Monday 29 December 2025
A Day in the Life … Me in Chiang Mai … there are many days.

Reflecting on my life here in Chiang Mai, a recurring question that surfaced during my early winters—when I spent a month or more here—still echoes: “you were there for a month; what did you do every day?” That memory precipitated the thought that I might make more frequent and shorter blog posts, more like when I made the pilgrimage walks on the Camino de Santiago in Spain where I posted every day!?! [How did I do that???] In Spain, I was walking to a different small town every day, so everything I saw was different. And there were fewer distractions being in a new place every day and living a simple routine every day: walk all day, eat, shower, clean clothes, eat, and sleep. All that in preparation for doing it all over the next day. Here in Chiang Mai, most of what I see every day is the same, or things I have seen many times in the 12 previous winters here. Nevertheless, posting more frequent and hopefully shorter posts seems like a good plan. We will all see how successful I am at that auspicious goal. So…more frequent posts, a day in the life.

A Day In the Life

Thinking of my day in the life, what comes to mind is the song by The Beatles on the album “Sgt. Peppers Loney Hearts Club Band” released in 1967. The lyrics of the song have no relation to my days in Chiang Mai. But I’m old enough to remember when Sgt. Pepper’s was released, and the significant impact it had. And the song, “A Day in the Life” is considered by many to be the best on the album.

A Day in Chiang Mai

Starting the day at The 3-Sis, where I stay, I have breakfast, almost always sitting at my favorite table while writing in my journal.

After breakfast, I walked to Wild Rose Yoga, on a slightly indirect route since I was early. I passed Kalm Village, an art, crafts, and culture center to the west of Wild Rose Yoga on Prappokkloa Soi 4. I’m seldom at Kalm except to walk past when walking to my strength training sessions at Pump Fitness. Today I saw this interesting artistic, almost Cubism-style depiction of a Christmas Tree, or something, I’m not really sure. What is this colorful art?

Wild Rose Yoga

Then it was time for a yoga session at Wild Rose Yoga. I have been attending yoga classes at Wild Rose since the the yoga workshop in 2011 led by Desiree Rumbaugh and her husband Andrew Rivin. All of our twice-daily yoga practice during the two weeks in Chiang Mai was at Wild Rose. I returned in 2012 for a month and practiced yoga at Wild Rose 3, 4, or 5 times per week. Now, in my 13th winter in Chiang Mai, Wild Rose is still the focus of my visit. The owner Rose, and her husband John are very good friends of mine. Being older now, I pass on some of the more energetic and advanced classes, leaving those to the younger yogis.

Wild Rose Yoga is in an old, traditional all-teak house, converted to a yoga studio. It is small, holding at most 15 students and one teacher. It has a very good feel.

No phones are allowed inside, so I got permission from Rose to take a photo after class. Here is the inside of Wild Rose Yoga. The mats are close together, so you are friends with your neighbor.

Walking back to 3-Sis from Wild Rose Yoga, I always pass the entrance to Wat Jed Lin. The large and rather dramatic new entrance was a recent replacement to the old entrance. Now, a couple years later, inside the temple there appears to be more remodeling taking place.

Directly across the street, Prapokklao Road, at the entrance to Soi 5 is this really nicely done graffiti, or better called “street art.” And just as a reminder, “CNX” is the three-letter code for Chiang Mai International Airport. Now it is often used as an abbreviation for Chiang Mai.

Next to the I Love CNX is more graffiti or street art, very detailed and artistic.

After cleaning up and changing clothes, I went to the Story 106 co-working space for an iced latte and some time to work on my blog. The downstairs is the coffee shop & restaurant. The upstairs above the Story 106 and Wooden Factory is the area for computer work, quiet, air-conditioned, with very good internet. Here is the front, and a photo of me at my favorite table. [The second photo makes the room look much larger than it really is.]

Next: More of A Day in the Life … or … something