Chiang-Mai

Chiang-Mai is referred to as the Northern Capital of Thailand, for the simple reason that it is in the North and used to be the capital.  It turned out to be an extraordinarily pleasant town, although to be fair just about anything would have done after Bangkok. Chiang-Mai is in the mountains of north-western Thailand, and as a result of the altitude the nights are quite pleasant.  There were several national parks nearby, with plenty of hiking available.  Unfortunately, I already had an unrefundable ticket to Bali arranged, and only had a few days to look around. I suspect that I'll be back to Thailand later for a better look around Chiang-Mai, and the rest of the countryside.

This is the type of architecture that I hoped to find all over the place in Thailand.  Unfortunately the climate destroys wooden structures fairly quickly, and the newer places are built out of concrete.  Only a few of these older houses remain.

I figured I should put one picture of a Wat in here.  Wats are Buddhist temples, and important places of spiritual worship.  Unfortunately from a tourist perspective they fill the role of churches in Europe, in that there are hundreds of them around, and you really can only see about three before you get tired of them. This doesn't keep the guidebooks from trying, though.

I walk a lot, and thus come very quickly up to speed on the traffic laws and customs wherever I'm at. In Thailand they are very big on right-of-way . . . which is to say that whatever vehicle is bigger gets the right of way.  For this calculation pedestrians are the smallest vehicles on the road, although when I was wearing my pack I took precedence over mopeds.

Thais are the kings of the multiuse space. By the time I left, I was looking for laundry services every time I wanted to use the Internet, and Travel Agents whenever I wanted a telephone.

The Chiang-Mai police force is ISO 9002 certified.  They also have this prominently displayed on their police motorcycles. I'm still deciding how I feel about this...

This is arguably the worst picture I have chosen to include in this collection, but it's here for sentimental value.  The red blur at the center of the picture is the crescent moon setting next to a hotel in Chiang-Mai. Note that the orientation is not the same crescent you see north or south of the equator, but rather a bowl shape sinking to the horizon. Every once in a while I wish I had a much better camera with me.  This was one of those nights.

The Thai language is full of long multi-syllable words beginning with 'S', like Sukhumwit, or Sawahdee, or Singhakom. It took me a few minutes before this sign looked right.

It's important to lock your valuables when travelling, as it saves thieves time in identifying what to steal. I prefer the "Buddhist Detachment" approach to security, where you keep an eye on your passport and a credit card and don't worry too much about the rest.  It's only stuff.

I like this place for two reasons.  One is the large picture of the Thai King presiding over a German restaurant.  The second is the casual inclusion of Casa Antonio with a German Hofbrauhaus;  This is roughly the equivalent of the "Thai and Indian Food" restaurants you see in the United States.

Ronald knows Thailand.

It's a staple of American culture, but Chiang-mai is the first place I've ever actually seen dogs chase a cat.  I still had the impression that they wouldn't know what to do with the cat when they caught it, but they looked like they were having fun.  After the cat went through a fence, I got this picture of one of the dogs.

You were expecting Mr. Gideon, Perhaps?