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The flight from YXC - YVR was easy and arrived on time. We grabbed some lunch then went and checked into the Fairmont Vancouver Airport. We had an 11 hour layover so Paul used his Amex travel credit to get us a really good deal. We relaxed and headed over to check in just in time to catch our flights to Chiang Mai. Everything went smoothly and we enjoyed the flights. Ian and Ness picked us up from the airport so it was a great start. It turned out Matt was there as well, he was returning from Vietnam.
We got to the apartment, checked in and started unpacking. Ian arranged to drop off our stuff the next day, while Ness was busy with the opening of their new restaurant. Then Ian took us over to Go Warehouse for some groceries to help us get settled. We had lunch, shopped, came home and unpacked our other stuff. We were pretty tired and took some time to recover from our jetlag. We hit up our favorite places and it was nice to be remembered by the folks at University and Fireworks. We went to check out Solros, Ness and Ian’s new restaurant which was great. Karim was there so we had a nice visit. The following weekend we met with Bo for another evening at Solros. It was great to be back.
We both picked up colds, not surprising since there were a lot of people coughing and sneezing on the plane and everywhere we went. Once we recovered, Peter and Luigi invited us over for a lovely evening with good food and company. We made plans to head out to Mae Taeng to see Kot & Yves with Bo. I got off my duff and joined a gym… I’m convinced this is responsible for what happened next and reinforces my belief that exercise is bad 😤.
Paul ended up getting really sick, we aren’t sure if it was food poisoning or the norovirus but either way, it was rough. He had a fever for a few days, couldn’t keep anything in and was in poor shape. He checked with Dr. Google and decided it was best not to go to an actual doctor and would just let it run its course. 2 weeks later, he was better but still wasn’t feeling 100% so he relented and went. Not surprisingly the doctor stated Paul should have come sooner. The doctor suggested running some tests, including the “oscopies” to see what was up. Paul has never had any of the baseline tests that most people get around 50-55 as the Alberta government decided it was unnecessary when we were back in 2022. He decided to get it over with and booked in for the following day. The good news, Paul is in great shape and just needed to let everything settle. A hard month but he was finally starting to feel better.
Not wanting to be left out, I decided to get in on the action by also getting a stomach problem. We waited a day or two to see if I had just been glutened, but I ended up going to the doctor as well. He said that mine was probably a bacteria issue but for the same reasons as Paul, I should also have an ‘oscopy". Luckily clean for the big stuff but unfortunately ulcerative colitis has reared its head, apparently can be common for celiacs. While it’s a much better diagnosis than it could have been, I will admit to being irritated with it since it can impact consumption of my 3 favorite food groups of coffee, cheese, wine and bacon. Oh wait, that’s 4, I suppose 5 if I add in dark chocolate. Anyway, healthcare in Thailand is still impressive and we were lucky to get things handled so quickly.
There was a horrible flooding situation in Southern Thailand that affected many of our friends in Hat Yai and La Ngu. They got over 300mm of rain in one day. Luckily they all survived but lost homes, animals and possessions. We were able to donate to some of the charities that were set up to help but it will be a long recovery.
We were well enough to attend a very special event and headed out to Mae Taeng for Kot & Yves wedding! They had done the official documents in the fall but had the actual ceremony on November 22. They did the knot tying and blessing ceremony in the morning at the local temple with close family and friends. We went out for the late afternoon and evening. It was great to see them both and they were just so happy. There were videos from all their friends, many who we know from Lipe.
We’ve also had a quick 3 night trip to Kuala Lumpur. We were only 2 nights away from being under 180 days for the tax residency and it was time for our dental cleaning so we felt it was a good idea. The timing was questionable, all things considered, but we made it work. Since getting back, we’ve been out to meet Bo, Ian, and Ness at Solros and a couple of other restaurants. We were also invited to meet some of their new friends alongside Peter and Luigi, which turned into another great night at Solros. I finished the sessions at the gym with no further delays. Tomas & Romana are back in Chiang Mai for a couple of months, so we have also been out for dinner. We’ve managed to see Matt for coffee and then dinner with Kot and Yves.
We had a quiet Christmas, did our phone calls home and headed out for a cheeky Indian and a glass of wine. We had a nice meal with Bo and Pack at Billy’s. We walked over to Solros then to Peter & Luigi’s for New Years Eve. A lovely surprise was when Ronnie and Sarah got i touch, who we had met back in Laos 2017. They were in Chiang Mai with their kids and we were able to meet for dinner. Robin was in town, so we got to see him twice as well. We had several more dinners and meet ups with friends planned and one more visit out to Mae Taeng.
Otherwise we are enjoying our time in Chiang Mai. The weather has been cool and we haven’t had the air conditioner on since November which is great. We’ve even had to bring our fleeces with us a few times for evenings out. We’ll be heading to Lipe on February 4th so planning on getting some sun so we won’t be fried to a crisp when we get there. A lot of our friends will be there so we are looking forward to catching up! We got flu and covid boosters, anything to help limit getting sick for Lipe and Australia.
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