Life This Week+ in Chiang Mai Thailand: Jan 1-5, 2026

I’m Over Here Now!

Since these were the longest 10 days in history, I made an executive decision and cut this post in half, so this is Part 1 and Part 2 will go up in a few days. It said it was 28 minutes reading time at its full length. Ain’t nobody got time for that.

Jan 1, 2026

Happy New Year! Whatta way to start the new year, by moving to a new country.

It was a long day of travel, I’ll spare you most of if it…but the general outline was:

• 7:30am shuttle from hotel to airport
• 8:00am check-in – Papa Bear cost ONE HUNDRED EIGHTY-FOUR DOLLARS because he was 59 pounds!
• Sat at the gate for a couple hours with my last Japanese snack – a melon bun
• 11:00am flight from Osaka to Seoul’s Incheon Airport
• 1:50pm Yay I’m in Korea! Where are all the handsome men are! How is that even possible? I have like a 3.5 hour layover and I just eat my snacks and people man watch
• 5:00pm Board flight to Chiang Mai, Thailand. Am blessed with an empty middle seat…but no USB port for charging phone, so watch only one show I’ve downloaded, then let phone rest to reserve battery
• Sometime 5 or 6 hours later (I forget…plus I was confused over the length of the flight cuz I forgot there’s a 2-hour time difference between Japan and Thailand) we land in Thailand, for a very easy passport/immigration check (I had all my proper documents) and baggage claim

The day had all gone well until…I was trying to get a Grab – which is the Uber of Thailand (and maybe other Southeast Asian countries), but I had the wrong pick-up spot…and I ended up losing one ride but having to pay for it, and dragging 60lb Papa Bear and 30lb Baby Bear for what seemed like MILES (it wasn’t) on bumpy, broken-up walkways to the proper spot…and finally getting a ride!

The first taxi ride in a new place is always a little stressful and disorienting…you have zero context for where anything is, everything is unfamiliar, WHERE IS HE TAKING ME, ohmygod what am I doing here, etc etc. The worst one was the ride from the fancy hotel when I first got to Seoul in 2023, to the dumpy hotel with no lights or air conditioning…and I didn’t even know that yet but I was like entrusting my LIFE to this man with whom I could not even speak cuz KOREAN. It was very unnerving. They get a little less so each subsequent time, but still.

And Thailand…where I am…is very different than anything I’m accustomed to. First thoughts…it looks poor. It occured to me, all the people saying, “oh, Thailand is so CHEAP,” what that really means is Thailand is a relatively poor country.

I’ll get more into this later, I’m just sharing my initial observation and thoughts. It was unsettling to me. I was like WHAT AM I DOING HERE.

With the app, like with Uber, you’re able to follow your route on the map, and I could see us getting closer and closer to our destination, what I believe to be a very large condo complex. He finally stops in front of like a little row of a few closed, sort of dingey looking stores and is like, here you go.

I was like UHHHH, HUH?? This is a common experience – taxi drivers stopping at the wrong place and being like THIS IS IT, GOODBYE.

I said I wasn’t sure this was it, this didn’t seem like it…and finally he went OH! and pulled up and around a curve and boom, THERE it was. THAT was it. OH THE RELIEF.

He gets my luggage out of the back (Thank You, Thank You all you many men who have lugged 59lb Papa Bear in and out of places. I promise I will lighten my load going forward and not make you risk your life and back with my selfish “but I WANT everything I own with me at all times!” lifestyle) and drives away. leaving me in a darkish courtyard.

My instructions per the airbnb host were to enter the building at the main door, the mailboxes would be to the left of the office, in my mailbox would be an envelope with a key to my room. Easy Peasy.

I lugged my life in luggage up the several ramps (thank you, Thailand, for being so accomodating…unlike sone east asian countries that shall remain nameless) to the doors at what appeared to be the main entrance…and pulled. Nothing. Pushed? Nothing. Push-pulled…NOTHING. Oh No. The doors are LOCKED. This was not part of the plan.

