Thursday 6 February 2025
Traveling Home and Reflections on My Twelfth Winter in Chiang Mai

Traveling Home to the United States

Being my last day in Chiang Mai for this winter, I spent a low-key, mellow day on Thursday. First I went to The 3-Sis for my last breakfast because I love the Thai omelet, which is not on the menu at See You Soon. Also, I wanted to bid farewell to the staff at The 3-Sis where I stayed for 66 days. Then I went to Pump Fitness for my last strength training session with Ning. Then back to See You Soon to pack and ensure everything still fits in my luggage.

Late in the afternoon, I went to La Casita for my last dinner, then took a walk to see part of Chiang Mai for the last time this visit. I walked through the Tha Phae Gate area where there are many people, then down Loi Kroh to bid farewell to Nong and Nat at their crepe cart, and then to Bowan at The Tibetan Singing Bowl Center. Finally, I stopped at Heart Massage to say goodbye to Mukda and her staff. Then I walked back to See You Soon for my final preparations for the long journey home.

I’m getting a little better at taking “selfies” so here I am with my luggage in my room at See You Soon.

The first flight from Chiang Mai to Incheon (Seoul, S.Korea) was originally scheduled to leave at 11:15 PM, but that was changed to 12:15 AM about two months ago. Poppy, who owns and manages The 3-Sis, offered to take me to the airport, and she arrived at 8:30 PM. It was nice to talk with her on the way, we have known each other for twelve years. The long journey home has begun. When I arrived at the airport, I learned that the flight to Incheon was delayed with a new estimated departure of 2:15 AM. This means than 2 hours of additional waiting.

The first part of the journey is checking in with Korean Air at the Chiang Mai International Airport. This is relatively uneventful, although a fairly slow process. Many more people are traveling than in recent years. Because of the long delay, check-in did not start until a little after 10 PM. After check-in, immigration, and a long boring wait for boarding, Korean Air flight KE668 on an Airbus A330-300 left close to the new scheduled time of 2:15 AM. The pilot announced that the estimated flight time was 4-1/2 hours, less than the previously scheduled 5 hours.

We arrived at Incheon and I could see from the windows that there was snow on the ground. The temperature was -6C (21F). I’m very happy I am staying inside. I went through international transfer security and then made my way to the Terminal 2 transit hotel. I seldom sleep well or even at all during flights, and the next flight is 11 hours after an 8-hour layover. So I made a reservation in the transit hotel ensuring that I could get some sleep – I have basically been up all night.

Being in a room, I could sleep and then get a shower before the longer flight to Los Angeles. The cost for the room for six hours was just under $50. And I slept almost 5 hours. Got a shower, checked out, and went to find Gate 232 for the flight to Los Angeles. The room is very small, just large enough for a bed and a very small bathroom with a shower. Here are a couple of photos I took.

Incheon is a very large and relatively new airport. It has been rated as the best airport from a passenger perspective by Airports Council International (ACI) from 2005 to 2011, and the best airport in Asia-Pacific for 10 consecutive years from 2006 to 2016 until the ranking series ended in 2017. I agree with those rankings, the airport is easy to negotiate, very clean, and many shops and restaurants are easily accessible. Incheon International was first opened in 2001, a second terminal was added early in 2023. The next thing to do is find out to which gate to go.

I made my way to Gate 232 (the same gate as the last two years for this same flight) for the 11-hour flight from Incheon to Los Angeles. Here I am at gate 232 ready for flight KE017 for Los Angeles.

I wandered over to where I could look out the large windows and see the airplane at our gate. There is still snow on the ground, but not very much, but it does look cold outside.

For the longer flights, Korean Air has continued to use its Airbus A380 aircraft. Most airlines are phasing out the 4-engine aircraft (i.e. Airbus A380, Airbus A340, Boeing 747) because of the high operating and maintenance expenses, instead using two-engine aircraft, i.e. Boeing 777, Boeing 787, Airbus A330, Airbus A350, etc. But when there is a demand for larger capacity, the A380 works well. And this airplane was full. I was in boarding group 1, so I took a slightly blurry photo of me in my seat as others were boarding.

Korean Air flight KE017 is scheduled for 11 hours exactly. Traveling west, Los Angeles to Incheon is 13-1/2 hours, and a day is lost crossing the international date line. Traveling east, Incheon to Los Angeles, that lost day comes back: we left Incheon at 2:30 PM Friday, February 7, and arrived on time in Los Angeles at 8:30 AM Friday, February 8 – six hours before we left.

After landing, and going through immigration and customs (a very fast process today), I had more than 2 hours to wait for the Relaxsan shuttle which would take me to Sorrento Valley, about a mile from my home. My neighbors will pick me up where the shuttle drops people. I arrived home at just about 3:00 PM on Friday, 33 hours after I left See You Soon in Chiang Mai.

I am home.

What a great trip!

Reflections on my Winter in Chiang Mai 2024-2025

I have made yoga-focused, month-long, or longer visits to Chiang Mai twelve times. I stay at the same places (The 3-Sis, See You Soon), practice yoga at the same place (Wild Rose Yoga) with many of the same teachers (Annie, May, Thom, Ta), eat at many of the same places (La Fontana, Street Pizza, La Casita, The Dukes, Blue Diamond, etc.), see many of the same temples and sights, and make the hikes up the mountain to Wat Phalad and beyond. And while there is much similarity, every one of the twelve visits has been distinct and different. I’m reminded of a quote from the Greek philosopher Heraclitus (approximately 500 BC):

No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.

Chiang Mai changes slightly, and I have changed over the years, so I see things differently, with a different perspective, or notice things I did not notice before – everything is in a perpetual state of change making it impossible for any encounter to be exactly repeated. Even with that in mind, this twelfth winter in Chiang Mai stands out as different, and not just because of subtle changes in the city infrastructure or my perspective. I pondered the root of that feeling on the flights home. This visit was even more “chill.” I just never felt in a hurry or rushed to do anything – a much more enjoyable time.

Every year, when planning my next visit to Chiang Mai, and even on reflection, it seems as if I would have much free time. Sometimes I think, “What am I going to do with all the time?” However, when I am there, I seem to be busy every day and all day: breakfast while updating my journal, yoga practice or workout at the Pump Fitness gym, lunch at a place like Coquette, Blue Diamond or a snack at Khun Kae’s Juice after yoga, catching up on my blog at a coffee shop or at a co-working place, exploring the city, learning about the history, hiking up the nearby mountain, then dinner, an after-dinner walk, and sometimes more blog catch-up ending the day. The days are full, interesting, uplifting, and energizing – even on this more mellow visit.

The end of my twelve-week stay in Chiang Mai was, as always, quite anti-climatic. After twelve long visits to Chiang Mai, I am comfortable here – comfortable with the food, the people, and the culture. It is all a journey, a journey seeing and learning more about Chiang Mai food, culture, and history; and a daily journey practicing yoga, seeing friends, enjoying sights and meals. I enjoy that journey – there is no particular destination other than just being in Chiang Mai. So I thought of one of my favorite quotes I have posted before, and I’ll post it here again, because it is so apropos, the last sentence in the book “Up Country” by Nelson DeMille:

The journey home is never a direct route; it is, in fact, always circuitous, and somewhere along the way, we discover that the journey is more significant than the destination and that the people we meet along the way will be the traveling companions of our memories forever.

It has been said many times: “The journey is more significant than the destination…” Absolutely! What a great journey I have been on! I am so grateful for the journey, and the people I have met all along the way.

I am looking forward to returning to Chiang Mai in November for possibly a longer visit.

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