20 Dec 2013 Friday

After a bit of rest, I have started being a tourist in Chiang Mai again. The area feels familiar and comfortable; not a surprise since I spent a month here last winter. The first thing on the agenda was to get my Thai phone renewed. After that long, cold, and generally uncomfortable train ride from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, I woke with a very difficult pain in my lower right back, making it difficult to get up from sitting, and quite uncomfortable to walk. I would normally walk to Kad Suan Kaew, a large shopping center just outside the old city, but my back was too uncomfortable to walk the 3/4 mile, so I opted to take a Red Truck (common shared-ride sort-of taxi service). An important temple, Wat Chedi Luang, is across the street, so there are always Red Trucks close by. At Kad Suan Kaew, there are a number of small shops that sell mobile phones and services, and that is where I got my phone last year. After talking to a phone vendor, I learned that in Thailand, if you do not use a mobile phone for 10 months, purchase additional minutes, or explicitly do something to keep the account enabled, the number is retired or reassigned. So I have a new local phone number, 093 046 2747, and plenty of minutes for this stay.

On leaving, I noticed the same group of massage ladies that I saw at the Sunday Night Market last year, and they also had mats out for Thai massages. I saw the same lady, Nam, who massaged my feet a few times last year, and asked her for a Thai massage. A Thai massage is done fully clothed (it helps to have loose clothing), and they basically put you into yoga-like positions to stretch and work the muscles. Nam could see that I was hurting a bit, and she focused on my back and legs. After the hour-long Thai massage, the pain in my back was gone, and I was able to walk back to 3-Sis comfortably. This is a good start to my time in Chiang Mai.

I will get some pictures of my room (it is fairly plain), and the guest house, but here I am in front of the main entrance to 3-Sis Guest House (not my best picture, it was sunny). The 3-Sis guest House is owned by three sisters, one of whom lives at the guest house during the high season (high season means high tourist season which is winter). The other two sisters live in Bangkok. The sister at 3-Sis is named Poppy (the first sound is not a “puh” sound, or a “buh” sound, it is in between “buh” and “puh”, a sound I do not quite know how to make). The other staff are Tine (she was was born on Valentine’s day and manages the front desk), Boom (he works late morning to early evening), Su (she is new this year), and Johnnie (he works the evenings). There are also two young men who work in the restaurant, and two ladies who clean rooms.

My first full day in Chiang Mai was mostly spent catching up on the volumes of e-mail and responding to some of the requests. I did walk around a bit, mostly to Wat Chedi Luang, a favorite and right across the street from 3-Sis. The evenings here are very cool, in the low 50s. The days are nicer, in the low 80s and not oppressively humid as it is often.

My favorite restaurant, Kanjana,  is closed – it is likely that the owner is on a holiday and will be back after Christmas. While Thailand is about 90% or more Buddhist, and they do not celebrate Christmas as Europeans and Americans, the end of the year culminating in New Year’s is a time for Thai people to return home or visit family.

Next, back to Wild Rose Yoga