As I stood there for a moment pondering, secretly hoping that the doors would magically swing open if I just stood there long enough…a young man appeared from the void, performed some sort of sorcery…and the doors magically swung open. He held the door open for me as I dragged in my little luggage family…and seemed to wait for me as I now stood in the small lobby wondering what to do next. I asked him where the mailboxes were and he said “are you picking up a key?” YES! YES! YOU CLEARLY KNOW ME! WE’RE FRIENDS NOW! BEST FRIENDS! Friends Help Friends! He pointed back outside into the dark night. Oh. Okay. I trustingly left Papa and Bear Bear with my new best friend (aka a total stranger) and walked back outside in the general direction of his finger point…and only when I was pretty close was I able to spot the dark brown wooden mailboxes in the shadows. I find “my” mailbox, my envelope, and my key (yahoo).

I walked back to the main entrance where my new best friend waited. Pulled the door. Nothing. Oh, Right. I stare down at the key in my hand. I look at the keyless door. Uhhh.

I’m so tired.

MNBF opens the door and demonstrates that the keyring is actually an electronic fob that opens this outer door…and the key will open my room door.

How Would I Have Known That?! How was I supposed to have known ANY of that, given the airbnb host’s (terrible) instructions?? Thank goodness for that young man, who waited patiently for me while I got my shit together…and did not just leave me stranded in a strange courtyard in the middle of the night.

I thanked him profusely…and he bounded up the stairs…and I pressed the elevator button. My bounding days are over.

It’s a VERY large condo complex. I haven’t counted, but maybe 10-12 floors…with a lot of rooms per floor, all facing the center courtyard.

It is midnight when I finally FINALLY get into my room…so I will continue this tomorrow on Technically Friday.

Happy New Year.

Friday, Jan 2

I do allow myself one day of laziness grace when I get to a new place. Travel is exhausting and disorienting and it’s not like I’m in any rush…so today was just slowly moving around a bit. Got myself unpacked. Figured out the Thai washing machine. Ordered food and some groceries. Delivery isn’t quite as nice as Korea or Japan cuz I have to get dressed and go down to meet them at the entrance (they not having The Magic Door-Opening Fob). I can see that discouraging me from ordering food sometimes, cuz I don’t WANNA get dressed, I don’t WANNA go out there! But today I did cuz I had No Food.

Saturday, Jan 3

Funnest day so far. Did a nighttime tuktuk tour of some temples in the Old City and a night market for dinner.

A tuktuk is like a 3-wheeled motorbike with a frame with a roof on top that creates seating for driver and three passengers. So it’s peppy, but probably couldn’t keep up with a regular car or motorbike out on the open road. It’s great in the crowded areas of the city where it can zip in and out of traffic and park in the teeniest of spaces. Plus, it’s FUN! It’s open on the sides and you just hang onto the bars of the roof…and the warm night air blows over you.

I’d thought the temples would be sort of blah at night in the dark…but they were lit so beautifully that now I think they might be better at night than in the day! Our guide took us inside and explained their history, and mostly just talked about buddhism and living on the buddhist path. He was interesting but a little hard to understand with his very strong Thai accent – even though his English was very good.

We spent almost three hours visitng temples…then it was time to eat. We went to a huge market with tons of stalls – clothes, jewelry, bags, food, food, and more food. I tried khao soi, a Northern Thai dish I’ve seen TikTokkers raving about…and they were not wrong! I will be eating that A LOT while I’m here. It’s flat noodles in a creamy, coconut milk-based curry (Thai curry, not Indian) broth, with some spicy things that give it just the right amount of spiciness. Then the protein of your choice: chicken, beef, pork…I chose chicken…and crispy noodles on top (like the jumbo version of those chinese noodles you get in the can). Finely chopped green onions and some other topping things, a dash of lime juice (gotta put the lime in the coconut). It was SO GOOD.

