We had some lovely days in Chiang Mai. Got to see the Saturday market, taste some nice street foods and soak the relaxed atmosphere of the old town. Our local guide drove us around the old town’s temples and statues, showed the gates to the city and told, with his limited English, about the life in the city. He took us to a local diner for a lunch where we had everything from sticky rise to noodles with pork, tofu and vegetables. Thai food is an interesting mix of salty, sweet, sour and spicy flavors and the key is to get them to work together in harmony. The one who mix all these to a one dish, really knows what he is doing.

After the long day we dropped Zeynep for a relaxing massage and I took the kids back to the hotel for a well deserved rest after the hot days walks. It was time to lay on the bed and watch some Frozen (for a tenth time). I’m not a big fan of a TV as a babysitter, but sometimes it just pays of.

We stayed in Tri Yaan Na Ros Colonial house. An old colonial house turned in to a small boutique hotel. It was very beautiful and it had eight rooms a small pool and cafeteria. The atmosphere was well built to resemble the old times glory, when foreign noblemen and missionaries from China, Burma and Siam started to spread their influence around these areas. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to stay close to the old city, in own peace & quiet. The hotel part is located next to a quiet back street, where is no traffic or other noise. Also, when we arrived there on Saturday, it was a good surprise that the market is just in the next street.

After playtime and dinner with kids it was my turn to relax. I booked 1,5 hours massage from Lila Thai Massage salon, which is training and employing old female prisoners. Thai massage is claimed to be a 2500 years old profession, which combines traditional medicine and practice of yoga. This felt just a bit too harsh for me, so I took a full oil massage with herbal hot compress.

Massage parlor was only about 15 minutes walk from the hotel so I decided to go by foot. The street in front of our hotel looked a bit intimidating and scary in the evening, but since it was only 150 meters before the streetlights started, I continued instead of taking a d-tour through another street.

After 100 meters I saw something laying on the street. First I couldn’t decide what it was. Local street dogs I’ve seen before has been much smaller, but definitely it was an animal of some sort. I took few more steps and this thing jumped up and took couple of steps towards me. This time it was very clear that it was a huge dog. I went quickly through my options 1. Turn around and walk/run 2. Stay still and scream 3. Jump over a fence 4. Carry on and be prepared.

First option felt good, but I wasn’t sure how far I am from the hotel and thought that probably I wouldn’t make it. With the second option I might have needed to stay and scream until morning. Third was just too much due the high fences and unknown territories behind them.

So, I continued.

At the same moment this creature starts to make a really nasty sound and I felt the chills going up my legs and spine when it started to run towards me. I don’t know what did I think, but I didn’t stop or run. This thing just ran straight towards me and on the moment it could have jumped on me, it just kept running. How lucky I was! It passed me and started to chase a poor cat which was lurking behind me. It was my moment to pick up some speed while I heard loud sounds of these two fighting behind me.

With a high heart rate, I kept on walking towards the massage parlor. While laying on the table, I think the excitement experienced before, had made me a bit stiff. The lady needed to use quite a bit force on my legs and neck and she kept on repeating “You Sir, relax now”.

Nevertheless, this treatment was a really good reward after a long day and for sure one of must to do’s while visiting Thailand. For the return I decided to take a tuktuk back to the hotel.