Chiang Mai

As I rode in the back of a tuk tuk at five o'clock this morning in the pouring rain, I found myself smiling. To myself. Like a crazy person. I was thinking, while the driver cruised through shin-deep puddles on the way to the airport, "This is awesome. I could do this every day. I'm stupidly happy right now." I wouldn't have minded a slightly later wake up call, but I wouldn't have changed the weather. I'm one of those weirdos who loves the rain.

I'm still not sure what to make of Chiang Mai, but I'm hesitant to judge a place after only spending 1.5 days there. I had thought I would have a bit more time on Friday, but traveling, as usual, took longer than expected. The 14 hour overnight train turned into an almost 20 hour train-bus combo adventure. I never really got a straight answer, but there was some sort of issue on the track ahead of us so we were unable to reach Chiang Mai. Instead, we slid backwards for a couple of hours before stopping in a small town where everyone crowded into buses. I did have the absolute pleasure of sitting next to a lovely Aussie girl (woman? she's the same age as me) named Morgan. She's traveling around the world for about a year - I'm green with envy.

We both ended up checking in at the Junior Guesthouse, where I had made a reservation. Very clean, comfortable room for about $11/night. Good location, fabulous staff. No AC in the room (you could pay extra for that luxury) but it was surprisingly cool. After showering, Morgan and I went out for dinner. Then we walked to the night market. Chiang Mai is absolutely overflowing with markets; this one occurs every evening starting at 6pm. It must have been at least a mile long, on both sides of the street. Stall after stall selling colorful fabric pants, strings of paper lanterns, knock-off Gucci handbags and Ray Ban sunglasses ("I design myself!"), and baseball caps fashioned from beer cans. I bought a hair clip decorated with lacquered chili peppers from a man selling an array of barrettes covered with Smarties, Ritz crackers, and fun size KitKat bars, all coated with clear varnish.

After a while, everything started to look the same. And of course, a lot of it was. We walked until we found a suitable bar, had a margarita, then wandered some more. Like a drunk moth to a flame, I saw a sign stating "WE HAVE BEER PONG" above an American flag. We met a Canadian, another Aussie, and a Brit. The five of us played a relatively standard game of pong (the owner of the bar was a boisterous American, who clearly loved his job) with ten cups instead of six. Needless to say I was pretty awesome and our team was triumphant.

The caveat here is that I can't do that every night - drink and party and stay out late - either at home or while traveling. I like to think of myself as a relatively fun individual, but waking up with a hangover is close to my least favorite activity, maybe second to laundry. However it seems that many (I won't say most) backpackers, at least the ones I met in Chiang Mai, aim to get wasted at every possible opportunity while hanging out with a bunch of other drunk white people. I enjoy a cocktail or four as much as the next bloke, but not every night - and definitely not every day. Hopefully Amber and I (she is arguably more fun than I am) will find a happy medium and make friends with some lovely Laotian/Cambodian/Vietnamese/Thai people along the way.

I halfheartedly planned on going for a run the next morning. Didn't happen, but at least my intentions were noble. I had a fantastic hangover-curing breakfast at the Chiang Mai Tea House: beans on toast with two fried eggs (which, regrettably, were overcooked, but I barely noticed) and an iced coffee. All for about $5, which I actually thought was a bit steep. Worth it. By this point the sun was blazing overhead and there was no breeze to speak of, so I retreated to the guesthouse. I thought I would dip my toes in the pool, but learned that the advertised pool was actually a jacuzzi, and upon closer inspection discovered it to be an empty jacuzzi. So I went to my room, read my book, and sweated.

Later, Morgan and I had northern style Thai curries at Huen Phen - I highly recommend this joint; food was delicious, cheap ($2 including two bottles of water), and apparently it's very authentic. We walked up and down a few streets in the old city, wandered into a couple of wats (temples), and stopped at the Cowboy Cafe for free wireless and fruit smoothies. My blended dragonfruit drink was a spectacular shade of fuchsia; I googled an image of the fruit just to verify that I wasn't drinking some outrageous chemical.

We hit up the Saturday night market (different from the every night-night market) after a nap and met up with my friend Molly, whom I have known basically all my life. She has been traveling around Thailand with her friend Francesca for the past couple of weeks. So we walked through another market, this one more crowded but with much better things for sale. I bought a purse that I believe actually is handmade, as I didn't see any others like it: now I can throw away my duct taped satchel and look semi-respectable again. I also bought some sandals so I can sub-out my flip flops; I've got a monstrous blister on my left big toe.

The four of us had a beer at the raucous Zoe Yellow Bar, which had been recommended. Actually, we were at the bar next door, but they all kind of blended together in a large courtyard.  Morgan and I said farewell to Molly and Francesca, then headed back to base camp after one last beer.

Now, I'm on my way to Laos and a long anticipated airport reunion with Amber. Intrigued by Thailand, but not enamored.