PeterUK
September 26th, 2013, 10:41
The dedicated pursuit of sexual adventures, especially in a purpose-built, low-price and user-friendly setting like Pattaya, undoubtedly has its attractions, but those of us who actually live there are sometimes beset by an inconvenient build-up of existential discontent culminating in the anguished inner cry of 'enough!' and then we have to get away from it all for a while. Call it eccentric behaviour if you will, but there it is. So it was that I decided on impulse to go to Chiang Mai for a week and have just got back.
I like Chiang Mai, always have done. It feels like a lived-in, liveable place. It has a sense of history to it, everywhere apparent in the architecture. It has lots of greenery, festivals, markets, interesting shops, tastebud-delighting restaurants. There is a strong sense of self-improvement to the place тАУ everywhere signs advertising courses on cookery, Thai language, meditation, massage, scuba diving (all right, I made up that last one). Life moves at a more relaxed pace there. Even the ever-worsening traffic seems less disposed to run over pedestrians who have the temerity to want to cross the road. The natural setting тАУ the blue-tinted wooded slopes of Doi Suthep rising to the west and hill country all around тАУ is preferable to me to Pattaya's gently lapping waters infused with used condoms and other undesirable matter.
I always stay in the Thapae Gate area. For many years I used to put up at the Montri Hotel, but now that it has tarted itself up, with a corresponding hike in prices, and taken to calling itself 'Hotel M' (the big yellow M remarkably reminiscent of a certain fast-food chain!), I thought I would try somewhere else. On the recommendation of a mole within the said Hotel M, I chose the Lux Hotel about 300 yards further along Moonmuang road in a northerly direction. I have to say I was very impressed. It's small (about 40 rooms), newly-built, slightly set back from the road and pretty quiet. The tiled corridors are bright and clean with decorative items on side-tables and lots of photos of old Chiang Mai on the walls. The rooms are a good size and well-furnished (including cane sofa), quiet a/c, security box, good flush to the toilet, good water pressure and temperature control to the shower (which, remarkably, I didn't have to adjust once), friendly staff. All for a mere 700B per night (no breakfast though), which is little more than you might pay in a grotty guest house in the same area. An absolute bargain. Every evening I got to witness the intriguing sight of the elderly security guard sitting on a plastic chair outside the entrance, usually asleep, transistor radio in his lap, head hanging back at an impossible angle. Never once saw him topple over or rub a painful neck.
True to form, there was some kind of celebration going on at the open space by the Thapae Gate for the first couple of days of my stay. Lots of people wearing orange tee shirts who belonged to some worthy organisation that I never quite identified. Food and handicraft stalls, uplifting speeches, live music, the usual kind of thing. One evening I stopped to listen for a moment to a Thai girl and young man singing on the stage and gradually became entranced by their perfect harmonising. If I'd been an agent I would have signed them up on the spot. Not too many backpackers around the Thapae Gate area at this time of year. Poor things, they look so... overburdened, don't they. Overheard (I kid you not): one female backpacker to another, 'I feel so sweaty, maybe I'll take a shower today.'
So anyway, yes, my days passed in an idle round of secondhand bookshop browsing, aimless wandering, coffee-sipping, veggie restaurant sampling (surely no other place, outside south India, has so many?), low level general shopping, hanging out with a congenial and very hospitable American friend who had the good sense to make Chiang Mai his base in Thailand many years ago. We spent a day looking round Lamphun about 25 kilometers to the south of the city (20B each way on the blue song thaews). Quiet, nondescript, a few attractive temples тАУ we agreed, not a place likely to inspire us with an urge to move there lock stock and barrel forthwith. In Chiang Mai, on my above-mentioned aimless wanderings, I always seem to come across dottily unexpected sights. On this trip the undisputed prize-winning entry came from four farangs wearing sleek racing cyclists' helmets who passed me at a sedate pace standing bolt upright on those things that look like motorised, wheeled pogo sticks (don't ask me what they're called). And yes, they looked complete twits.
Since the object of my trip was to have a complete break from Pattaya, I made little effort to investigate Chiang Mai's gay scene. The only bar I went to (well, it was Saturday night) was Circle Pub, which I found little changed from my last visit about two years ago. Perhaps an extra chandelier and gilded mirror or two added to the already kitschy d├йcor. The usual mainly bored, mainly straight guys, only a couple of whom got second looks from me. A stage show of consummate dreariness. The usual audience of mainly Thai queens; quite a few empty seats. Drinks 240B each. The place clearly fills a niche and chugs soporifically along.
I received several calls and text messages from Pattaya boys during the week, the gist of which was that they were finding life horribly incomplete without my enriching presence. What could I do? I told them to bear up as bravely as possible until my return. Refreshed by my break, I admit there was a spring to my step and a little buzz of carnal anticipation as I headed for the airport. Silly old fool!
Oh, two more recommendations for you, both on Moonmuang Soi 5 near my hotel. Angel's Secrets is a quirky little restaurant with planet-saving messages scrawled on its interior surfaces (at least I think that was what was intended by one comment which went, 'Stop to cut the tree! Stop to throw garbage in the river! Stop to kill the animals!'). You also get Billy Holliday dripping out her husky sorrows in the background. Best of all, it serves the most scrumptious French toast imaginable. Ponganes, run by a friendly young Thai couple, is even tinier (though it has a bit of garden attached) and has consistently excellent coffee. I went there nearly every afternoon.
