My First Gigs in Thailand

Hello and welcome to my blog! I'm Tony G and I'll be your virtual tour guide for the next few minutes.

As per my last blog post, I'm currently living in Chiang Mai, Thailand working on my online guitar lessons website (guitarwithtonyg.com) and having a blast hanging with my buddy Scott and meeting some locals.

In this blog we're going to cover a few things including:

• Buddhist Monks and Temples
• The Thai Calendar
• Getting Gigs in Chiang Mai
• Meeting Some Locals
• My First Thai Massage
• And much more!

Let's jump right in!

Buddhist Monks and Temples

When you're walking down the streets of Chiang Mai early in the morning or late in the afternoon, there are a couple things that will stick out.  The first is the Buddhist monks walking around with shaved heads in their bright saffron Kasayas.  The Kasaya is the traditional robe that ordained monks wear and in the early mornings, many people wait for them outside with offerings of food for the day.

I saw many a monk walking when I was out for my early morning runs and I noticed that there are many people waiting outside to give out meals or drinks.  For the locals, giving food to the monks is good karma so it's a very common thing to do.  The monks place the meals in their alms bowls and continue walking barefoot to their temple.

These temples are quite eccentric and they vary in terms of size and design. That being said, a common theme I've noticed consists of lots of black sculptures and gold pagodas.  It's customary to take your shoes off when you walk into a temple so I threw on some slip-ons and headed out to check out some of the local locations.

First off, the temples are just gorgeous and they are filled with awesome sculptures and metal work.  No matter how many temples I check out, I always find something that wows me whenever I walk into a new one.  My buddy Scott who is on this adventure with me has recommended we go check out some of the even more massive ones outside the city.  That will be a future blog post no doubt!

One morning I did my daily meditation inside of a smaller temple and it was very serene.  I quite enjoyed sitting in a chair on the side while others came in and prayed or made offerings.  I would highly recommend this!

There are also many smaller sites where you can make offerings and light incense in prayer.  They are strewn about the city and frequently pop up when you're strolling through town.

Thai Calendar

Last week's blog ended with a bit of a cliffhanger: This year is the year 2563 according to the Thai Buddhist calendar.  This was brought about in 1913 to reflect the years in the Buddhist era. However, Thailand still uses the Gregorian calendar for official purposes and they celebrate regular new year instead of Lunar new year.

It's pretty crazy sometimes when I load up a search on Google because the date of the website or article will be indicated by the Buddhist era year and it throws me for a loop.  I don't think I'll have a chance to get used to it because Scott and I are headed to Vietnam in just over two weeks! I can't wait!

Getting Gigs in Chiang Mai

Scott has been to Thailand and specifically Chiang Mai a couple times already so he knows the lay of the land pretty well.  He's been a bit of my local guide and we've had a good time walking around and checking out places he's familiar with and places that are new to him.  I'm not too bad on the Google machine so I've found a couple sweet spots to hit and it's been a grand 'ol time.

One day when Scott and I were exploring some of the old city I hadn't seen before, we walked to a bar he's been to several times called the C.U. Corner Bar.  It's a popular ex-pat bar that is known for live music every night of the week.

Scott and I walked in to grab a beer and we met some lovely Canadian tourists who we had a fantastic chat with.  While we were chatting, one of the bartenders noticed my guitar tattoos and she asked if I played.  "I play a bit" I responded and she asked me if I would play them a song.  They had a couple guitars on the wall so I grabbed one, tuned it up and led out with a classic 90s hit, "Wonderwall." 

This attracted a couple more people to come into the bar and they asked me to play another song or two. I of course obliged them (I am a performer after all!) and they enjoyed the followup tunes as well.

It turns out that the owner was there and she heard me playing. She came out and introduced herself and asked me how long I was going to be in town. When she heard I was going to be around for a few weeks, she asked me if I would like to come in and play a set or two a couple nights a week.  I was elated! She said she legally couldn't pay me (and as per my last blog, I found that one out the hard way...) but she would compensate me with a few beers on the house.

Whenever there's a chance to play music for others and get some free beers at the same time, I'm always game! She asked me to come in that Friday and Saturday for a set or two and I obliged!  

Funny little anecdote: they are used to having their performers sit down at a table and play so they didn't have any tall mic stands.  Since I like to stand when I play and sing, we whipped something up really quick and it worked out just fine.

(Yes that's a cooler on top of a container on top of a chair)

The bartenders are really nice and they know how to work the crowd.  Whenever musicians are playing they clap along and dance and try to get new people from the street to come into the bar.  It's a great setting and I am really happy to be gigging again.  I feel very fortunate to be presented with these situations and I'm very glad that I can share my music with so many people from all over the world.

