#2224: Wednesday, February 20: One-day check-in

Post 2224

- 8 years and 51 days since I started this blog -

  

Comment

Tomorrow I start my Southern road trip, just over three weeks long.

I got back from Chiang Mai yesterday.

I am not sleeping much. I am jet-lagged confusion.

I'm having a wonderful time this Winter.

But it has cost me: It looks like I've been replaced in Modafferi.

It's understandable, but disappointing. I really enjoyed that band, and really like my band mates. That won't change.

I am working on letting my disappointment go. I'm almost there, but it's harder than usual, because I felt the band was so special - and it is, whether I'm in it or not. I know that my friendships are intact and my prospects for playing are undiminished, maybe even greater. I'm optimistic.

Meanwhile, back in the present, I was certain I had gained a bit of weight in Chiang Mai - but I was wrong. As of today's weigh-in, I gained three ounces.

That is amazing to me, given how I ate sweets almost every day, and drank beer every day and had a lot of carbs - hard to avoid without really working at it in Thai cooking. I also frequently had very rich, high-calorie meals. Go figure!

Anyway, tomorrow is a travel day. I'll be back March 14, and we'll renew the blogging (this format) then.

Meanwhile, I'm thinking about this year's New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival first week in May, and my next Winter escape. Cuenca, Ecuador is calling me.

I am, as ever, grateful for all my opportunities, and for my friends and family, and a future, that, while unknowable, seems to promise more of the same.

Food and Diet 

Today's Weight:                    199.9 lbs.

Previous Weight (1/14/19):         199.7 lbs.

Net Loss/Gain:                     + 0.2 lbs.

Diet Comment

Once again, I really thought I had gained weight when I really hadn't. Nonetheless, I am so jet-lagged and with my biological clock all turned-around, that I really couldn't eat most of the day, and ended up with only one meal.

Food Log

Breakfast-Lunch-Dinner
10:45pm: A hamburger with home-made spicy mayonnaise and a big salad: Spring mix, spinach and walnuts with balsamic dressing and cottage cheese:

Liquid Intake

   Espressos: 0;   Coffee: 0 oz.;  Tea: 0 oz.;  Water: 86+ oz.; 

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#2223: Sunday, February 17: End of this trip

Post 2223

- 8 years and 48 days since I started this blog -

  

Journal
(written 2/19/19)

Read this once (it won't change for the rest of the trip(s): I'll be linking this post to Facebook. If that's how you got here, here's some background: About 8 years ago I started this blog as a food journal. I had a medical situation and needed to lose weight. Initially, that's all I did here: Journal my food intake and my weight. It contributed to helping me lose 20+% of my body weight in 6 months, and continuing has kept me on track since then. I started adding commentary after a while, but lately it has become infrequent. 

While I'm traveling, I let go of the weight-tracking and food journaling, except for the occasional food shot when I've eaten something interesting. And that's where we find ourselves now.

Well, here it is: My last day in Chiang Mai (I leave early tomorrow morning).

I wrote that lead paragraph the day before my flight out. I'm finishing up three days later (two calendar days, thanks to the twelve time zone difference) and I'm home right now in Liverpool, NY.

Of course, it's still winter, and I'm not done traveling. I'm home in Liverpool to re-pack, and tomorrow I'll begin the road trip that will finish my Winter travels to visit friends in Cary/Raleigh North Carolina, then South Daytona Beach, Florida, and ending up in New Orleans for Mardi Gras, before I reverse and make my way back home again.

Since this part of the WInter trip is about visiting friends, out of respect for their privacy and the private time needs of writing, I won't be travel-blogging the rest of my Winter.

I will, more than likely, stay active on Instagram and Facebook, though, so there's that, if you want to keep track of where I am and what I'm doing.

My time in Chiang Mai has been fantastic. In general, I deepened some of the friendships I made last year, and made many new friends. I had many new opportunities to make music, and did approximately zero tourist stuff. (I'm not counting my visits to the neighborhood wats, because those were integrated into my day-to-day, and never destinations on their own.

