#3506: Monday, December 15, 2025: Leaving Chiang Mai

Post 3506

- 14 years and 349 days since I started this blog -

This is my friend Mac Tavish, from Edinburgh. 

Travel Journal

(written December 15, 2025)

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: Almost 15 years ago I started this blog as a food journal. I had a Type-2 Diabetes diagnosis, and needed to lose weight. Initially, that's all I did here: Journal my food intake and my weight. It contributed to a loss of 20+% of my body weight in 6 months, and continuing has kept me on track since. I started adding commentary after a while, but recently it has been a food journal only. Except when I travel (every Winter).

While I'm traveling, I let go of the weight-tracking and food journaling (except for food photos when I've eaten something interesting or pretty). I write about my experiences, and use it as a photo dump. And that's where we find ourselves now.

- - - - - - - 

My time here in Chiang Mai is over, much too quickly. 

One big dinner, and I'm off to the airport.

It has been a wonderful trip, despite it being the shortest ever. I reconnected with friends, made some new friends, played some bass and sang a little, I heard some real good music, smoked good weed and had amazing food every meal, every single day. No duds.

And the weather was, after an initial day of light rain, perfect. From day two on, every day has been clear and t-shirt warm. 

And now, too quickly it's over.

That being said...

On to the photos:

People Pics

This is breakfast at my favorite breakfast place: Kati Breakfast and Brunch. I'm having my regular, which I featured last year, when I discovered this place: overnight oats and fruit, scrambled eggs, and bacon. That's my friend Hunter, and Mac Tavish, the stuffed bear. They're from Scotland. He does magic.

My friend Rychy knows Mac, too. This is after breakfast, at Nice Kitchen, previous favorite, now third-favorite breakfast place (after Kati and Hummus).

One of the best new finds of this trip was the newly-opened Soi Dog Blues Bar. (Soi means 'alley'). I got to play here more than anywhere else this trip. Here, I'm replacing the bass player with the house band. They were quite good. And tolerant.

The bass player of the Moat Dogs (theme, much?) is a friend. Here, he let me sit in with the band for a few numbers, and play his beautiful bass, which is the first multi-scale (fanned-fret) bass I ever played, and it was a good experience. Hence, the smile.

In the Fred MacMurray Room of the famed Butter Is Better Diner/Deli, my favorite bit of New York not in New York. That's Hunter, moi, Oliver, Rychy and David. And Mac. Where there's Hunter, there's always Mac. I do love this place. Lots of laughs and good conversation over the years.

The Troubadour Band. That's Jason on guitar, Sebastien on guitar and vocals, Yves on bass and Jim on the skins. It's fun for me to see my musical friends put together something this good.

Wandering

Another post from Chiang Mai, another bumch of Wot photos. I can't/won't stop.

Tha Phae Road, all lit up, as always, but this year honoring the late Queen Mother.

The Tha Phae Gate has become a popup food court of impressive dimensions. The Thai celebrate everything: Christian holidays, Buddhist holidays, national holidays, and Chianes New Year. Fun people. 

This is a magnificent tree, standing right beside the mote, just north of the Tha Phae Gate

Food

Only one food pic, but it was important to include it. This is the Baked Egg from Kati Breakfast and Brunch. Kati has become my new favorite breakfast place, and I ate there more than any place else this trip. Everything I've ever had at Kati has been excellent. They also deliver the most perfect scrambled eggs I've ever bought, and they do it consistently. They are one of the few places in Chiang Mai that understand crispy bacon. And the presentation is absolutely beautiful.

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