Au Revoir Chiang Mai

When we booked this winter's getaway, our return flight was to be on March 3, but because of the pandemic, it was cancelled. Brenda and I jumped on the occasion to extend our trip by thirty days. Because the month of March in Chiang Mai is notoriously smokey as a result of farmers burning their fields in preparation for the new crop, we knew we had to had no choice but to spend our extra month elsewhere in Thailand.

Initially we considered Hua Hin, a coastal town ninety kilometers south of Bangkok where the king has a vacation home. But then we learned that Hua Hin can be just as smokey as Chiang Mai.

Because we didn't want to spend a month just lying on the beach, we were looking for something more than the bulk of the southern islands have to offer. As it turns out, Phuket fits the bill perfectly. We'll be staying in Phuket Town, a fairly large inland city that offers a variety of markets, malls, cinemas and restaurants and is located about 20-25 minutes from a number of beaches.

As I sit in the Chiang Mai International Airport awiating our flight south and typing this blog, I feel a sense of melancholy having to leave behind our favourite home away from home. These last ninety days have been filled wiith good food, wonderful weather, old and new friends and plenty of fun times. The city was much different from our previous visits here with many establishments closed and far fewer tourists than in the past (that was a good thing for us, not so much for the Thai people). But as we make our way south, Brenda and I both know that this is not our farewell to Chiang Mai, but rather an au revoir.Read more