Chiang Mai, Part II - Muay Thai and Bamboo Tattoos

We wake up super early and hop on our scooter around 7AM, hoping to make the most of our 24hour rental...and avoid the early morning traffic. We fill the tank, pound Nescafe coffee drinks in a can (on vacation we eat/drink things we never do at home!) and ascend the mountain once again.  Past Doi Suthep, we climb farther above the city and further into the jungle.  Our destination: a small Hmong village and the finest, freshest coffee straight from the source. The roads narrow and the hills steepen.  It's a little more than our 100cc bike can manage with two passengers and I have to jump off and walk on a few of the steep climbs.  But down one-lane roads with two-way traffic and muddy, rutted turns lies the cutest little coffee shop I've ever seen.  An open-air platform of raw wood beams and a few tables nestled into a hillside and surrounded by a valley of coffee plants and banana trees.  An old woman offers us coffee or tea--we take two cups of coffee and a seat after our long ride.  The coffee is tasty, invigorating and relieving after our journey.  We even buy some beans to take home with us. 

The view from our coffee paradise.

After our coffee the old woman points us up the road to  the main part of the village.  We bike a few hundred meters further to a sleepy collection of ramshackle homes, a shop or two selling snacks and fresh fruit and the most unusual gasoline-dispensing contraption I've ever seen.  Well, since empty whiskey bottles.  The town is a weave of hard-packed clay/dirt roads, we pass an old woman sorting through rice grains in a wide basket on her stoop and a young boy feeding a few caged birds.  We wander about for a few more minutes but soon begin our journey back to the city.  On the way we stop to see the gardens at Phuphing Palace, a winter residence for the royal family when they visit Northern Thailand. The gardens are quite beautiful and varied, but we walk the grounds for only about an hour so we can return our bike on time. 

After a tasty lunch at the Blue Diamond (massive portions and a mostly veggie menu) we check out a few tattoo shops, eager to find someplace to get traditional bamboo tattoos.  Instead of a tattoo machine, traditional bamboo tattoos are done with 4-5 needles fastened to a bamboo handle.  The ink is then pressed into the skin with the needles by hand.  It began as a practice undertaken by Buddhist monks who imprinted traditional religious symbols into their skin centuries ago.  We've been toying with idea for some time, but we needed to find a good, clean shop and come up with a good idea. Seems like a great way to commemorate our trip!

The second shop we visit, Deja Vu Tattoo seems deserted at first.  Then suddenly a lively woman comes bouncing over from the internet cafe next door.  We discuss our idea and size/location for the tattoo.  She's very helpful, and on the phone with the tattoo artist to figure out the artwork immediately.  She asks if we can wait to see the design and get the work done tomorrow, and since we're enjoying Chiang Mai so far we decide to stay another day. We agree to email her a photo of our idea and set up an appointment for 4PM the following day.

With a few hours to kill before the Muay Thai fights that night, we grab a couple beers on a rooftop bar and a quick dinner at the night bazaar.  Then it's off to the fights!

What a crazy scene.  Let me see if I can summarize: The ring sits in what is more or less a roofed-in courtyard, encircled with a few dozen tables and chairs. Beyond that the whole thing is surrounded by 7-8 different bars.  Most interesting is the self-proclaimed Lady Boy Bar.  Want to know more about lady boys, or Kathoey? Read here. Anyway, the lady boy's may have been the most interesting part of the night--between fights they lip-synced and preformed choreographed dance numbers to various 70's hits. Eventually they were topless, with tourists dancing along! It was quite a sight...


As for the fights, they were also quite entertaining. There were 6 or 7 bouts, starting with young, 12-14 year old boys and working their way up in weight and skill level. Some fights were quick and brutal, while others were slow and prodding battles.  Almost all were called by the ref due to one of the fighters being unable to go on.  In the finale, an international bout, a Thai fighter is beaten by a lanky, pale English kid in 5 rounds. All in all, quite a night.

The next day we rise for another round of iced coffees and our first laundry of the trip.  We make use of the sidewalk laundromat just across from our guesthouse--literally a few coin-operated washers and dryers on the street--and then grab a quick snack before heading over to check out the artwork for our tattoo.  Unfortunately it's not ready yet, but the woman promises if we return at 6PM she will have the artwork and the artist ready to go.  A bit concerned, but with no other option, we hang out in a few used bookstores and check out a recommended vegetarian restaurant before returning to the shop.  


To our surprise we return to the shop to find the tattoo artist and a great, very detailed sketch of our idea, which I've obviously been keeping a secret so far.  So here's how it turned out: 
 

It's a little tough to see, but the design is based on the roots of the trees that we had been seeing all around Thailand--unlike most trees back home, their root systems seem to sit much more above the ground.  We think they are Indian rubber trees, but we're not entirely sure.  Here's the picture the artwork is based on:

We decide to get the same design on opposite calves (mine on my right, Sadrah's on her left) to symbolize the roots that we have grown together...awwwww...ok, shut up! The work costs about 6000B each for 2 hours, or about $200 including a pretty decent tip by Thai standards.  The detail in the artwork came out great (unfortunately you can't really see it in the picture) so for the time and level of work we're both very happy.  Bamboo tattoos don't generally bleed or scab up like machine tattoos since the needles don't go as deep.  However they last just as long and are fully healed within 3-4 days.  You can even get them wet 3-4 hours after the work is done, which means we can take a full-on shower that night. A nice bonus in this sticky climate. 

Our awesome artist and his partner

It's pretty late by the time we finish up with the tattoos, so we say our thank yous and goodbyes and head back to our guesthouse.  After a quick celebratory beer at the bar downstairs we crash into our bed, for another day of travel lies ahead. Tomorrow we really get off the pancake trail...