Last week for a Snow Bird in Chiangmai

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Snow Birds -that’s what they are called here in Chiangmai........ the people who flee winter in the northern hemisphere and migrate to Northern Thailand. I don’t quite qualify as I’m only here for a month ......... but it’s certainly something to aim for.
Over breakfast we chatted about the acupuncture. Nui thinks it’s really helping her to sleep well. I mentioned planning to have some sort of spa day treatment. But was told that Upin, the masseuse, can do coconut oil massage as well as Thai massage.....It will be booked! Michel and I express an interest in the Ayurvedic treatment centre ( Nui and Kung have tried everything!) We agree to have a nose detox and a foot detox. It is booked for us!
It was the last day of my pottery class, so I got an Uber to Slow Hands Studio. I don’t think the American art teacher, Matthew, sold very much at his exhibition last night.
Today I just learned how to turn the foot on a pot. One of mine has already had a disaster and cracked....... hasn’t managed the first firing yet! I wish I’d been a bit more prolific and made more. Never mind - I just worked on the ones I had made. I enjoyed how it made them look shaped and elegant.I chatted to Kim, the blonde Amarican lady who is a pretty deft Potter. I discovered that when she first came to winter in Thailand four years ago she and her husband stayed with Nui at Baansong Jum! She had nothing but kind words for Nui. They live in New York State and now spend three months of the winter in a condominium in Chiangmai every year.
Jern is going to fire and glaze them for me ( I picked out a pale blue glaze) He was prepared to post them to me, but I suggested that he leaves them with Joe at The Meeting Room and Nui could pick them up from there and keep them, or keep them for me for next year.
I was dismissed early today, after I’d had my noodle lunch so I got an Uber to Nimmenhaeman and parked myself in a corner with a coffee and a brownie to recharge my phone at the socket there.
I had arranged to meet Dorothy at 5.30 at a restaurant nearby which was hosting her Travel Club evening. Someone would be talking about Georgia and giving a PowerPoint presentation. So I spent the time reading ‘Pachinko’ and catching up with my last blog. When I was ready to book an Uber, the streets were gridlocked with traffic and the Uber drivers wanted me to walk to pick up points miles away.
So I decided to use maps.me and walk to the restaurant. Not so easy. Eventually I went into a deserted Dunkin Donuts and asked the young people there who got the map up on their iPad. I had been a stones throw from the restaurant, but the road was just called something different and the English restaurant sign wasn’t prominent. So I retraced my steps and there was Dorothy enjoying a glass of red. The restaurant began to fill up so we quickly ordered some food. I recognised many of Dorothy’s friends, including Jennifer who had fractured her wrist since I saw her in the Indian restaurant last week. She fell off a chair on the balcony while getting her laundry in late at night. And this week she’s off to the beach somewhere in Thailand with her son and 2 year old grandson. Visions of not getting the plaster wet and not getting sand inside it and helping to look after a two year old!
The talk was given by a lovely Israeli man, with a very strong accent and a weird sound coming from the microphone, so it was a bit difficult to follow. I did learn though that Georgia was the birthplace of Stalin.
I got a lift home with a very nice woman called Jane. A snow bird.

I had a very relaxed day reading and popping along to the local shops and galleries. Frenetic preparations were in hand for Chinese New Year and the streets around the market, just across the river, were rapidly being transformed into a sea of red bobbing lanterns and the streets around the market were closed to traffic as the street food stalls set up, and a large open air stage was built, with seating across the street for all the local dignitaries. This year there seems to be a concerted effort for people to wear red , the lucky colour for New Year-the year of the dog.
Next morning Nui got a lift to the supermarket with the trishaw man. He stores his trishaw overnight at Baansong Jum in return for sweeping up the leaves every day and doing some odd jobs. Because there are no seasons as such here, the trees are continuously dropping their leaves. You only have to see a patch of untended land to see that it would quickly become knee deep in big, leathery brown leaves if left. The trishaw man lives out of town and arrives on his motorbike every morning. Mostly he works the trishaw around Worarot market, and sometimes he’s involved in the mass transportation of large groups of tourists around town, using fleets of trishaws. But he also takes Nui to do her shopping at the supermarket when needed.
Today was Dorothy’s ‘Craft Group’ meeting. I put it In inverted commas because not a lot of craft goes on ........ but that’s how it started out. They take turns to host and provide food and drink, although everyone brings something edible along with them. The meeting was being held today at Valarie’s apartment, just the other side of Wararot market and a stones throw from my homestay. So it’s easy to walk to. Her apartment is on 10th floor, so it’s a novelty for me to look down on the area from above.
