En route to Chiang Mai

This trip to Chiang Mai was an impulse buy. For a few hours, fares on the Thai Airways site were about half the normal price. (It turned out later that due to an IT error or something, they didn't add a fuel surcharge.) I didn't want to go to Bangkok, too hot and humid for my taste but I had always been curious about Chiang Mai. Quick research showed that climatically it was the ideal time of year to go, and there would be two festivals that weekend, Loi Krathong and Yi Peng. Yi Peng sky lanterns (khom loi) featured in one of the photos in Lonely Planet's gallery of the most beautiful places on earth. So I bought.

I would have preferred a night flight but due to the timezones this wasn't possible. The return would be overnight though. So I amused myself watching a few films. I went for the foreign films partly because I could read the subtitles and ignore the soundtrack. Les Gamins (The Brats) had a ROTFL segment where Thomas ad libs as a translator for an aggressive Iranian negotiator giving a speech at disarmament talks. Ci Vediamo Domani (See You Tomorrow) was a bit too bleak. But I recalled from my Italian lessons that the literal translation is: we see each other tomorrow. An interesting cultural observation, and I didn't forget everything my Italian teacher taught me. The latest film in the Die Hard series was boring and full of CGI car demolition.

Suvarnabhumi Airport seemed to have settled in since my last time through, by coincidence at its inauguration. That trip we entered by the old Don Mueang Airport and left by Suvarnabhumi.

Chiang Mai airport is an international entry point. In practice this meant that I cleared immigration in Suvarnabhumi but my luggage was checked through to Chiang Mai to clear customs there.

The flight was late departing and the sun had set by the time we took off about 45 minutes late. Partly because Thailand is at UTC+7 so sunrise/sunset is around 6. I wished they had lowered the aircon temperature on both Thai Airways segments; it was too stuffy.

Coming in to land I noticed some floating lights in the sky. These were of course Yi Peng lanterns.

I had to cross to the domestic section of the airport to find the fixed fare taxi stand. Chiang Mai's airport is one of the most convenient in the world, only a few km out of the old city. As expected, this being south east Asia, streets were bustling. Chiang Mai is quite spread out, I saw a lot of ground lighting coming in to land.

After the friendly people at Aoi Garden Home checked me in, I took a walk to the eastern gate, Tha Phae, where most of the action is. On the way I passed a large lantern display.

At the Tha Phae gate there were brightly decorated stands from ASEAN neighbours for Yi Peng.

I also needed to change some money. I didn't find the money changer I had in mind and the others had closed by the time I gave up. Bugger, I would have to pay the balance for tomorrow's tour by credit card and get change later.

On the way back I encountered people releasing Yi Peng lanterns at the Three Kings Monument. The lantern is made of light porous paper. A circular hoop at the bottom has a wire frame to which an inflammable doughnut is attached. I'm guessing a wad of material impregnated with hydrocarbons. It takes a while for the flames to catch and generate enough hot fumes to lift the lantern.

I only had my snappy camera with me for the walk so the other photos weren't good. Don't worry there will be more Yi Peng photos later as the main event wasn't until the weekend.

It was only 2230 when I got back to my hostel but due to the 4 hour timezone difference, it was well past my bedtime back home so I showered and collapsed into bed. It was refreshingly cool during the night due to the elevation of Chiang Mai (about 300m).