The Chiang Mai wrap up and back in Bangkok

Hi there, Internet! I am quite behind on my blogging as I am typing the Chiang Mai wrap up and the arrival in Bangkok while I am waiting to board my plane to leave Thailand altogether! When I left the hotel to head to the airport, I knew I had many hours here and had grand hopes of catching up on all the blogging leading up to my departure from Thailand, now I think that was very, very optimistic indeed. If I finish this and manage to post it before the plane leaves, I will consider getting a single blog post up, a victory. We shall see if all of this is only posted by the time I hit Cape Town again.

Following my last post about Chiang Mai, I had a number of dinners that I went to before leaving Chiang Mai, the one on the Friday night involving getting caught in a downpour without umbrella or jacket and still walking back to the hotel. One of the others there told me I needed to embrace the rain and proceeded to begin singing “Singin’ in the Rain” at the top of his lungs while splashing about and loudly encouraging me to do the same. I may have sung a few bars and waved my arms a little to get into the spirit of it, but more just to keep him quiet while I yelped with every puddle I inadvertently walked into and which flooded my toes in my little pumps. (Happy update, the pumps dried and I did not have to throw them away, the feet are still a bit miffed though…)

The night after I decided to take a look at the Saturday Night Walking Market, not because I was in the mood for shopping, nor had I any space left for that, but just to say that I had been there. After all I had visited the Night Bazaar and the Sunday Walking Market. Again, this market is meant to be authentic with handcrafted items from the neighbouring road which houses many jewellers and silversmiths. However, having taken a quick look while trying not to get too wet (it was raining intermittently again), I have to say it has a lot in common with the Sunday Walking Market, some more authentic, handcrafted items, but a lot more in common with both of the others than any real difference. It was an admittedly brief look, but that was my impression and there was nothing I saw that impelled me forward for a more extensive investigation.

The next day was my last in Chiang Mai but work from home called me so in the morning I did a lot of remote work on the computer, catching up a bit on important matters that needed my attention. I happily checked out of my room on time (12PM, not something you hear of in South Africa) and asked the receptionist if I could leave my suitcases in reception and work on my computer in the common room. This was eagerly agreed to and she even made sure I had the downstairs Wi-Fi password, a fan and the air conditioning on me. It was also indicative of the treatment I had received at this guesthouse, unlike the previous one. At this place nothing was too much, they did everything possible to accommodate me. I even rushed down to reception in a panic asking the male receptionist to help remove a medium-sized spider in the room, the arachnophobia not allowing me to handle its presence. Instead of getting a squashing, the receptionist picked it up and took it away, still making sure that I was okay. Buddhist country indeed! On my last day, in-between work, I had such a long and wonderful chat with that day’s receptionist, talking about our travels, about our countries, the problems, the benefits of globalisation on young people’s perspective, so many things.  We had such a lovely time and then she helped me with calling a taxi and with my bags and we definitely ended as friends with big hugs!

Then it was off to the airport and trying my last domestic carrier in Thailand, Bangkok Airways. Definitely a winner in my books, even if their online check-in didn’t allow a seat selection (second airline running), at check-in, the staff member asked which of the available seats I would prefer and giving me details on each! Also, best landing by a pilot in a long time when we touched down in Bangkok and we were on time, miraculous!

Unfortunately, that was where the good times ended. It took forever for the bags to come out and when they did, I had to hurriedly repack my umbrella (I had taken the biggest umbrella purchased at Bo Sang as a rain/sun umbrella to save weight from the checked bag). It was then the same procedure as my arrival in Bangkok and the two trains to the guesthouse, but somehow the whole procedure took longer. I did sit next to a fellow traveller on the same train from the airport but we didn’t chat until the next station when I pointed out the lift to him as he had a bigger bag than me! It turns out he is a German student who usually lives in Copenhagen but is in Bangkok for four months to do a post-graduate course and we were heading on the same train, although he was several stops further than me. We got on what we thought was the right train but which ended up going in the wrong direction (I believe this may be my bad mojo influence) and had to switch back to the right train. With all of that, I only got to the guesthouse more than two hours after we landed! I was exhausted, hungry and desperately trying to avoid the huge cockroaches scurrying in the streets. At one moment I was literally in the middle of triangle of three large cockroaches, seemingly circling me – I think they could tell I was the weak, scared one in the herd. What a welcome back it was! Stay tuned for the remaining adventures of the Red Hat in Thailand…

Okay, posted in Suvarnabhumi Airport, no photos! The rest will have to wait until Cape Town…