I made it!

Chiang Mai Channel

I'm here!  Getting to Chiang Mai was worse than I'd hoped, but far better than it could've been...  I arrived at Dulles plenty early, breezed through security and wandered around the terminal, chowing down on my bagel dog and looking out the window at the snow. (YAY!! SNOW!!)  When I got to my gate, I sat next to two people from Malaysia who were in the States on business.  Eddie (who is seeing snow for the first time today) and Izma asked where I was headed, and before long we were swapping travel stories/plans, as well as contact information. They offered tips on where to go in Malaysia, asked me to call if I ended up in Kuala Lumpur at any time during my trip, and kindly instructed me to call if I got into any trouble.  Eddie also invited me to meet up with his group in Dublin over St. Patrick's Day - now these are my kind of people! Then we all snapped a few pictures, promised to email, and headed to the gate.  We boarded on time, but thanks to a mechanical issue and some delays to de-ice the plane, we sat at the gate for what seemed an eternity.  Apparently, de-icing a 747 takes a bit longer than scraping your windshield.  Weird. I tried not to think about how long I'd be sitting in such close quarters with the sneezing, sniffling, red-faced woman two seats over, and how many of her cooties I'd catch during that time.  (Glad I brought so much vitamin C!) There was also someone nearby with an unfortunate flatulence issue... ick.  Anyway, we did finally take off - two hours, ten minutes after our scheduled departure.  This concerned me a bit (and excited me, honestly - a day to explore Tokyo? Sweet!), since my layover was just shy of two hours... Alas, no Japan for this kid.  We landed late, but United held our connecting flights for us, and crews were impressively organized and helpful in getting each of us to the proper gate.  Fancy that.  They were ready for us and knew exactly where we needed to be and that we didn't have long to get there.

Sadly, while the connection process was smooth and simple, the departure was not.  Another two hours spent sitting on a plane after its schedule departure time, waiting for who-knows-what to be fixed so that we could head to Bangkok.  (As I was typing this, I was on my 21st straight hour in a plane, with only about 20 (glorious!) minutes spent rushing through the airport, attempting to stretch as I stood in line.)

Oh! I also met a woman on Flight #1 with some fascinating stories.  Ann is a curator for Japanese art for the Smithsonian, so she's done the flight to Tokyo countless times.  She has friends in Bangkok and Chiang Mai, and offered me their contact info, in case I wanted some information on where to go, what to do, and how to stay out of trouble.   This trip, she's headed to Tokyo on "courier duty," where an expert from the museum goes to accompany an artifact as it's transported to its new home.  Wonder if she'll give me a tour when I'm back and show me the piece she guarded. :)

I also got some tips from my new friend Eddie about what kinds of food are not to be missed in Thailand.  As I was commenting that I'd tried several of them in the US (I was getting to the part about being certain it wouldn't compare to the real thing), he scoffed and informed me that mango and sticky rice (for one) has to be had in Thailand in order to properly appreciate it.  I look forward to doing some research to prove him right.

When I landed in Chiang Mai, the person who was supposed to pick me up was nowhere to be found.  Eek.  I hung on to the rumored Thai attitude of "no worries" and eventually got ahold of someone.  While trying to sort that out, I was amused to see people of all ages and nationalities congregate around the tv in the airport, watching the Grammys.  Gotta love how music brings people together. :)

view from my room

By the time I made it to the guest house (which has a wrap-around balcony with a view of the mountains), I desperately wanted (needed) a shower.  I was thrown off a bit by the fact that the "shower" is just a shower head mounted to the bathroom wall, and there's a drain in the bathroom floor.  By the time I was done, I'm not sure there was an inch of dry space in the entire bathroom. I'm sure I'll get the hang of it, but this time, I managed to spray water EVERYWHERE. It was cold, too!! It was certainly not the long, luxurious shower I'd been dreaming of, but it got the job done.

view from my room

So, all clean and refreshed, I set off to do some exploring.  Found a street vendor (who was making food so hot that just breathing it in from several feet away was making me cough). When I walked up, he mimed "food?", I nodded, and he whipped up some of the best grub I've had in ages.  It was simple but oh so delicious.  Fried rice with chicken and veggies, but tasted not at all like what you're thinking right now. I don't generally care for rice, but it was perfect. Then I ducked into a massage place for a - wait for it - TWO HOUR Thai massage.  Heaven.  Though a bit odd at the end when she sat behind me, grabbed my arms, put her feet on my back and, without much warning, pulled me into positions that would make a contortionist wince.  Verdict: Thai massage is spectacular.

Sadly, my afternoon "nap" turned into an 8-hour crash, so I'm now wide awake (and HUNGRY) at 3:30am.  Hopefully restaurants open early here so I don't have to wait too long... :)