photo friday: travel memories, Postcard from Chiangmai

Me. Sending a postcard of a sleeping tiger to 'other places' as noted on the red post box. Yes, rather far away, measured in thousands of kilometres; this postcard will travel much further that I've ever been in my whole life.

And slightly more than one month later from today, I will have the chance to visit the place my postcard is being sent to, Marseille! =)


Photo taken using Sprocket Rocket with AGFA Precisa CT100 Film.

And there were elephants in Chiangmai

The Valencian has an elephant memory.

It was often surprising, and sometimes humiliating.When I least expected it, for instance, while walking on the streets of the Saturday Walking Market in Chiangmai, shopping for unique handmade things, he turned to me in response to my comment that I'm a really impatient person - that, I admit I am - and said that what I said was really astonishing, given the fact that I was late for 20 minutes upon our first meeting. It rendered me speechless to hear such words, not spoken in the manner of someone holding a grudge, but without spite. Spoken out of innocence by a man with a good memory.

A mere twenty minutes, pffft. Was that his first impression of me?

I wanted to write about how this trip was meaningful, and significant to me. Meaningful because, I went there to catch a friend I've met in Singapore 2 months prior, and he became a friend for life after that weekend. And also, it would be my last trip for some months after a variety of spontaneous trips. My 7th trip in the last two months; some people actually think I travel for a living.

Significant because, for possibly the first in a long time, I've actually done what normal people do, actually plan in advance, scan the sky for the best direct flights, and book the tickets in advance, si, two months in advance. I think I actually saved two hundred dollars!

But I am at a loss of words to describe the people I've met in Chiangmai.

The old lady sheltering from the rain, looking like a frail Thai Chinese, she actually bicycles through the old town for exercise. We chatted like old friends for twenty minutes, and upon her suggestion she directed me to a flower market outside of town where I spent a lovely drizzly afternoon, my last afternoon in Chiangmai, surrounded by the scent of flowers. If I had behaved like a normal tourist and just rushed from place to place, I would have never had found the flower market on my own.

The local beauty salon ladies who gave me a shampoo and blowdry, they couldn't stop cooing over the fairness of my long legs throughout and even touched parts of leg... It was unnerving to hear them all say they preferred my skin color. I thought they looked awesome in their bronzy glow and told them so.
The Chinese student who went on a secret trip on her own - people still gasp when I tell them I travel alone, but I wouldn't have been so daring when I was at her age.

The feisty Costa Rican who is living her life on her own terms and whom I immediately liked. I hope she finds  that her dreams come true soon. The one that is written on the palm of her hand.

The young Dutch, the gentle-macho type who immediately took a liking to me - and his mother, too, who regaled me with stories about their first summer vacation to South East Asia. I took a good shot of them, one I really liked.

And the lovely Bangkokian who relocated to be close to her parents who relocated to Chiangmai. She owns a kistch crepe stand and behind it, a very professional photo studio. She was very kind, very pretty, and the crepe was a fantastic, simple breakfast.

And the elephants, the elephants. Those majestic creatures who looked liked they could talk for hours if they could speak.

The Valencian was enthralled too, more so than me. Quick! Take photos of me with the baby elephant, he commanded. During the elephant show, he whispered to me like a small boy asking his mother for permission: I'm going to play with the baby elephant, vale? This baby elephant behaved like a small dog, almost bounding over the wooden posts, and playfully nudging my tiny foot with its massive one... it had prickly hair and its skin felt like... well, it felt like the way it looked. During the elephant ride, the Valencian was overly concerned for our elephant. It was a tad littler than the others and we were overtaken several times. At certain junctures on the arduous walk through the jungle we felt certain that our elephant could not make it. Only when we saw the clearing, both he and the elephant became happier and our elephant even playfully blew some water from its trunk on my shoe. But the Valencian's heart sank again when he realized that our elephant had to make the same journey back, ferrying another round of tourists. At least we aren't heavy, I consoled him. Perhaps we were chosen for this elephant because of our lithe frames.

To catch the glimpse of joy on the Valencian's face as he fed 'his' baby elephant with bananas and sugarcane was a bit like being in heaven where the scene before you was just a little too perfect and joyful to mirror our sorrowful, worrisome lives. He imagined 'saving' his baby elephant, and bringing it back to his house in Valencia, we were told it cost 1 million baht or close to S$40K, and as an adult it would probably consume 100 litres of water a day and countless kilograms of fresh food. Perhaps it could be a mascot for his football team (Valencia FC), and we could make money by offering special appearances... we let our thoughts run wild for a second.

