In case you were wondering about my whereabouts these days, let me enlighten you via my good old, dusty blog. I am, in fact, meine herren und damen, in Northern Thailand, in the city of Chiang Mai; fuck yeah! Sadly my office "passed away" last week, like so many businesses do in Shanghai, so at the moment I am free as a bird, only chained by my quest for new labour and a regular paycheck. Since Chinese New Year is on the doorstep and the Chinese economy falls into it's yearly slumber, I figured I might as well look for jobs sitting in a healthy hippie cafe in Thailand.
I choose Chiang Mai because in Shanghai I miss the outdoors; you're trapped in the city among the skyscrapers and endless residential flats. In my experience, to see some nice nature you need to take at least a 4 hour bus ride, but often longer, up to 6 hours. This way a 'random hike' becomes a weekend long venture with generally two overnight stays in basic local (crappy) guesthouses on Friday and Saturday. Once you're there, the nature surely is nice, but the long bus ride home always lingers in the back of my mind, plus the fact that your whole weekend is gone. On top of that Shanghai has been dealing with very bad air pollution in the past months, about which I have already ranted to most of you at length so let me shortly summarize my feelings: it sucks very bad, and it is one of the main reasons why I am thinking of leaving Shanghai.
So, as my office was closing it's doors and my eyes drawn to the Map of the World, looking for new possible places to live and work, my sight lingered on Thailand. Sunshine, jungle, mud, beach, flowers, fruit, waterfalls, I says YEAH! Bangkok, no way; too much congestion, roaches, and air pollution, ten steps down from Shanghai I should think. But then we have the NORTH with a mild climate (I need a blanket at night!), hills, jungle and fewer cars. Google Chiang Mai, check pictures and book that flight! Voila. I have a return ticket on 15 February, and in the meantime will be looking for jobs in Chiang Mai, Singapore, Shanghai, and enjoying myself along the way :).
Just to freshen up your undoubtedly excellent geographical knowledge: Chiang Mai is the main city in the North-West corner of Thailand:
Chiang Mai is a relatively small city with around 170.000 inhabitants (approx. 1 million including the surrounding area). It has an old city center with cute narrow streets marked by an old city wall; a small, square area, which can be covered on the bicycle north-to-south in around 10 minutes. See below the map of the city:
I arrived Sunday night, late, because my flight was delayed. Unlike bigger cities, there was no taxi in sight outside the arrival hall and together with a bunch of Chinese tourist I stood sheepishly around, waiting for something to happen. After some time a couple of taxis started arriving and first the groups of travelers were shipped off against a hefty fee (they didn't bargain). I arranged to share a taxi with a Chinese couple and after about 40 minutes we finally got a taxi to take us the short distance to the old city center. It was around 1.15am by then. When I got out of the taxi in front of one of the hostels mentioned in the guidebook, it dawned on me the street was looking very dark and closed and quiet. So was the reception. Except for some backpackers having a beer who told me the hostel was full anyway. So I dragged on with my 20 kilos of shit (way too many clothes!) looking for places that were still open. I ran into a couple of lost, young British guys, a bunch of other backpackers and a young couple who had also just arrived without booking accommodation and they were sitting in a tuk tuk ready to head back to the airport to sleep there because they could not find any hostel that had beds available. Damn, I thought, what a hassle, man. So me and my shit dragged forth until I finally dropped my tired ass on a overpriced hotel bed. Oh well, just for one night. I was happy to be there though and the other travelers I had run into on the streets were very friendly. Even the young, drunk ones with shiny necklaces, were very polite and helpful, not obnoxious assholes at all, like I imagined most backpackers to be who are 18, permanently drunk, high, loud, and stay in shady dorms in places like Phuket. Being out of practice, my idea of backpackers was perhaps a little distorted. After I dropped my bags, I walked back to the hostel that was full but had a few people drinking in the common area, and joined them for a beer to celebrate my arrival.
The next morning I found a dorm bed in a cozy looking hostel, of which there are many in Chiang Mai for 2,50 euro per night. That's right: it's friggin' CHEAP here! Hail the Thai Baht! Food is also very cheap, and very healthy! Many places here serve steamed veggies, salads, fruit, whatever, it's delicious! I am, in fact, now in an amazing place which serves herbal teas, avocado salads, mushroom dishes and tofu stuff, all very, very good! All for a couple of bucks, oh yeah!
Chiang Mai is chockablock full of tourists. A proper Farang Feast (farang meaning foreigner). But they are nice 'n friendly folks and if you're travelling alone it's ideal because it is very easy to meet people. The first day I had lunch with an Italian guy from my dorm. A kind, easygoing guy who chopped tree branches for a living. He studied agronomics and now climbed in trees in the south of Italy. Every year all 1000 or so tree choppers in Europe would gather in a random European city to meet, discuss, chill and have a good time. If only I had a love for trees... He borrowed me his bicycle and I paddled around the old town for an hour or so, checking out the many Wats in the city. Good lord! What many Wats there are! You turn a street corner and Wat!. You park your bike in front of a Wat! You look up from your restaurant table and there's a Wat! in your face! Whaaaaat!! Here a picture of a Wat:
I wish I was that kind of person that could tell you about the history and purpose of Wats. But I'm not. They look pretty cool, as you can see. Anyway, that evening I had dinner with the Italian guy and an old American dude from the hostel (who kept talking, you know, those people..). The next day I met up with a couchsurfer who responded to my request for cycling buddies. A friendly Swedish-American who lived in Stockholm and Melbourne, played drums and studied violent youth groups in New Guinea for his anthropology degree. We cycled up the river in northern direction, to get a bit of a feel of the larger city. Traffic gets a little heavy later in the day but the small roads and cute lill' houses look lovely. That evening we met a large group of couchsurfers and had a nice dinner and ended up in a jazz bar.
Now I'm in this avocado-dishes serving farang cafe where, after this blog I will check for any interesting job openings. And probably go cycling again after.
On Friday I will be flying to Koh Samui to meet my friend from Shanghai there, who invited me to join her yesterday. I found a decent ticket and it's all booked and done! Who can resist the Thai beaches... :). Here you go, to make you burn with jealousy:
By the way guys, if you know anyone in Singapore, Thailand or any tropical Asian country who might have any information on possible job openings please let me know. Any help with the job search is much appreciated. The past 1,5 year I have worked as a Customer Service Manager for a relocation company, coordinating the packing, shipping and delivery of personal household goods. I liked my job and would enjoy working in a similar role, yet I am open for any new opportunities in different industries.
Speaking of jobs, time to close this blog and get on with it!
I'll be reporting to you again shortly :)
Best wishes to you all!!
