East Pray Love

 Sunday - Chiang Mai More intense rain so the planned trip to meet tattoo artisan in the jungle to the south west of the city was by car not motorbikes. It was great to get out of the city, although I’ve loved walking around the ancient walls and feeling very held within the Old City. My friend Mark was unbelievably patient with the car hire guy and even though we kept being told there was no car available, he waited without getting stressed and a car was finally available. I would have walked away at the first no. So interesting to see the cultural differences - in Kenya yes is more common than no, but often means no. The recent rain meant that once off the main roads, the winding roads into the hills were covered with mud or huge puddles. Roads are generally great in Thailand but some of these looked in danger of washing away. The road snaked alongside a river, the Mai Tian, which was brown and swollen. One more downfall like last nights and it looked like it would easily breech ...

 Saturday - Chiang Mai Today was a line up of ‘lasts’ in Chiang Mai today - last yoga session, last massage session and first and last coffee at Kalm Village. I’m off to Doi Suthep temple on Monday morning so I’m just finishing up my wonderful week in Chiang Mai. Obviously, Cameron’s birthday is a big thing for me today. It is amazing to have a 23 year old son when the memories of him as a baby, a little boy, a teenager and a young man are all as fresh and vivid as each other. It’s the parental privilege. I picked up my laundry - sounds prosaic but its a cool process and very Thai. A neat pile of folded, clean clothes is ready and waiting for me for less than 50p. Laundry is charged by the kilo which is about two or three days worth of clothes. So easy and makes the whole washing machine at home thing seem illogical. There was a huge deluge this morning and while the meeting in the park wasn’t totally underwater as it was on Friday, everything is post-storm wet. The meeting was und...

 Friday My phone woke me up early - an alarm breaking through the silent mode to tell me there was a severe weather event happening in Chiang Mai. It’s amazing the phone woke me because once awake there was no chance of getting back to sleep with a huge storm raging. I couldn’t believe that my little wooden house would stay water tight and intact as the deluge battered the city. No yoga today but a meeting in Buak Hat Park - a tiny public park in the south west corner of the Old City. The paths were ankle deep in flood water and I had to take my shoes off and wade to the meeting. Coffee afterwards with my new friend Linda who loved hearing about Kenya and is already planning to visit. Under blue skies and rising mist of the flood water evaporating I went to the temple for more of Mai’s treatment. A full two hours today and a very touching share with Mai after our appointment about our family’s. It was nice to talk - even in broken English - after nearly 8 hours of careful and skill...

 Thursday A week since I left Kenya and what a week its been. Time is so strange - it crawls along at times and then others it feels like a week in a day. Away from everything normal and even on a totally different time zone, time does certainly feel odd. My days are busy but not rushed and filled but with enough time to have space around what I’m doing. My third full day in Chiang Mai and I woke up feeling like my routine was already a bit to established! However, I went to yoga as planed and it was the glorious Mai. Her class is a perfect balance of poses which both challenge and are achievable. I am still finding my yoga ‘feet’ and my Warrior 1 is a bit wobbly but I did ok. I even have my own mat in my own corner in the studio. The class was light and fun and Rose always makes the experience quite special or maybe its just the Chiang Mai vibe. Massage at the temple after yoga and my second Mai of the day - my sweet masseuse. She had worked my knots really hard the day before so ...

 Wednesday I’d heard about a totally vegan hotel nearby so I went there for breakfast. It was not what I expected with marble floors and white on white throughout. The breakfast was great - real Thai food minus the fish sauce. I won’t be back but interesting to see so many vegan places popping up everywhere; its becoming more mainstream. Dropped my laundry off at a hole in the wall where they charge 50 baht per kilo which is just over a quid. Yoga class at Wild Rose as usual. Rose is lovely - so invested in everyone and the class. She is quite detail oriented which is probably why the studio runs so well. I struggled today - it was a hard class and my enthusiasm of day 1 and 2 is clearly waning by day 3. I cancelled the afternoon slot, feeling I needed a break. I went for coffee with a guy from the class - Michael - who has given up teaching to train as a yoga teacher and move from Chicago to live in Thailand. We had a great iced coffee next to the terracotta hotel you’ll see in th...

 Tuesday Although I only arrived in Chiang Mai yesterday, I already have a plan. With two hours of yoga booked for 10am and a massage afterwards, all I had to figure out was where to have breakfast. Chiang Mai has so many cafes of all different kinds. I resist the European types - one even had a sign saying ‘Fareng Food Served’. Everywhere I’ve been has been good with the service standing out in each place. Coffee is a big deal in Chiang Mai and while my avo toast (with random hummus) was ok, the coffee was outstanding. I had planned to ease up on coffee prior to the meditation retreat next week, but I think I’ll practise living in the moment on that one. Two hours of fantastic yoga - a perfect balance of challenging and do-able. I haven’t done yoga for over a year so it is great to get back on the mat and starting to rebuild my practise again. A friend had recommended a temple nearby that offers massage. I had booked an upmarket spa, but when I easily found the temple after yoga, ...

 Monday, 19th September Early start for the airport through rush hour traffic to catch a flight to Chiang Mai. There was a foot massage pavilion at the gate, and so with half an hour to spare, I sat down. I love this part of Thai life and so far I’ve been lucky and I haven’t had a bad massage yet. Maybe no foot massage is a bad? With feet tingling from all the attention I got on the packed flight to Chiang Mai. I expected there to be stoners or travelers with backpacks but I was the only ‘fareng’ on the flight. Finding my AirBnB was a bit of a challenge but a kindly old man who spoke surprisingly good English led me there. It is a lovely wooden house with a temple (Jade Buddha) on the corner. There is a temple on nearly every corner so its not a particularly good landmark to aim for. However, the house is lovely and has a zen garden of pebbles and a fountain. It’s just outside the Old City by the East Gate and although very close to the night bazaar and all the action, its quiet an...