“With riots rife in Bangkok, rather than vacationing at the Thai capital, I chose to vacation at the quaint little city of Chiang Mai,” she says. Located amidst mountains, Chiang Mai is a quiet city with a glorious past and is incredibly different from Phuket, Bangkok and Koh Samui.
Choudry chose to begin her vacation visiting the 600-year-old Buddhist temple, Chedi Luang. “The temple seemed like it was straight out of a Thai painting. As I stood in front of it, complete with its huge imposing antique statues of Lord Buddha that lay across the property, I watched Buddhist monks sit with their legs crossed as they chanted. It was a wonderful sight to see all of them in saffron robes, silently going about doing their daily rou tine,” she says.
The actress also visited the Royal temple, Wat Phra Sing, during her stay at Chedi Luang. Ask her what she liked about the temple and she laughs, “The fact that no one hounded me for money while I prayed over there.”
One of the highlights of her trip was the visit to the Kalare night bazaar. The vibrant bazaar had an eclectic mix of cheap versions of branded bags and artifacts. Choudry who prefers to call her shopping spree over there as chindi (cheap) confesses, “It was great fun to haggle with the vendors. It’s amazing how I’m willing to spend 500 pounds on a pair of Louboutin shoes but while I was at the market I bargained even for something as little as 50 baht (72 rupees).” While she was at Chiang Mai, Choudry also tasted a famous Thai delicacy: the Thai banana roti (banana pancakes) made by street vendors. Choudry watched as they slapped out balls of dough, threw them on a hot griddle, sliced bananas directly onto them and deftly folded everything into a square. Within minutes, the crispy package filled with warm banana gooeyness was chopped into bite-size pieces, transferred to a napkin-lined paper plate, drizzled with sweetened condensed milk and served with a toothpick. “The Thai banana roti is irresistible and an absolute must have,” quips Choudry.
Tourists have been complaining that it is hard to spot an elephant in Thai city. But Choudry was lucky to see a herd of trained pachyderms paint at Chiang Mai! She says, “During my earlier trips I had seen elephants play football and polo. But this time I saw them painting. After the elephants complete their paintings, they take a bow and lift the paint pots with their trunks and walk off.” But that was not the only surprise. She adds, “Their paintings are immediately sold off and surprisingly, they fetch 3,000-30,000 baht (approximately Rs 4000 to Rs 43,0000).”
At the fag end of her trip, Choudry chose to visit the furniture stores at Chiang Mai. “My interior decorator had sourced a couple of artifacts for my home from here last year,” says the former veejay. But she admits that it wasn’t an easy task as she had to actually hunt for the good stuff. However, that didn’t deter her from doing what she does best - bargain! Wonder if the actress still made a profit after paying off the duties, for everything she had shopped and bargained for, at the airport.
