Chiang Mai – Thailand….

I arrived in steamy Bangkok around midnight and had a taxi ride to a simple hotel near the airport. Saw a few big puddles but no flooded areas.   Slept well after the 20+ hour journey.  (The seat on the Vancouver-Hong Kong flight was impossible to sleep in.)

Caught a late morning flight to Chiang Mai.  Chiang Mai (population ~1M)  is in a flat valley in the foothills of the Himalayas in Northern Thailand (and near the famous Golden Triangle). From the air, it looked quite dry in spots but lots of green farmed areas and heavily forested hillsides.

The hotel I booked for my first 2 nights had a beautiful lobby area with high red roof/tile ceilings and teak everywhere …. and run-down (but clean) rooms.  It was an upscale hotel 30 years ago, I am sure. Wifi web access was limited to lobby, which was actually more pleasant to hang out in than the room.

I soon set off on the first of many walks through the old city.  There are 66 magnificent temples in Chiang Mai, and over 300 in the immediate area – and very much in daily use.  Saffron-robed monks are also a common sight.  And a very developed tourist scene – some of it very pleasant and some quite sleazy.

I checked around and found a clean, cozy guesthouse with A/C, “hot” (warm) water and wifi that was about half the price of the hotel – 600 baht (about $20) per night.  (The accommodation costs I found ranged from 100 baht dorm-rooms for the backpack set to 4000 baht for luxury boutique hotels.)

My original plan (in Oct. before the flood) was to look for a short term teaching job in Bangkok (BKK) or nearby, ie Rayong, an industrial city about 2 hours from BKK which is close to some nice beaches and to Koh Samet – a nice island getaway.  I would do a little work to get in touch with the local people and have access to BKK and beaches, and likely a good place for Trudy to be … as we had started to plan for her to join me for a time.

There are lots of ESL schools (and of course more regular schools that teach English) in Thailand. And many schools in and around send the teachers right to the businesses to teach working adults.  Apparently some 2500 schools were flooded and shut down. I have met a few English teachers from Bangkok on unpaid “vacations” in Chiang Mai – most seem to think they would be back to work by December 1.

Before Bangkok flooded I had sent a couple of emails to ESL schools there and got immediate replies asking me to contact them when I was in Thailand.  Chiang Mai doesn’t have the industrial base that Bangkok and vicinity has, and there are about a 15 schools that I found.  They didn’t reply to my email inquiries and apparently are looking for longer term commitments.  While inner BKK stayed dry and the city is recovering but looks like many disruptions will persist. (The legendary bad traffic is worse!) All in all not the best time to stay long term, work and get localized.  So Trudy and I have decided to meet in Bali in mid-December for a month! I am hoping to find a volunteer teaching opportunity for a short time here. (The web-listed volunteer positions appear to be a scam as you have to PAY to volunteer and they cost many times what you spend to stay here as a tourist.)

So in the meantime I have pursued more tourist activities… one of the best so far was a one day cooking course in a beautiful facility at an organic farm outside the city.  I made (and ate) Pad Thai, Egg rolls, Green Curry paste … and then Green Curry. Oh and desert:  sweet coconut rice.  My food was OK (my Pad Thai was pretty good!).

In general the food here is great.  Restaurants big and small in Chiang Mai are good and cheap.  In general everything in Thailand tastes so good.  The fruits and veggies are amazing…eating supermarket stuff in Canada doesn’t compare. The local beers are good (and sometimes over 6%)

Another day, I hired a car and “driver” for a day to get up into the hills and see some waterfalls, views and lofty temples.  So, a small lady shows up at my guesthouse in a big truck. She and her boss didn’t think her little car would make it up the hills: hence the truck.  One of the first things she said was “You drive standard?”  WHAT?  😉   She found the clutch etc. difficult on the hilly curvy roads – so after we got out of the traffic and into the hills – I drove.  In Thailand they drive on the left so the stick shift, flicker and all else are backwards.   Yikes!!  But lots of fun driving around and great sights too.  There is an incredible Temple overlooking Chiang Mai at the top of a mountain (a long climb after parking). Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wat_Phrathat_Doi_Suthep.  It reminded me of the Swahambunath Monkey Temple in Katmandu and Chiang Mai is very much a Buddhist pilgrimage site too. Unfortunately Chiang Mai was covered in smog, as it is many days. Guide books say April is smoggy when they  burn off the undergrowth in the forest but the air is often dirty and hard to breath even now in the “clear season”.

I have discovered  “dental tourism”!  Great modern dentists here … about ¼  the price of Canada (even paying the tourist rate rather than what the Thais pay).  Got a cleaning, full head Xray and filling for under $90 and then a new night guard retainer in the next few days.

Yesterday I went for a “one day trek” in the jungle.  It was actually a series of walks, a bamboo raft ride down a turbulent river (a fellow from Saskatchewan fell off – we all got wet), an elephant ride,  a visit to an incredible waterfall and Hill Tribe village. Then finally another river ride on inflatable kayak style boats.

Till later….Ron