Like any travel experience in the developing world, our time here in Chiang Mai sometimes seems to be reduced to a series of extreme highs and lows, with very little in between. We are either struggling or sailing right along beautifully. My amazing friend and fellow travel junkie Heather Mac recently sent me a hysterical email from Indonesia in which she contrasted a long list of simple daily activities in Jakarta, categorizing each of them as either easy or hard. This email somehow changed the way I've been perceiving our Chiang Mai experience and I'm now constantly adding things to my own internal list:
- Things that have been super-easy in Chiang Mai: finding a delicious iced coffee or pad Thai for about US$0.30; working through daily tasks at an impossibly slow and lazy pace; chatting with people about nothing; kicking back at the English-language cinema; haggling over the price of fresh mangoes at the fruit market; finding internet access at 2am; making loads of cool friends.
- Things that have been super-difficult in Chiang Mai: riding a bicycle without being run over, hit by a motorbike speeding down the wrong side of the road, bitten by a street dog, or falling in a massive pothole; walking down the street without being run over, hit by a motorbike speeding down the wrong side of the road, bitten by a street dog or falling in a massive pothole; finding a fresh salad that has been washed with purified water; avoiding mosquito bites at all times of day; not becoming angry and impatient because everyone around me seems to be moving at an excruciatingly slow pace; finding a restaurant that is open after 9pm.
The obvious negatives aside, Chiang Mai has been a really fantastic place to hang out for a month and in a short amount of time, we've managed to develop a rather tight little group of friends... Paul and I both decided to enroll in a Thai Massage certification course from the International Training Massage School and although the course itself was really interesting and inspiring, the biggest benefit of my time spent here has been getting to know the truly interesting people also enrolled on the course. We've had no shortage of companionship the past few weeks, a very welcome change from feeling a bit isolated: changing cities every few days is not very conducive to forming friendships.
Our time at ITM was a eye-opening experience and I really enjoyed learning more about Thai Massage... an art that could take a lifetime to perfect. I feel as though it will really help me in my Pilates teaching.
One major challenge during our month here has been in the form of my super nasty and annoying leg injury... While climbing off a motorcycle taxi soon after we arrived, I severely burned my calf on the scorching-hot exhaust pipe: I quite literally heard, felt, and smelt my leg burning simultaneously. The resulting wound has been an ongoing source of frustration, as it's made walking around, showering, and other everyday activities a giant pain in the ass.... well, in the leg. Now it is finally on the mend thanks to Rachel's over-the-phone nursing advice...
We are off to Mumbai (formerly Bombay) on Sunday and it's hard to believe our time here is coming to an end... We are now in the final weeks of the trip! India awaits and I am getting excited to be in this new and hyper-stimulating environment. x More soon. Jason
