I was in Chiang Rai for a few days (I think about three) and I had a good time I didn’t really do anything touristy or fun. I basically just walked around or hung out in the hotel. I was only there for a few hours before I realized that if I wasn’t going to be doing any side-tours that I really wouldn’t have anything adventurous to do. I don’t mind though, I consider this trip to be more of a time to renew, or strengthen past memories. Again, like Chiang Mai, I would get small flashes of the time I was there before.

The city is okay, like I mentioned there really isn’t a lot of things to do if you don’t go on tours so relaxing was my best option for my time there. I felt like the city was small and nice. There is a great night market that is held on Saturday nights so that was my first stop the first night I arrived. It was packed with people. So many people that you pretty much had to keep walking so as not to get run over by the mass of people following behind. I think my heel was stepped on about twenty times. J The food was fantastic though and I had to admit it, but I ate probably enough street food for at least two people. It was the first time on this trip too that I saw some of the more exotic Thai cuisine, like fried mealworms and crickets, and no… just no.

So I’m sitting in Starbucks in the city of Chang Mai, Thailand and after ordering my drink I found out that they don’t have internet access. What? I came here specifically so I could plan the next part of my journey, which requires access to the internet. So after sitting here for about fifteen minutes just staring at the ceiling, I decided to write something for the blog, whether or not it ends up getting posted will remain to be seen.

To update what I’ve done and where I’ve been in the last few weeks since my most recent entry; I have been traveling around quite a bit. I was in Georgetown in Penang, Malaysia for about a week. I’ve been there several times so I didn’t really do a lot of sightseeing, (which is a theme for most of the places that I’ve been to recently). Even though I’ve been to Georgetown so many times, it was kind of nice to take it easy and not do much. The hostel that I stayed in was a remodeled historic house, and was absolutely beautiful. At night with the lights on, it looked more like an art gallery than a hostel. Unfortunately I got bored pretty quickly and was ready to leave after a week. I ended up becoming friends with the owner of the hostel too. It’s always kind of nice that when I leave there is someone that makes a point of giving a hug or handshake and telling me that they hope to see me again. Sometimes I do, but more often than not it is the last time I’ll see them.

My original plan was to head to Thailand after Georgetown, but the Thai government has a rule that if you cross the Thai border by land, you only receive a 15-day visa, if you cross by air, you get a 30-day. Since I wanted to travel around Thailand 15 days was not really an option, so I had to book a ticket to fly in. The problem was, was that I needed to go back to Kuala Lumpur to fly into Thailand. I’m not really on a schedule so there wasn’t a problem with doing this, it just seemed a little bit strange.

I stayed in KL for a few days. This was the first time that I didn’t stay at my friends hostel though and I felt kind of guilty. There were multiple reasons that I chose to stay somewhere else, the biggest being reason was I constantly was getting bitten at night, even after liberally covering myself with insect repellent. I got to the point where I was convinced that there was bedbugs at his hostel. I didn’t want to say anything to him though because it’s maybe the worst thing that a hotel/hostel can have.  I was in KL only long enough to plan the trip into Thailand.

I flew into Krabi, Thailand and instantly felt good. I didn’t mention, but KL, and most of Malaysia, has been covered by a blanket of smoke that originated from forest fires in Indonesian. The smoke was really thick and with the high heat and orange colored sky sometimes it was very uncomfortable. Once I walked out of the airport in Krabi I was hit by blue skies and warm temperatures. It was just perfect. I stayed in Krabi for about five days mostly just enjoying the food, and taking an occasional trip to Ao Nang beach about twenty minutes away.

My next stop was Bangkok. I didn’t really have anything planned for being in Bangkok, it was simply the best stop on my way to Chang Mai other parts of Thailand. I took a bus from Krabi and although it was a pretty simple journey, it was still a rough journey. The bus arrived in Bangkok at about 5am and just dropped all of us off on a street. I didn’t really have a clue where I was or what I needed to do. The stop was packed with taxi and tuk-tuk drivers all trying their best to get people to commit to hiring them. It can be somewhat overwhelming when you woke up like two minutes ago and you have about five taxi drivers all hounding you to drive you somewhere.

I hung out in Bangkok for about three days. I didn’t go see much, though I did walk around quite a bit. I enjoyed my time there mostly because I liked the hostel that I booked. It was another restored historic house and just like the one in Penang, it was also very pretty. I got along well with the owner too.  She and I talked for quite a while and it seemed that I had stayed longer we would probably have become friends.

I took the night train from Bangkok to Chang Mai about four days ago. I was looking forward to being on a train and it was just as good as an experience as I had hoped. There is something that is unique to sleeping on a bed, while the train makes its way through the jungle. The sound of the train going over the tracks and the occasional muffled blast from the horn is, along with moving silhouettes of the jungle trees through the light of the moon, almost magical. There is the slight jostling from left to right and sometimes up and down that is soothing.

The train arrived in Chiang Mai on Tuesday and I’ve been here since. I’ve been here before, but it was long enough ago that I don’t remember very much. Every now and again as I’m walking around, I’ll get a flash of memory about something, the moat that surrounds the old part of the city being the strongest memory I’ve had. I can’t believe the amount of old white guys here though. Every where you go, there is some old, like 60-70+ year old white guys sitting around drinking coffee or beer, and many of them have a young(er) Thai woman with them. It makes me uncomfortable because I’m close enough to them by age for some people to consider me one of them. The city also seems to cater to them as well. Everywhere you go there are massage parlors with young Thai women sitting outside along the sidewalk. As I walk along I hear them call out to me, asking if I want a massage, sometimes, like last night I was eating dinner and across the street from me was two massage parlors each with a group of women sitting outside. Every time I looked up it felt like there were eyes on me. Once, one of the girls even crossed the street to the restaurant and sat at the table next to me. I also want to acknowledge that I am more expressing how I felt and maybe it was just a coincidence (or wishful thinking).

Tomorrow I am going to be going to Chiang Rai for probably about a week. Like Chiang Mai, Chang Rai is a normal stop for most backpackers venturing into Northern Thailand, and just like Chang Mai, I have been there before. The difference between the two is that I think I remember more about it than I have about Chiang Mai. I’m hoping that it will be fun.