Our Favorite Shop... Steps Away

Just outside the hotel gate is the lovely Sop Moei Arts shop.  They are tenants of Opus, Baan Orapin's owner.  Sop Moei Arts is a non-profit iniative started in 1988 to help the Pwo Caren hill tribes in the Sop Moei District develop income-generating products, using their traditional weaving and basket making traditions.  Like the fair trade companies we represent at Humankind (humankind slo.org), they use designers to help the people create marketable products.

Themoo explains to me that Pwo Caren men are now reclaiming their ancient basket making traditions, which also involve smoking the baskets to give them a rich patina.  Their other employment options are jobs like working in a 7-11 or pumping gas.  Now they are making a good living and preserving their heritage.  The prices here are expensive if compared to the factory made tourist items in the street market.  I pay $158 for a beautiful hand-woven hanging.  It is worth it.

The shop is a lovely place to spend time and they offer us coffee each time we poke around.  Themoo tells me the young men working in the shop are the ones with the artistic flair for display. 

The handbag collection, made with handwoven textiles and leather are gorgeous.

This is probably a bad picture, taken from their website, but it gives a glimpse of the Pwo Caren women.

We hear about the roast fish specialty at Lert Ros Restaurant.  The cook BBQs them out on the sidewalk, each plump fish is stuffed with a chunk of lemongrass.  The fish is moist and delicious with a dab of spicy sauce.  The bamboo shoot salad though has a strong fishy flavor and I don't eat more than a couple of bites.

Our lazy plan for the day involves shopping and massages.  Ben makes us all 4 PM appointments for "Swedish Oil Massages," but he goes early for his first-in-a-lifetime pedicure.  I insisted he do this and hope it converts him for the future.  As long as he doesn't have to get polish, he is game.  I stop by Tanita Coffee Shop for a cappuccino before my massage.  Misters are refreshing the air, though it is not very hot out.

They offer my cappuccino cold, and it comes in an ornate silver bowl with ice water and an orchid on the carved wooden tray.

The coffee shop is hidden down a little alley, or "soi."  I get a kick out of the tiny Christmas tree. We see lots of Christmas trees and decorations around town.

At the massage salon our feet are first washed.  Then each couple is led upstairs into a private room.  Ben and I are asked to undress and each offered disposable underwear... that we decline.  Each of our masseuses get to work on us.  The experience is nice but quite different than back home.  The way I would describe it is that the massage is like a step-by-step routine.  Massages I have had back home feel very individualized.  It is pleasant, except for a fan blowing too cool air across my oil slathered body.  This experience has run us $8 each and we all feel relaxed.

Tomorrow we leave Chaing Mai for Phrae by train.  This is an detour out of our way that John has cooked up.  We have 2 days to get to the Laos border for our Mekong River trip.

The train station is prettily decorated. Homages to the king are in many public spaces.  You get the sense that he is benevolently watching over his dear Thailand.  We are glad to be temporary members of his kingdom.