U Chiang Mai

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I am honored to have found many new friends here in Chiang Mai that made this journey complete. Tonight I have been invited to have dinner at the home of Paul Collins parents, the missionaries who have lived in Thailand for 35 years. Tomorrow a dinner is planned for us to say farewell to one another, but not good-bye.

To my children - I love you all and can not wait to see you in a couple of weeks.
To my friends - Thank you for all ...

... our megafeast at the Cooking School. I went back to my room to make final contact with some local TravelPodders who were interested in having a meetup. Unfortunately, our meetup just didn't happen.

So I met a couple of the writers at the Horizon Lounge and had a Gin & Tonic. We sat and talked and relaxed until our fourth muskateer showed up. We then went out to the Night Bazaar which was within walking distance from the hotel.

We shopped along the way and ...

... and I smiled into the wind, occasionally stepping out to walk beside the train as it slowed down, and hopping back on as it sped up again. The buildings soon got left behind, the glittering Wat's (temples), the permanent and temporary living quarters, to be replaced by rice paddies and later by full on jungle on either side. We smiled, and then went to bed: this was the way to travel. We slept relatively well, the beds were fairly comfortable, the wind pleasant, though because of all ...

... of Sukhothai and King Ngam Muang of Phayao before choosing the site where the capital of the Lanna Kingdom was to be founded.

From then, Chiang Mai not only became the capital and cultural core of the Lanna Kingdom, it was also the centre of Buddhism in northern Thailand. King Meng Rai himself was very religious and founded many of the city’s temples, which are still important ...

... a bit like a tourist at the zoo, taking photos of monkeys in cages. These people had a sadness to them that you could visibly see and feel. They are where they are at the moment for tourists, and we come to see them so that they have money. Our tour guide described it as a situation where both parties get what they want or need, but I still felt a sadness for them. The elephant ride was fantastic and so was the rafting. Of all the people we ...

... parallel, and you get secured to both during your flight. The three abseil sections also have double safety lines. You are always attached to a wire while standing on any of the 22 platforms or walking the two wobbly skybridges. The guides hook you to the right places all the time, you cannot make ...

... in BIG letters-- "I F***ked Your Boyfriend". If she only knew......

I got to the CM train station at 7 AM on 23 June for my 8:45 train. AFTER we got there the tuk tuk driver says "No Train Today. Train workers against government. You want ride to bus station?"

I dismissed this as the talk of a guy mugging for an extra fare in a challenging economy. I got a bowl of noodle soup, then was ...

... he was 74 years old and call Tsukamoto and apparently owns a mansion (?!) near Mount Fuji. Pretty good skills we thought. He also told us we should go stay with him in his mansion (with a beer garden, beer garden was a phrase he knew, for some reason), if we were ever in Japan. Anyway I've googled him and it didn't come up with him + mansion so no idea if it's true or if he's a bit odd.... Anyway it was funny and we had a good time anyway, despite instead ...

... by the river where we boarded a bamboo raft and a young boy navigated us through the rapids ... It's a good job we had our swimmers on as we got rather wet. For the most it was very relaxing and the visions we'd had in our minds of Northern Thailand came to life. There were swarms of beautiful green butterflies dancing on the water and they circled around our heads as we passed by (unfortunately we couldn't take the camera so no photos). Being the weekend many locals had ...

... I paired up with a Dutchman called Rodrigo. The guide sat in front of us on the elephant's neck, and another was tied on a loose cord from the harness of ours, with the other end going round its ear. As we started, I soon noticed the elephant was rather desirous for the bananas, as it walked a couple of paces, stopped, put its trunk over its head, asking us for one! This continued for a few minutes every few seconds until all the bananas ...