The owner of the bar has got me lined up for more gigs and she's giving me some prime time spots in the near future.  I can't wait! Scott also got some good footage of me playing at the first gig so I'll be sure to get some of that onto YouTube to share.

Meeting the Locals

Scott and I are currently living in an apartment that's relatively far away from the old city.  We found a really nice place that was dirt cheap and although it has more of a suburban feel to it, we've quickly adapted and have met many of our local restaurant and shop owners.  We're stoked about the local experience we're getting and we're more-or-less the only white folks this far out.  We've seen a couple others passing by but it's definitely not a touristy neighborhood.

The first time we went out to explore, we were walking past a little "restaurant" (more like a covered patio with a gas grill) and an older Thai woman called out in English, "Where are you going?!" We told her we were going to explore the town and she told us to come back to her when we were hungry.  We were happy to grant her request!

The next day around lunch time we walked back to her restaurant and sat down.  She asked us what we wanted to eat and we told her to surprise us.  She made us some delicious chicken fried rice and Scott and I knew that we would easily become regulars here.

The owners name is Nui and she is just a sweet, caring woman who knows how to make some GREAT food!

Another perk is that depending on the time of day you go, you get to sit with some great company:

Scott and I have been back to her restaurant every single day for lunch and every day we ask her to surprise us.  There has not been a single bad dish that we've eaten and it's ranged all over the place from eggplant to curry to delicious noodles and she trusts us enough to mix in some Thai chilies knowing it won't be too hot for us.  Scott and I have still been adding ALL the spice when we eat any dish.  It's just too good!

Still Plenty to Explore

We continuously explore the city every few days and we are still finding so much we haven't seen.  Although I've been trying a lot of new dishes, there's nothing like a good Pad Thai from time to time as well.  Scott showed me a food market and we compared some of the Pad Thai dishes from various stalls.

Another dish that I really enjoy is mango with sticky rice.  They cut up fresh mango, throw in a scoop of sticky rice and then give you coconut milk to pour over the top.  It's so friggin' good! You can have it for breakfast, or for dessert, or for lunch, or for afternoon snack, I mean... there's no bad time for mango and sticky rice.

Our latest notion is to go to a small town that's about 2.5 hours away by bus that is really well-known for it's nature hikes and waterfalls.  We're looking forward to doing a 2-day trip in the coming weeks as this country is just absolutely beautiful and very green.

My First Thai Massage

Scott has been raving about Thai massages ever since we got here but I've never gotten a professional massage before so I was a bit nervous to be honest.  One night he finally convinced me to get one so he and I hit up a highly recommended local spot in the old city and it was an experience!

First off, the masseuse washes your feet and then you have to change into a loose but comfortable pair of pants and a shirt.  My masseuse was a small woman who looked to be in her 50s but make no mistake, she had incredible strength and brought the pain.  A Thai massage is very aggressive but afterwards you feel like a million bucks.  My masseuse really dug in and the next day I felt absolutely fantastic.  I would highly recommend it to anyone especially after a long day of walking around the city.

Otherwise...

Otherwise it's been business as usual. I wake up early in the morning, do my workout/meditation routine and then work until lunch time.  Scott and I go eat at Nui's restaurant, take a quick walk if it's not too hot and then come back and continue working.  It feels good to be back on a regimen and I've got some excellent content coming out.

That's it for this week so I hope that you enjoyed a look into Chiang Mai, Thailand and I look forward to sharing more adventures with you soon!

Cheers,

Tony G

Eating All the Thai Chilies in Chiang Mai, Thailand

Hello and welcome to my blog!

My name is Tony G and I'm traveling the world while working on my business of helping people reach their dreams of playing the guitar.

This month I am in Chiang Mai, Thailand and although I've only been here a few days, I've already had some good times!

In this post I'm going to cover the following:

• How it Feels Returning to Southeast Asia
• The Food... ALL the food!
• The Sunday Night Market
• New Friends
• A Run-In with the Police
• And more!

Let's hop in where we left off last time:

A Short Stint Back Home

Nashville

I went back to the US for the holidays and it was good seeing familiar faces of my family and friends.  I was sad to leave Germany for several reasons but being with family and friends helped keep me in the present moment.  My first stop in the states was Nashville, TN to visit my good buddy Tim in his new house.

Tim and I met a few years ago when I was playing music in a sandwich shop by his office.  He's a guitar player as well so we became fast friends.  I even moved into his basement for the last ~7 months before moving to Germany and then he sold his house in Denver and moved to Nashville.

