Last days in Chiang Mai province

I have been getting highly exited and nervous because too many things are happening and changing again in my life. I will be leaving Chiang Mai soon, far too soon for my feeling, to go for some “real” holiday to the islands Ko Phan Ngan and Ko Samui. Afterwards, I will leave to England, stay there for some time and eventually go back to Germany, where I will start my new job in Mannheim in October.

I only have a few days left in Chiang Mai and for the last four weeks I have been on a mission. I have had the urge to see and do everything I hadn’t seen or done yet, whilst being very busy at work, having to finish my project. This means that I have had a chronic lack of sleep and coffee overdoses every single day. However, I am enjoying myself so much and have constant flashes of sentimentality, because everything is “the last something”, like the last Saturday night out, the last jam session at the north gate jazz bar, the last trip into the mountains, the last dinner at the Suthep Vegetarian restaurant, the last time seeing a friend that I’ve spent a lot of whole time with, the last day at the office, and so on. Every time I ride on my motorbike I am thinking how much I love it and how much I am going to miss this feeling of liberty when I ride the bike through the city, with the warm air blowing in my face. Life is easy and convenient. Hungry? Okay, just go to the next street food stall. Wanna go somewhere? Just hop on the bike or some songtaew taxi. Feeling lazy? Hang out in one of the cafes in the sun or shade, as you like, or go for a swim on a hotel pool. Nothing is really expensive. Work stress doesn’t get to me as it does in our Western societies, the atmosphere and lifestyle here makes it impossible. And the best is the nature near by. Not far from here, there are the mountains and waterfalls (where you can have a swim) from where you have a great view over the valley of Chiang Mai with the high mountains near the Burmese border in the back.

Last weekend we went up to Chiang Dao, which lies further north towards the Burmese boarder, where we stayed in a nice resort, facing the foot of a steep mountain and in the middle of a banana tree garden, surrounded just by nature. The weather was misty, there were clouds hanging pretty low in the mountains, which gave it a mysterious touch. Beautiful!