I suppose you could count the way I ate here as tourist-y, but really, it was a lot like how I imagined I'd eat if I was a resident, and often, I ate with people who live in Chiang Mai full-time. I ate at many more local Thai restaurants this year than last. I was much more experimental with my food choices there. I also allowed myself a lot of non-Thai meals. Last year, the only non-Thai meal I had the whole three-plus weeks was for Indian food. This year, I had French, Italian, Mexican, and a variety of American-style meals: Vegan, Jewish deli, and diner fare.

Otherwise, there really wasn't anything much to write about. I settled into a routine that had the rhythm of my imagined life as a resident, and to a large degree, resembled my everyday life in New York. Eat-sleep-friends-music. I've begun to repeat myself in a lot of ways, even going back to the same places to eat, playing the same places.

I played another gig with Swan and Gooseberries Jam at one of the nicer places to play I've been to. The place, an al fresco Italian restaurant with a good stage (and good sound!) has the rather misleading name of Yummy Pizza. But it had a full Italian menu, in addition to pizzas, and some British and continental specials, as well. The food and the playing were both very enjoyable.

I discovered the Jewish deli in Chiang Mai, as well, the Butter is Better Bakery and Restaurant, where you can get decent Jewish rye bread and excellent homemade pastrami. The place is fitted out like an American diner, which I found rather charming. Everything I ate there was excellent.

I had a well-attended birthday party/jam session. A few dozen people people showed up. The club had an excellent bass (an 'American' MusicMan Stingray (maybe - lots of counterfeit basses overseas) (in fact, by far the best bass I ever played outside the US) and I got to play with a pretty wide variety of musicians I'd played with before.

It was a grand time. As people left, all the good-byes were pretty moving, especially those from the half-dozen or so Thais at the party, who seemed so sincere in their affection for me and regret at my leaving. So, bittersweet.

And then it was all over but the packing, which took all of twenty minutes, and the trip home, which was just under thirty-six hours from Chiang Mai to Syracuse - thanks to a fourteen hour layover in New York (two of which involved waiting for baggage and going through customs re-entry).

I got a little more clarity on my prospects of living in Chiang Mai in the last few days. I mentioned the weather problem, but it turns out I misunderstood, and Chiang Mai would be suitable nine months a year (which is what I want).

But I also learned that there had been changes to the already less-than-hospitable retirement visa requirements that may make living in Chiang Mai more difficult, or possibly unmanageable. These rules haven't taken effect yet, but if they aren't changed, Chiang Mai would have to continue as a place I love to visit, as liveable as I've found it.

The new requirements require either a single deposit of over $25,500 maintained for the entire period of your stay, and ninety-day immigration check-ins, with annual renewal, or monthly deposits of one-twelfth that amount, every month (and the same every-ninety-days check-in and annual renewal. This is by far the biggest residency burden of any country on my list. Southeast Asia has always been the cheapest and most difficult place I've considered to get residency, but these new Thai rules make Thailand one of the most difficult places on earth to establish residency.

I can't imagine giving up on it, though. I think there will be significant blow-back, and a meaningful drop in the expat population because of them, and they will change and become more liberal, as this is the global trend.

Meantime, I have three more places on my list to check out. Next year, South America: Either Cuenca, Ecuador or Medellin, Colombia. Probably Cuenca, which is higher on my list. Ecuador has amazing benefits for retiree residents, and other attractive features not shared by any other place on my list: Potable drinking water, discounts for seniors, and American dollars as the nation's currency.

The last place on my list is Mexico, and I'm still refining my ideas about where in Mexico. All three of these countries have very easy and inviting retiree residency options.

That I get to do this, at this point, is amazing to me. That things have worked out so that I can do this, is amazing to me. I am so, so grateful for my life every day, every minute.

Yet, I don't think what I do is difficult. My situation - unmarried, one adult child, no grandchildren, multiple pensions - is something unplanned, nearly accidental. It is not everybody's or even most people's idea of how to live in the third age. It means I am free to pursue my ideas at will, never taking anybody else's interests into account.

