I Was a Chiang Mai Girl

I traveled to Thailand this weekend, a country Eric Weiner visited as part of his quest to map The Geography of Bliss. I read his book while I visited (sort of like the time I read Bram Stoker in Transylvania, but less obvious). His visits to Thailand focused on both the availability of pleasure and the easy going nature of Thai people. I didn't partake in the ping pong pleasure variety that Mr. Weiner did (strictly for research purposes, I'm sure), but I did have the rare chance and pleasure to spend my holiday outside the backpacking ex-pat crew, and instead in Thai homes with my Thai-American friends and their families.

A friend of mine from DC had studied in Chiang Mai, the city where her mother was born and lived until she left to study in the US. I traveled with her and her sister to their mother's hometown, feeling blissed-out myself to have the company of good friends and a chance to see Thai homes in a city I'd heard raves about. Four of her mother's six sisters (I may not have that exactly right, I was perpetually confused by all the familial relationships.) still live in Chiang Mai. We stayed one night in the teak house where their mother had grown up. Now the two front rooms are rented out as a beauty parlor, appropriate for a home where seven (or eight?) girls were raised. Even more appropriate considering two of her aunts were beauty queens! "Miss Chiang Mai's" in the '60s or '70s.

From the moment I touched on Thai soil, I was plied with exotic fruits, delicious noodle dishes, tasty rice desserts, and ice cream before noon, served on a hamburger bun -- surprisingly delicious. The only phrase I learned besides thank you was "aroy mat" -- very tasty. The most frequent English phrase I heard from all the Thai aunties was "Don't you want more? Eat some more!" What a great place to earn my own Buddha belly.

In addition to eating copious amounts of Thai food, I also spent a fair share of Baht for some more luxurious goods not readily available in Phnom Pehn. MBK, the giant market in Bangkok has everything I could imagine available for sale housed in the largest indoor/outdoor market I've ever visited.

Delicious food, fantastic shopping, and the maybe the best public transport I've ever used (Germany's is also really good...), but that's not why Mr. Weiner put Thailand on the happiness map. He surmised from his interviews that the Thai's easy-going nature, abilitiy to laugh at pitfalls, large and small, and (most-importantly) their value of just not thinking too much about one's problems makes Thailand the second "Land of Smiles." (The first being Cambodia, I'm a purist.)

When I mentioned the book to my friend's university host mom, she immediately said, "We say 'nevermind.' It means, just don't worry about it." Weiner had written the exact same thing, complete with the same examples she gave, (when someone falls or drops something, we just laugh and laugh!) I'm left believing that Thailand is a very happy place, and that trying to positively think your way to happiness may be less effective than just trying to not think so much at all.