Valarie and her husband Glen bought this apartment about 10 years ago, and they spend three months of the the Canadian winter here, shutting up their log cabin house by one of the Great Lakes. But they’ve just sold the apartment, and it gives them some freedom in choosing where they stay every year. They are even considering trying a winter escape in Chiang Rai ,and they’re going to view a couple of apartments there next weekend. Of course, none of the rest of the group think they should move!
There were only six of us today, and the conversation turned to a discussion of modern feminism, not sewing or knitting! There was only time for me to enjoy the lunch before setting off to find the Ayurvedic Treatment Centre. I was encouraged to walk, as it would probably only take me half an hour to get there. I found the right street, but then spent half an hour wandering up and down looking for the sign. There’s a restaurant owned by the same people in that street and even they didn’t know what I was looking for, and didn’t recognise the flyer in English! And then I saw it. How could I have missed it! I must have walked past at least four or five times. So , a bit hot and bothered and about 30 minutes late for my appointment I began to apologise. But this is Thailand, and being 30 minutes late didn’t go against me at all. The clinic had the same feel as the acupuncture clinic. In style and atmosphere it was like stepping into a 1950’s time capsule. The ladies, dressed in their traditional Thai sarongs, led me through the shady garden to a room where I sat in a chair with my feet in a bowl of water. From two machines on the side table, two electrodes were strapped to my left wrist and a wide padded belt went around my stomach. Two black discs, also attached to the metering devices on the table, were in the bowl with my feet. The lady carefully sprinkled salt in the water. I did wonder if I’d be electrocuted! I sat like this for about 45 minutes . After about 20 minutes Michel came to join me and was wired up in a similar way just across the room. We were bemused! He’d arrived on time and had already had the nose cleansing, which he said was not unpleasant. Slowly the water in the bowl turned orange, then a murky brown/ green and then a bubbling green sort of frothy pondweed started to form. Was this really coming out of my feet! The Thai lady softly pointed out the different colours and indicated that one colour was the toxins from my liver, another was from kidneys, another from gall bladder and another from the lymphatic system. 65 years of toxins I presume. I asked her if I were to return next week and do the same again, would the water be clearer ...... and she shook her head : no. So, feet nicely soaked I left Michel with his equally disgusting bowl of murky water, and went into another treatment room where I lay on my back and prepared for the hot oil in my nose treatment. I could smell something familiar and I asked the treatment therapist what sort of oil they used. Ghee. I had recognised the smell. Arrrgh! I don’t really like that smell ( butter used in Indian cooking) so having it dropped into my nose was a bit tortuous. The massaging was quite pleasant but I really couldn’t bear the smell of the ghee.
At last it was finished, and with cleansed buttery nostrils, I left the centre. I had thought about going for a tea or coffee somewhere, but when you’ve just been cleared of toxins it doesn’t seem the right thing to do!! And I thought I’d better take a slow walk home to get over the ghee. Back at Baansong Jum, Michel and I compared experiences and then Googled to try and see what we could find out about the treatment. I will ask Julie at the Clover Mill Ayurvedic Retreat about it when I get home. And the glass of red wine helped to get rid of the ghee smell in my nose ...... restoring all the toxins I expect! That night there was a barrage of noise from the firecrackers in the market and Chinatown on the other side of the river. It really sounds like gunfire. Frankie the dog was terrified and had to be shut in the room upstairs where he felt safe.
After breakfast the next day I went across the river to The Wararot market to see all the street stalls, the Dragon, the lion dancers and of course the dog. Another dragon was entering all the shops accompanied by the ear-splitting clash of symbols and the exciting thunder of the drums. He was collecting the ang pows ( red packets containing money) to ensure wealth and prosperity for the shop owners. It was all very professional but happy and one of the shop owners came out to demonstrate his prowess with the drumsticks. The little boy drummers found this hilarious. I had lunch in a Vietnamese restaurant further along the river, accidentally leaving a 500 baht note instead of a 100 baht note. I was quite a way along the street when a breathless waitress caught up with me to give me the change ( I’d left about £11 instead of £2.50) And in the midday sun too. I popped into Rimping Supermarket to get a couple of ingredients for a coffee and walnut cake. A little rest until 4 o’cLock when it was a bit cooler, and everyone starts to stir again at Baansong Jum. I made the cake in the microwave/ oven and this time I think I got the oven temperature right.People started hanging around in the kitchen, drawn by the smell of coffee and baking, but it was far too hot to put on the topping.