I was excited that I got the chance see his new spot as well as old friends I hadn't seen in awhile.  It also turns out that my good friend Trevor was on tour in Nashville at the time so we all got to catch up.  I also ate a bunch of Nashville hot chicken which was delicious and we got to see some great live music which Nashville is famous for.

Denver

After Nashville I flew back to Denver, CO to be with my family and friends for Christmas and New Years.  It was really great to see everyone and the holidays were lovely.  I hope that you and yours also had a wonderful holiday season.

After a nice three week stint in Denver, I was ready to hit the road again on to my next adventure.  I had a long travel day getting from Denver to Chiang Mai but luckily, Santa got me some great noise canceling headphones and I put them to excellent use! (Thanks mom and dad!)

Seattle

The first of three flights brought me to Seattle with an 8 hour layover.  I was considering just staying at the airport but I figured I would reach out to a friend instead and I'm very glad I did!  My friend, Alex lives in Seattle and he offered to come pick me up from the airport and show me around town for a few hours.

He took me to a winery that he's a member of and we got to try some really great local wine made with local grapes.  It was the whole nine yards with not only a map of where the grapes came from but lots of tasting notes as well.

We then went to a fantastic restaurant in Georgetown that is known for their grilling and we went all out with some octopus, chicken and and assortment of vegetables.  It was an awesome last American meal to have before leaving the motherland.

Flight to Taipei, Taiwan

I got back to the airport with plenty of time before my flight so I checked in and smooth-talked the airline customer service reps into letting me have priority boarding so I could find space for my guitar.  I wouldn't even say I smooth-talked them more than I was just as polite and courteous as I could possibly be.  A little bit of kindness goes a long way.

Because I teach guitar full time, I need to bring my guitar with me everywhere I go and it gets a little tricky with flights sometimes.  I really don't want to check it because it can easily get beat up and be subjected to low pressure which is bad for the wood. Because my guitar is my livelihood, I do my best to take extra special care of it.

They gave me such priority boarding that I boarded with everyone who needed to be pushed down the ramp in a wheelchair.  I felt a little bad but was very happy when I got on board and the flight attendants helped me find a safe place for my guitar.

I sat down and as the plane filled up, a very nice woman sat next to me and as luck would have it, she is a Chinese-born American so I got to speak a lot of Mandarin with her on the plane.  Her English was great too but I hadn't spoken Mandarin in quite some time so it felt great to shake the rust off.

She told me about growing up in China, her plans to visit her parents for Lunar New Year, about her daughter's business and how she loves living in Seattle.  Good thing we had a lot of things to talk about because it was a 13 hour flight! Luckily it felt much shorter than that due to the lovely conversation and some much-needed sleep.

As we parted ways I wished her luck in the new year and I grabbed my guitar from the flight attendants.  Only one more flight and I was going to be in Thailand!

Getting Back to Asia

In case you didn't know, I previously lived in China for about a year between 2011 and 2012.  It was one of the best times of my life and I didn't want to leave.  I unfortunately ended up having to leave due to visa issues and since then I haven't had the chance to come back to Asia.  

However, as soon as I landed in Chiang Mai all of the memories came flooding back.  The lush green foliage and trees, the smells of Asian spices and foods, the older architecture and of course the cultural change of being a minority in a new country.

Because I've lived in China and I see many cultural similarities, I have not really experienced culture shock.  One of the biggest changes is that I can't speak Thai like I speak Mandarin so it's difficult not being able to interact with shopkeepers that don't speak English.  However, everyone is SUPER nice and I'm picking up a bit of Thai here and there.

Thai Food - Hot and Spicy!

After I got to the hotel I took a quick shower and hit the town.  The area of Chiang Mai I was staying in is part of the old city which used to be surrounded by a wall.  Take a look at the map below and you'll see the layout.

This part of the city is definitely the most tourist heavy but it's not very busy at this time of year.  I thought it was going to be a bit crazier but the more touristy cities such as Bangkok and Phuket are in the southern part of Thailand whereas Chiang Mai is in the northern part.

Enough geography, let's talk food!

Khao Soi (Cow Soy)

I found the nearest restaurant and went in for a quick meal.  Luckily the staff spoke excellent English and they have pictures of all the menu items which is my favorite! When in doubt, you can just point at what you want!

I didn't know it at the time but what I ordered is called Khao Soi which is a delicious curry dish with noodles, fried noodles, chicken and garnishes.  Here's a picture of what it looks like:

I of course also had to order a bottle of the local beer, Chang just to see how it complimented the meal.  It was right on the money! Speaking of money, it's pretty cheap being out here and that entire meal you see pictured above only costs $4.  The beer was actually more expensive than the food!

