on. I used soy sauce in place of fish sauce and mushroom sauce rather than oyster sauce. Chinese chives, bean sprouts, egg, and water. The heat element was situated as such so that we could tilt the wok to a 45° angle in order to allow parts of the dish to remain on the side of the wok while cooking other parts. I've always used this technique with stir fry by the 45°-angle tilt makes it so much more effective. I think I'm going to try to find one of those wok rings so that I can try this at home. I particularly liked the ground peanuts and chillies that we sprinkled on top.

After sitting down to eat the first course, we went back to the kitchen for Hot & Sour Soup. The dish traditionally includes chicken and prawns but I substituted with oyster mushrooms and tofu. There were a couple of ingredients that were used for flavoring but were not intended to eat. Those included kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass, and galangal which is a root grown in Thailand which is similar to ginger. If you know me at all, you know that I'm a huge ginger enthusiast. I was excited to try galangal but it's definitely no replacement for my one true love. This recipe includes those super-hot little chiles. Here, they call them mouse-shit chiles. Hilarious, right? Now these can be quite dangerous for the novice but I decided to use six for the soup. It turned out pretty spicy, for sure. But not just spicy for spicy sake. It was tasty and complex with a whole bunch of heat at the end. Added to the pot were mushrooms, onion, tomato, lime juice, soy sauce, sugar, chiles, and chile paste.

Moving on to my absolute favorite Tai dish: Green Papaya Salad. We learned a fancy way to use a huge knife in order to shred the papaya which is actually only green because it's harvested early … which is what I suspected. (It's one of the many questions that I asked. I seemed to be the only one engaged enough to ask lots of questions.) Since the knife trick was a bit scary, we were also provided with a zig-zag vegetable peeler if we preferred to stay on the safe side. There were only two cooking injuries for the evening: a burned finger and chili peper-oiled eyeball. Neither of those incidents involved me though. We used a big, wooden mortar to pound and "cement" (as they call it,) garlic, chiles, and long beans. Knowing that this dish is raw, I chose to use only three chiles as opposed to the six that I used in the soup. After pounding in some lime juice, soy sauce, and tomatoes, we created a bit of a dressing in which we could dissolve the palm sugar which is not related to the cane plant at all but rather extracted from the flower of a palm tree. (That is another tidbit that I learned which was spawned from one of my questions.) It's a very dense, sticky paste which has a much fuller body than the refined sugar with which I'm familiar. We added the papaya and some carrots then pestled away. Watching the people on the streets, you can tell that it takes some practice to master the pestle-and-spoon combo technique. When five or six people join in together, it makes for a bit of a meditative musical jam session. Finally, we topped it with peanuts. All done. The whole Papaya Salad process was much simpler than I had expected it to be. It's so rewarding that I now know how to make my favorite dish. It's a good thing that there were tissues at the table 'cause this one was a-spice-aaaaayyyy.

And onto the main event with the Panaeng Curry. We started by making our own red curry paste: soaked red chiles, shallots, garlic, galangal, lemongrass, ginger, kaffir lime leaves, coriander root, and turmeric. The stuff that we avoided eating in the soup (kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass, and galangal,) went right in 'cause we pounded the hell out of 'em with the mortar and pestle. (I've got to get myself one of these.) We used a wooden set for the Papaya Salad because it's a more delicate process. We used a granite mortar for the paste in order to truly pulverize the ingredients. I used tiny eggplant instead of pork. It's called Pea Eggplant because it's so small; it adds a pretty tart flavor to the curry and they sort of explode in your mouth like a grape tomato. Into the hot wok went paste, Panaeng spice blend, tofu, and coconut milk. We squeezed our very own milk from the flesh of a mature coconut; it smelled so good. (I imagine it didn't hurt in moisturizing our hands either.) After allowing the mixture to thicken a bit, we added soy sauce, palm sugar, and ground roasted peanuts. The chiles for spice, the lime for tart, the coconut for smooth and creamy. It's perfection.

I met some great people and learned some priceless skills. So … when are y'all comin' over to my place for curry, huh?

Do you speak English?

