The end of Chiangmai

Catching up from Thursday...

Angel walked into Noi's cafe just as I was coming down to breakfast. We had a quick bite together and she told me herself and a few others from her hostel were going out to North Gate Jazz Co-op for live music that evening, another great tip from Emma which I also discovered a few days before. I invited Lex, who works at Noi's, to join us and she very gladly accepted. Three hours of yoga later, Angel and I headed into the city to find the Thai Airways office. I needed to change my domestic plane ticket to a few days earlier so I can catch some beach time before I fly out of Bangkok next weekend. On our way, we passed an organic bakery with homemade ice cream, breads, nut butters, and baked goods. So after the quick 5 minute transaction with a friendly Thai Airways representative, we backtracked and did an indulgeous lunch. I had multi-grain bread, a very rare treat in Asia, cashew nut butter, and coconut ice cream. Oh delicious. Of course, I also had to pick up some egg-free coconut cookies for the road, which I am enjoying as I am writing this!

Then followed day 4 of massage class. There's something really good about getting 2 hours of massage every day. After class I had a nice simple green curry with veggies with the regulars outside of Noi's House, then walked to the other side of the city to attend a locals meditation group. The meditation was in a beautiful space near the west wall of the city simply called 'The Yoga Studio'. The group - 'Green Papaya Sangha' - is in it's 3rd year of regular meetings. It was an even mix of ex-pat locals and tourists, some who have a regular meditation practice and some who are just beginning or returning to the practice. We practiced for about an hour beginning with 15 minutes of guided sitting meditation, then 15 minutes of walking meditation, and ending with 20 minutes of quiet sitting meditation. They were constantly reminding you to come back and be present with the simple sound of a bell, so when your mind slipped off into some thought or idea, you were gently reminded to let go and come back to the moment. I didn't know exactly what I was attending when I showed up, and I was quite pleasantly surprised by a relaxing practice in a supportive community. I quietly walked back via the south wall to Noi's and picked up Lex for our girls night out.

Getting out of our TukTuk, we were pleased to meet a bar full of patrons and a sultry alto voice spilling out into the warm street. We found our group sitting on the open-air balcony enjoying the band from above. The best part of the evening was the drummer, a large Thai man with quite an energetic performance. You know those instrumentalists who are really fun to watch because they do crazy things with their faces - usually unconsciously? Well he was one of those guys, but totally consciously and wicked fun! I got one of his solos on video, I'll post it next week. Lex hadn't had dinner, so we left about midnight and walked to a nearby street market for some sweet&sour noodle soup. She told me the name of the soup about 10 times, but I've forgotten it. Tuktuk home, bed. Thus ended another fabulous Chiangmai day.