Return to paradise

Denny's house in Chiang Mai
October 2017 

My sister Kathy has been in Chiang Mai, Thailand, for the past week -- part of a two-month stay, visiting her son Denny and granddaughter Maury.  I will be flying out of Seattle to join them, just thirty days from today.

When Americans think of Thailand, I suspect they either think of fascinating but chaotic Bangkok, or -- perhaps if young -- they dream of joining hedonistic pleasures and wild parties on one of the Thai isles.  But Chiang Mai is in the north of the country, the largest city in the north. 

If Bangkok is thought of as Los Angeles, Chiang Mai would be Spokane.  But a Spokane with a long history, for many years the capital of a powerful kingdom totally separate from Siam to the south.  The city is modern, but the modernity is merely a convenient logistical overlay over the historical monuments, religious sites, and continuing traditional life.

This will be my fourth visit to Chiang Mai.  I visited it in 2003 and 2007, when the city was a base for organized hiking trips in northern Thailand in 2003, and in Laos and Cambodia, in 2007.  I enjoyed those visits, but they were brief and my attention was focused on the adventures that lay ahead.

I had no idea that my nephew Denny -- who accompanied me on the 2007 trip -- would ever end up, not only as a resident of Chiang Mai, but as a sixth grade teacher at a Chiang Mai international school.  But so he did, and so he is.  So my third visit -- exactly a year ago -- combined a gathering with Denny and other relatives visiting from California, with family side trips to Bali and to Siem Reap, Cambodia.

This year's visit will be less frenetic (although last year's didn't seem particularly "frenetic" either).  Denny still rents the same very pleasant house on the semi-rural outskirts of Chiang Mai.  My sister is renting a house, one she located on-line, in the same area, a 30-minute bike ride from her son.  Last year, both Kathy and I, as well as a cousin, stayed at a mini-"resort" -- note the quotes, it was pretty primitive -- just a half-mile walk down a dirt road from Denny's house.  I probably will stay with Kathy, but may also spend a short time at that more convenient "resort."

Last year, several of us also stayed in the Old City for three nights, which provided some urban contrast to our pastoral life in the exurbs.  The Old City is, of course, the old city.  Fortified with a wall, and exactly square in configuration.  I walked the circuit of the walls last year, which is something I'd like to do again.  I may stay in the Old City for a few nights again this year -- last year, we found a great hotel, located across the street from one of the major temples.  It had nice rooms, and a front terrace where you could order drinks while watching the foot traffic.  The rates this year are about $60 per night, full breakfast included.  Look for a deal like that in Honolulu!

Kathy, Clinton, and I will spend my last four nights in Thailand at a location far to the south, at a  beach resort in Phuket -- this will also be my fourth visit to this particular resort, a series which began again with the same 2003 group hiking trip that took me to Chiang Mai.  Denny and his daughter will join us in Phuket for one night over the weekend -- I'm afraid work duties take priority over fun with relatives, even in Paradise!

Kathy and Clinton will fly back to Chiang Mai after the Phuket stay, but I'll, sadly, fly to Bangkok where I'll connect with a flight home.  From beautiful Thailand, I'll land some 28 hours later (including a long airport layover in Seoul) in Seattle on December 5, just in time to confront the onset of winter in the Northwest Corner.