Sunday, 14 January 2024 Wat Phra That Doi Suthep to Khun Chang Khian The Chiang Mai Hiking Club is an informal group of mostly Chiang Mai residents who hike in the area every Sunday. The only way to connect with them is to show up at one of their hikes, the details of which are posted on Friday on their website for the upcoming Sunday hike. The goal of this hike was Khun Chang Khian […]
Wednesday, 10 January 2024 Return to Wat Phra That Doi Kham After my adventure to Lamphun I decided to return to a temple just a little outside Chiang Mai to the south and slightly west. I last visited Wat Phra That Doi Kham four years ago in 2019. Being more than 12 kilometers away, I arranged for a driver to take me there, wait while I viewed the temple, and return me to The 3-Sis. […]
Tuesday, January 9, 2024 In the City of Lamphun On the way to Lamphun, the songtaew driver allowed me to sit in the cab with him since I was the only passenger and there would be no pickups along the way. The fastest way to get to Lamphun is a road running parallel to the train tracks, the same road I walked down almost three weeks ago (although while I was walking, I did not […]
Tuesday, January 9, 2024An afternoon in Lamphun I have many, many excellent days in Chiang Mai, Thailand. And even the not-so-good days are pretty good. Tuesday afternoon was one of those not-so-good afternoons. I had decided to make an afternoon trip to Lamphun, a small city about 25 kilometers (15 miles) south of Chiang Mai. Lamphun Lamphun is fairly significant in the region’s history. It is the capital of the Lamphun Province with an official […]
Sunday, December 7, 2024 Sunday Hiking A missed adventure turned into a new adventure. Another good day in Chiang Mai, Thailand. For several years in my visits to Chiang Mai, I have heard about the Chiang Mai Hiking Club, an informal group of people who get together every Sunday for hikes in the general Chiang Mai area. I finally found their website and told Rudy about the group. Rudy is a friend from France whom […]
Monday, January 1, 2024 New Year’s Celebration in Chiang Mai, Thailand You are probably wondering why the Thai greeting starts with 2567. The official year in Thailand is the Buddhist year, based on the death of the Buddha in 543 BC. So this works out to the Gregorian (international) year plus 543 years, or 2024 becomes 2567. The rest of the greeting says: Happy New YearMay it be a good year, be lucky here, be […]
Saturday, December 30, 2023A daytime train ride to Bangkok In a recent blog post, I walked east of the old Chiang Mai city out to the Chiang Mai Railway Station. That gave me the idea of making a daytime train ride to Bangkok again to really see the country. When flying, not much is seen. I traveled by train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai on my second yoga-focused trip to Thailand in 2013. The train […]
Friday, December 29, 2023A look at various meals in Chiang Mai Over my many visits to Chiang Mai I’m often asked what does the food look like? The answer is that the food looks much like the food we eat at home. A slight challenge in sharing pictures of the food is that I am usually hungry and start eating before I think to photograph my meal. And often, when I do take a photo, […]
Saturday, December 23, 2023Hiking up to Wat Phalad and Wat Phra That Doi Suthep The morning temperatures have cooled a bit, and the afternoons, while still warm, are also a few degrees cooler. With no yoga class and no strength training scheduled today, it seemed like a good day to return to the Doi Suthep mountain and hike the monk’s trail for the first time this winter. “Doi” in Thai means mountain, and “Suthep” is […]
Thursday, December 21, 2023Temples nearby Akha Ama Coffee Shop Akha Ama is a coffee company that gets its coffee beans from selected small, organic, mostly hill tribe coffee growers in Northern Thailand. There are a few Akha Ama coffee shops in the Chiang Mai area, and one is easy walking distance from The 3-Sis guest house where I stay. Akha Ama is one of John’s favorites, as well as mine, so today we met there […]
Wednesday, December 20, 2023Walking east of the Old City Wat Muang Kai I continued my walk west along a road called “Rat Uthit Road.” A note about the English approximations of Thai words. The Thai language has 44 consonants and 12 vowels, so many of the sounds are approximated in English, and those approximations are inconsistent when there is no direct sound translation. For example, at Wat Ket, the English on the signs also show […]
Wednesday, December 20, 2023Walking east of the Old City Chiang Mai Railway Station It is a hot, sunny day, and I’m glad I have my hat to prevent sunburn on my head. I finally made it to the Chiang Mai Railway Station. Here is a view of the overall station and one of the entrance. I was last here very briefly 11 years ago when I arrived after taking the daytime train from Bangkok to […]
James the Intrepid Pilgrim 