Even though at the very end, I was sentimental because I would probably not see the Valencian again, not ever, or at least, not for a very long time, I printed out the photo of us on the elephant.

And I carried it around with me for a week after I came home. We were all happy in the photo, the Singaporean, the Valencian, and our elephant!!!

All photos on Lomography Chrome Xpro 35mm film taken on Vivitar Ultra wide & Slim (Superheadz).

A nutella and banana crepe near the Central Hospital, Chiangmai

Bought this shirt at the Saturday Walking Market in Chiangmai, wore it next to a balance ball class that left my inner thighs, shoulders and wrists aching.

There were really lovely people who chatted to me naturally as I went on my personal walking tour in the old city of Chiangmai - the old Thai Chinese lady who could speak perfect English. We were both seeking shelter from a sudden downpour in the afternoon hours. She had bicycled through the city despite being at the grand age of 76. I had discovered interestingly the ceramic shop (near the vintage shop) where we sought shelter sold many, miniature elephants.  So cute!

Remembering that earlier on our day trip to the Elephant camp, my Valencian friend could not stop playing with the baby elephant - and that was the happiest I've seen him; I got all the baby (blue) elephants in the shop for him, and was filled with amusement at the thought of him opening the newspaper packet and many baby elephants the size of two fingertips spilling out from it! (And also later imagining him remembering the baby elephant each time he saw his baby elephants.)

They were a mere 4 baht. I also considered purchasing some lovely ceramic plates with cracked glass patterns and posting it to myself. I chose some gray baby elephants for myself as well, and asked the shop owner to label the packets; one 'blue' for him, and one 'gray'. The old lady came to the rescue to the uncomprehending shop owner, and wrote out the words in blue marker, neatly. Your English is very good, I told her. We started chatting, just to while away the time to wait for the rain to cease. She told me the temple across the road was one where people visited when they were accident-prone, to pray that they would not meet any further road accidents. She also told me that one of the ceramic vases - a brown thing that looks like it is for a single stalk of flower, was originally used to offer water to thirsty monks and passerbys, in the past all houses had this vessel placed at their doorsteps. I gave her a Singapore magnet I had bought in Chinatown, it was nothing much and I just happened to have it in my bag, but she handled it with the greatest care.

Later, she recommended me to visit a flower market just out of town, near Warorot, and wrote the name down in Thai for me to tell the driver. I went there, and spent the rest of the drizzly afternoon surrounded in the scent of flowers. 

There was also a pretty Bangkokian who offered me more than hospitality, a friendly chat about life and hers - she relocated to Chiangmai to be close to her parents, after slogging it out in the field of accountancy she decided corporate life was not for her. In her words, Bangkok is good for business, for work, but not so much for living. Singapore is very much like that. Not so good for living, really living. I envy her for having the luxury to live in a place where you can see the mountains in the horizon. Each day when me and the Valencian walked to dinner - a further walk out of town, I see the mountains ahead, as the sky slowly lost its light, and I was always, always awed. How I wish one day I can live in a place where I can see the mountains every day.  How breathtakingly beautiful my life would be if I can just see this every single day.

So she studied graphic design instead, to carve out another livelihood. And together with the kitsch creperie, she also opened a photolab where people went to take their significant photos. She sold me a crepe filled with nutella and banana, paired with a pineapple shake, and brought out a chair for me where I can eat it 'al fresco', a simple breakfast I will remember for a long time because of her.

Such are the tales of a solo traveler. If you wander through the streets of anywhere in the world, undoubtedly, you will meet people with stories to tell. I didn't set out to be someone who takes photos, although once I have a camera in my hand I have the compulsive need to document each worthy scene...

I think being a photographer is not so enjoyable, you have to physically 'remove' yourself from the scene and be an observer of sorts. I'd like, mostly, to play a part in the scene itself. I'm also still at the age where I'd like to see many, many happy pictures of me. I would never have decided on my own to come here alone, nor thought of it as a destination I would be heading to this year. So, I'm grateful that the Valencian had deeply encouraged me to come visit. Two months prior, I constantly scanned the travel sites for good prices, and found a fantastic deal at $440+, flying Silkair direct. Unlike my many other trips, I was not alone for most of the time - on one hand, I could not complete my walking tour (also due to the terrible body aches after the balance ball class we had) on the other, being constantly surrounded, I enjoy the moments spent with others, too. I get horribly lonesome sometimes on trips like this, so it's nice to just have one other person walking beside you, even if the other person is also lost in his own thoughts.

Behind every photo I take, there is a story waiting to be told, and in some instances, a simple photo capture cannot speak about the moments contained within.