Please leave a comment when you visit my blog. Thank you!
Post 2003
- 7 years and 6 days since I started this blog -
- 7 years and 6 days since I started this blog -
Day 2 in Chiang Mai was a slow and lazy day. In some ways, this was the day I should have had day one.
I was tired, and I allowed that for myself. I spent a part of the morning working on issues with my new/old iPhone. I am unable to recharge my sim card, and spent quite a while figuring that out. Time for a new one - no penalty for that, but a drag to have to change phone numbers, and spend MORE time working on the phone. So it goes.
My condo is not near the Old City, where most everything is. That's good in some ways: It's quiet, where most places in the heart of things are not. I'm on the 10th floor, and get peace and quiet that is just not available 'downtown'. The wifi is great, too. It is a great retreat.
The down side of that is that it is that the Old City is where pretty much everything I'm interested in happens. Which makes me dependent on Uber (first choice), tuk-tuks (not bad, kind of fun, but less convenient, as you have to find one) or Songheuw, the red truck/covered pickups, which are by far the cheapest, but even less convenient, as you have to see one, hail one, check if the driver is going in your direction and will take you. Uber is the way, but my phone problems have really made it chancy - more on that later.
Anyway, I puttered around in the morning, had some calls with friends back home (it is 12 hours earlier for them, so my morning is their 'last night'). That was great. Then I went out for 'breakfast' and to pick up some shower gel - the tiny motel soap bar I brought with me was not cutting it. I also wanted to explore my neighborhood a bit. Unlike during the night, it was pretty dead. None of the food stands were open, and many restaurants were closed as well.
I ended up buying a giant bottle of Dove, and carried it with me, settling on a restaurant whose menu consisted of an album of photos of the dishes. I chose pork with eggs and vegetables, and it was delicious. With a bottle of water, breakfast cost about US$2.50, and was quite satisfying. I was amused by the antics of the owner's young son (I'd guess around 8 years old) during the meal. Apparently, he had achieved or completed something, and clearly wanted a reward. The interaction between him and his mother (the waitress/owner, I'm guessing) was very playful and loving.
Back at the condo, I planned on going down to get a Thai massage from the shop just outside the entrance, but when I went to do it, I just wasn't feeling it. No problems, I noticed that massage parlors are almost as ubiquitous as restaurants. I have time.
I then tried to buy more internet data for my card at the 7-11 where I had purchased it. No dice. I couldn't explain what I wanted, and I couldn't get the app for doing it to load. I may have purchased the wrong card. My phone problems have been the only constant, but my attitude is, something good comes out of something bad. I'll go to the Old City tomorrow, and have more luck. I hope. Or I'll just buy a new card instead of reloading the old one.
Fast forward a bit to dinner time. Facebook had notified my that I was very near three 'highly-rated' restaurants. When I clicked on the one that had Thai food, it didn't show an address, and the name was in Thai, so I clicked on it to see it on the map, and got walking directions. Unfortunately, it was Apple maps, and the 12 minute walk turned into about three times that. But the restaurant was very attractive, and I could see where it all went wrong. No problem.
The restaurant turned out to be a hot pot place, where you buy the ingredients, and throw them into a pot of boiling water on a hot plate at your table. You ordered by checking off items on a tablet. There was not a farang in the place - it was filled with Thai, and I didn't get the impression that anybody spoke English, but the menu was in English, so I just went for it: I ordered 'special pork' which turned out to be bacon, shrimp, chicken, vegetables, and rice, and what turned out to be a 2.5-liter bottle of water. Everybody was gracious and helpful as they could be. The cost? less than $4, including what I think/hope was overtipping.
After my previous experience, I decided to Uber the short distance back, but attempt after attempt ended with 'Something went wrong - check the app' and the app told me nothing and was no help at all. So I hoofed it back to the condo, this time it took only the 12 minutes it was supposed to.
But half-way along, I felt something I haven't felt in a very, very long time: Lonely. Don't "aw-w-w-w" me - I don't over-emote. I thought about how isolated not being able to talk with people made me feel, and why. I thought about how, even so, every interaction with the Thai, whether verbal or not, had left me feeling good: Gentleness, dignity and compassion are built into their culture. Aggression embarresses them - on behalf of the aggressor! But unable to understand or make myself understood, and the insight that I was the only single diner in the restaurant, filled me with a longing for companionship. I normally spend a great deal of time alone without ever thinking of it as problematic - there's a big difference between being alone and being lonely, and I have rarely in my life felt the latter. I like being alone, maybe more than most. But tonight I was both, alone and lonely. That was the bittersweet condition I found myself in.
I let myself feel it. I even explored the feeling of it, and then I let it go. Just like that, it was over. The takeaway? Spend more time in the Old City, look for the music in town - musicians are my brothers and sisters, they'll hip me to what's going on. And maybe I need to be a little more interested in planning activities for myself.
