Chiang Mai, Thailand - REDUX (2010-11)

(11/3/10-2/28/11) Our second stay in Chiang Mai more about mobility and living, than about adventure and discovery. And, that in a nutshell is what our travels have been all about – seeking a place or places we could call our new home. Nancy and I both agree that Chiang Mai fulfills all of our requirements (at least for seasonal living): perfect climate (for 3-4 mos. a year from mid-Oct. to mid-Feb.) – dry, temps. averaging mid-80’s during the day, and dropping to a refreshingly cool mid-60’s late night; natural beauty; friendly people; virtually no crime (in Chiang Mai); good selection of nice housing; very good low-cost health care; good (and healthy) food; and INCREDIBLE VALUE.

First of all, as noted in our earlier brief Blog entry, we found a much better Condo rental, with beautiful views of the hills surrounding the city from our oversized balcony. Centrally located and close to everything important, less than half the rent of our Condo last year, complete with beautiful lobby occupied by 2 restaurants, a small sundries store; laundramat, 24-hour reception and security, large swimming pool, and best of all one of the better equipped fitness gyms in Chiang Mai for only about US$30/mo.

Second, this time around, we rented a Motorbike (Suzuki 125cc automatic) for the full 4mos. of our stay (for only about $3/day, including full insurance). This really made a difference to us, to have complete convenient mobility. Not only did we become very familiar with every nook and cranny of the city, but really felt like actual residents, but it allowed us to eat with the locals at the street stalls nearly every evening, for healthy filling and delicious meals at the ridiculous price of about US$1.50/per person with beer. We were able to shop and run errands like any other local resident, and felt ‘at home’.

Of course, we revisited most of the same sites of interest, as our new pictures below will show. Since I wrote about these in detail in last year’s Blog, it would be redundant to comment yet again. Instead, we’ll just let the photographs speak for themselves in that regard.

We did do something new of interest, when we attended an invitation-only Wine Tasting, hosted at an upscale restaurant, which provided non-stop superb hot and cold appetizers throughout the evening while we tasted some above-average imported wines from around the World. We also had the opportunity to meet some very nice expats, mostly British and Australian; and, even had our photograph taken and published in the City’s english-language weekly. It was a real privilege for us to drink our fill of wine that night, since the rest of our stay we were limited to our favorite local beer (Chang), due to the mystifyingly high-cost of wines sold in Thailand (e.g. US$10-15 for a bottle of below-average table wine).

While last year’s stay was all about new exploration and adventure, most of our time this year was devoted to just every day living and bumming around on our Motorbike exploring the different neighborhoods and corners of Chiang Mai and its surrounding villages. However, next year when we come (and, yes, unless we settle down elsewhere due to a new job or business venture, we would intend to come back every year at this time), we have vowed to be more ‘productive’ with our time by taking up some new hobby or interest (e.g. Language Classes or other such education; perhaps Flight Lessons for Bob, and Cooking Classes for Nancy), and/or some volunteer work (eg. Teaching or tutoring English to school age children.)

NEXT UP: We left Chiang Mai on Feb. 28, and arrived March 1 on the Island of CYPRUS, where we will stay for a month thru April 2 in the small northern City of Kyrenia (a/k/a Girne), which is for now part of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC).

CHIANG MAI, THAILAND

(11/20/09 - 1/20/10). We spent 2mos. in Thailand, limited to the middle-sized City of Chiang Mai, considered the capital of northern Thailand. Also well-known as the cultural capital of the country. The climate was superb, at least during our stay with daytime temperatures in the mid-70’s and nights going to a low approx. 60F, allowing us to sleep with the cool night air flowing through our open (screened) balcony door. We understand that it does get a lot warmer beginning around April (perhaps to a high of 90F), but still far below the sweaty southern City of Bangkok or the touristy beach area of Phuket. But, beyond the favorable climate, we were most impressed with the incredibly warm, gracious and friendly nature of the Thai people. Of course, we also love the food, which has the benefit of being very healthy too, consisting of lots of stir fried and sautéed vegetables, fish, shrimp, and just small amounts of meet mostly chicken and pork, and very little beef – and lots of rice. Another big “Plus” is that the cost of living seemed very cheap, matching or even beating the low prices we found in Buenos Aires.

As for our residence, we were fortunate to have found a short term apartment rental in a very nice newer condominium building, complete with beautiful swimming pool, exercise room and an 3-walled open-air common room. We had a Studio on the top floor, which was actually fairly roomy, and had a balcony overlooking the pool. The rent was probably a bit more expensive than necessary for Chiang Mai, but sometimes that’s the trade-off for our ‘short-term- rental needs. Were we to actually decide to live here year-round (or semi-annually), we undoubtedly could do much better in terms of value.

One of the big attractions for Tourists in Thailand are the numerous ornately decorated Buddhist Temples called “Wats”. There seem to be one every square mile in the City, and every village has at least one (most often located up some hilltop with a view overlooking the locality). They are indeed impressive, but after awhile one’s “circuits can be blown” by over-Wat(tage). (LOL).

Naturally, when you leave the City limits and venture into the countryside as we did several times on a rented Motor Scooter, it is quite a tropical country even in the north, with jungle foliage covered hills and mountains, beautiful flowers among them an amazing variety of spectacularly colorful Orchids, and the usual wildlife including exotic birds, reptiles, elephants, primates. And the Village people are always warm and welcoming wherever you go, even if they don’t speak English.

Thailand, and Chiang Mai in particular, will definitely be one of the “Finalists” contending for a place that we may ultimately choose to live on a permanent or semi-permanent basis.

NEXT UP: We venture to Vietnam for a planned stay of 2-3mos., beginning in Hanoi.