Today was my last day in Thailand, so I reminisced about the last two weeks of calling this wonderful country my home. It breaks my heart that the flooding has gotten increasingly worse in Bangkok basically since I was there and I can only hope that the situation improves soon. I really am going to miss this place because I think it is so beautiful because of the sites, the people and the landscape.
Chiang Mai City (where I have spent the last week) is actually inside of a large rectangle of divided street (with my hotel being on the outside of one side), so I walked around the outside today. Before doing that, though, I went to one of the temples I had wanted to see in the daytime, but had only seen at night.
One of the things I am definitely going to miss is all the incredible fresh fruit, so I might have had a dragonfruit smoothie for breakfast (what a miraculous color!) and a pineapple and mint one in the afternoon (I really need to start adding mint to things…so delicious).
I have been craving some serious dance studio time, but have not seen any places, so when I came across a yoga studio with drop in evening classes, I knew that was the next best option. It was even about a five minute walk from my hotel! Bonus! It has been a while since I have gotten my yoga on, so I was worried I would be pretty bad, but no worries because this girl was still the most flexible one in the class (well besides the teacher, but that doesn’t count) and I remembered most of the poses. I have never been able to do any crazy headstands or anything, though. Maybe in another life?
The teacher started the class with one of her favorite thoughts about the yoga practice: it’s not about the pose, it’s about your state of mind in the pose. Alright, it may be a little out there, but I have learned a lot about the power of a positive attitude in my own life over the last year, so it is great to have little reminders like that every once in a while. I was curious as to how yoga in Thailand would be different from the states, but unfortunately the teacher and a majority of the students seemed to be from the U.S. Even so, there was still something very dreamy about taking a class in a second story studio overlooking brick walls (the Thapae gate) that are 700+ years old. It was amazing and just what I needed.
After yoga? Of course I drank Thai beer (I hadn’t tried it yet) and ate pad thai for my last dinner here. There was even some Backstreet Boys (circa 1999 or so) blasting from one of the bars as I walked by. It was if the higher powers of Chiang Mai knew it was my last night and needed to send me off with a song of epic proportions. You are welcome for the video!
