Rainy Season?

The rainy season is not over! K’s curious about rain in Chiang Mai, since being here in the dry season last time and not seeing a drop. It brings the temperature down to about 77 degrees just after a shower, but increases the humidity. It’s been alternating downpours and sprinkles since just after a little adventure to the special outdoor market, but Elizabeth says it’s nothing compared to the wall of water that is the height of rainy season.


Although the area of Chiang Mai in which we are staying is near the University and full of English-language shops and “farang” restaurants, we saw no other Caucasians at the market, and felt fully, wonderfully, out of our element. Still, it is disconcerting when even the numbers are written in characters we don't understand. We were too shy to take pictures.

After watching the activities in a makeshift tent restaurant for quite awhile, R got brave enough to go up and order something for K to eat. (This is the task specialization we’re developing: R gets bravery points for ordering, K gets bravery points for eating.) The cook had a large propane pot that was separated into compartments – one had broth, another had pasta water, and the third had some kind of soaking white meat ball (this is why K is the food tester!) The cook grabbed the noodle type I chose and lowered it in a one-portion basket into the pot for a few seconds, then dumped it in a coconut shell bowl. She topped it with various dry ingredients from a nearby pile of baskets that included a spice mixture, peanuts, dried meat bits, seasoned ginger, a scoop of salt, and dried greens of some kind. Then the broth was added, and we sat down at a low bamboo table on little plastic stools. (Gals, you’d recognize them from the Korean spa.) We both agreed it was delicious, whatever it was.