And we finished the evening with mango with sticky rice, a very popular combo here. It’s just cubed mango (so ripe and tasty), a little mound of rice, with some coconut milk and condensed milk in separate little cups to pour over the two, sweetening it all up. In theory I loved it. In reality, I only ate a few bites of the rice and gobbled up the mango with the toppings. I’ll try it again from another place. The rice just seemed like it had been packed into that plastic container for quite some time and was less soft than it should have been.

The other people on the tour were very nice and easy to get along with. One woman who I would have suggested getting together with again, was leaving the next day for a week of volunteering at an elephant sanctuary and heading back to Seattle when she finished. There was a family of five from New Zealand with three grown daughters…but I didn’t want to crash a family. And a mid-20sish couple. So that was out.

Meeting people is hard.

But I had a really nice night. Hopefully there will be more like that.

Sunday, Jan 4

It was a rest day. Did a little work, napped a bit, read a bit.

Late in the day I walked to a little park (?) I’d seen right next door to my building. I’d noticed it had some tables and benches and I thought it might be a nice place to go just to get outside for a bit.

On the way there I was taking some pictures of flowers and the phone like zoomed in like crazy, and froze. So, like, my screensaver (or whatever you call it on a phone) was Katie’s eyeball…when really the picture is the two of us in front of some pagoda tower in Busan. But I couldn’t do ANYTHING. I couldn’t log off cuz I couldn’t slide the slidey thing (“are you sure you want to sign off?”), I couldn’t get back IN cuz I couldn’t put in my passcode.

I tend to panic a bit when my phone plays possum. My phone is EVERYTHING.

Anyway, eventually I came back up to my room and was like “CHATGPT HELP!!!” and it said “do a, b, and c,” and I did and the phone came back.

As annoying as he can be, he’s also really useful at times.

Then I went to bed, ha ha. The existential dread of losing my phone for like 47 minutes had literally wiped me out.

Monday, Jan 5

Today was a peaceful day. I’ve been sleeping well here. I think the two-hour difference from Japan put me right in a good “go to sleep at x/wake up at x” timeframe. And I haven’t even been watching any dramas, I just go right to bed and right to sleep when I get tired.

I was just quietly in the apartment all day. Spent a long time catching up on and posting that last blog, which I’d fallen miserably behind on in my last days in Japan.

And I planned out my afternoon/evening, based around a nail appointment at 4:30. This might not seem like much to most people, but I feel quite intimidated by salons – both nail and hair. I always feel like they’re a club that I don’t belong to and I never know where I’m supposed to stand, sit, what I’m supposed to say, where I’m supposed to look, etc. The very few mani-pedis I’ve had in my lifetime have been about 98.5% with a family member. So I was very proud of myself for making an appointment for three services: foot scrub, manicure, and pedicure. I figured if anywhere was the place to do this, it was Thailand, with it’s affordable (to me) prices.

So I picked out a nearby coffee shop near the salon with a coffee I’ve wanted to try…I’d pick that up on my way to the salon…then after the salon, a short walk to a temple just down the road…then dinner at a local place. Boom. Outing accomplished.

Ahh, the best laid plans dot dot dot. Just as I was heading out of the airbnb, getting the coffee shop address to put into the Grab (taxi) app, I noticed that it’s closed on…what day? Monday. Today. Sigh. Oh well. No time now to find a substitute, I’ll just leave and maybe see someplace near the salon from the taxi as we’re headed there.

Taxi comes so quickly, I’m barely downstairs yet, ha ha. Drive Drive Drive…we’re going through areas I haven’t been through before so I’m distracted looking out the window…and not watching the app. There’s a map on the rideshare apps so you can follow along your route as the driver drives it. USUALLY I pay attention to this when going new places so I’m sure wer’re going to the right place (#foreshadowing). I also try to remember to check Google streetview of places I’m going to get a sense of where I’ll be, what the street is like, etc.