After having Khao Soi once, you start craving it.  Because of that, I've been back to the same place at least three times just to make sure that uhhh their recipe is consistent?  It was the same staff each day so the last time I went in I didn't even have to order, they just brought me my usual.

Breakfast

Breakfast was provided by the hotel I was initially staying in and I made sure to try all of the different menu items.  My favorite of the dishes was basically a chicken and vegetable dish that you would expect to find for lunch or dinner at any Thai restaurant back in the states.  

(Those red things are Thai chilies)

The first time I had it, I was immediately sweating from how spicy it was but I couldn't get enough.  I asked a staff member if that's how hot they usually eat their food.  She laughed and told me that they had "only" put in two Thai chilies and that she would usually eat it with five!

The next morning when I ordered it again, I asked for three chilies... That was one of the spiciest meals I have ever eaten.  It was absolutely delicious but I almost got the hiccups mid meal! The staff looked at me and laughed and I grinned from ear to ear as I wiped the sweat from my brow.

Speaking of Spicy

Speaking of spicy Thai food, my buddy Scott just got into town as he's joining me for the next couple months in Asia.  He and I moved to our new spot and went to a local noodle shop for some dinner.  We had a bit of a spice off:

I guess I'm just a glutton for punishment!

Familiar Asian Dishes

I also stumbled across another tasty restaurant that offered one of my favorite Chinese dishes.  In Chinese it's called "Kong Xin Cai" and I guess the English translation of it is "Morning Glory."  Either way, it's almost like a mix of broccolini and spinach and it's simple yet very delicious.  Wouldn't you know it, they served it with Thai chilies too 😁

New Friends

At the same restaurant where I was eating the Kong Xin Cai, I made friends with the manager.  He is a Thai native and has worked for several hotel groups in Thailand and has done some incredible things such as serving the king and prime minister of Thailand and used to have 700 employees under him.

During our chat, I mentioned I was a musician and his eyes lit up with excitement! It turns out he is also a guitar player/singer so we had much to talk about.  I went back and chatted with him every day I was staying in the old city area and we're going to get together soon and jam.  I'm really looking forward to it!

Sunday Night Market

Every Sunday they hold a HUGE night market on the main streets of old town.  They completely shut down the streets to traffic and thousands of vendors set up shop.  They sell anything and everything including food, clothes, jewelry and even herbal remedies and medicine.  I walked for quite some time exploring as much of it as I could and it was massive!  Here's a quick video of me seeing about 1% of it:

They also have cultural entertainment and had some traditional dances and routines that were really cool to watch.

It turns out there are also musicians that play throughout the market and my friend from the restaurant told me I should grab my guitar and setup right in front of his shop!  He didn't need to tell me twice! I went and grabbed my guitar and soon was busking in the market having a grand 'ol time.  

As I belted out some tunes I had a lot of quixotic looks thrown my way.  I can only imagine what all of the tourists from all the different countries thought when they saw me playing and singing my heart out in the streets of Chiang Mai.

I was having lots of fun and talking with some people when a police officer walked up to me...

Run-In with the Police

Because I'm here on a tourist visa, I'm not allowed to make money from the Thai economy.  The police officer came over and told me to pack up and leave.  I was cordial and apologized for the misunderstanding.  I explained I wasn't there to make any serious cash (people had thrown about $1 total into my guitar case) but rather just wanted to play some songs and meet people.  He told me I needed a permit to even perform without making money.  I thanked him for letting me know and for letting me off with a warning.

I went over and told my restaurant friend about it and he said he didn't know about the law or the permit either.  We had a good laugh about it and then I headed back to my hotel to listen to some live music and bring my last night staying in the old city to a close.

Moving Forward

All in all, it's been an awesome trip thus far.  I've been maintaining my workout and meditation routine which have both been keeping me physically and mentally healthier than I've been in a long time.  Another bonus is that because the weather in Thailand has been quite nice, I've also been able to go running again which is something I love.  It's not only great exercise but it offers me new perspective of the city as I pass by all of the different areas.

Here's a video from one of my early morning runs:

I've also gotten back into my work routine which I found difficult to resume when I was back in the states for the holidays.  I realize I was driving myself a little crazy with how much free time I had.  It feels good to get back to working on content and marketing for my business and this year is going to be the year!  

Speaking of years, did you know that in Thailand they are 543 years ahead of us with their calendar? We'll get into that and some other awesome cultural information next time!

Final Thoughts

I have less than a month before moving on to the next part of this adventure so I'm going to do my best to live in the present every moment I can.  It's definitely easier said than done!

I can't wait to see what Scott and I get ourselves into while we're here and I am very much looking forward to sharing it with you.

Thank you for reading and I hope you have a fantastic day!

Tony G