Last month I wrote about the Saturday Walking Street in Chiang Mai and am currently working on a round up of all the Chiang Mai markets – there’s a lot!  There are different types of markets in different parts of town opening up and shutting down throughout the day and night.  A few are well […]

Chiang Mai has many markets running throughout the day and night.  You could find an open-air market crowded with people at any hour if you knew where to look.  The most well-known night markets for travelers include the overbearing Night Bazaar which is open nightly and geared solely to tourists, the quieter (though still busy) […]

Lately I’ve been having people ask me how I made the decision to leave home.  It wasn’t easy, and a lot of thought and planning went into it, but the turning point came when I stumbled upon this quote.  Cliche?  Maybe.  But I scribbled it down in my planner and kept returning to the phrase […]

It’s no secret that I love all the Buddhist temples or wats.  I go to new ones every week, can’t stop taking photos of the same ones over and over, and have even gone on a 7-hour motorbike ride to visit one that’s supposedly special for my birthday.  On New Year’s Day I spent the […]

I hate saying it, but I felt kind of apathetic about the New Year.  I didn’t even hear the countdown to midnight though I was in the center of it all in Chiang Mai – one moment I knew it was getting close to 12:00 and the next moment fireworks were going off – but […]

Despite my last post being a little…questioning…I love Chiang Mai – I mean, I’ve stayed here about a year longer than I initially expected.  I’m kind of a fan.  But the town it itself can be…dingy.  There are some really charming, even beautiful, spots and the city is relatively clean, but there are also a […]

I first visited Thailand more than three years ago for a quick trip.  Before those two weeks were even up, I already knew that I wanted to return and spend more time soaking up this country.  It felt so alive – dirty and beautiful – somewhere that felt completely new to me but where I […]

Oof. A lot has happened between when I first published this post and now, and I am definitely not with the same person. While I should update the post, let’s be honest, I’m not getting around to it anytime soon, and there are still a lot of relevant points. so, enjoy. There’s a stereotype in […]

It always seems like there’s some cool celebration, festival or holiday going on…somewhere else.  I’ve never been to Oktoberfest, Holi, the running of the bulls or Glastonbury, BUT for once I’m in the right place at the right time: celebrating Loi Krathong in Chiang Mai! Every year on the full moon of the 12th lunar […]

I’ve always appreciated the old and natural over the new and plastic.  I like old buildings, old cars, old clothes.  I majored in history and have often felt like I should be living in a different decade.  I prefer making things with my hands than working online.  I don’t have a smartphone. When I first […]