After the retreat I met back up with Felipe in Surat Thani. He told me tales of the lavish New Years rave on Ko Phangan and his visit to Krabi further south. We stayed a couple more nights in Surat Thani then caught a bus to Bangkok and from there a train to Chiang Mai.
Although Chiang Mai is loaded with foreigners, it's still quite a pleasant city. We ended up at a guesthouse meant for trekkers even though we weren't going trekking. But they let us stay anyways. I later became friends with the employees and spent a lot of time hanging out with them in future visits to Chiang Mai.
We stayed almost two weeks. Felipe booked his plane ticket home because he was running low on funds. His return was three weeks away. I signed up for Thai lessons next month, intending to return to Chiang Mai after Felipe left. We both needed to renew our Thai visas soon or cross a border and get new ones. So we decided to go see a bit of Laos. Here's the email I sent home just before leaving Chiang Mai: All long-term travelers and expatriates know of the noble enterprise called "the visa run". Entry into most foreign countries requires a visa, and unfortunately these visas have expiration dates. If renewal is not an option than the usual solution for a person wishing to stay past their allotted time is to step over the nearest border and apply for a new visa. My 2-month tourist-class Thai visa expires on February 5th. But that's okay because tomorrow morning I'll be receiving my 2-week Laotian visa and boarding a bus that we'll take us to the Mekong river where we crossover into Laos. From there we'll work our way south-east towards the capital where I'll apply for (and hopefully receive) the highly-coveted Non-Immigrant B visa for Thailand before re-entering the country. This is the visa given to expatriates (foreigners who live and work here), and if renewed promptly can allow one to stay for up to a year without having to leave Thailand. I didn't really take any pictures my first time in Chiang Mai since I knew I'd be back later. More Chiang Mai Pictures... Postal receipt from mailing junk home  Most ATM's in Thailand will give you your account balance in Thai Baht (which makes you feel rich), but this one didn't for some reason  Another train ticket  Chiang Mai has theatres showing movies in English (a nice change)  Receipt for Benjawan Poomsan's "Thai For Beginners", I couldn't find this book anywhere in Vancouver
|
