Thank you - Chiang Mai

30. July. 2020

Finally finished my travel to Chiang Mai. Lemme write up a bit in the last 3 days of the trips. I was having so much fun that I wish each day lasting 48 hours for me to explore more awesome things, spend more time with awesome people.

My gratitude: Every day is fulled of blessing and humanity. Only the goodbye time was in a rush that I did not say a proper goodbye to my host. I wanted to have some time to talk to an interesting person I met. Maybe the beginning of knowing someone is always drawing us with excitement. Then it came the thirst to understand the person more and the realization of the hidden side that we didn’t expect. Anyway, I am grateful for being able to meet such wonderful human beings throughout the whole trip.

My favorite path in Chiang Mai

What is new to me?

Culture

Chile’s culture! Chile is a country that had a long time of colonization and its culture was almost wiped off. Another traveler in my host’s house staying there for over 1 year is from Chile. Responding to my curiosity of his country’s characteristics, he said Chile does not really have an identity. Unlike Vietnam which also went through wars and culture destruction, Chile got stuck with cultural assimilation by the colonizers. Plus, the gap between social status is huge due to geographical traits. The country is long and narrow that it only takes around one hour to reach Argentina. Spanish is their mother tongue. And he said he could be anyone.

Artistic, architectural design and touristic development of Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai is well designed to serve diverse nationalities but still remain its primitive beauty. Beyond a spot of tourism, Chiang Mai is ideal for many foreigners to settle down their life thanks to the cool weather of up north climate in Thailand and the peaceful living expenses. My host is a retired man, having a decent pension from his country, was seeking a life-long destination around Asia. He fell in love with Chiang Mai in particular because of the affordable living cost and warm weather compared to his. Also, the town nurtures art and gives space for all art-passionate humans to gather and share ideas. There are a number of art galleries, all-type-of-shops combined with some exhibitions, besides mere art museums like other cities. Most interestingly, there is a sweet community for artistic products to flourish called Ban Kangwat. Around 20 cute stores of art are based there including accessories, clothes, watercolor paintings etc. There is no entrance fee at all, you can freely go around to absorb the soul of their hand-made products and give them your smile. Honestly, I could not resist buying some little souvenirs for myself and friends and to appreciate the generosity and art vibe of this place.

Maekampong looks like Sapa or some northern villages in Vietnam but it looks much different with a closer look...

The most thrilling experience in my backpack trip to Chiang Mai

Screams & laughter in the jungle of Chiang Mai

The most thrilling experience in my backpack trip to Chiang Mai - Cycling in the jungle in Doipui (Doisuthep Mountain) with a group of cool professionals.

Linh all wet and all out of breath after the physical crisis

The first 1 meter of cycling immediately drove me to embarrassment at best. The whole trail was never in my imagination. It was like the hell of steepness, slipperiness and rocky slopes. I parked to breath almost every 2 minutes of driving, sounds ridiculous right? I could barely ride my bike up as my feet run out of energy. Balancing the bike was a brilliant skill to learn. The bike is super light and well-designed to move easily in tough terrain. Also, our body can be either a self-killing weapon for amateurs or a controlling tool for skillful drivers. It is another world of cycling compared to ordinary cycling on flat areas I have been around for the past 21 years. Plus, as going up, we have to change gears to make the bike move faster, otherwise, we will be slowing down or end the game. For me, by the time I noticed to change the gear, I had already been breathless. My heart was beating crazily fast. It was faster than when I was running. There were some moments of thoughts that I could die if I happen to fall into an abyss. Unfortunately, I could go neither back nor forth because I was freakingly tired.

I am indeed thankful for having such a caring tour guide who accompanied me over my weak self and the harsh weather. I was a slowest turtle of the game thus we were separated into 2 teams. We chose a rainy day for the cycle. I used to have a trek on a rainy day in Hue, Vietnam which I didn’t mind at all because we had so much fun running under the rain and warming up our body by the fire. However, things are on the other spectrum this time. I can’t even cycle in a dry sloping trail, let alone in the slippery version. In the middle of our ride, it started raining hard that we had to stop by a shelter for about 1.5 hour. We talked about our life experience, our families and anything, romantically as a Korean movie.

We began to get cold and thought of ways to make fire like the primitive tribes. People passing by the shelf earlier left beer bottles, cigarette remainings and even a set of cards, but without lighter. We could not find out enough stone. Only one was found after digging up the whole surrounding. We got goosebump every little breeze. Eventually, no fire was on and we played with some card tricks and some chat. The rain did not show any progress so we decided to continue cycling to reach the destination (actually returned to the beginning point). Imagine putting on wet clothes while you are freezing. I was inside out wet, except for my little dry hair. I asked my friend if we could just walk the bike back. Moving my feet was enough of exhaustion, how am I able to ride the bike?

He was heartfully patient with smiles… He didn’t bother having uncountable on-and-off rides to wait for me. He was fine with the disruption because “we had time”. What? What if after the whole day we still got stuck in the jungle? I felt super guilty to be such a pain in the ass of the whole team and for taking away his time of enjoyment. Because the intention of this trip is to serve their interest in cycling. Then he told me he felt guilty for bringing me in the stuckness. No, but I felt super happy along the way.

It was a blast to see the thrills of this artistic body moment and the amazing skillsets and calm of my friend. On the trekking back with the bike, we had more joyful conversations, I enjoyed nature more because I didn’t have to pay much attention to my nerves and the routes. Never had nature appeared to be so scary for me like that! I felt that my regular training is nothing. I understand my weaknesses better but I am still proud of myself. Ultimately, confronting fear is a way to see the light we could never see in ourselves. And after all fear, self-hate, disappointment, ridicule, it is the satisfaction of living to the best. Just give it a try and see our limitations and stupidity. It’s alright. It’s happiness. And, it’s happier to be surrounded by humanity and love.

sunset...

Goodbye Chiang Mai and see you!

P/s: my tour guide is super popular and kind to people, I knew him through a popular friend, too. How lucky I am!

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Not have enough energy to write about everything in one evening. Till I got scolded by my roomate “STOP TYPING” =)