Ni Dieu Ni Maitre

Arrived at 6AM after 3 flights, searches, baggage lines… and why is my Gate always the one on the far other side of the enormous airport? Does this happen to everyone? Miles of walking. In Guwahati, they would not let me board until I produced proof of a ticket out of Thailand, which they claimed was necessary to board my flight to Delhi… hmmm. So I bought a train ticket from Chaing Rai to Vientiane, Laos while in India. In Bangkok, they never asked about my onward plans… By the way, I got a 60 day visa shortly before Thailand changed the rules to a 30 day visa, citing unruly visitors. Let’s all shut the doors! Get in, spend lots of money in a hurry and get the fuck out of here. Friendly, aren’t they?

View from my hotel balcony, with everything flattened out by my phone camera… these hills are quite steep. Shillong and Kohima are two of the places I have been with the steepest roads of anywhere, but the camera flattened most of those out as well.

Onward. Arriving around 6AM, check in time 2PM, I slept on a sofa in the lobby, and in my room until dark, when I visited the next door Noor restaurant. Had a small fish entree and one beer and immediately didn’t feel well.

Sign in the Noor bathroom, a portent of things to come.

Yes, I got severe diarrhea from my first Thai meal. Went to the doctor, took the antibiotics, got weaker and weaker, but finally it stopped. Took almost a week and my gut microbiome has been completely destroyed. I am not myself. I am weak, and for once in my 81 years, I feel old and vulnerable… and I sure don’t like it.

I did get to walk around a little bit during the ordeal, and Thailand is quite a pleasant place. It is the rainy season, and there is a bit of rain, or a lot, for short spells every day. Ate packaged nuts and bananas from the ubiquitous 7/11 stores, which are everywhere here.

Didn’t see a lot of Chiang Mai, just from cabs, but it is just another megalopolis now. I bicycled through here in the late ’90’s, when it was quite charming. I was on my way north from Bangkok to Laos, where I spent a month cycling, mainly in the mountains on dirt roads. Still weak, I decided to travel by van into the northern hills and the ‘hippie’ town of Pai. As if I don’t know ‘hippie towns’ for god’s sake. This ride featured the road of 172 sharp turns, often on switchbacks at high speeds…

The road to Pai, as seen while levitating… or not. I felt like I was levitating, and wasn’t the only passenger to puke on this ride.