I stopped in at another temple today. I passed it last night on my bicycle and took the time to jot down the location so that I could find it again. There was something special about this one. You must be thinking "What is he talking about? There's got to me something special about every temple in Thailand." And surely, there is but you have to understand that temples here are a dime a dozen. They're just about as prevalent as Starbucks in NYC. (Did you know that there are 200 Starbucks in Manhattan alone?) I didn't know anything about Wat Lokmoli because it was not mentioned in the guidebook but I'd say that its claim to fame is the absolute shiniest Buddha image I've seen. But more exciting than any of the temple amenities was the experience that I had within the walls. I played tourist by taking lots of photos but then I settled down at the end of a long table to do some studying. An hour into my work, I found myself surrounded by six Buddhist monk boys ranging in age from 11-13. They were enthralled with my work and seemed to want nothing more than to watch. I exhibited my freshly-polished Thai Phrase: "kun pôot paa-săa ang-grìt măi?" [Do you speak English?] But none of them did. So I continued to color diagrams with my colored pencils and they continued to watch. Later, another boy came over with a composition book in hand. He was a bit older than the others and had clearly joined the group in order to communicate with me. He proudly showed me the composition book filled with English vocabulary words. He's been studying English for two years and speaks beautifully. His name is Thep and he's been living at this particular temple for about a year now. He told me that he grew up in Mae Hong Son and I replied with details about the trip to that area that I have planned for next weekend. It was a delightful conversation. He was clearly excited to practice on someone and I was interested in the life of a monastic thirteen-year-old. He wanted to know all about the methods that were being used to teach massage. I tried to explain to him that it was likely very similar to the way that he was learning English. I am learning a new vocabulary of massage moves just as he is learning a vocabulary of words. He used his translation skills to help get Cha-Cha, the puppy, to pose with one of his friends. As I was observing, I came to believe that these boys are probably a lot more like you and me than you may initially think.

I realize that I've mentioned very little about school thus far. It's going pretty well. There are frustrating days, of course. Yesterday, for instance, I felt as though I was doing everything wrong. Every time that I attempted a massage stroke, an elder would have to come over and adjust something or cordially nudge me aside so that they could demonstrate the correct approach. It's quite a lot of material to absorb in a short amount of time. But it does feel quite good once I'm able to get the technique into my body and to start moving with some grace and fluidity. Last week, I completed Level I with a score of 96%. Most of my peers appeared to have created quite a bit of anxiety surrounding the examination but I was surprisingly pretty calm. One of the instructors warned me that existing massage therapists tend to put the most pressure on themselves compared to the rest. In addition to massage, I'm learning a lot about how I can maneuver around first impressions and how I can sift through judgements and stereotypes in order to find something redeeming in a person. For the most part, the people are accommodating and respectful. There are a few exceptions but I'm getting along quite well with most of the kids there.

It's taken me about two full days in order to finally get that single Thai phrase into my vernacular. Learning a new language is not something that comes easily. I've known that since the days of Señora Crane and Madame Regli in Junior High. But I'm doing my best. I find it somewhat disrespectful and self-centered for me to expect everyone around me to speak my language. So I'm trying to nail down some critical phrases one at a time. But Thep (the boy from the temple,) was a hell of a lot more fluent in English than I am in Thai. The only things that I can say with any sort of confidence are "hello", "thank you", "yes", "no", and "do you speak English?" I'm packing my brain with Thai Massage (as I'm packing my belly with Thai food,) and there's very little room in there for anything else. But I'll try to acquire a few more important phrases over the course of the next few weeks. The street names are a completely different story. Learning to pronounce them is impossible for me. For starters, each street is often spelled at least two or three different ways. And you never quite know which is a variable spelling and which are two separate streets. For instance, in the center of town, you'll find the intersection of Ratchamankha and Ratchaphakhinai and you can also find each of them spelled differently depending on where they're listed. Streets are rarely labeled, to boot. Here's the full explanation from Lonely Planet. "The Thai word thanon means road, street, or avenue. Hence Ratchadamnoen Road (sometimes referred to as Ratchadamnoen Avenue) is always called Th. Ratchadamnoen in Thai. A soi is a small street or lane that runs off a larger street. So, the address referred to as 48/3-5 Soi 1, Th. Sukhumvit, will be located off Th. Sukhumvit on Soi 1. Alternative ways of writing the same address include 48/3-5 Th. Sukhumvit Soi 1, or even just 48/3-5 Sukhumvit 1. Some Bangkok soi have become so large that they can be referred to both as thanon and soi, e.g. Soi Sarasin/Th. Sarasin and Soi Asoke/Th. Asoke." Ugh!!

Temples

I swung by Wat Phra Singh on Wednesday. It was the first temple that I visited and allegedly, a great place to start. It's Chiang Mai's most visited temple which houses one of the most revered Buddha image. There's a nearly identical Buddha image in Bangkok and it's a complete mystery as to which is the original. My favorite part is the garden in the back where one can peruse a collection of Buddhist mantras posted on trees. I had a fun time playing with sun-splashed photos on my phone.

