Chiang Mai

We arrived at our small heritage hotel, Baan Orapin, and were so delighted to find such a jewel.  From the noise and traffic on the  street I was totally unprepared for the peace and serenity we found the moment we walked through the gates.  The original house is over a hundred years old, built in the Lanna style of northern Thailand.  The owners have created new buildings in its style and a pool and cement stepping stones throughout the gardens.  Large trees and flowering bushes fill the space.  Our room had a four poster bed and a sitting room with large reclining sofa and chairs.  All very pretty and comfortable.  The street noise completely disappeared and the only sounds came from the cooing of the many doves.  Breakfast was served beside the pool and basically the workers spoke about ten words of English so you were pretty much on your own.  Very quaint.  This was a wonderful place to heal.  Ron and I took it easy, relaxed by the pool and walked just down the busy street to one of the riverside restaurants for dinner.  As the sun set and the candles on each table glowed, we enjoyed watching the river change colors as the day slipped into night.  The evening of our third day, Ricardo and Plaa flew in from Koh  Samui and arrived at our hotel in a taxi and whisked us away to a very unique restaurant.  Nearby, in another equally old wooden house, was a surprising Osaka style Japanese restaurant.  Very beautiful and lovely inside.  We ordered much too much food, including a large pot of cooking soup in which we put vegetables and fish and chicken, mushrooms, cabbages, leaks and tofu.  As it boiled we ladled out all the goodies into our bowls which were filled with udon noodles.  After a couple of large beers, fresh sashimi, and many bowls of soup we were given small glasses of chopped flavored ice each with a tiny little red berry inside.  Just two minature spoonfuls of delightfully sweet, melt in your mouth flavor.  What a beautiful dinner with friends.  The next day, Ron joined them for a long ride out to see their property and I stayed home to try and recover from my raging cough.  I managed a short walk and found a beautiful Wat nearby, which is the Thai term for temple.  I cruised through and no one was there.  I took photos and listened to the birds, a few dogs lay lifeless in the sun.  It was so nice to have all to myself for that brief moment.  That night after they all returned tired and hungry, R and P went to see a friend and we walked to the old part of town where the night market was.  Not much good happening there these days.  Disappointment.  My favorite vendors are all gone to newer and better parts of town.  I really don't need to go there anymore.  We walked home and were glad to return to our serene room.