Chiang Mai - again

 11 October

So I’m back in Chiang Mai on the first leg of a new Asian trip, sitting in the shady garden of my little home from home, reading the comforting headlines about storms and torrential rains back in England.  Here, the rainy season has just ended and the dry cool season is starting.  It feels like the best sort of English summer day.

The trip out was smooth and uneventful.  My brief encounter with HMQ (or a cardboard cutout!) was the only excitement at terminal 3.  But then airports the world over are homogenized and deliberately bland, to make you focus on the retail opportunities no doubt.

I had to transfer at Bangkok to my domestic flight to Chiang Mai, which meant going from one end of the huge airport to the other.  It’s so big that the direction signs give distances: after about 10 minutes walking I was told I had another 900m to go!  

Jiab, all smiles and hugs, collected me from the airport and there I was back in this oasis in a quiet soi.  Just enough energy after 13½  hours of flying for a couple of quick drinks in the local bar, where I was greeted like a long lost friend.  They have decided to hold a birthday party in my honour on my last night in CM (which means food and whisky for the staff – but should be fun!).  Any excuse for a party - welcome back to the land of smiles!