India to Thailand

Some thoughts on leaving India:

It is amazing how reliant the culture has become on phone apps. It was the only way to get drinks from a vending machine at the airport. (I didn’t have the right apps, and a nice young man offered to buy me water for Rs. 10 - about 12¢ - and I let him.) In Bangalore we took autorickshaws and cabs a number of times — all summoned by app so they know where you are going — and no haggling. All the international fast food and retail chains are represented on the street and in the malls. 

Sidewalks are very occasional; most walking is in the roadway. And the custom is to walk with the traffic, not against it as we are taught in the US. This is always a little disconcerting for me, although I know motorists and cyclists are used to watching out for pedestrians.

Food is still delicious everywhere in homes and restaurants. We were able to satisfy ourselves!

It was wonderful to see our India family friends. And it was strange to be in India and not go up to Mussoorie.

Our trip was uneventful, although it felt long. Our 1:00 AM flight from Bangalore was less than 4 hours, so we had a very short sleep, about 2 1/2 hours for me. Arrival in Bangkok was easy; we got through immigration quickly, and fortunately our bags were checked all the way through to Chiang Mai. It was a long layover, so our gate wasn’t posted yet. We found a bar/cafe and had breakfast of croissant stuffed with scrambled eggs, ham and cheese. It tasted great! And it came with tea or coffee.

The flight to Chiang Mai was just over an hour, but we were served a nice hot lunch of Pad Thai. We were first off and our bags came immediately. We walked the length of the airport to the taxi stand, stopping along the way to get phone SIMs for Thailand. 

Our room was ready for us at Smith Suites. We had reserved a one-bedroom apartment, but there was a mixup in the reservation and we are in a studio again. The manager came up and apologized and said we will have the apartment in February. (He also gave us a bit of a discount for this month.) But now that we are settled, the thought of packing up everything and moving again isn’t very appealing. We’ll decide in a couple of days. 

We left a large bag in the storeroom with household items we’d collected. That was three years ago, but it was still there! The kitchens here are supplied, but quite sparsely. There is more in storage with Dan’s massage therapist’s sister (!). He’ll try to get those things today.

After unpacking, doing some quick basic shopping, and taking a quick nap, we headed out for supper. Our favorite place, the Blues Bar, appears to be gone. But we found the Organ Bar and had a good supper. My shrimp and vegetables came out first.

Dan had Pad See Ew, wide noodles with pork and vegetables.

 

We slept well and were up quite early. Breakfast was interesting. I had bought what I thought was milk for the tea, but it was a yogurt drink. So, black tea. I did get good yogurt and mango. No muesli/granola in the local shop, so we had strawberry cornflakes with it. Not bad at all!

After breakfast, Dan headed out on a variety of errands. I went to the Chiang Mai Market for fruits and got mangos, oranges, bananas, cut pineapple, and some lettuce for sandwiches. That was enough for my first outing. I’ll head out later to find some actual milk. (My former food shop was a Tesco, now it is a Lotus, and didn’t appear to have milk.)

I passed this shop selling chili powder of different types