Schnecken on the run

4 nights in Chiang Mai….4 nights in the same bed. This puts Chiang Mai high up on our list of the places which we have stayed the longest. And that for a good reason. Firstly, we needed to recharge our own batteries after being on the road, secondly Chiang Mai is a great place to do so!

The first day of our „recharge“ we rented a scooter and cruised out to the hills around Chiang Mai. After a short flow with hundreds of other scooters we got out of the city and onto a smooth winding road up into the cooler hills. We stopped at a waterfall and 30 minutes later reached a small and nice little village with Mong locals. The people live of selling handycrafts and traditional clothing. Very cheap!! We learned that those people do not consider themselves Thais and they claim to have no ties to other countries. They seem to have a refugee status (from where?) and are accepted by the officials. We still do not understood the whole story, maybe nobody does. The very nice „Wat Ehra Doi Suthep“ was on our way back, it is one of the north’s most sacred temples. We got blessed by a monk and followed the chanting that was going on for awhile.
The folllowing next two days Whitney took two massage courses. Starting with a foot reflexology course and she continued with an introduction in thai massage. I got promised afterwards, that she will need to practise from now on daily. Hmm, now a couple of days later I still haven´t experienced any practising on my back or feet!? Well, thats how she is, big promisses, no results (-; (She ist sitting beside me and just kicked me, haha. But maybe I get a massage today!?)

In those days, I had a great experience, that I can highly recommend to everybody: Thai Massage. I remember very well, how my friend Dennel got a massage somewhere at a beach in Thailand. That was in ´93, my first time to Thailand and I was wondering, whether it is really as good, as he said. Yes, it is. And probably even better, if you are getting the right masseur. Somebody recommended a blind massage place to Whitney and she got me an appointment. I ended up going three days in a row, each day for 2 hrs treatments (5€/2hrs). This guy cracked my bones and joints and laughed, whenever he heard those „cracks“. He laughed as well, when I whimpered from the pain and he told me, that thai massage is painful, but afterwards I would feel a lot better. It was very painful AND i felt better! I can definately recommend: Go for it!

We liked Chiang Mai – it is another place where you can live for a longer while. The people seem happy and the city gives you the opportunities to have a good life.

Our next stop: Bangkok. We are not sure, what to think about this city. We did a very nice boat tour along the river and cruised with the skytrain, taxi’s and tuktuk’s around the city. Afterall, it feels that we spend way to much time in the all-day- long traffic jams, trying to get though this giant city. On the map everything seems around the corner. But it takes always almost an hour and costs always less then 2 €. To be a taxi driver is no fun in Bankok, to be a tourist…we don´t know yet.

The good news for us in Bankok: is that China wants us back! Without any problems and without showing the documents they normally demand (flight ticket, hotel reservation, etc.) we got our visas in less than 24 hrs. In Sepmtember we will be visiting the region around Beijing.
And more good news in Bangkok: Whitney does not need to stay somewhere in Asia and can continue the journey with me (-; Her passport had only 3 empty pages left and a bit of internet research showed us, that if we are lucky those pages will get us to Australia, but not further on.
Getting a new passport abroad was a new task for us. Three days in a row we went to the canadian embassy, before we managed to talk to the passport officer (first day the consulting time with the passport officer was over, second day it was closed due to canada day, that Whitney forgot)). The officer told us, that we needed to hand in her passport and wait for 15 working days before we could pick up the new one. Bad news. We tried our best finding an alternative and finally (hopefully) succeeded. Whitney is able to keep her passport until we can pick up the new one in around 10 working days. That is all right with our plans, so hopefully the passport will be there when we return to Bangkok in 2 weeks. And then we will give the whole city a second chance. Let´s see.