#2974, Wednesday, December 21, 2022: Ruminations on traveling, music, friendship in Chiang Mai

Post 2974

- 12 years and 355 days since I started this blog -

Journal

(written Dec 21, 2022)

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 13 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 - the weight has stayed off - 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 food shots when I've eaten something interesting or pretty. And that's where we find ourselves now.

You'll have to forgive me if I ramble a little bit here. My days and nights are beginning to run together. I'm busy, having a lot of fun. And I'm stoned a lot (nothing new, but it feels different here, somehow).

I've gotten my share of playing time, and every single evening I've spent in Chiang Mai has been music-centered.

This, December, is the earliest I've ever been here. First time I came in February, next few times in January. then February again. Here, in the (Western world's) holiday season, my musician friends are busy. That's a good thing. I follow them around, because the music's so good.

I have lined up some regular playing opportunities, and when I'm not playing, my friends are, and I'm perfectly content being part of their audience. The music's so good. 

This is the ideal for me when I travel. Lots of music, and a lifestyle that, except for eating all of my meals at restaurants, reflects and extends my lifestyle at home, where live music - making or listening - is my highest priority, and is reflected in how I spend my time (in bars. I spend a lot of time in bars. At home and when I travel. No, I don't drink a lot.) (But I do drink.)

I've already introduced you to The Legendary Taco Bells: l-to-r, Willie Salomon, Dave Williams, Chatmatee Ketsuvan (Oo). The other night, when this picture was taken, I was reunited with Roddy Lorimer (guesting on trumpet). You probably think you don't know him, but you do. A classically trained Scot who became a first call trumpet player in London in the '80s, He was a founding member of Kick Horns, and has played with everybody from Eric Clapton to the Spice Girls. Check out his wiki, and you're going to find out you actually do know him, you just didn't know it. He's been living in Chiang Mai, Thailand for about 5 years, and I met him on my first trip here, where we bonded over our mutual appreciation for George Martin (Beatles) and Mac Rebbenack - Dr. John. When I found out he'd worked with them, I was starstruck.

When I was here for the second time, I took a cooking class. It was a lot of fun. The guest house I'm staying in this year is just down the block from the cooking school I took the class in, and a short walk to the wonderful market they took us to, to show us how to select ingredients, and to see the different and unfamiliar Thai products. Now, I buy almonds there regularly, and just enjoy the scents and sights.  

I know I said I wouldn't, but I said I probably wouldn't and here I am posting a few pics I snapped while walking through the stupendous Sunday Night Walking Street market. I would need a drone to adequately show how enormous this is. Every Sunday, vendors come from all over Chiang Mai and the surrounding areas. They set up their tables, tents, display racks, merch beginning around noon. How do they decide where along the kilometer-and-a-half section of streets, with more on the side and cross streets? I don't know, but that must be some system, because hundreds of them manage to make an appearance every Sunday, and most seem to have a fixed place to put up their wares in time for the street closing and 5pm official kick-off (it begins with an official prayer from the Government, during which everybody freezes for a moment - first time I've been there for that. 

There's music, too, and lots of food. It's the crafts that hold the most interest for me. This trip, because Walking Street is only a few steps from the entrance to my guest house (yet my place remains quiet), I took these pics as I walked through on my way to do music. My route meant that I walked almost the whole length of the market, and down the side streets. I couldn't help but snap a few pics along the way.

The Old Town part of Chiang Mai is/was a walled city surrounded by a moat. It is almost a perfect square. A substantial part of the 700-year old wall is gone, but the moat is maintained. In the past, I have stayed in the Northwest part of the city (inside the walls). This trip, I am in the Southeast. I went for a walk to eat at a favorite restaurant, Goodsouls Kitchen, in my 'old neighborhood,' which took about twenty-five minutes, with lingering and stops to take photos. These Wots and by-the-sidewalk shrines are what caught my attention during my trek.

My reward. Winner, and still champion, the raw brownie from Goodsouls Kitchen still stands as my favorite dessert. This has already made a couple of appearances in the Food Log section, so I thought it made sense to show it at the conclusion of my walking-to-get-it photos.

Finally, some night shots taken on my way from Guest House to bar or restaurant. Or both. And, always, music.

Food Comment

This is a bowl of oatmeal with coconut milk from one of my new favorite restaurants, Nice Kitchen. It also has fruit and seeds and coconut pulp and it was delicious and when they put it in front of me, it just seemed so like an abstract Zen design. Everybody oohed and aahed, and I had to take a snap.

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