It means my ties to my current living situation are weaker. My current situation, by the way, living in Liverpool, and playing music with my friends, and my social network here, is nothing short of wonderful, which is why I'm not already gone - I can't imagine giving up what I have here, where I am so happy, to be anywhere else. But realistically, there will come a time when it will be too difficult, when I might not be able to participate as I do now.

This is why I travel. Not as a tourist, but trying places out to see if, later on, they're a good fit.

Chiang Mai, Thailand certainly seems to fit the bill in every way, save for the bureaucracy of residency.

But, I have a list...

And a good time whether I'm traveling or at home. I don't know how to even express all my gratitude.

Food Comment

Real corned beef hash, scrambled eggs, rye toast at Butter is Better Bakery and Diner.

Valentine's Day treat: Green tea ice cream sundae from Swenson's.

Pig intestine soup - Thai restaurant (no English name).

Thai Breakfast soup - with rice porridge, pork meatballs, vegetables, eggs and crisp rice noodles. another Thai restaurant with no English name.

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#2222: day, February 13: The chink in the armor

Post 2222

- 8 years and 44 days since I started this blog -

  

Journal
(written 2/13/19)

Read this once (it won't change for the rest of the trip(s): I'll be linking this post to Facebook. If that's how you got here, here's some background: About 8 years ago I started this blog as a food journal. I had a medical situation and needed to lose weight. Initially, that's all I did here: Journal my food intake and my weight. It contributed to helping me lose 20+% of my body weight in 6 months, and continuing has kept me on track since then. I started adding commentary after a while, but lately it has become infrequent. 

While I'm traveling, I let go of the weight-tracking and food journaling, except for the occasional food shot when I've eaten something interesting. And that's where we find ourselves now.

No place is perfect. Chiang Mai has come close, but this trip has revealed a flaw that will make it unacceptable as a full-time residency destination.

I'm in my last days here. I have only five more full days here before my morning flight to Taipei, and then New York. I've been having an extraordinarily good time. I've made new friends and gotten closer to the friends I made last year.

I've played almost every day since I first got here, and I've played gigs - in fact, since I started my last week, I've gotten a lot of 'we wish you weren't going' correspondence from musicians I've played with.

I am eating so well, that, as opposed to last year (and earlier in Lisbon), I have gained weight (it shows). I have discovered many new favorite dishes. I am spending more money on food, to be sure, but I am eating a much greater variety of foods, often of higher quality.

But I'm not the only one leaving. Many in my circle of friends are planning on getting out of town in the next week, or two, or three. A number have already left.

And weather is the reason.

Chiang Mai is in a valley in the foothills of Northern Thailand. It is surrounded by mountains and farms. As is traditional with many farm communities, every year after harvest the crops are burned. My research says this happens at the start of the hot season, which lasts for three months. This drives up the pollution in the enclosed valley to unacceptable levels, accompanied by very high temperatures.

The plan was always, if I chose Chiang Mai to live, to get a place for the year and go back to the US to visit friends and family for the 3 hot, polluted months. Chiang Mai's very low cost of living makes this possible, even desirable.

In fact, most of my expat friends here do something like this, except, by and large, stay in Thailand, going further North and to higher elevations, or spending those three months at Thailand's (or the other surrounding southeast Asian countries') Southern beaches.

But it turns out that many of my friends spend less time in Thailand than I'd thought, because after the hot burning season comes the hot, wet season, characterized by frequent flooding of the streets, and steamroom environments between storms.

It turns out a majority of my expat friends here are 6-month residents. Nobody was surprised I was leaving (or that anyone else was leaving). It's what happens at this time of year.

This snowbird-like migratory pattern among expats is an indicator, and it makes Thailand slightly more attractive as a place to visit than to live for me at this point (do I have to qualify that statement to include that no final decision has been made? Done!).

It doesn't eliminate it or immediately cross it off my list, but if it looks like Chiang Mai is  not going to be the only place I live for a year, if I'm not going to maintain a year-round residence here (which I would if I were here nine months out of the year), my life will be more difficult. Certainly not impossibly more difficult, and probably worth it, but it means that the search for my future residence must continue, possibly with a new criteria: Easy flights to Chiang Mai.