That evening Nui suggested that we should all go out for a Chinese New Year dinner together. So like kids, we all raced out to hail a song taew and went to a huge Chinese restaurant near the night market on the other side of the river. Nui ordered for us so that there was something for everyone and even three dishes for dog trainer Philip who is vegan.
Some people walked back, but I took advantage of a song taew with Nui, Kung and Rich ( my phone app had already told me that I’d walked 9km today -enough) we were also able to get the cake ready for dessert when the others got back. Some of the young people came in too - the two Argentinian men and two Chinese girls, and eventually most of the cake disappeared. Richard shared some brandy with me and Nui and it went down very well with the cake! One of the girls from China, Claire, is traveling alone and is so charming and pretty. Every day she looks dressed for a party and every day she has a programme of places she plans to go. The other girl ( sorry I forget her name) is an engineer in Cuba and has brought her mum to Chiangmai for a holiday. Mum doesn’t speak any English so is fairly isolated with only her daughter as a bridge to other people staying here. She looks as if she’s had a hard life and her back is permanently bent over. Her daughter tells us that she worked in a paper factory in China for 40 years. She’s only 65 but looks about 80.
The next day was Saturday, and I decided to get myself a spare pair of prescription reading glasses. I bought some last year, but on my last night in Tokyo I’d come a cropper on a perfectly level pavement opposite Harajuku station, and the new glasses were crushed during my tumble to the ground ( I also fractured two ribs but didn’t realise until I had a chest x-ray a couple of months later. I thought I’d pulled a muscle lugging a heavy suitcase around)
So I set off after my usual breakfast here: a bowl full to the brim with papaya, dragon fruit, pineapple and banana with yoghurt.
There were of course ways to see along the way, and the undulating brick walls which mark out the old city limits. I got to the opticians and proudly pulled out my prescription from Malvern, thinking it was the latest one, until the assistant pointed out the date to me : 2014. Oooops! So I had the free eye test anyway. Chose some red frames and settled down on the sofa in the opticians to read my book: How to Stop Time by Matt Haig ( its really a good book) the glasses were ready in about half an hour. Great. The only thing was that I was offered a candy pink case to put them in. I couldn’t cope with that so they kindly gave me a white case and I trotted out to look for lunch in Nimmenhaeman. It’s really the cafe culture part of Chiangmai so easy to find somewhere serving good coffee, and stopped at the Organic Farm Cafe for a spinach and cheese croissant. It appears that there are lots of organic farms on the outskirts of Chiangmai. Refreshed, I took a slow walk back to the moat, treating myself to a mango sticky rice and a carrot, celery and kiwi fruit smoothie at the Raming Teahouse with its high ceilings and lazy rotating ceiling fans. I walked home through the Chinese New Year celebrations in Worarot and back to Baansong Jum. Tea time. Nui has come back from her acupuncture session in the afternoon via ‘Saturday Walking Street ‘ where stall-holders we’re setting up for the evening. And she found my Thai stainless steel cutlery man ! She got his business card, as he’s based just along the road from Baansong Jum, at a bakery business called Love at First Bite. I was very excited and sent a message to Julie to ask if her friends had located the cutlery in Bangkok. I just couldn’t face going up to Walking Street and shuffling along with the hoardes. So planned to visit him at home on Monday morning. But I was just too full to contemplate having any dinner so went to my room early and finished ‘How to Stop Time’ by Matt Haig. Most enjoyable and recommend it! My copy of the book has moved on to a young French woman traveling with her boyfriend and staying at Baansong Jum ...... so off it goes on its travels around Asia, independent of me! I wonder where it will go!
On Sunday I had my last acupuncture appointment-the acupuncturist is back from his Chinese New Year holidays. So after breakfast I took the 40 minute walk up through the old city to the acupuncture clinic. It’s just wonderful to be told to lie down and relax in a lovely calm space for 40 minutes-even if it involves needles!
After I walked to the Mengrai Pottery and bought a few small pots and then went to my favourite Terracotta garden cafe for a fresh ginger tea and avocado and egg on toast. Michel and Marie-Noelle found it today too and liked it. Of course.
In the evening Nui and Kong invited me to join then and Penn for dinner at an organic farm restaurant outside Chiangmai, at San Sai. It was very busy at the restaurant so while we waited for a table we had a wander around, marvelling at the neat rows of different varieties of salad leaves. All looking perfect. The meals definitely sported the freshest salad.
