24th September
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 under a bamboo pergola with frangipani and wild tree orchids growing over it.
Yoga was hot - post-rain humidity - and I just wasn’t feeling it. The class was advanced and I just couldn’t face the aerial stuff - head stands and hand stands and so left early.
Incongruously, I’ve been listening to Mansfield Park while I’ve been in Thailand, for no other reason than Jane Austin is great to listen to on audio books, and so I listened to a few chapters as I waited at the temple for Mai to be ready for my appointment. As I’ve said before, she is so sweet, very loving and kind, and her face lit up when she saw me. I took my usual place on the mat and she ironed out the last of the kinks in my shoulder. The knots which had been rock solid and seriously painful were now gone and she could slide her thumb along my spine without tutting or me wincing. After two hours of care and nurturing from Mai, we hugged and she said ‘I miss you already Tilda’ - the longest sentence I had heard her speak in English all week.
With no particular rush, I headed to the TTCM - Thai Traditional and Complimentary Medicine Hospital. I had booked an acupuncture session the day before, rolling in the big guns on my shoulder pain. I felt a bit of a fraud with nearly all of it gone after Mai’s hard work. However, I climbed onto to the table anyway. The white coated doctor was the most efficient acupuncture practitioner I’ve ever experienced and in less than a minute the needles were set and then electrified to deepen the penetration. My muscles ticked and danced to the charge and I thought about how grateful I am to be here in Chiang Mai with all these options available and time to really take care of myself. After half an hour, the needles were taken out and replaced with glass cups. The vacuum brings blood flow to the area but unfortunately leaves a red mark.
Back home for a reset and then out to meet friends for a meeting and a cup of tea afterwards. We sat under a mango tree and sipped delicious tea and talked about lots of different things. It’s always interesting to meet new people from diverse backgrounds and experience. One of my friends, Linda, said an interesting thing I’d never thought of before. She says she hasn’t learnt to speak Thai because she quite likes not being able to get distracted by other people’s conversations. She can imagine that their chatter is full of love and wisdom.
I love Chiang Mai - a safe, diverse and interesting city.
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