I've finished packing and I'm getting on an airplane bound for Tokyo's Narita airport on Friday morning. This is a 787 Dreamliner and it is quieter than most planes. I trade off between reading, watching three movies, and a short nap. In Narita I just keep walking around between flights because I've been sitting so long. For the 6 hour flight between Tokyo and Bangkok I sleep most of the time. I try to stay awake, but I cannot. I'm hopinh this does not mess up my planned jet-lag avoidance scheme. Afer passing through immigration and customs I catch a small van to a "temporary" hotel near the airport. These "temporary" hotels have sprung up a couple kilometers from the airport to serve travelers who just need a place to crash. But rather than take an hour or so to get into the city, I just stay here on the first (and maybe last) night of a trip. I'm dozing off for sleep at about 2 am on Sunday morning.
My hotel room is not ready so I leave my bags in storage and go walking for a couple hours. I return to the hotel to cool off with a shower and relax. Later in the evening I go walking again and find some good Thai food. And then I find a set of steps to a building with a Christmas display (in a Buddhist country?) to just sit and watch people. There is a young man sitting next to me listening to music on his headphones and we don't speak for the longest time. Finally I ask if he is listening to Thai pop and he doesn't quite understand. I try in both English and Thai and it turns out he is from Myanmar. So I give him the standard Burmese greeting and his smile brightens and I ask him "How are you?" in Burmese and his smile brighens even more. His name is Myo pronounced Mew (why the Burmese spell it Myo or Phyo and pronounce it Myew or Pyew is beyond me). His English and Thai is limited and my Burmese is more limited, but we talk about a lot of things and exchange Facebook friend requests. When his brother comes over I take leave as they have things to do.
I start Tuesday by finishing up edits of the Cal State Los Angeles design report and sending it back to the team for final writing. I then go walking for a long time in Lumpini Park. Lumpini Park has paved trails that are closed to cars and open to cyclists, runners, and walkers. I fall into the latter category today. After maybe 10 km of walking I am tired and get back to the hotel to find my room not quite finished. So I head over to some small dark alleys that I probably shouldn't be going down. But I get some good pictures and then spend the afternoon cooling off and relaxing. In the evening I get out and have more good Thai food and wander aimlessly until I need to go back home.
After Tree has left for work, I sleep until almost 10:30 am. But when I wake up I feel good and get the day started with some walking. I eat vegetarian Thai curry and continue on walking to a lake that I've never seen or been to before. Later I get in a good session on weight machines at the hotel fitness center and then relax. Tree drops his bag off at my hotel and goes out with friends for his birthday (at my inistence). I want him to have fun wihout an old guy holding him back. Kwang comes to visit and, unfortuantely just misses Tree since I want them to meet each other. Kwang and I just sit in the room and do more talking. And finally Kwang has to go home to finish up more work and I get ready for sleep. Tree comes back t the hotel after his birthday party finishes at 3 am. I'm glad that I did not go and hold the group up.
I notice a young Thai man carrying a World Vision bag. Now I've given money to World Vision for 25 years, so I have to pursue this avenue. I catch up to the young man at the exit of skytrain (same stop as me) and start talking to him in Thai. It turns out he doesn't really know what World Vision is. But he speaks darn good English and it turns out he is making a documentary film about the middle eastern community in Bangkok. But he knows nothing about it. Well, I know where the middle eastern community is, so I take him walking through the community and just tell him he has to start talking to people and get their stories. (Don't ask how I know about the middle eastern community in Bangkok.) It's lunchtime for Ake, so I sit and have a Sprite while he eats his lunch. And we talk about his school, his girlfriend, his life and we talk about my life and travels. Ake makes a good joke about a USA foreigner having to tell a Bangkok resident where to go in Bangkok to find the middle eastern community. And we have a great laugh about it. By now it is past 3 pm so I head back to my hotel but not before exchanging phone numbers with Ake and giving him my email address (so that he can send me the film when done).
On Saturday I take my bags on the BTS skytrain (as always and as other travelers do) and then catch a taxi to the old airport. I strike up a conversation with a young Thai man and pretty soon he is getting my phone number and facebook account. It's a one hour flight to Chiang Mai but a world apart. It is cooler here and though a while back people were concerned it was becoming a mini-Bangkok, it was resilient enough to not get down to that level. I walk around a bit and grab some food and relax. Later in the evening I put on some nicer clothes and go hang out at a club. When I am seated at the bar an Australian gy starts talking with me. He is a school teacher on holiday. He's already drunk and I've told him three times in the first 15 minutes that today is my first day in Chiang Mai. Over he next hour or 90 minutes I have one Sprite and I cannot count the number of additional beers that he has. Yes, he's drunk but he's not offensive. The music is good here and there is a lyp-synching show of some sort. And there is a guy who was not drunk or inebriated when he was next to me 15 minutes ago ordering a beer who now keeps passing out and has to be propped up by people sitting next to him. After midnight I take leave and walk back to my hotel room. And also get a phone call from a Chiang Rai friend wondering when I will be there.
Later on Sunday I go out to another club and run into the owner that I've known for a few years now. He's owned this club in three different locations since I've been coming to Chiang Mai. I hang out for a bit and make friends with two people from the USA (though one works now in Brasil) and a Thai. We have fun conversations about all sorts of topics and I keep squeezing a USA person closer to a Thai man who has offered up his phone number. The USA guy has no interest, but I keep squeezing him in that direction just to tease him. By the end of the night all of us exchange contact information and may try to get together on Monday.