I had some delicious Japanese mushrooms with my salad, Nui and Kung had sausages and soup, and Penn balanced out all that greenery with loads of meat. Didn’t see many farang ( foreigners) at the restaurant.
Monday -and my last full day in Chiangmai. Tempted to rush around like a mad thing, visiting all the places I haven’t been and buying loads of stuff I can’t fit in the suitcase .... but desisted! After my fruity and yoghurty breakfast I walked along the riverside to where the cutlery man lives, next to a well known bakery, Love at First Bite. Astounded to see that thery were closed on Mondays! This cutlery buying is just not meant to be ( but turns out it’s lucky I didn’t buy any for Julie as she’d got some other friends on the case in Bangkok, and they’d managed to track some down!) As I was near Rimping Supermarket I popped in to buy a couple of bottles of wine and some nibbles as my goodbye treat this evening . I stopped at the Meeting Room on the way back, for coffee and cake and to say goodbye to Joe, and see you again next year! When I got back I found that Rich had also been shopping for tonight and there were lots of different cheeses and crackers. And Nui and Kong had got salad and strawberries-it’s going to be a party tonight! Rich had also purchased a rather severe face mask because he’s having some respiratory problems with air pollution. He’s already got quite a gravelly voice So he gets teased and nicknamed Darth Vadar! There’s been no rain since I’ve been here too, so the dust in the air must be an issue for him.
It was a lovely evening under the old house with Nui Kong and Penn, Michel and Marie-Noelle, Howard, Rich and Philip . A few bemused young people drifted back from an evening on the town to find all the oldies drinking and laughing under the old house.
Tuesday 20th February and this really is my last day here. I did my packing before breakfast and then walked across the river to the Post Office, where they boxed up most of my ‘summer’ clothes to send back to the U. K. by surface mail. It’ll take about 3 months, and I don’t think I’ll be out of thermal vests by then! So this leaves more space for the ceramics and bits and pieces I’ve bought in the suitcase and I’m encouraged to just have a little meander up to Thapae Gate to see if there’s anything else I really should buy. Back to Baansong Jum, where Howard is priming some old garden chairs ready for painting. Nui is finding useful jobs for him to do, to keep her longstay guest from checking out the ‘mature Thai women ‘ on the dating website! Tomorrow Howard is going to Bangkok where he’ll meet his daughter and he’s so excited about planning his holiday with her.i took him along to the Woo cafe just along the street so we could share a huge khao soy lunch ( noodles in a chicken curry with all sorts of pickles,eggs and crispy noodles ) Howard couldn’t believe he’d never been there-he’s cycled or walked by it every day. So it’s on his list of places to take his daughter.
Penn and Nui drove me to the airport-so kind of them. Nui has got a painful hip today too. “ Keep well and look after yourself” I say when we hug goodbye. “We won’t be able to come and stay if you’re poorly-we depend on you!”
My check in luggage was exactly 20kg ( phew-weight limit on Scoot airline) and no one batted an eyelid at my backpack crammed with metal music boxes! The three hour flight to Singapore was uneventful, and It wasn’t long before I was hauling that 20kg suitcase up the 10 flights of stairs to Kathy’s apartment on the fifth floor. And drinking a mug of tea with a slab of Christmas cake ( Kathy’s gone dry for Lent!)
So this morning Kathy dropped me off at my Mother-in -law’s house so I could have a chat with her while Kath did a few chores. Then we went for lunch at the old racecourse-Hainanese chicken rice and Singapore carrot cake ( which is a savoury dish with no carrots in evidence at all)
Next treat was a hair wash and blow dry at Kathy’s local hair dresser, which includes the most amazing head, shoulder and back massage. A little afternoon snooze, followed by tea and cake and a FaceTime chat with Stevie in Tokyo ( only two hours ahead so it’s easy)
Now the suitcase has crept up to over 21 kilos and it gets shuffled down the stairs to the Uber car .
Bye Kath!!
So now I’m at Changi Airport, just about to board my flight. Managed to squeeze in one last bowl of laksa lemak! Rested, relaxed and ready for everything except the cold. Another blue-ginger year about to start with Tamsin Abbott’s exciting exhibition ‘The Garden of Earthly Delights’. This Snow Bird returns home to roost ( although I may have returned too early to miss all the snow) and there’s news from Chiangmai Dorothy from Tokyo to say that she now has a little grandson.
And there’s always next year to look forward to.

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