However, it is likely that I will relegate Thailand to an annual visit, as I've done this year and last, maintaining my residence somewhere else. I'm not ready to let go.

So, there's that.

Meanwhile, my day-to-day experience here continues to include exciting new discoveries, surrounded by a very comfortable, slightly routine living routine.

I have been tapped to play multiple shows/gigs, as well as being given more playing time at the open mics I go to. I no longer have to buy my drinks at Boy Blues Bar, where last night I was making my last visit there of this trip.

In fact, yesterday was a really interesting day for me.

Until yesterday, I had never experienced bad weather here. No rain, no uncomfortably hot temperatures, no days of noticeably bad pollution during my seven weeks here last year and this.

Yesterday, I had one of the few active morning days in my travels, because I had to get my laundry to the lady who does it by ten. So, I was up and out a couple hours earlier than usual. It came as a shock to me to wake to an overcast Chiang Mai, with a temperature of almost 30º C (mid 80s).

After dropping off my laundry (just a few steps from my airBnB), I went back to my room and turned on the air conditioning.

I had an appointment to have lunch with Harry (who I met last year, but really only got to know this year - such a smart and interesting man!) at Butter is Better, a restaurant that was an American-style diner, containing a bakery and a Jewish deli. The owner was a chef in the US, and this place makes their own corned beef and pastrami and bakes their own rye bread.

On the way there, the cab driver, with limited English, cautioned me that the pollution was very bad - complete with a charades-driven directive to wear a face mask when I was out and about in the "bad air"!

Harry was already there when I arrived, and that's when I got the weather lowdown that, somehow, I'd missed in all the preceding time I'd spent in Thailand, as well as the new information that many of the expats I knew who called Chiang Mai home were actually six-month residents, with some actually only here for the winter.

But the restaurant is a trip. Decorated in diner/malt shop/candy store/deli chic, with 45s and album covers from the fifties and sixties on the walls (some good stuff, too) and comic book pages under glass on the tables, with lots of fifties artifacts around (and a room dedicated to Fred McMurray), everything about this place screamed 'you're home' to me.

The pastrami was excellent. Since I'd heard about this place, I'd decided on what I was going to have there (without the benefit of a whole menu to guide me) and I was thrilled to see my pastrami and eggs choice as a menu item.

It was glorious. The rye bread was great as well. I haven't had good rye bread for months.

After eating that, I walk to the dessert counter, and decide on the carrot cake, which looks perfect. And, it is.

I go back after for a little smoke and nap, then I have an early evening rehearsal for a gig on Wednesday.

Afterwards, a farewell dinner party for Joyce (Jo), an Australian singer who lives in Chiang Mai who I'd met and backed up some last year, and who I played gigs with this year. She was going back to Melbourne for the 'smokey season'. Some of my favorite people were there, and pitchers of margaritas were uninterrupted.

And it turned out the farewell party wasn't just for her, but two other friends in the group were getting out of town - not going 'home', but not staying in Chiang Mai.

Once you know something, you see your evidence and proof of it everywhere you look - confirmation bias. Hit me hard, in my drunken state, last night.

Drunk and happy, I caught a ride on the back of a bike driven by a Dutch woman (Corinka) to play a final set at North Gate Jazz Co-op, backing Jo one more time.

I get all hot and sweaty on the bandstand, and take a cab home, even though I've always walked home this year.

I make a drunk call to a friend, talking about this revelation, my good night, and minutes after I hang up, I'm asleep. I slumber peacefully, because even with some of the negatives of the day, the highlights, being great food, good company, snf getting hours of playing time in, all inspire gratitude.

Food Comment

Mushrooms and brown rice from Goodsouls Kitchen.

Pastrami and eggs with rye toast from Butter Is Better.

Butter Is Better's carrot cake.

From Tikky Cafe, the amazing Tikky salad. This one has chicken and bacon (perfectly crisped - a first in Chiang Mai) for the protein. I said it last year, and I'll say it again: Best salad I've ever had, and, by far, the most beautiful.