Wat Hua Khuang is not listed in the guidebook as one of the must-see's but, on Thursday, I stumbled upon it and was drawn toward it. Though the founding date is unknown, this is likely one of the city's oldest. (Possibly as early as 1465.) It's bright and well-kept. Obstructed by the long alley entranceway, are is a sweeping three-tiered rooftop and ornate, glimmering plasterwork. I suppose what attracted me most was the sculpted elephant standing guard. Inside the main bòht is a regal Bronze Sitting Buddha found in one of the most common sitting positions. The right hand is placed on the ground with all fingers touching with the palm facing inward. The left hand rests in the lap, palm up intended to symbolize the union of wisdom and method in order to resist against the temptations luring the Buddha from his spiritual life.

On Saturday, I hit three more temples. The first of which was Wat Chedi Luang which boasts a chedi believed to be one of the tallest structures in ancient Chiang Mai. The structure first caught my eye from behind, peaking between two mod seventies-style motels. I didn't know it at the time, but this was the first of the temples on my list for the day. The damaged structures are said to have been destroyed by cannon fire of King Taksin in 1775 and it's fascinating to see the scars and gouges in the ancient construction. I can't tell if this one is in the Standing Buddha or Walking Buddha position. Either way, it's pretty impressive along with all of the disciples depicted in front.

Wat Phan Tao was one of my favorites. It's constructed almost entirely of teak which gives it a dark and gloomy antique feel. It's simple, quiet, and serene. Those descriptors also fit perfectly to illustrate the garden in the rear. There's a tiny pond packed with excited carp and even a little waterfall situated next to a line of six huge Thai bells. I foresee spending lots of study-time in this garden during the weeks to come.

In terms of mystery and allure, Wat Chiang Man wins the prize. Within, lie two Buddha images so important that they're stored behind glass and three separate series of protective bars. These security measures make it quite difficult to get a good look but one of the two stands less than four inches high and is made of crystal. The inside walls are dressed with a modern red-and-gold stenciled mural depicting the life of Chiang Mai's founding father.

Nighttime Nocturnes

The Chiang Mai Night Safari was incredible. I hadn't accounted for the fact that I'd see so many animals other than the ones that I've seen a million times at the Philadelphia Zoo. Mouse Deer, Squirrel Monkey, White Rhinoceros, Flying Squirrel, Brazilian Tapir, Leopard Cat, Clouded Leopard, and Pygmy Hippos, were among some of my favorites. I even saw a little Meerkat Timón!

Having the opportunity to hold and feed a White Tiger cup was exhilarating to say the least. Notice how he's holding my hand with his huge paw. I can still feel his body heat on my thigh. Wow.

The more ferocious of the cats such as the Lions, Cheetah, Bengal Tigers, Jaguar, were awesome. I'll never forget when the Giraffe stuck his huge head right into the tram in order to collect his carrots and bananas right from our hands. It was a well-designed and maintained facility and it was pretty easy to access ... only about thirty minutes outside of the city. If I had the chance, I would definitely do it again.

Ants go marching

Jackfruit is delicious. Granted, the first one into which I bit was a bit of a surprise. I didn't know that there was a pit so I bit right through it. (It's a pretty soft pit yet sour-tasting, all the same.) This wasn't the most pleasurable experience as I decided to just keep on chewing. I immediately realized what had happened and augmented my tactics for the next time. And sans pit, I love jackfruit. But so do that ants in the guesthouse. I'm diligent about emptying my trash right away when it contains remnants of anything sweet but they know. They just know. The Thai ants have a good way of getting what they want. And the ants go marching. I have to change rooms tomorrow because there's a plumbing issue with my bathroom sink. Hopefully my new room will have less of an ant parade.

The ants are quite good at marching single-file, in a straight line. It's funny that the ants can be so good at organized lines yet, the electrical infrastructure of the city is quite the opposite. Check out the photo. That's pretty much the way that all power lines are configured in this city. There are literally power lines hanging loose and touching the pavement. And imagine if there was a problem and an engineer had to determine which line was which. That is one huge knot to untangle. Do you think that Chiang Mai would come anywhere close to being up to code with the electrical regulations in The States? I think not. But somehow it works. Thai people excel at creating order out of otherwise seemingly chaotic conditions.

There's no better example of Thailand Chaos than a cross-section of any street, anywhere in this city. Drivers of all sorts of vehicles — cars, busses, motorbikes, tuk-tuk, sawngthaew, mobile ice cream vendors, homemade side-cars carrying elderly women — contribute to the mass-pandemoneum of the city streets. There's no use in attempting to stay within the lines. The benefit however, is that nobody screams profanities if you make a jack-ass move in order to more quickly get to where you're going. Nobody has the right to get upset because everyone disobeys traffic laws. It's sort of brilliant because road-rage seems to be completely nonexistent. So different than in NYC. I think I've heard a car horn perhaps twice in the past week. Though I have not been staying in the lines on the road, I have been staying within the lines as I color the diagrams in my massage text book. These coloring assignments seem a bit mundane and a bit too far on the busy-work end of the spectrum so I find myself frustrated. But then I ponder why I'm frustrated. Kids, for example, love to color. They'll color for hours. Why can't I flip the situation and find the meditative playful pleasure that my three nieces covet in this particular activity? I've been getting better at it.

