Bangkok was abysmally busy and terminally polluted. I hit Chiangmai the next day. That was it. It felt like home. I lived here.
I took 1 trip back to America to scrape the mold off everything in storage I didn’t care about, retrieve motorcycle gear and visit family and friends. Besides them, the only thing I really missed about America was the promise of tissue paper in the toilet. Here I’m still never sure what to do with all those hoses.
Once you’re sufficiently hosed, how do you dry? Why don’t you see locals emerge with big wet spots on their lower clothing? Are there secret Thai diapers? Should I carry a portable hair dryer? So I came back home - here - with only one regret: I should have moved here years ago.
I love Chiangmai’s blend of local and international flavours. Tall, sturdy, tank-topped, Viking girls with backpacks the size of water buffalo, but weighing a bit more. (The backpack, not the girls. Well, maybe.) Timeless, smiling, smooth-skinned Thais at the train station. (“Sawadee. I’m 105. I come to get my grandmother.”) And Chiangmai has over 2 billion, full-service tourist agencies. (“Where you go? Have special one-day trek/visa run with bamboo elephant rafting over waterfall while get massage during cooking course by completely hands on!”)
The best part of life in Chiangmai is where it lives: northern Thailand. I’ve got a big bike, and I take great big trips. I wrote a song about it (“Ain’t It Grand in Northern Thailand”) but a song without music is like a bike with no wheels, a hair dryer with no electricity or only one chopstick. Come to The Hug Restaurant for the big picture, piano, guitar, great food - and to hear another thousand reasons why I love Chiangmai.
' To temple bells at 4 am, the saffron monks arise.
Slowly sounds of songbirds and roosters fill the skies.
The market teems with friendly folks.
You can see it in their eyes.
The land of smiles comes alive in this city of Chiangmai.
The countryside’s a biker’s dream, a living picture show.
Jungle roads snake through bamboo past muddy buffalo.
Climb the misty mountains where the cool rivers run.
Hike a hidden valley where you hardly see the sun.
Lisu hilltribe ladies look like human butterflies.
Their multi-coloured costumes are candy for your eyes.
Tom yam takes your taste buds on a roller coaster ride.
A festival for all my senses.
I take Thailand for my bride.’
”’Why Chiangmai?’ is our guest column. Each month a different foreigner introduces themselves briefly - explains why they chose to live here - and what they feel about their adoptive home. Be our guest? E-mail us at: gmorning@loxinfo.co.th
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