Far from home now, and far from our luggage too!
The flight was fantastic! EVA Air has their act together. The food was quite tasty and the seating gods bestowed upon us an empty seat between Randy and I, and two empties next to Deana. After sixteen hours of darkness in the sky, we were treated to a spectacular view of the sun peering up over the earths edge. We would be landing at the same time our connecting flight was boarding and somehow the airline attendants knew this—about 30 minutes prior they came and relocated us to the fancypants seats near the front so we could disembark first. Time to mooooooove it! Chop chop, run! that flight was waiting! Dang those airline folks are good. They held up signs, and fast-tracked us right through! Next landing—Chiang Mai. As soon as we reached the luggage retrieval location, there were our bike boxes all smiling at us, all happy and saying “I’m here!” in their beautiful cardboard & tape glory. Then, like expectant parents, we waited for the second pieces of luggage to arrive like magic on the conveyor belt—which eventually just ran bare. Everyone else took their babies home and we were empty handed. All three pieces of our luggage babies were left in Taipei during that speedy-switchover. Tomorrow—That’s when the “PIR” (Property Irregularity Report) claims it will come.
We opted to find a taxi big enough for all our bikes and us and for 300Thb ($12) we were delivered to our hotel where we sat under some amazingly fragrant trees that sprinkled us with beautifully fragrant flower buds from a Millingtonia hortensis (Indian cork tree), and purple flowers from a Blue jacaranda, listening to tropical bird sounds, sipping beer (and Coke), and noticing it was pretty darn warm even here in the shade.
We ventured in the old city area (8k walk—not sure how we had the energy) and sought out some Khao Soi, and Pad Thai for dinner. $2 each. Out in the street we each picked up some delicious fresh carved pineapple for about $.80
Our hotel room is lovely—king size bed, big screen TV, kitchenette area with a bar fridge, and a beautiful shower. With or without luggage we are not roughing it here in Chiang Mai!
Thank you so much for posting Anita. It all looks wonderful. Hope the rest of your luggage arrives on time.
Keep those pictures coming. This is absolutely the right time for me to travel virtually, so thank you for giving me something to look forward to.
Beautifully written and with so much flair.
Looks like it is the calm before the storm.
Great start of your journey and enjoy the street food.
When we were there in Thailand, We ate all the street food cooked right in front of you.
Looks awesome..Enjoy an thanks for pics..Amazing…Rick Steves show lookout lol…Harry
Thanks for sharing trips that some of us could never do. But through your posts we can see these beautiful places. Thank you
Too bad about the luggage but nice they took such good care of you to get you to your transfer! Love Chang Mai – when we stayed there we were also outside the walled city but not quite 8 km – that’s quite the walk in the heat. Did you also walk back???? Keep them stories and pics comin’
Great first day! Minus the delayed luggage!
Looks amazing!! Lovely way to wait for your luggage. Much nicer than the luggage area!😂
After all that you guys look so happy! The good times start now!