After a busy first week of getting settled into life in Chiang Mai, daily routines are beginning to congeal. Surprisingly, adjusting to an unscheduled life takes some effort. In the midst of not doing a lot, I did have the opportunity to see my good friends, drink and eat good food, and take time to just enjoy the day to day routine of being in Chiang Mai.

Walking in Chiang Mai

My mornings have fallen into a pattern of walking to Wat Inthakhin to light incense and make merit, then over to Chiang Mai Gate market for an avocado-coconut-banana smoothie, then back to Tiptopthai, stopping to talk to one cheerful vendor that has packages of the Thai dessert I always refer to as “peanut yummy goodness” because I have no idea of the real name. The locals that I greet every day on this route, heartily greet me with each passing day and have started to make basic conversations from time to time. I’ll miss my routine when I’m gone from Chiang Mai for a week and then staying at a different guesthouse for a few days.

Walking in Chiang Mai is an unexpected obstacle course. The curbs, when present, are painted in red and white at the corners and half the time are slanted to allow motorcycles to drive up them for parking. Stepping up or down from the squared off curbs can be range of height from a few inches to a foot. And there are no curb ramps. Well, if they are present, they are usually so that motorcycles can use the sidewalk to jump to the front of the traffic line. If you can find a sidewalk, a smooth walk is not guaranteed. Count on encountering poles in the middle of path, signs, missing paver stones, wobbly manhole covers, missing manhole covers, and pipes sticking up for no apparent reason. I definitely do not recommend walking and texting as it can prove to be a hazard to life and limb. One last tidbit, despite always being taught to walk against traffic, ignore that and always walk with the traffic direction.

Despite the obstacle course, I still enjoy walking and seeing the random little things that often go unnoticed when on a motorbike or when one is in a hurry to get to a destination. An old mile marker. Flowers against a brick wall. Watching the traffic zip by ancient buildings. A lovely message painted on a building. Along the way, I smile at the Thai and the other farang (foreigners), most the Thai and occasionally a few farang return smiles, which makes me happy. I also am enjoying the healthy benefits of walking everywhere. My legs are continuing to grow stronger with each step.

Friends Old and New

Gathering with friends has been a terrific part of my routine. I’ve spent time with my long-time friends, continued gathering with my new friends, and of course, meeting even more new friends.

Lek and I had been looking forward to seeing each other since I told her I was planning to be back in Thailand. With the weather threatening rain, Lek picked me up in a car, which is highly unusual. For dinner, she took me to a famous Michlin star rated noodle stand called Sankapoi. The noodles are a style that are more specific to Northern Thailand than your average noodle. The curry options are also more tailored to this area and were delicious.

A gathering in Thailand always has room for more friends. Lek’s friends, Nan and Daek were in town also and wanted to see her. Another friend, Jang, also joined us. They met Lek and I at Sankapoi. From there, we went to a bar for beer and to visit. Lek went in search of more food and I was introduced to sai yarng (grilled tripe). I think they were surprised I ate it. “Con Thai ging sai yarng” (“When you are like Thai, you eat sai yarng”) And before you say yuck (even though I know most of you have already thought it), it really wasn’t that bad and tasted no different than any other grilled meat on a stick.

The sai yarng finished and six 750 ml bottles of Singha shared between four of us (Lek wasn’t drinking since she was driving a car), we moved on to the Jazz Café. The Jazz Café is a music venue that doesn’t necessarily feature jazz. In fact, there was no jazz played all evening. More bottles of beer and more food was ordered. We spent the rest of the evening, drinking and laughing. In total, I think we went through nine more bottles of beer. I couldn’t tell you for sure because they never actually let my glass get empty.

Upon hearing that I was heading to Lampang the following week, Nan and Deak invited me to come to Phayao (pronounced: Pie-ow) and visit them. Never to turn down an invitation, I added two days on to my upcoming trip to visit them and see the small town of Phayao.

My friend Chai was also in town for work this week. We originally were going to meet on Friday and Sunday evenings. Friday evening, his customers wanted to stay out later and by the time he was finished at 10 PM, we decided sleep was a better choice from me. On Sunday, we originally were going to meet between 5 and 6 PM. Around 7:30, his customers were done shopping at the mall and he was ready to pick me up. We both had already had a bit to eat, but mostly just snacks. So it was off to eat and drink.

