food

There are many reasons why Chiang Mai has become one of the world’s most popular places for tourists and expats. One post isn’t going to cover all of them, so I will start with those that keep luring me back year after year, except for two years: one during COVID and the other in 2016, when I went down to South America. This year is my 16th time here in Chiang Mai along with detours (often a visa run) to other places in SE Asia. However, Chiang Mai, the second-largest city in Thailand, has lured me back every 16th time. I really love the rection I get from many Thai faces when I tell them this.

Thailand is an easy country to visit, and Chiang Mai is a great place to find just about everything one looks for as a visitor in a foreign city: friendly people, delicious food, easy modern-day living, a warm climate, varied activities and sights to see, colourful festivals, and markets galore for shopping at reasonable prices. Whew! One can’t get bored in this city even after 16 visits. Of course, it’s by no means perfect. The traffic is heavy and noisy, but I give the drivers credit for watching out for us pedestrians. I feel safe walking here, so I use my feet to get where I want to go instead of relying on tuk-tuks, songtaos or a Grab taxi. Buses are almost extinct. Motorbikes and huge late-model cars seem to be the people’s choice for getting around the city. I wouldn’t be surprised to find that cars could be outnumbering motorbikes indicating that there is a fair amount of wealth in this city. However, this has led to more noise and pollution. When I first visited the city in 2008, there was a brave plan in progress to ban cars and trucks from the inner city which is encircled by a moat. A large number of residents tried to get the local government or council to have electric trains only to enter the city. There would be no huge cars cluttering the streets and better sidewalks for the pedestrians. Unfortunately, that hasn’t happened and instead has put the city’s air quality up to the level of other large cities in Asia.

Honestly, I cannot think of any more negative things about Chiang Mai. I have written about the smog and pollution in some of my past posts. Scroll down to the bottom of this post for some of those if you want to know about the changing climate and what some have done to get the government to pay more attention to it. The weather seems to vary from year to year. Since I have been here this year, December and January have had almost perfect weather with cool nights and warm days (none above 30 degrees centigrade). There has been no humidity and no rain. It will no doubt get hotter as the days go by causing the quality of the air to get worse. In the past, by the time April rolls around, it’s unbearable at least to me. The weather in the dead of winter back home in Nova Scotia is another factor determining why I keep coming back in December, January and usually February. However, not this year, as I must return for other stuff I need to pay attention to. This year the weather has been horrible with rain, freezing rain and snow so far. Having the sun every day as I have had this year in Chiang Mai, has been the perfect medicine I have needed to sleep better and jump out of bed more quickly than I do at home. Oh, I must add that having at least seven coffee places around me for my morning coffee has helped also.

Another lure for me to return to Chiang Mai every year instead of some other country is the market scene which beckened me to start up a small business back home in Nova Scotia, Canada, selling clothing and accessories made in Thailand. My customers love the Harem pants and anything with elephants on it. This year, I am sensing a slight change in taste to anything with cats on it, which I hope will give the elephants some competition. I have been buying pants, shopping bags, and some other cute stuff which I am hoping will attract my customers back home. Over the years, I felt the need to keep this little business going to make a bit of extra money, which I have used to pay for my airfare over and back again. Therefore, it’s become safe to say that Chiang Mai has become like a second home for me.

I have often thought I should become one of the many expats who have made their homes here permanently. It’s not just about the friendly Thai people and living in a warm climate, but there are other benefits as well, such as a much lower cost of living, a good health care system, and easier rules for choosing to live here full-time. If you would like more information on the benefits of living in Chiang Mae that I put together several years ago, you can go to the following post Back to the “Land of Smiles” published in 2018. The cost of living has gone up slightly for food and beverages but nothing like what I am facing in Canada. Clothing is still a bargain, so I hope to keep my prices down at home for my customers provided the shipping charges haven’t risen too drastically. Rentals are holding steady. I am paying a wee bit more for a month at BhanPongPhen where I have been staying for the past four years. For about $415.00 a month I am getting a small apartment with a kitchenette providing a fridge and microwave, free internet, and weekly maid service. Most importantly, the owners and their maid are very kind and helpful. Mrs Pong (that’s what I call her) is always supplying me with delicious snacks and Om their maid does a super job at keeping my small apartment clean.

