It’s 6:40 but the sun has set in the mountains. At dusk, I am usually on my single speed bicycle, the basket full of produce (and some Thai street food treats) heading over some hills to the guest house where I’m staying. It’s slow and dreamy here. The pace is perfect for sharing dinners with travelers and spending sunset in natural hot springs just up the road.
Hope was picked up first by motorbike to get to the place we’re staying. I walked along this road until my turn. We are less than 150 km from Burma and the country is beautiful.
I’ve reached Pai, Thailand
Every individual lantern floating upward creates something more intimate than fireworks show.
Loy Kathrong festival was last night. City was packed with excitement and love.
While enjoying a day of relaxation after going and going since we arrived, we experienced something a little scary today. Sitting in an outdoor cafe on a quiet residential street, a transformer right behind this tree exploded. Loudly. Hugely. Once, and then again a few minutes later. It was as if someone was lighting fireworks in the street beside us but in your ear. I never saw something so hot pink and white. After everyone came out of their homes, a team of young electric company workers arrived to clean up and repair the scene. The cause of the explosion: a snake got into the wires in the box. I have a handful of gruesome photos…but those of you who care enough to see a petrified, smoking snake can see a private screening another time.
Just returned to the city after three days trekking through mountains of Chiang Mai. The most challenging hiking I’ve ever done, accompanied by our wonderful Thai guide Sumat, who prepared our meals and took us to glorious waterfalls in the jungle. There was no electricity in the villages so we ate dinners by candlelight in open air bamboo huts with amazing views. The first night, high in the mountains. The second, deep in the jungle next to a rushing stream. Pinching myself. This was a mid-afternoon swim on day two.
Chiang Mai is a lovely, packed, artistic city. Been exploring it from morning to night for two days. Today, rented a bicycle and got out of the city. Look what we found. Huey Tueng Tao Reservoir, where you eat lunch in your own little raised hut on the water.
My home for a while.
