Ma’s Guesthouse

We are lucky to have found this gem.  It sits above a busy street in the old town and you can watch all the hustle from a lush patio filled with Thai antiques and plants, eating sticky rice and fried eggs, sipping hot Nescafe near the running fountain.   It is run by Ma, a generous woman with never-ending energy and good cheer that does everything to make sure that your every need is met.  For $15 a room, it is the best deal in town. We love it.

Ma and the many women that run her salon and guesthouses are so nice.  For example, I attempted all day to find a mortar and pestle, a large wooden one to make my favorite Som Tom Papaya salad.  We walked all day, went to five markets, no luck.  Finally I went to Ma.  Told her what I wanted, and she said that she could help me find it.  So I figured, in a couple of days…and I went home.  Literally 20 minutes later, two women on a motorbike brought me exactly what I had been looking for.  It was 250 baht or $8 (the women had got a deal as the price on the bottom was 280).  I was stunned.  The kind of generosity and kindness that the Thai people continually show us is awesome.

Plus the guesthouse is around the corner from our favorite park, Nong Buak Hard Park.  It is a city park heavily used by locals exercising, various ball games and French people practicing tight rope and arabesque yoga.  I attend free yoga in the mornings.  We go daily and play frisbee or practice a Thai form of hacky sack with a large plastic ball.  Takraw is the Thai word for the hand-woven rattan ball originally used in the game. It is essentially kickball played over a volleyball net ( you cannot use your hands) or men stand in a circle and kick it really high in order to get into a netted hoop and score points.  It is immensely popular and played in highly publicized matches for the king. The game looks easy but it is actually really hard and I am amazed that the control players have when they kick it.

For our last week in Chiang Mai we moved to Ma’s Guesthouse 2 and basically had a little open aired house to ourselves. We shared the common space with Alex, Aiden and Stephanie (our new friend from Germany).  It is a wonderful community and there is a lot of music as Alex plays the Viola and Uke and Aiden the guitar.  It is a wholesome scene here.

Being in Chiang Mai has actually been a break from traveling.  We found another home. We will miss it a lot.  I am sure we will be back.