Yes, my life here is very good which makes it difficult to leave. Sooner or later I will have to make a decision on where I want to spend the rest of my days. However, I believe I should have made this decision in 2018 when I was younger. I’m not sure Thailand would want me now at the age of 80, a milestone I faced in August. When I tell a Thai person my age, I get a wonderful reaction because most 80-year-olds here aren’t travelling and doing the things I am doing. As their elders reach my age, the young are expected to look after them. Elder care is low on the list for any kind of government help.

In conclusion, although I have stuck to all the positives for Thailand and especially Chiang Mai, there are the negatives. They are covered in some of my previous posts so you can go to them if you wish.http://Sundays in Chiang Mai, Being Inspired By Chiang Mai’s Changing Culinary Scene.

What more can I say about Chiang Mai without repeating myself when this is my fifteenth visit to this city? Those of you following my travels and reading more than a dozen posts about this popular city in Thailand would probably ask the same question. I have been asking it since my arrival almost two months ago and was about to give up on writing anything this time around until today. So what ignited the spark for me to sit down and begin writing on the topic of pancakes?

Since Chiang Mai has been getting hotter and smoggier with each passing day and I have only a week left before I must head home to Nova Scotia where it’s freezing cold, I decided a few days ago I would get up early before the temperature hit the mid-thirties to find the restaurant that I used to go to for some delicious pancakes. I’ve hankered for a pancake breakfast ever since I’ve been here but I haven’t had much luck finding a restaurant in the neighborhood where I stay with pancakes on their menu. There are lots of good coffee and bakery cafes to supplement my yogurt and granola stash in the fridge of my tiny kitchenette to give me a healthy breakfast most days, but I needed a change. What I wanted was a good old pancake breakfast.

Why pancakes you might wonder? To begin with, the Thai love to satisfy their tourist tastes so there have always been some fairly good restaurants around to satisfy our American taste buds. I’ve had some delicious ones over the years on my visits to Chiang Mai but where exactly would they be now? The restaurant scene has changed drastically since COVID. Many of those I became used to over the years have disappeared or been upgraded into something new. Nevertheless, the one that kept coming back to haunt me was Good Morning Chiang Mai. So, I decided to check it out to see if they were still there and see if pancakes were still on their menu. Last year they were undergoing a massive renovation which looked like it was going to be what I would call a posh one. Would they still have their old menu with their delicious pancakes and if so would they be a decent price?

To make what could become a long story short, I found the place despite the confusing information Google Maps gave me. Using my instinct or intuition, I found the correct soi (side street) with the new complex which now consists of a hotel, a pool, an inviting garden, and a newly renovated restaurant. There was a menu outside the posh entrance which I opened with bated breath thinking the prices would be out of my reach and surely there would be no pancakes. When I saw they were still there and within my budget, without a moment’s hesitation I opened the heavy door and headed for a ringside seat by the pool. What a piece of good luck or was it serendipity? I felt like I had come home to something special which would be a memorable experience.

The presentation of my breakfast was another wonderful surprise. There they were…two good-sized pancakes with a variety of colorful fruits on the side. I tucked in eating as much as I could. They were melt in your mouth delicious but filling as pancakes can be. I couldn’t finish them so I discretely wrapped what was left in a napkin and stuffed them in my bag. I should also mention that my Americano coffee was also delicious.

Having eaten all I could, I decided to take some pictures of the premises. I had already taken one of my pancakes. Up to this point, I hadn’t taken much notice of the couple to the left of my table until the man got up to pay their bill while the woman waited for him on the bench by the door. When he reappeared, I asked if I could take a picture of them. I must add that this is not something I usually do but for a reason unknown, it seemed like the right thing to do. They were both happy to oblige. I never asked him if he was once a photographer but he certainly went at it like a professional. After shooting three of me, I called a halt knowing the fun he seemed to be having would end up as more. Furthermore, I sensed his woman friend was getting a bit bored with it all. In the meantime while taking the photos and for a short time after, I found out she was from the Philippines and he was from the northern part of Italy. Somehow, we got onto life in Thailand and how it was a great country for expats. He was especially forceful about how much I stood to gain by selling my house and moving over permanently when he found out I was from cold Canada. He had all the latest news about the changes for getting a six-month or a one-year visa initiated by the present government to encourage and make it easier for those who want to make Thailand their home. I won’t bore you dear reader with any more about our photo shoot and conversation but it has had an impact. Yes, I can honestly say it has inspired me to do this post for my blog. Perhaps it’s a beginning to determining where I go from here? One never knows these days, does one?