I’m sitting on the edge of the bed in the guest house in Chiang Mai at 7:15pm local time on Saturday evening.  We arrived via Thai airlines about 9:30 this morning, just an hour of flight time from Bangkok. Thai Air felt like a luxury ride and, even in that short ride we were served a beaten egg/flour thing cooked and folded like a burrito, but no bread/wrap/tortilla--the egg was the “wrap” with bits of green onion {or mild chili maybe) and it said cheese, but don’t think cheese like you have in the US-no discernible cheese, but a bit of a cheesy flavor. Very good and just what I needed. I have given up trying to figure out when my body time is and am trying to just made the shift to Thai time. So I’m taking it as a late breakfast! Much appreciated.

On the short flight I started watching Finding Dory...figure I’ll watch the other half of it on the flight back. : ) I identify with Dory more than I want to admit!

We were in Row 66, so were very slow to disembark...did you get that: Row 66 and there were probably another 6-8 rows behind us with 3, 3 and 3 seats across! Every seat filled. Quite the crowd!

We trekked the by now expected several “miles” from the plane to the luggage area. Indira stopped off at the restroom and I headed on over to the baggage carrousel (the first time we felt brave enough to separate). As I walked by the large opening exit I could see Martha waving!! So glad to see her smiling face. The luggage came through and we walked into Martha’s arms...just as she promised!! Whew!!

I hadn’t realized that the driving here was on the left. Plus lots of motor scooters often with whole families on them or girls in skirts riding side saddle behind the driver.

A taxi ride to the guest house, where our hostess insisted we partake of her bountiful and beautifully arrayed breakfast buffet. I had Pad Thai, ham and a sausage type thing, ginger tea and bites of several fruits...pineapple, papaya and pomelo which is a kind of giant citrus...sort of giant grapefruit like in appearance, but each individual pulp cell was huge, not just a larger in circumference fruit. Very good and very mild. Plus a little rolled cake thing that I thought might be coconut shreds, but turned out to be sugared egg shreds or threads...don’t know how to describe it. Quite

good.

Be the time we were done eating, they had our suite ready...we have a eating area with a fridge and hot pot, two bedrooms (one of which has a large TV, couch type seating and a coffee table at one end, and then a bathroom with a western toilet with a bidet...toliet paper provided, but you don’t flush it….there’s a trash can for it. And an open shower at one end with the floor level there a couple of inches lower than the rest of the room.

After a little visiting and catching up, Indira and Martha went off on a walking tour of the area. We are about 10 minutes walking distance from the old city which is surrounded by a moat with the wall still visible at the corners. While there are plenty of places to cross the moat by car or walking bridges, there are 5 official “gates” to the city each one having a specific purpose and historically, at least, who could enter by which gate was pretty much controlled.

After they left I took a shower put on my sleeping mask and laid down...not sure if I could relax enough to sleep. Two hours later I woke up with a start--a bit disoriented and woozy. I unpacked (we will be here for 5 nights) and decided to lie back down until they got back--didn’t feel daring enough to venture out by myself. Drifted right off again. I’m sure my cold is part of the sooooo tired feeling, plus just the let down of how hard I’ve pushed to be ready to come. Then, add in the jet lag and body tiredness of being so many hours in an airplane seat.

Martha and Indira got back around 3:30. We left for supper about 4:30. We walked to the end of our street and turned right...which put us on a kind of main drag...could see Martha’s apartment house off the street to the left as we walked by a drama/arts college campus and into the little commerce area...small Tesco market the size of a large convenience store (Tesco is the big Walmart type store in the UK), a large 7-11, and all kinds of shops and food stalls/stands up and down the street with seating outside on the walks.

We dropped into Tesco for tissues for me and some tea. Then to a stall for fruit---I bought a whole pineapple peeled and the eyes taken out in kind of a swirled pattern for B20, so less than a dollar (35 B to a dollar). She sliced it up, slid it into a plastic bag and stuck in a couple of long wooden picks in--maybe 6 inches long. You used those to spear a slice and you don’t have to use your fingers.

Then on to supper. Martha ordered her favorite for us. It was very much like Pho at home. A large bowl of broth with noodles, cilantro, green onions a small amount of chilies and pork spare ribs (bones included). Then a plate of cabbage and a plate of sprouts to add in as desired--and limes to squeeze in. Very good...couldn’t eat it all. Tee (Martha’s husband) joined us...coming from work. Fun to actually see and hug the real person, thought I’ve read so much and seen so many pictures that I feel like I should have already met him before! He admitted to being nervous meeting his mother-in-law for the first time! Made me smile.

Martha walked us home via a water bottle filling station, where for B1 (so about 3 cents) we were able to fill up both of our water bottles. Very handy and assured of clean drinkable water. Apparently the water in the city is fine, but the old pipes and plumbing mean it’s better to drink from the water stations...not so much bacteria as pipe deterioration. The ice water we were served with our meal in a stainless steel cup was very lightly flavored with a grass. Very refreshing.

So that brings today back to this moment sitting on the bed. It’s 7:30 p.m. I can’t stay awake any longer!