Day 13 - Friday, February 25 - Chiang Mai

As with my last day in Bangkok, my last day in Chiang Mai was very relaxing and mellow. Can't always be on the go.

Woke and hung out at Libra for a few hours. Needed to do a little shopping and send a box from Chiang Mai. Didn't buy that much but saw some great things that would go nicely in my sea container for my new import business.

Didn't do much - just walked a bit and had lunch at the noodle shop I first ate at when I got here. This time, I had Chicken Curry. Excellent!

Went to Smile Guesthouse to see if Adam and Emma had arrived back from Pai. I found them lounging at the pool and also having a lazy day. We hung out, they gave me some tips on Pai and made plans to meet for dinner. After dinner, Adam and I are going to Thai Boxing and Emma is hitting the Night Bazaar (Market) one last time.

Gathered all my purchases, bought a box and some shipping materials and went to Libra to pack them up. Got a Tuk Tuk to take me to UPS.

"WHAT"?, I said to the Tinglish speaking UPS agent. "5900 baht to ship this to the USA?". I went across the street to DHL. They wanted 6200. Shit, I don't want to spend over $160US to ship this stuff home. The box only weighed 9KG. I have no idea what that is in pounds but it wasn't that heavy. SHIT, I wish I could just put this box in my container.

I got another Tuk Tuk to the shipping place I found earlier in the day. I settled on sending it ECONOMY THAI POST for a little less. It should arrive in LA in about 3-4 weeks! I hope it gets there - what a waste if it doesn't.

Back to Libra for a quick shower. Went to meet Adam and Emma and walked over the river to "The Riverside Restaurant". Had a great dinner on the river and talked for hours. Adam and I decided to bail on Boxing - both of us weren't in the mood any longer.

On the way back, we walked through the Night Market, the Chinese Market, and stopped for my last Chocolate and Banana Rotee. HEAVEN!

We then stopped at a few bars with live music and sat, enjoyed a few songs at half a dozen of them and slowly made our way back to the point where they arrive at Smile and I head back to Libra.

We said goodnight, goodbye, and happy trails and parted ways. I made my walk back to Libra (I wish Libra was just a little closer - although not far, there are great guesthouses nearer to Taipie Gate - the center of the city)

Will I ever see Adam and Emma again? What about Francis and Marie? Will I ever visit Collin and Linda's 20 acre spread outside Vancouver? All these people will always be remembered as part of my Thailand adventure but that's probably about it. We all swap e-mail addresses so we can e-mail photos when we return to our respective countries but how much correspondence will we have beyond that? All these questions and more will be answered on the next episode of.....life.

Sleeeeeeeep.