Walking Around the Northeast Corner of the Old City

Friday, January 13, 2017
Around the Northeast Corner of the Old City

All signs indicate that we are having a break from the dark cloudy and rainy days. Today is bright and sunny, but very humid. After breakfast, I then went off to yoga at Wild Rose. At Wild Rose, I saw Tom Dickson, a friend from Sydney, Australia whom I met last year at Wild Rose, and with whom I made a number of hikes around and outside the old city. Tom only has a couple more days in Chiang Mai on this trip, so with the forecast of several sunny days, we made plans to hike up to Doi Suthep tomorrow, Saturday, hoping that the path will dry a little in today's sun.

Lunch at Blue Diamond

After a bit of a rest, I headed out for lunch to the northeast corner of the old city where there are many guest houses and many small restaurants. A not so small restaurant in this area is Blue Diamond (Moon Muang Road Soi 9), highly regarded and popular for their vegetarian and vegan food, home-baked goods, many gluten-free, and hill tribe coffee. Some people have said it is the best coffee in Chiang Mai, but there are many places that server very good coffee in northern Thailand, so that is a difficult comparison. All of the food at Blue Diamond is good quality. In some reviews, people have said that the Thai lady who owns and runs Blue Diamond is like a rude New Yorker, but she is always nice to me, maybe because I have returned many times, and always compliment her on the good food. I do not expect her to be my friend -- she focuses on managing and overseeing the business, and in all the meals I have had at Blue Diamond, they have never gotten my order wrong. And I return because the food at Blue Diamond is consistently good.

Northwest Corner of the Wall

After lunch, I wandered a bit around the northeast corner of the wall/moat.

Walking down Soi 9 toward Moon Muang Road, I passed this new restaurant. I may have to check this out - their statement is pretty bold. So I wonder how this compares to Rock Me Burger down on Loi Kroh Road. Worth an investigation, but with time here limited, there are too many good choices, and another burger place may not be the best choice.

When I last walked all around the wall/moat, it was raining as I walked past Tha Phae Gate and up to Siphum Corner, the northeast corner of the wall. So here is Siphum Corner approaching from west walking east. The moat water color varies depending on the amount of algae growing. I have seen it quite blue, and today it is quite green.

 This view is the opposite of the previous picture, looking west down the moat from Siphum Corner. Th hill in the background is Doi Suthep, up which Tom and I will be hiking tomorrow.

And then approaching and just across from Tha Phae Gate is this familiar emblem. I have little reason to go to Starbucks, because of the many places with very good Thai coffee here, but many Thai people go to Starbucks. Just as we are interested in and fascinated by foreign food and drinks, so are the Thai people...and Starbucks is foreign when in Thailand.

And here is guess who right outside Tha Phae Gate.

The sign is in modern Thai, old Thai, and English. What little I know of the old Thai is that it was used into the 20th century and supplanted by modern Thai as efforts were made to make the language consistent over the whole country (an impossible task).

The Tha Phae Gate history. This is on a stone plaque just to the right of the gate entrance, and few people seem to read it. I read this story on the internet before my first or second visit, and then discovered the plaque: there it is for anyone to read right at the gate. This history also mentions the outer wall - there was a second, outer, earthen wall closer to the river for many centuries. There are only a couple of places where evidence of the old outer wall can be seen. I'll try to get a few photographs of that older earthen wall soon and post them here.

A broader view of Tha Phae Gate. Just outside the gate, where I am standing is a square covering a section of the moat about 60-70 meters long. This square just outside Tha Phae Gate is used for concerts, for the New Year's celebration main stage, and other events. In the early evening, if nothing else is taking place, this is where street performers congregate. I recently saw a fellow doing a while routine with flaming batons, twirling and throwing them...probably would not have been allowed in the U.S. (And I was without my camera that evening.)

Next: A Hike Up Doi Suthep