Walking back from a haircut in Chiang Mai

Thursday, January 12, 2017
A Haircut in Chiang Mai and the Walk Back

Every year that I have been in Chiang Mai, there is a lady named Eva from Estonia who is also here. I met Eva through Rose of Wild Rose Yoga, and Eva cuts hair...Yay!

I need a bit of a trim after having been away from home for more than three weeks. So I contacted Eva through Facebook (many people here use Facebook Messenger instead of e-mail for communication), and she was available today, Thursday.

I had lunch at Blue diamond, and then headed out to the house where Eva is staying.

 Eva is house-sitting in a home across the Mae Ping River, so I got a ride there (Chaingmai-Lamphun Road Soi 3). This is a busy highway, basically the main highway from Chiang Mai to Lamphun (this the name...Chaingmai-Lamphun Road). Soi 3 (a "soi" is bigger than an alley, but smaller than a road, more what we might call a lane) is surprisingly quiet as soon as I walked away from the main road. Eva had sent me two pictures of the house making it easy to find. It is a very nice house with a surprisingly large fenced yard.

The one dog was very curious, but very quickly became disinterested. The cats were a little more social at first, but also soon became bored and curled up under one of the trees by the patio.

Eva did the haircut here in the yard, under the umbrella. Sorry...I did not get any pictures of the before and after, but I look basically the same (I'm not very adventurous when it comes to haircuts). 

Eva was surprised when I told her that on my recent walk on the Camino de Santiago I had met a couple from Estonia. she had many questions about the Camino experience, and I shared some of the pictures. Then it was time to walk back. I was a little concerned about the walk along the main highway to get to the Iron Bridge, and Eva agreed and told me of a different, much safer route.

Walking Back to The Old City

At the end of Soi 3 is this walking bridge, completely removed from the main highway, and not even negotiable by motorbike, so a few walkers and bicycles only.

And if it were raining, the bridge is covered, very nice. As you can see from the pictures, the sky has some very light clouds -- it is a very nice day in Chiang Mai with no sign of rain.

 These stairs on either side make it almost impossible for a motorbike to cross the bridge.

 After getting across the bridge and through the small neighborhood, I was on another major road, Charoen Prathet Road, but this one has fairly broad sidewalks, much safer then the Chiangmai-Lamphun Road.

I crossed the busy road on this pedestrian bridge, and was soon just south and east of the Night Bazaar area, so it was east to find Loi Kroh road which would take me up to the old city, passing Rock-Me Burger along the way (too bad I'm not hungry; Rock Me Burger is quite good).

Hard Rock Cafe, Chiang Mai

Down by the Night Bazaar area is the new Hard Rock Cafe, Chiang Mai. I do not think it was here last year, but I seldom come this way, so it might have been.

And the sign outside is unique to Thailand with the guitar on the elephant. It is about 4:00 PM, and the staff is milling around near the entrance waiting for the busier time to arrive. The Nigh Bazaar starts at 5 PM, and my guess is that things pick up quite a bit after 5.

After the long walk, I got a shower, had a snack and headed to The Yoga Tree for the weekly gathering of the Green Papaya Sangha meditation group.

Another good day in Chiang Mai.

Next: Walking Around the Old City