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#2221: Friday, February 8: More random thoughts

Post 2221

- 8 years and 39 days since I started this blog -

  

At ONE Nimman Place (outside the food court)

Journal
(written 2/8-9/19)

Read this once (it won't change for the rest of the trip(s): I'll be linking this post to Facebook. If that's how you got here, here's some background: About 8 years ago I started this blog as a food journal. I had a medical situation and needed to lose weight. Initially, that's all I did here: Journal my food intake and my weight. It contributed to helping me lose 20+% of my body weight in 6 months, and continuing has kept me on track since then. I started adding commentary after a while, but lately it has become infrequent. 

While I'm traveling, I let go of the weight-tracking and food journaling, except for the occasional food shot when I've eaten something interesting. And that's where we find ourselves now.

This is the Seinfeld episode of the blog.

I am sitting down to write with no idea what to write about. Today, it's about nothing - or, rather, odds and ends, without a theme.

I've got more than three weeks of Chiang Mai living behind me, and ten days left here.

I've settled into a routine that isn't appreciably different than what I do at home, with the exception of meals and (the lack of) cooking.

I went through all of yesterday, and didn't take a single photograph.

As I write this, I'm having my first real under-the-weather day, thanks to last night's dinner.

I was thinking of going to Pai today, but called it off yesterday. Good thing. It is a nauseating four hour ride, famous for the seven hundred twenty-six curves along the way. I was advised to get dramamine for the trip. I never would have made it without getting sick, the way I'm feeling now.

Thing is, that kind of trip is really not what my travel is about. I am a tourist in Chiang Mai, for sure, in that I'm here for a short time, staying in temporary accommodations, largely unfamiliar with the geography, language and culture, and with a fixed date of departure. But I'm not doing tourist things: Not 'seeing the sites' (in the six-plus weeks I've been in Chiang Mai, I haven't been to the top four attractions here); Not buying souvenirs (no room in my one bag this trip), avoiding most tourist-dominant places. Last year, I did do the elephant thing - a bucket list item for me since I was a toddler. This year, nada.

But I digress - we were talking about my having my first bad day here. I have to accept responsibility for my current malaise. Last night I had a dinner-time rehearsal with some guys I'll be playing with on Sunday. I thought it would be an hour, it turned out to be two, which made me late for the open mic at Siam Tulip. I'd been contemplating eating dinner beforehand, now there was no time.

And I was starving. So I ordered a burger at the open mic, on a friend's recommendation, and started in playing. Of course, the burger came out while I was still playing, and at the first opportunity for a break I wolfed it down. Oh, yes, by burger (which is how it's listed on the menu), I mean a double bacon-cheeseburger with fries.

I knew right away that I'd eaten it too fast. It did not feel good, although I certainly wasn't hungry any more.

Even though today I'm not feeling all that well, I think a little walk will help. Turns out, I'm wrong about that. In fact, it makes me hungry, and then eating something I hope will have nothing worse than a neutral effect on my overall well-being (or lack thereof), I do feel worse after eating.

The walk is also hot and uncomfortable, although that may have more to do with how I feel than the weather, which isn't that different than any other day here. Not without rewards, though, as, lost in thought, I encounter an item of interest, so startlingly, in-my-face and out-of context: A life-size Spider-man, in a Santa hat, poised to leap out of a massage parlor.

At this juncture, I want to say something about my little walks, my rambles. You are going to have to take my word on this, as I start out, I am singing. In my head, not out loud (I think/hope), but singing. My walks are like a meditation, and happen very much in the present. I stop singing at some point, because a real sense of internal quiet takes over. I don't expect anything, I rarely have any goal except to get breakfast at some point (these are nearly always first-of-the-day events). Sometimes that gives my rambling a destination, but rarely dictates a path (until I get hungry, then out comes the iPhone and Google maps).

These are joyous things in my life. I notice all sorts of things (like how many flowers are on my route, children playing, the architectural art so common here). I find many things I see more amusing than noteworthy, but that should give you a general idea of my mood.

