Arrivals
It’s a quick and seamless flight from BKK to CM. To add to the ease, Chiang Mai Airport must be one of the most city-adjacent airports in the world. Had a taxi pre-booked and it had me to HeyHa House in 10 minutes.
In Bangkok, I spent a fair amount of time in hostel dorms, so it was a treat to have a room to myself up here. The HeyHa rooms are nice and spacious and had a good desk setup—ideal for working on this site. They even had an Irish extension cord! Never thought I would be so excited about something like that, but here we are.
Tea, the owner of HeyHa, is pure sound and they have a great kitchen area with a range of teas and pastries on offer. I was loving the croissant + nutella combo with my peppermint tea.
Getting the Lay of the Land
As luck would have it, HeyHa House is around the corner from the Chiang Mai Municipal Stadium—a great sports centre with a running track, an outdoor calisthenics area, and a range of other resources. Not to mention some stalls selling that sweet, sweet, Pocari Sweat.
My accommodation is a bit north of the Old Town so I had look at things nearby. Seemingly HeyHa House is in the Barber District as there are at least 10 on the same street—felt like being back home wha!
Up next was a wander down to the Old Town, which is surrounded by a moat and stone walls. It looks pretty cool to be honest.
Just past the walls to the north I discovered a restaurant with a great aesthetic. They have some lovely crispy pork (a favourite since my time in South Korea) and sticky rice—very tasty.
Getting Lost
In the evening, I decided to check out the TV in the room which—to my surprise—had a streaming service. It had the new Day of the Jackal TV series (the book and film are among my favourites) but it required a bit too much attention and I wanted something to put on in the background.
And that’s when it happened. 20 years after first laying eyes on the show, I was drawn back to Lost, so put that on. I started on Season 3 for some reason and pretty much binged S3-S5. Still haven’t forgiven the show for the final season so gave that a miss but it was fun re-watching the show, especially after so long as many of the plots and characters had long been forgotten. Jack is still as big a bore as I remembered though.
Old Town Antics
On Thursday, I took a stroll over to the Jing Jai Christmas Market. A lovely market north of the Old Town which helped get me into the Christmas mood.
The festive feelings continued down at the UN Irish Pub where they were running their weekly Thursday Table Quiz—this week being the Christmas edition!
I found out about the quiz via the pub’s page on Facebook—one of the few things the platform is still useful for. It’s a class pub in probably the most buzzing area of Old Town, and, in an amazing case of it being a small world, the pub was originally set up by the Mam of a friend from back home. I didn’t realise this at all until he saw I was in Chiang Mai and gave me the heads up! #Monaghan4SamHey
Being a nerd, I’m a decent enough quizzer, and Christmas trivia is right up my alley. I arrived early and secured a table at the back. Got chatting to another Irish lad and teamed up with him and his two friends, who joined a bit later. Their other friend, Jim, couldn’t make it which allowed me to step in. The standard was pretty high and there were some solid questions asked.
Delighted to have contributed to knowing the opening singer in Do They Know it’s Christmas (Paul Young) but still a bit peeved about missing out on who had the hit A Wonderful Christmas Time (I just said Wings, they needed Paul McCartney smh). Despite this, we ended up winning! A Thailand highlight, or Thailight, if you will.
It turns out Ray, Camille and Bauke are all digital nomads themselves and this impromptu decision to go to the quiz became a great way to network (is there a better term for this, really gives me the ick). As it happens, Camille and Bauke run a program called Nomads in Wonderlands and they had space available for the upcoming Angkor Wat Retreat in February.
With my open plans, and Thailand visa running out at the end of January, this felt like the perfect excuse to visit Cambodia. There’s a gang of digital nomads from all over the world attending so it should be a worthwhile experience, and maybe even a way to find work!
Living for the Weekend
As nice as it is having my own room, I thought it would be fun to stay more central for the weekend, so I booked a cheap dorm bed for Friday night. I got a Bolt (a cheaper alternative to Grab) ride down on the back of a bike, dropped off my bag, and went exploring. I intentionally chose a place close to the UN Irish Pub and was delighted to discover Lanna Square just across the alley from it.
Lanna Square is a food market with a ton of options and even some performers as well. Heard a wonderful rendition of Here Comes the Sun and I’m always a sucker for some breakdancing.
The square then opens up onto Zoe in Yellow. I’m not sure the official name of the place but that’s the name of one of the main bars there—basically a ton of bars beside each other; cheap cocktails, pool, football, and generally a fairly buzzin spot.
There is also some stalls about and I was in the market for a new hat, having lost my Palestine Solidarity cap (which I picked up in Bangkok) the night before.
A good night was had and a great decision to have stayed central—much quicker stroll back to bed. Another benefit of being so central was the proximity to the Tha Phae Gate, where I went on Saturday to register for the Chiang Mai Marathon, as you do…
DavAI SummAIriser
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