We started at a Japanese restaurant for what we called dinner number 2. Per my usual, I had no idea what some of what I was eating was. Maybe squid. I don’t know. We did also have some more recognizable foods like salmon, chicken, and pork. Since I had never had mala before, Chai decided we should go on to a mala shop for dinner number 3. For mala, you pick out some various meats on a a stick, they grill it, and then serve it in a soup that we shared. Since I am a farang, I’m pretty sure they made it less spicy than normal. While at the mala place, I was telling Chai about my night with Lek. In Chai’s opinion, the vendor on the corner that has been there for many years, makes the dish even better than Sankapoi. And with that, we were on to dinner number 4. Served by a stern woman that never smiled or showed any emotion and sitting at tables and chairs more suited to children size people. Did I mention Thai like to eat?

The beautiful part about knowing that I will have more time in Chiang Mai is that I know this won’t be my only chance to see Lek and Chai.

My days also involved hanging out with my new friends, Miriam and Gabriella. Sometimes we met as a group. Sometimes it was just getting together one-on-one. I’m going to miss these lovely ladies as we all move on in our travels and on our life paths. Hopefully our paths will cross again in the future. Maybe in Thailand. Maybe somewhere down the road.

One of the days Miriam and I went for tok sen massages at Wat Pan Whean. Miriam had never had a tok sen massage and was hesitant to go by herself. My advice to her was to trust the [massage] process. Meaning the therapist may not always work on what you think they should be working on and to just trust that what they are working on is what needs to be worked on to take care of the problem. Several days later, Miriam asked if I wanted to go again. Of course I went. During my massage I was struggling with how my therapist was working. While my brain was ruminating on what the therapist was doing, my advice to Miriam came back to haunt me. Trust the process.

On Sunday, Gabriella invited me to join her for an Ecstatic Dance session. During an Ecstatic Dance session, music is played and the participants can move however feels good to them, without judgement from themselves or others. No talking. Just listening to the music and seeing what comes up for you. You can also just sit and meditate or feel the music however you want. This quote on the webiste from Gabrielle Roth helps sum it up:

“Energy moves in waves. Waves move in patterns. Patterns move in rhythms. A human being is just that – energy, waves, patterns, rhythms. Nothing more. Nothing less. A dance.” ~ Gabrielle Roth

I wasn’t sure what I was getting into. Two hours later, I was really glad that I went.

Often we would have coffee before or after the massage or dance. Occasionally, we would meet for dinner. The last night we were all in town, we met for a last dinner at a wonderful restaurant called Garden to Table by Hotpot Panda. All of the food is fresh and is not made with any sugar or msg. They are known for their kaho soi (a curry type dish with noodles local to Chiang Mai), and by the end of dinner, it was apparent why. After dinner, we moved on to a bar for a beer. When it was time, Gabriella hugged us goodbye and jumped on the Grab motorbike she had ordered. Miriam and I finished our beers and then hugged our goodbyes as well.

Embracing the Inner Nomad

November is traditionally the start of cool season. I am still waiting for the temperatures to cool off. Evenings bring a slight respite from the heat. During the day the temperatures are still in the 28 to 32 C (82 to 90 F) range with high humidity. The heat of the afternoon often finds me at my guest house with the intention of writing. Intentions are fine and dandy. In reality I have usually been more focused on travel planning.

One of the lessons I have learned is that now is the time to embrace my inner nomad. This time is not a time to settle down in one place for an extended period of time. My travels to Southeast Asia have been predominantly focused only on Thailand. Now is the time to visit more countries.

My first jaunt will be a trip to Laos and Vietnam in December. Vietnam requires that you get a visa letter ahead of time so that you can get a visa on entry. Chatting with Miriam about this gave me a little angst and I set to getting my application in as soon as possible. While I was waiting for the application to be processed, I also realized that if it didn’t come through, I would just go somewhere else. My application was approved and my travel planning can commence in full. Just have to trust the process.

Now maybe I can get to doing more writing.