Not today, of course. Today, after eating, I truncate my walk and Grab a car back to my room, to lie down in the cool and dark. I have exciting plans for the evening, and maybe I'll write more.

Which is this part.

There is an area in Chiang Mai, outside the walls, that I haven't explored at all. It is the Nimman area, it is the most modern section of Chiang Mai (even while not demolishing any of the beautiful old spots, of which there are many, but not of the density of the old city). At its entrance, it boasts the largest mall in Chiang Mai, the Maya Lifestyle Mall. The name says a lot. In my initial exploration, a few days ago, I got up close, but quite deliberately chose not to enter. I didn't feel the urge to shop, and couldn't think of anything I needed.

The Nimman area is home to a majority of the middle-class expats from Great Britain and Australia, as well as other Europeans and Asians. Since it has a lot of European-style residences, it is a very likely place for me to live, should I end up here on a more permanent basis.

The shops are newer, many are more modern, and, of course, the prices are a little higher. No big deal. The Chiang Mai middle class is well-represented, and many shops are obviously catering to that democracy, even as a majority seem to embrace the more International and less local vibe.

The interesting architecture (and pleasant aromas) lead me into the ONE Nimman Place food court. Passing a coffee shop with a romantically dark interior (and smoked windows), I am struck again with an image, and take this selfie of my reflection, now one of my favorite photos:.

Turning toward the center of the food court, it looks like this (mind you, it's about 1:30pm):

Also seen, at the restaurant I ate at at Nimmon (nothing really memorable) was this family dining out: The parents play cards, while the little girl shakes a Magic 8-ball. Just made me smile. I haver lost all sense of normality, I think.

It's another ramble begun with a song in my head (and heart).

Apropos of nothing, it was my son Alex's birthday last Wednesday. On a FaceTime video call, amidst all the birthday love and good wishes, he suggested I was in bad need of a haircut.

Just like my father when I was fourteen, although with less invective and threat.

He may have a point. But, long hair seems like a better externalization of the inner me. I don't know, what do you all think? (just kidding - in matters like this, I tend to not care what other people think).

I know for certain my beard is not a hit with the Thais - they don't seem to be much into thick facial hair.

But: They remember and recognize me from a year ago, so, in its way, it's working for me.

Next day writing:

Last night's dinner at La Terasse was crazy good.

I am there with David (who suggested this special night out), his girlfriend and her girlfriend, both of whom have very limited English - although far better than my zero Thai skills. I order food like it is my last meal, even though most of my dishes could have been standalone meals by themselves. And, I didn't take any pictures of the food. I have no explanation or excuse for this. The food was as attractive as it was delicious. You'll just have to take my word for it.

I order a chorizo tapas appetizer and a paté sampler, then escargots bourgignon. Then, a pear-and-roquefort salad and onion soup gratinée. For my main, which thankfully doesn't arrive immediately after I finish everything else (at which point, I'm seriously thinking I will not be able to eat a bite of it), I have duck breast with foix gras dressing. Also, a bottle of the house wine, from Languedoc, which is excellent. I cannot finish the duck breast, even though it is the best I've ever had. Thank goodness, my companions help a bit, and also help me get what I can't eat wrapped to go.

The to-go bag, containing duck breast foi gras.

My bad day ends with a triumphantly good and expensive meal, as I spend the equivalent of an average three days' of dining here.

Which isn't a problem because that also says something about how I've been staying under-budget for the last three-plus weeks.

I get back to my place feeling fat and happy.

And very grateful that even when a day here starts out bad, things end up very positively.I couldn't be more grateful.

Food Comment

My favorite dessert right now: Goodsouls Kitchen's raw brownie, in this pic serving as Alex's birthday cake.

Reform Kafé redux: Same mushroom burger, fantastic fries, and this time with a vegetable-fruit drink, like a V-8, but heavier on beetroot than tomatoes.

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#2220: Monday, February 4: Routine and random thoughts

Post 2220

- 8 years and 35 days since I started this blog -

  

Journal
(written 2/xx/19)

Read this once (it won't change for the rest of the trip(s): I'll be linking this post to Facebook. If that's how you got here, here's some background: About 8 years ago I started this blog as a food journal. I had a medical situation and needed to lose weight. Initially, that's all I did here: Journal my food intake and my weight. It contributed to helping me lose 20+% of my body weight in 6 months, and continuing has kept me on track since then. I started adding commentary after a while, but lately it has become infrequent. 