Eventually she pulls over, says a bunch of Thai words (and we’ve been chatting a bit in English up til now), then “sorry.” But she does the hand motion for “over there,” so…even though this does not seem like the street per Google street view, I climb out and she drives away. I walk past a couple shops and am convinced this is not the correct street. I look at GoogleMaps…and I am a 10-minute walk from the salon! What the heck?!? Why would she (driver) do that to me?!?

So I set out, in sandals not meant for walking on rough terrain (aka Thai sidewalks)…head a-ways in the wrong direction (why does it take the direction arrow SO LONG to catch up?), then turn around and retrace my awkward steps…hurrying as best I can.

I arrive at the un-air conditioned salon sweaty and harried. And grabbing onto a pole by the steps leading up to the entrance, somehow manage to tear my finger…which I don’t realize til I’m in front of the receptionist saying “I have a 4:30 appointment,” and she’s like “finger,” and I’m thinking, “well, no, I want all my fingers done,” and then I see the blood running down my forearm, ack. She hands me one tissue (not nearly enough) and once I’ve clambered awkwardly (the club members know how to do this oh so gracefully) into the chair, I dig through my purse for watcr wipes and band-aids.

I’m so short that my feet don’t reach the…thing you’re supposed to put your feet on for them to do feet things to you. So May (my nail person) and One Tissue (the receptionist) run around the salon gathering up, not one, not two, not three, but FOUR cushions to prop me forward enough that my not-club-standard-length legs/feet can reach the thing. As you can imagine, this was extremely comfortable to sit with for two hours. NOT.

Non-club members, when entering club facilities under pretense of  “open to all,” shall be punished to the full extent of club law. I thought the bloody finger tear was an accident?? That was no accident.

Anyway, foot soak, stuff like face mask pieces stuck to my feet, feet scraped, soaked, lotioned, nails trimmed (“short?” “yes, please.”) and something swiftly swiped across them with what looks like a nail polish brush, but…surely that’s not the nail polish?

While my feet are occupied, my hands are taking turns soaking in soapy stuff with grit at the bottom. When she’s done (I guess she’s done? I guess that was the polish??) I can’t SEE my feet so who knows what went on down there.

Then my hands get a similar treatment. And when she asks again, “short?” I say yes, thinking “short” means like just to the ends of my fingers…not Down To The Skin! Which is what she did. I now have the fingernails of a newborn babe. At least THEY need to wear little hand socks to prevent them accidentally scratching themselves. *I* am now carrying my hairbrush around with me in case I have an itch, cuz trying to scratch with my baby nails is like scratching an itch with a spaldeen.

Sigh. And I again witness the swwosh swipe of nail polish that somehow miraculously covers the entire nail neatly. Granted, I am only doing a clear polish, but still. I can get even clear polish all over the place when applying as carefully as I possibly can.

And we’re done. I climb down from my Princess & The Pea throne. Pay, tip, exit carefully, pointedly avoiding Danger Pole, and sit in the MOST comfortable rattan chair EVER on their little patio. Too bad they couldn’t have just put the foot tub in front of this chair, as it was juuuust right (a la Baby Bear) (the fairytale, not the suitcase).

After all that, I am mentally exhausted (doesn’t take much), and rather than walking to the place I’d picked for dinner, I just request a Grab ride home. It’s rush hour, so it takes awhile, but it’s okay cuz I’m in a super comfortable chair and I can just watch the people walking by. Mostly tourist types.

Once home I realize how very hungry I am (haven’t eaten since 9am toast) and order my first Thai KFC.

And Korea still rules in the land of fried chicken. I got a couple pieces of original, which, while close, is just a different texture than American Original…and a couple pieces of “spicy,” which is covered with a spicy red powder that is a tad overpowering. And they failed to deliver my egg tart, so I am sad. And the regular Pepsi tastes like diet Pepsi…and is not helped by the fact that the bottle is warm and I still have no ice here).

But I am no longer on the brink of death due to starvation…and I go to bed. At 7:49pm.

Okay, I’m ending this here and making this post two parts. It’s just too long. Part 2 will post in the next day or so.

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