Just like the ants, Thai people have a good way of getting what they want and making it work. Last night, I saw a young driver attempting to parallel park his car. After determining that the spot was too small, I watched as he braced himself against the asphalt with a nice wide, grounded stance and leaned all of his bodyweight against the front bumper of the car. I have no idea if he was successful, as I decided not to stick around but I'm willing to bet that he managed a way to get that square peg into that round hole.

Though the Thai people know how to make things work, they definitely do not know how to make a Bloody Mary. I wouldn't generally order a Bloody Mary outside of brunch hours but when I attempted to order a Vodka-Cranberry last night, the server looked at me as if I had lost my third eye. (Ha ha ha.) Based on his reaction, I assumed that cranberry juice was not something particularly prevalent in Thailand. Instead, I ordered directly from the menu and the Bloody Mary seemed like the best option. But at the next bar, I had no problem ordering one of their specialty drinks: peach schnapps, blue curaçao, & cranberry juice. OK. So I like my Jolly Rancher candy drinks; it's true. The point is that they do in fact, have cranberry juice in Thailand and that the server at Tiger Kingdom was just giving me a hard time. In conclusion, the Thai bartenders are terrible at making Bloody Mary's but they're absolute experts at Vodka-Pineapple. Yum.

This morning was all about exploring temples in the city. Tonight I'm heading West to Klorng Chonprathan for the famous Nite Safari. I have a new treat to try for the ride out there. It's some sort of snack made from dried mung beans. I'm tempted to break it open but I hope that I can manage to keep it sealed until it's time to board the bus.

Failures and Frustrations

Upon first arriving at school, I complete the registration process and pay the remainder of the tuition. I also inquire about the nearest Bangkok Bank. I figure that I'm going to be here for a month and I don't want to be carrying tons of cash with me. I'm quite the novice but I feel as though the currency exchange will go more smoothly using a bank rather than using Super-Rich Money Exchange. I promise you that I would not have been able to come up with that name on my own if I tried! The very first display of Thailand cordiality: the desk attendant at school doesn't talk me through several lefts and rights and traffic lights and landmarks. Rather, to get me to the bank as I've requested, she points me in the direction of a kind young man. So I follow. It turns out that his name is Tor (pronounced taaaawww,) and he's going to take me on the back of his motorcycle. There I am: less than 24 hours in Chiang Mai and I'm already whizzing through the chaotic arteries of the city, on the back of a cute boy's bike. It was my very first time to ever ride a motorcycle and likely some good initial exposure because I plan to rent one to drive up into the mountains sometime soon.

Banking business: COMPLETED; first day of school: DONE. Most tasks that I set out to accomplish end in frustration. After several trips to shops attempting to rent a bicycle, I finally got my hands on a good lookin' bike on Tuesday. This bike was a bit pricier than some of the others out there but this is how Cacti explained it to me. The 650 baht that one of the other guys wanted to charge me was just enough to allow him to eat and not nearly enough to keep the bike in good repair. It was an interesting way to look at it. He seemed like a completely honest, and exceptionally sweet guy. I paid twice the price but I'll probably end up renting a motor scooter from him next weekend. I just have a good feeling about Cacti.

So, on my new wheels, I finally felt like a human being again. Seriously … walking is such an antiquated method for getting from here to there. I don't know how you people have the patience. I'm cruising down the street when I see a flash in the periphery: the sign for a vegetarian restaurant! A new bike; a new place to eat … finally things are falling into place. I veer an illegal U-turn and start to scope out the menu. (More on traffic laws coming up.) The place is called Taste From Heaven and is it ever! Mushrooms, tofu, ground peanuts, curry, mint, kaffir lime leaves, chili … you name it. Just as I'm reveling in my awesome discovery, I hear: "Hey, Chris!" What? Huh? Who? It's the girl who sat across from me on the train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai. Unbelievable. It's true that she's also here studying Thai Massage but neither her school or her guesthouse are anywhere even close to mine. Is that why people love to travel? For these once-in-a-lifetime encounters? Once-in-a-lifetime, except for the fact that it happened AGAIN on Wednesday. I was doing some temple-hopping and she was on her way to a Capoeira class. I'm going to try to avoid getting carried away here but she's a yoga instructor (in Maine,) and I'm a yoga instructor. She's in Thailand studying massage and I'm in Thailand studying massage. We bump into each other twice, far from home. We're basically soul mates.