While I'm traveling, I let go of the weight-tracking and food journaling, except for the occasional food shot when I've eaten something interesting. And that's where we find ourselves now.

I have definitely settled in. On any given day, I am doing pretty much the same thing, depending on whether I get to play or not. The difference, day-to-day, is what thing did I do that was a highlight. They tend to fall into three categories: Music, People, Food (in no order).

On the really good days, its hard to choose. Luckily, I don't feel the need to.

Spending a lot of time alone gives me some time to reflect. I don't use it all for that, to be sure, but I have had some thoughts.

Chiang Mai is the only place on my five-place Retire-and-Expatriate list that has been there since I started keeping one, about twenty-five years ago. The only other place on the list I visited, Lisbon, washed out. Chiang Mai is still in contention, I have to think about replacing Lisbon, but that will wait.

If all the information you have about Chiang Mai is what I write and post and the photos I take, you have little idea what Chiang Mai is really like. I am not making a documentary here. Everything I post should be regarded as impressionistic. It's how I feel, and since I feel good, I write about that - ignoring most of the negatives, because they don't tip the scales; they don't really register in my Kodachrome world.

The things I don't write about are the decrepit, decaying buildings alongside the beautiful ones, a block-by-block common thing. I don't write about some of the odors that are part of a walk down the narrow streets and alleyways.

I also don't write about the language barrier that separates Thai and non-Thai, and creates, not through exclusivity, but rather simple practicality, expat bars and hangouts, and a limited ability to befriend Thais, who, from all evidence I have ever seen, are lovely people, who one would like as friends.

The limited access to Thai people bothers me more than anything else about Chiang Mai, but it doesn't disqualify it. While friendly and welcoming residents of the cities on my list is a check box (not moving to any place hostile or xenophobic to me, for any reason), participation is not a must. Among mostly expats, I do meet Thai people, and there is some interaction all day long.

Moving along, I have begun to repeat myself. No, not in the rambling, short-term memory loss kind of way (well, nut much, anyway), but in my daily routine. I'm keeping the same brunch-dinner (with an occasional afternoon snack) schedule. I'm going back to the same restaurants. The rambles I take are more familiar, and often less than random.

Not that lack of randomness has meant lack of surprise. It has not. Not here, not yet.

For instance, I find out new things about people I am already acquainted with, and this has led me to a new perspective on some of my friends, in the most positive way. I've had to reorder my list of most-interesting people. Well, not really. I don't keep a list. Just collect amazingly interesting people in my life.

Or, in my ramblings, I have noticed something that really makes me happy when it presents itself, and this trip, I seem to be running into it a lot: Really happy babies and toddlers. The kind obviously happy, big grins and high-pitched belly laughs.

Having nobody that young in my family, I have been exposed to that almost every day I am here: In the street, in restaurants, Thai, expat, tourist. Delighted little humans exuding joy. How could I not appreciate that?

I've gotten to play a few times, and of course, that's always a highlight. Most recently, I got to sit in on rhythm guitar, with two other guitarists, two mandolin players, and a harp player. That was so much fun, I did something I haven't done in a long time (mostly due to the awfulness of the guitar I was playing on): I played until my fingers hurt. And then some.

The occasion was the annual back-to-real-life departure of Roy, one of the half-year, non-retired expats, who was one of the mandolin players. He was going back to Scotland (I think). Could be Australia or Britain. I'm terrible with accents, and he didn't say. Roy is an excellent player, as was everybody else except me: I have only rudimentary guitar skills albeit a good sense of rhythm.

What else? After a really good dinner with Harry I accompanied him to the Night Market, where he had some business to do. It's always fun. I (almost) never buy anything, except the occasional snack. but this windowless window shopping is always fun. And always provides some good photos.

Harry, leading me to a mango and sticky rice dessert at the Night Market.

