My first visit to Chiang Mai, Thailand was in 2003 as a side trip while in Thailand for the Bangkok International Film Festival. I visited in 2006, again as a side trip from the film festival in Bangkok.

In 2010, I injured my right arm, causing a dramatic reduction of my yoga practice as well as completely stopping cycling, something I had been doing for many years. In mid-2011, my arm seemed better, and signed up for a two-week yoga workshop in late December 2011 and early January 2012 with 

Desiree Rumbaugh and Andrew Rivin, in Bangkok and Chiang Mai, Thailand and a few days in Siem Reep, Cambodia (near the Angkor Wat). It was a fabulous trip, and a strong reminder of how much I loved Thailand.

After returning home, I mentioned almost jokingly to my boss that the computer systems I manage do not really care where I am, and perhaps I could go to Thailand for a month and work from there. I expected the response to be something like, “nice idea, but we like to see you in the office,” but instead, the response was one of support which I took as a compliment to my work ethic (thank-you!). We came to the agreement that I would work half time. So on December 26, 2012, I left Los Angeles for a month in Chiang Mai.

Had surgery to repair my elbow in September 2013, and with the healing and physical therapy, I was set to re-start my yoga practice in Chiang Mai in December, 2013. I was in Chiang Mai for almost six weeks, and dove into yoga and other exercise too much too fast, hurt my back, and had to back off from yoga. I documented that winter in Chiang Mai in the blog at https://jamesgeiercamino.wordpress.com/category/2014-thailand/.

Then I returned to Chiang Mai again last year for about 30 days, and because my elbow injury flared up, I was unable to do very much yoga. But again, the trip was rich with new experiences, and I documented that trip in a blog at https://jamesgeiercamino.wordpress.com/category/2015-thailand/. 

This year, 2015, has been a very good year, and I now have two upcoming adventures. First, I am returning to Thailand (Bangkok and then Chiang Mai) for about a month. As I write this, I am sitting in Los Angeles International airport waiting for the Korean Air flight to Incheon (Seoul) and then on to Bangkok. Second, I am planning on walking the Camino de Santiago or more precisely the Camino Frances starting in April, 2016. I’ll discuss that more over the course of this blog.

Next: Details of the journey, and the journey begins.