Up to Chiang Mai

A street vendor
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Up to Chiang Mai

I loved getting out of Bangkok and heading north to Chiang Mai. All of the guide books and several of the people I talked to said there were 3 main methods of travel. You could take the train which took somewhere between 10 and 12 hours if everything went well and there were no breakdowns or unexpected stops. I heard of one woman who said she had been on board one time when the train just stopped in a rice field for about 6 hours and then suddenly rattled off on its way. Apparently the bus costs the same amount as the train and also takes 10 to 12 hours, but is considered to be much more reliable. The main suggestion I received was to get a seat on the right hand side. I was told that this would be where all of the locals would be sitting, generally 3 to a seat that was designed to fit 2 Thais or 1.5 Farangs (foreigners). Resist the temptation to take one of the open seats on the left hand side that I would get all to myself and which would just be slightly small for someone of my size. Why I inquired? ... I would be sitting in the hot sun the whole way. So I did some more research and found that the 3^rd method of travel was the plane. Air Asia is the way to go. The planes are new and it is based on the Southwest model of cheap fares. It only cost $53 bucks, just $30 more than the bus, and I knew I would be so much happier.

Wishing for just a few more inches of headroom
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Chiang Mai is a fairly big city that has a great night market with wonderful food stalls. After a wonderful dinner of green curry with fresh shrimp just plucked from the large tank in the center of the restaurant, I splurged for a 1.5 hour foot, hand, back and head massage. Dinner and the message cost $8.50.

Lily was kind enough to take this picture of me in a songthew. This is the upgraded taxi. Its 2 benches along the back of a Toyota pickup with a covered roof that is just a few inches too short.

One of the many alters at the local temple
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On Lily’s 2^nd night here we went out to a local street market that took place around this Wat (temple). One of the monks sold her some incense and a candle for about 50 cents and told her that she should walk around the temple 3 times swaying her prayer, then light the incense and then the candle. Very cool.

Tomorrow we are going to rent a car and head up into the Hill Country and probably make it and across the border into Burma/Myramar.