On more than half my walks, I pass Wat Pa Prao Nai. I've gotten into the habit of stopping and lingering a few minutes there before getting on my way. Thankfully, as beautiful as it is, it is a minor Wat, and usually the only other people there are the monks who live there. I feel the place is especially peaceful, and I find this pause, even though sometimes it's just for a few minutes, very refreshing.

The rest of the time, every day, is eating. I have found some fantastic restaura nts. Interestingly, because this is a departure from my regular ways, and I haven't generally made any adaptations to being here, a few of them are vegan, as in, no animal products. I only recently, on my trip to Los Angeles last October, began enjoying vegan restaurants. But I have a few I'e gone to over and over here.

And I'm still finding new ones. And new favorite things to eat here, including places who do wonderful versions of American breakfasts. Hey, I eat Thai food in the States, why not American food in Thailand. And the quality has been, for the most part, anyway, quite excellent. I've found a place that makes a great baguette. And a place that will make crisp bacon for the asking (actually, the first such place I've found).

I am, though, eating at some pricier restaurants on a regular basis, when compared to last year's trip here. One of the reasons that, while it costs a pittance to be here, I am spending about thirty-to-forty percent more this year than last. More expensive things: Transportation, food and massages. Which is pretty much how I spend almost all my money.

I'm writing this at Goodsouls Kitchen. I just finished a raw food brownie, the second and not the last one I've ordered here, and one of those new favorite foods I was talking about. Along with great coffee, this will set me back just over five bucks, and now, I can sit here for hours, among the friendly staff, some of whom recognized me from places I went last year, and treat me like an old friend. Which I am.

Earlier, on my morning ramble, I went to a new place, Recover Kafé, a vegan restaurant where you eat in a garden patio. It was, in all respects glorious. And the food was quite extraordinary, as well. I could have stayed there all day, but I hadn't brought my computer on my ramble.

Looking straight up from my table at Random Kafé.

It's Monday, Boy Blues Bar night. I eat dinner at a nearby Indian restaurant - once again, I order more than I can eat, and every bite is wonderful. My friend David is playing in a market across the street from the Kalare Night Bazaar, where Boy's is located, and I stop in to hear his band first.

It's a very good band, and the sound is excellent. And reasonably loud - a first for me in Thailand. The playing is first-rate, and the singing - usually the weak point in Thai bands playing American/British music - is good as well. I listen to a long blues song that is apparently an original, contains a lot of opportunities for the two guitarists to solo, and I'm impressed.

A few minutes later I'm up the stairs at Boy's. Ollie's there, as are a few other now-familiar faces. The mood seems good. The regular bass player walks up and says he'll play first, then turn it over to me, if that's okay. I'm somewhat taken aback by this. If it's okay? I tell him, "Thanks, man - whatever you want. It's your gig."

With Boy, guitar-slinging proprietor of Boy Blues Bar, number one live music club in Chiang Mai.

I get some good playing time. I'm happy, I get an opportunity to stretch on a few songs, very rare in my typically supporting role at open mics. People are dancing. Smiles all around.

In the end, it's another good night. Highlights of this day include food and playing. I'm so grateful for every day.

Food Comment

I have included more than the usual food picd, and I have shown restraint, even so. These meals really have been highlights. Look on:

Tikky Café never disappoints: Minced pork and vegetables with rice.

This fried eggs over stir-fried potatoes and vegetables comes from Overstand Café.

Goodsouls Kitchen has my favorite americano and my new favorite dessert: a brownie made with only raw foods.

From Grazie Thai Cooking, stir-fried mixed vegetables and penang curry with chicken and rice.

From the Hideout, not only is this scrambled egg with lettuce, tomato and avocado killer, I think this baked in-house baguette may be the best in Chiang Mai.

At Recover Kafé, I over-ordered a mushroom burger and glass noodles salad. Everything was excellent, but the star here is actually the amazing, surprising potatoes, which are the best french fries I've ever had.

Samosas from Rajdarbar Indian Restaurant - as good or better than any I've ever had - that's the second time that's happened today!

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