#3161: Tuesday, January 16, 2024: Au revoir, Chiang Mai

Post 3161

- 13 years and 16 days since I started this blog -

January 14, 2024

Journal

(written January 15-16, 2024)

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 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.

Here it is, my last day in Chiang Mai this trip. Pretty bittersweet.

I have been less active, done less, in many respects, during this trip to Chiang Mai - my longest by a few days - than during any previous trip. But I have done more in at least a few ways.

Most importantly, probably, I have made more music this trip than any other, which is really saying something.

I have felt more accepted as a musician, as well. I've had many unique playing opportunities this trip. I've also been a happy audience member for a fair amount of great music that I wouldn't have heard anywhere else, or at any other time.

I've had great jams with strangers, and converted a few musicians I met that way to friends who I got to play with, and improve with, more than once.

Thanks to the enthusiastic audience response I've enjoyed, I've noticed I have a little bit of notoriety, as someone who appears in public and has a fairly unique and, dare I say, memorable appearance, at least among other musicians here, I have excellent recognition.

People have thanked me for my playing around town quite a few times.

The rest of the trip has been a bit less exciting. I have added a few restaurants new to me to my list of favorites, and a few places have dropped off my list (or closed up). I visited a few new woks (Buddhist temples), but didn't revisit any more familiar ones.

I didn't do a single touristy thing, in fact. I never left the city of Chiang Mai.

And I had a great time.

One of the benefits of coming back to a place repeatedly is a mutual familiarity - people recognize you from previous trips, your friends provide updates, current events, and support. Getting around is easier. You begin to navigate better.

It helps you feel grounded. I am very, very grateful to my wonderful old and new friends in Chiang Mai. You are wonderful and make my time here immeasurably easier and more fun.

But there are also positive qualitative changes that come with every new visit here. This year, I experienced a feeling of lightness and ease greater than any previous trip. I can't really explain it, not the how or why of it, but it was noted, more than once. I'll be walking back to my guest house late at night, alone on the street, and you feel buoyant. You sing to yourself.

You appreciate where you are, and what you are able to do. A wave of gratitude follows. 

I enjoyed several spots, like the North Gate Jazz Coop, more this time than any past visits. In the past, my sessions didn't seem quite as good, weren't as much fun, and, at times, I was not given a chance to play some music of my choosing. And I hunag out more at Troubador than any other place this visit, and it didn't exist before this year.

I reconnected with old friends and made new friends. I played with more strangers than any previous time. 

I noticed things were more expensive, but only a shrug's worth. Living is so inexpensive here - lodging and food are both stupid cheap compared to back home, even though more expensive than previous visits. Nothing, not even the highest per-gram price of weed of anywhere I know of, pushes me into financial stress. 

So I am here without a care in the world. People here tell me it shows.

I get that. It feels good. I am very lucky. And grateful, always grateful. 

Here's this post's photo dump:

This week, wot shots first.

Happy after breakfast (Nice Kitchen, January 12, 2024).

Nicky, Graham, and muppet, outside North Gate Jazz Coop, January 9, 2024.

The Legendary Taco Bells (Oo, Willie and David), with the amazing Roddy Lorimar guesting on trumpet, are one of my favorite bands. That I can see them in an intimate setting like this (Troubador) is icing on the cake. Yes, they're my best friends, but they're also world-class performers, and I try to never miss a performance. I believe I had a 100% attendance record while I was in Chiang Mai this trip.

These are the unlit Christmas lights put up over Tha Phae Road this year. I've shown you a few pictures of them lit up. A couple of days ago, they stopped lighting them (a shame), but I thought I'd show you what they look like in the daytime. A kilometer of intricate light sculpture...

Food Comment

I first went to Tikky Cafe about a week after I first got to Chiang Mai. I ate there a lot after that first visit, finding it unbeatable when it came to educating me about Thai food. As I got more knowledgable, I also came to appreciate their specialties, of which the standout was the Tikky Salad, which has never lost its place as the best and most beautiful salad I've ever had. Now, seven years later, the restaurant has moved twice, and the Tikky Salad now comes in eight different versions (instead of four, originally). This is one I had yesterday, Tikky Salad with grilled chicken. Still fabulous. And, after all these years of faithful patronage in three locations, I found out today that the name Tikky Cafe isn't a Thai variation of Tiki Bar - Tikky is the name of the owner/hostess/chef, who always remembers me and greet me like an old friend, even seven years ago, when I wasn't. All hail Tikky Cafe, my favorite restaurant in Chiang Mai.

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