Campy's Blog: Final Post from Chiang Mai

I am already in Bangkok now, but here are all of the photos to conclude my 10 month stay in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Captions are below each picture.

Yellow-belt in Thai language ☝👍👌😁

I should have taken a picture from inside as well---this is actually a restaurant called "My Home" that is in a residential community. The chef trained at Blue Elephant, the most prestigious cooking school in Bangkok. We went here as a class, after finishing the final exam and getting our certificates. Best Thai food I can remember having, and best atmosphere as well! Couldn't be any more cozy.

My friend and classmate Khun Oun (Mr. Warm) on the right, was approached by these 2 Thai people. They were really surprised to see us in this area, which is not commonly known even to local Thais, so they said, hey, follow us, we've got even more cool stuff to see. So we came here, a brand new place called "Brand New Good Field" (lol)

Normally the chickens you see wandering around are not this beautiful, probably because this chicken lives in a Buddhist temple, and is not going to the chopping block anytime soon.

Wild "hog deer" --- we could get pretty close to the deer without disturbing it, which I found surprising. Seems like most creatures here are not at all bothered by humans.

Hard to get a good shot, but these 2 spiders are probably the biggest I've ever seen --- with equally huge webs that probably covered 2 square meters each.

I wanted to get a close-up of the purple shade on his horns, very beautiful shade of purple.

Hello to you too! This bull could ruin your life with those horns...but I didn't feel threatened (mostly). He really enjoyed licking me with his HUGE tongue.

...I love taking pictures of interesting trees

My last day in Chiang Mai could not have been better. If you think these views are great, you'd be more surprised by the weather, perfect temperature, cool breeze, fresh air. Absolutely stunning touring these mountains through freshly paved roads on a big motorcycle!

This was my favorite motorcycle to rent that I found in Chiang Mai (Yamaha MT-03). It's called a sport-naked bike, meaning its very close to a sport bike, but has no fairing (naked), and more importantly its lighter weight and more comfortable riding position which helps in the city.

These pictures are from Loy Kratom Festival - like all Thai Buddhist holidays it used to have a meaningful religious context, but now its mostly an excuse to light up a bunch of lanterns and party. Of course, in rural areas, those traditions are still being maintained, but definitely not in tourist and ex-pat-ridden Chiang Mai.

Thanks to our awesome teacher, we did get to learn about the history and meaning of this festival. Those lanterns are not easy to make! Took almost the entire 3 hours!

I'm always filled with joy to see the little kids playing near the water fountain 😊

Market and festival at the Agriculture School. Made me realize that this is actually the 2nd Agriculture focused University I've stayed at in Asia. The other being in Hanoi, Vietnam.

The King of Thailand meets the King of Rock and Roll! I'm always taken aback by how gorgeous her Majesty the Queen was in her youth.

Cool lookin bike right? These are very popular in Chiang Mai, fully automatic transmission but also a lot of storage under the seat and very comfortable for 2 people.

(Honda PCX 150)

Happy Toast!

"Art"

"Chicken Strips" - you can see how far I get the bike to lean over by the line of dust. Still have much to learn! But also very glad I've never had a serious collision.

This place is called Sticky Waterfalls because this water falls over limestone, which is actually very sticky to walk on barefoot. They have a rope to hold on to for safety, but most times you don't need it...even with the water flowing past your feet, there is a lot of traction.

Found this outside our classroom, why not!

#space

The newest shopping mall of Chiang Mai - Maya - looked particularly pretty this night.
Maya is actually a very common and significant word in Sanskrit, meaning "the world of illusion" (the Matrix basically) but I don't know if that's where the Thais got the name.