I like Chiang Mai, always have done. It feels like a lived-in, liveable place. It has a sense of history to it, everywhere apparent in the architecture. It has lots of greenery, festivals, markets, interesting shops, tastebud-delighting restaurants. There is a strong sense of self-improvement to the place тАУ everywhere signs advertising courses on cookery, Thai language, meditation, massage, scuba diving (all right, I made up that last one). Life moves at a more relaxed pace there. Even the ever-worsening traffic seems less disposed to run over pedestrians who have the temerity to want to cross the road. The natural setting тАУ the blue-tinted wooded slopes of Doi Suthep rising to the west and hill country all around тАУ is preferable to me to Pattaya's gently lapping waters infused with used condoms and other undesirable matter.
I always stay in the Thapae Gate area. For many years I used to put up at the Montri Hotel, but now that it has tarted itself up, with a corresponding hike in prices, and taken to calling itself 'Hotel M' (the big yellow M remarkably reminiscent of a certain fast-food chain!), I thought I would try somewhere else. On the recommendation of a mole within the said Hotel M, I chose the Lux Hotel about 300 yards further along Moonmuang road in a northerly direction. I have to say I was very impressed. It's small (about 40 rooms), newly-built, slightly set back from the road and pretty quiet. The tiled corridors are bright and clean with decorative items on side-tables and lots of photos of old Chiang Mai on the walls. The rooms are a good size and well-furnished (including cane sofa), quiet a/c, security box, good flush to the toilet, good water pressure and temperature control to the shower (which, remarkably, I didn't have to adjust once), friendly staff. All for a mere 700B per night (no breakfast though), which is little more than you might pay in a grotty guest house in the same area. An absolute bargain. Every evening I got to witness the intriguing sight of the elderly security guard sitting on a plastic chair outside the entrance, usually asleep, transistor radio in his lap, head hanging back at an impossible angle. Never once saw him topple over or rub a painful neck.
True to form, there was some kind of celebration going on at the open space by the Thapae Gate for the first couple of days of my stay. Lots of people wearing orange tee shirts who belonged to some worthy organisation that I never quite identified. Food and handicraft stalls, uplifting speeches, live music, the usual kind of thing. One evening I stopped to listen for a moment to a Thai girl and young man singing on the stage and gradually became entranced by their perfect harmonising. If I'd been an agent I would have signed them up on the spot. Not too many backpackers around the Thapae Gate area at this time of year. Poor things, they look so... overburdened, don't they. Overheard (I kid you not): one female backpacker to another, 'I feel so sweaty, maybe I'll take a shower today.'
So anyway, yes, my days passed in an idle round of secondhand bookshop browsing, aimless wandering, coffee-sipping, veggie restaurant sampling (surely no other place, outside south India, has so many?), low level general shopping, hanging out with a congenial and very hospitable American friend who had the good sense to make Chiang Mai his base in Thailand many years ago. We spent a day looking round Lamphun about 25 kilometers to the south of the city (20B each way on the blue song thaews). Quiet, nondescript, a few attractive temples тАУ we agreed, not a place likely to inspire us with an urge to move there lock stock and barrel forthwith. In Chiang Mai, on my above-mentioned aimless wanderings, I always seem to come across dottily unexpected sights. On this trip the undisputed prize-winning entry came from four farangs wearing sleek racing cyclists' helmets who passed me at a sedate pace standing bolt upright on those things that look like motorised, wheeled pogo sticks (don't ask me what they're called). And yes, they looked complete twits.
Since the object of my trip was to have a complete break from Pattaya, I made little effort to investigate Chiang Mai's gay scene. The only bar I went to (well, it was Saturday night) was Circle Pub, which I found little changed from my last visit about two years ago. Perhaps an extra chandelier and gilded mirror or two added to the already kitschy d├йcor. The usual mainly bored, mainly straight guys, only a couple of whom got second looks from me. A stage show of consummate dreariness. The usual audience of mainly Thai queens; quite a few empty seats. Drinks 240B each. The place clearly fills a niche and chugs soporifically along.
I received several calls and text messages from Pattaya boys during the week, the gist of which was that they were finding life horribly incomplete without my enriching presence. What could I do? I told them to bear up as bravely as possible until my return. Refreshed by my break, I admit there was a spring to my step and a little buzz of carnal anticipation as I headed for the airport. Silly old fool!
Oh, two more recommendations for you, both on Moonmuang Soi 5 near my hotel. Angel's Secrets is a quirky little restaurant with planet-saving messages scrawled on its interior surfaces (at least I think that was what was intended by one comment which went, 'Stop to cut the tree! Stop to throw garbage in the river! Stop to kill the animals!'). You also get Billy Holliday dripping out her husky sorrows in the background. Best of all, it serves the most scrumptious French toast imaginable. Ponganes, run by a friendly young Thai couple, is even tinier (though it has a bit of garden attached) and has consistently excellent coffee. I went there nearly every afternoon.