Am I still enjoying my time? Absolutely. It's an adventure, and the first rule is you deal with what comes. I'm pretty good at that. And grateful for every experience.
I was tired, and I allowed that for myself. I spent a part of the morning working on issues with my new/old iPhone. I am unable to recharge my sim card, and spent quite a while figuring that out. Time for a new one - no penalty for that, but a drag to have to change phone numbers, and spend MORE time working on the phone. So it goes.
My condo is not near the Old City, where most everything is. That's good in some ways: It's quiet, where most places in the heart of things are not. I'm on the 10th floor, and get peace and quiet that is just not available 'downtown'. The wifi is great, too. It is a great retreat.
The down side of that is that it is that the Old City is where pretty much everything I'm interested in happens. Which makes me dependent on Uber (first choice), tuk-tuks (not bad, kind of fun, but less convenient, as you have to find one) or Songheuw, the red truck/covered pickups, which are by far the cheapest, but even less convenient, as you have to see one, hail one, check if the driver is going in your direction and will take you. Uber is the way, but my phone problems have really made it chancy - more on that later.
Anyway, I puttered around in the morning, had some calls with friends back home (it is 12 hours earlier for them, so my morning is their 'last night'). That was great. Then I went out for 'breakfast' and to pick up some shower gel - the tiny motel soap bar I brought with me was not cutting it. I also wanted to explore my neighborhood a bit. Unlike during the night, it was pretty dead. None of the food stands were open, and many restaurants were closed as well.
I ended up buying a giant bottle of Dove, and carried it with me, settling on a restaurant whose menu consisted of an album of photos of the dishes. I chose pork with eggs and vegetables, and it was delicious. With a bottle of water, breakfast cost about US$2.50, and was quite satisfying. I was amused by the antics of the owner's young son (I'd guess around 8 years old) during the meal. Apparently, he had achieved or completed something, and clearly wanted a reward. The interaction between him and his mother (the waitress/owner, I'm guessing) was very playful and loving.
Back at the condo, I planned on going down to get a Thai massage from the shop just outside the entrance, but when I went to do it, I just wasn't feeling it. No problems, I noticed that massage parlors are almost as ubiquitous as restaurants. I have time.
I then tried to buy more internet data for my card at the 7-11 where I had purchased it. No dice. I couldn't explain what I wanted, and I couldn't get the app for doing it to load. I may have purchased the wrong card. My phone problems have been the only constant, but my attitude is, something good comes out of something bad. I'll go to the Old City tomorrow, and have more luck. I hope. Or I'll just buy a new card instead of reloading the old one.
Fast forward a bit to dinner time. Facebook had notified my that I was very near three 'highly-rated' restaurants. When I clicked on the one that had Thai food, it didn't show an address, and the name was in Thai, so I clicked on it to see it on the map, and got walking directions. Unfortunately, it was Apple maps, and the 12 minute walk turned into about three times that. But the restaurant was very attractive, and I could see where it all went wrong. No problem.
The restaurant turned out to be a hot pot place, where you buy the ingredients, and throw them into a pot of boiling water on a hot plate at your table. You ordered by checking off items on a tablet. There was not a farang in the place - it was filled with Thai, and I didn't get the impression that anybody spoke English, but the menu was in English, so I just went for it: I ordered 'special pork' which turned out to be bacon, shrimp, chicken, vegetables, and rice, and what turned out to be a 2.5-liter bottle of water. Everybody was gracious and helpful as they could be. The cost? less than $4, including what I think/hope was overtipping.
After my previous experience, I decided to Uber the short distance back, but attempt after attempt ended with 'Something went wrong - check the app' and the app told me nothing and was no help at all. So I hoofed it back to the condo, this time it took only the 12 minutes it was supposed to.
But half-way along, I felt something I haven't felt in a very, very long time: Lonely. Don't "aw-w-w-w" me - I don't over-emote. I thought about how isolated not being able to talk with people made me feel, and why. I thought about how, even so, every interaction with the Thai, whether verbal or not, had left me feeling good: Gentleness, dignity and compassion are built into their culture. Aggression embarresses them - on behalf of the aggressor! But unable to understand or make myself understood, and the insight that I was the only single diner in the restaurant, filled me with a longing for companionship. I normally spend a great deal of time alone without ever thinking of it as problematic - there's a big difference between being alone and being lonely, and I have rarely in my life felt the latter. I like being alone, maybe more than most. But tonight I was both, alone and lonely. That was the bittersweet condition I found myself in.
I let myself feel it. I even explored the feeling of it, and then I let it go. Just like that, it was over. The takeaway? Spend more time in the Old City, look for the music in town - musicians are my brothers and sisters, they'll hip me to what's going on. And maybe I need to be a little more interested in planning activities for myself.
Am I still enjoying my time? Absolutely. It's an adventure, and the first rule is you deal with what comes. I'm pretty good at that. And grateful for every experience.
Please leave a comment when you visit my blog. Thank you!
very cool. the pictures are beautiful
ReplyDelete