Chiang Mai, Thailand

Walking down a street in Chiang Mai, one can catch any number of whiffs. Flowers are a particularly nice smell after months of a Michigan winter that still hasn't ended. Smells of food waft from every direction like wailing sirens, pulling me helplessly toward another Rotee, Mango with Sticky Rice, or some unidentifiable fried goodness on a stick. My smell of choice for the day was incense.

The markets are one place where odors might be a tad more offensive, but prayer incense does a nice job of covering the smell; or at least distracting from it. I have much to learn about this culture so full of respect, honor, politeness, and prayer. It's fortunate that Thai people are so gracious, because I am full of mistakes. This morning I cycled past flowers and street vendors and into the morning market. From the outside it's a farmers market with mostly fresh produce. Further in, the smells get more complex, as do the vendors. You can buy food or clothing or shaving cream... sort of like Walmart, only completely different. For one thing, everyone was Thai. 

At first, I was elated! I finally found a niche in space and time where foreigners do not dominate my vision of Chiang Mai! But trekking into such territory alone means no one else will share my burden of embarrassment. I knew something was up when a monk dressed in traditional orange turned his head and stared at me as I passed. I'm not going to say I've never turned heads, but I don't think I've ever turned monks heads. They're pretty focused on things like meditation and celibacy. As I continued to walk between booths, I began to feel like quite a spectacle. It seemed everyone in the market had stopped what they were doing in order to stare at me as I walked past. Finally, an older woman held her hand out to me and shouted "Stop!" (with a smile on her face). She then pointed upward to the source of the music, which happened to be the kings song. Of course! it came flooding back - when the kings song plays, everyone stops and stands in respect. I know this! But my cultural guidebook didn't come with a sing along to help me transition from smooth jazz Titanic to more significant cultural cues.

Gracious gracious Thai people. They let me get off with just humiliation this time. The woman stopped me just as the song was ending, just in time for an impressively large amount of people to laugh loudly at my expense.  But ya know,  it felt a lot better than I thought it would. I'm finding out I like a LOT of things about Thailand; even the way they make fun of me.