Damn I like this place.

Well here I am day 3 in Thailand and my first attempt to post something.  Why has it taken me this long to get around to writing something down?  Well that’s easy to answer; I have been busy. Between eating and napping there really isn’t a lot of free time. Lets take today for example I awoke at 5am and began to walk around the old city of Chiangmai. It was a cool 25C at that time of day and the hustle and bustle of the day had not yet begun. Truth be told this day’s activities first had to wait for yesterday’s revellers to finish.

I wasn’t exactly sure what I would find open at that time of day but I was awake and there being no coffee maker in my room, ya I know WTF is up with that, I simply had to fend for myself. The quiet of the lane my guesthouse is located on soon changed as I reached the main road that runs along the inside of the moat that surrounds the old city. The staccato sounds of a scooter broke into my muddled morning thoughts long before I saw it. I didn’t see it right away not because it was a great distance away. No the reason I couldn’t see the scooter in the pre-dawn darkness was that this particular scooter was loaded down with…well I don’t know what exactly. Whatever it was it completely surrounded the driver and the scooter including the head lamp and the tail light. At least I thought it covered the up the lights. As the morning progressed, and more Thais began their day, I came to realize that lights on your vehicle here seemed to be optional.

OK so back to my coffee and the transition of Chiangmai from night into day.

Once on the main road I walked along marvelling at the remnants of the fortress walls. Originally built in the thirteenth century, the wall is still in its original position but it is not the original wall. It appears that over the ages different kings had different ideas and the wall has twice been torn down and twice rebuilt. What we see today is a restorative effort and not the entire wall remains. But what does remain is impressive and that is what I was walking beside when I saw it. Yes “it”.

It was a collection of tables under a large roof but open to the outside. I noticed the lights were on and a number of people were seated so I made my way over there. As I arrived a person quickly came over and showed me to a table and gave me a menu. Perfect, I thought, a breakfast joint. Mistake number one.  I mention the mistake here just to let you know that I think that this will be a common theme throughout this trip.

Mistake number two; this wasn’t a breakfast place, this was a bar. A conclusion I quickly came to when I noticed that the table beside me was covered in beer bottles and the people sitting there were being served a bunch more. Big bottles of Chang beer. 

OK so it’s a bar. But bars have coffee and bars have food. Right? Damn right they do. Now this place wasn’t a mistake. The coffee was some kickin strong brew and the food, well the food was delicious. I’m not sure what I ordered, or ate, but it was good. Very good.

As I ate my breakfast and drank my coffee I watched as the joint began to close up and its patrons began to leave. Staggering and weaving the Thais made their way to their scooters and roared off into the day. And as I watched the transition from night into day in Chiangmai I thought to myself; Damn I like this place!