March 29th

I had wanted to be out really early, as I had to return the bike around 10:30 in the morning. But I got out around six, and headed east of Chiang Mai. I just wandered around as even the main road was really quiet that early in the morning. I stopped to take pictures in several places, and had a really good time seeing the small villages, rice fields, hazy mountains and cows wandering by the rivers.

I ran into a sign that said hot springs, and as it was actually a bit chilly riding that early in the morning, I headed in that direction. It was an enjoyable ride out there, especially the last little windy bit into a small valley. But when I finally got to the hot springs resort, the baths were closed for cleaning, and from the pictures, didn’t look that spectacular anyway. So I headed back.

Got back into town just in time to drop by the cooking school and reserve a spot for the next morning, and drop off the bike. I was hungry, so I stopped by the little restaurant near my guesthouse for phad thai and cucumber salad. Got back, washed some clothes in the shower, and then went for another two hours of massage. Vacation sure is nice… After that, I wandered out around Chiang Mai for a bit. I was headed over to a temple called Chedi Luan, which was mentioned in Lonely Planet for having monks to chat with. When I got there, I saw a dozen or so foreigners, many with open guidebooks in hand, walking around. I didn’t feel like seeing the same thing as every foreigner with a Lonely Planet, so I kept on walking. As it was hot, I stopped for a pineapple shake, and then wandered into a couple of bookstores to see what I could find for the train/bus trip the next day. After that, I headed out to the Sunday walking street, which is a big street bazaar. There was also a lot of tourist junk (with the associated tourists) but there was some more interesting stuff as well. I actually saw a lot of paintings that looked really interesting, and weren’t that expensive. They also weren’t mass produced – there were only a few booths with paintings, and they were all quite different. If I thought I was going to have a place to put art, I might have bought some. But that doesn’t seem to be in the cards at the moment!

      

Ate a bit at a food court set up in one of the temple courtyards, and then went back to catch up on some email. Had another coffee and the black forest cake at the coffee shop, packed up my stuff and read for a bit before falling asleep.