McLeanCamino: June 30th to July 4 Settling into Chiang Mai

Open Great room -facing kitchen & office

We continued on to Chiang Mai with all our luggage and had to wait for an over sized cab to be available to take us to the Galare Thong Tower.

Before we left the USA we had rented a studio for a week - the Galare Thong has turned out to be our address in Chiang Mai. We have rented the 15th floor 2 story penthouse which gives us about 2,000 sq feet of space including balconies. This is a very large place and room for visitors. The building has a little Bistro at the entrance so we have actually talked to several residents and have meet the 2 very active expats that run the condo association.

How did he get in my shirt?

Master Bedroom

On Sunday, July 3rd we went for a 6 mile hike with the Chiang Mai hiking group. This required unpacking the hiking gear, figuring out how to get there and printing out the map with the name of the Arboretum in Thai. Hardest part was getting up early as we are still regrouping from the 13 hour key lag. As it happened we got into the elevator at the same time as another resident couple who were also going on the hike - easy to spot a hiker with boots, poles, liters of water etc. They gave us a ride to the hike meeting place and volunteered many good tips for settling in. The hike we did was over 6 miles with quiet a bit of elevation change, climbing over fallen logs, crossing steams, and walking through underbrush with leaches. While we both got leeches on us David got 2 inside his shirt that actually latched on to him. Good thing members of the group shared their salt so the leeches quickly dropped off.

CM Hiking Group

The hikers included 3 men and 10 women of various nationalities. An older Korean couple (late 60s) and a British lady (70) have also walked the Camino in the last 2 years. We met many interesting individuals and even though we had to back track because the trail had become so overgrown with bushes that it was indiscernible. Even with a GPS for guidance it was decided to retrace our steps. It was also raining some of the time but we had not purchased any rain gear and figured we would just risk getting wet. We learned from the group to just get a cheap rain poncho from 7 11 (they are global) as most of the time even if you are wet you won't be cold. We were also advised where to buy hiking boots - lesson learned - buy your gear in USA as it is much cheaper and more selection.

Today, the 4th we were busy setting up high speed Internet for the house and a land line. Then set up a joint current bank account which took some time, getting check book, wire transfer instructions, and ATM cards. Wrinkle only came at the end when we asked about online banking- no Internet banking for jointly owned accounts. More time spent setting up a single savings account which will get online banking and then link to the joint account. Also went to Chiang Mai Ram Hospital for scheduling of our Wellness Check ups which start tomorrow. We also went to get Jonathan's broken cell phones fixed. While waiting for those repairs I had a foot massage and David had a shoulder, neck and head massage. What a wonderful way to wait for repairs!