Smiling Irish eyes, a pretty Thai smile and a room full of books–now there’s eye-candy.
I found Chiang Mai’s multicultural mixtures as enchanting as its temples.
If I were to live in Thailand, I’d choose Chiang Mai. It’s big enough to be cosmopolitan, unlike the historic northern Thai towns I had just visited. But it’s smaller and more relaxed than Bangkok’s bump and grind.
The first major university outside Bangkok was established there, and Chiang Mai has a college town’s atmosphere. It’s graced with several bookstores and diverse people who hang around them.
The man in the photo, George, owns my 2 favorite Chiang Mai bookstores: Backstreet Books and The Lost Book Shop. He has an excellent collection of titles about Southeast Asia, and he offered many at the lowest prices I could find. The weight of my baggage went way up.
George is from Ireland, and he’s lived in Chiang Mai for many years–I met him when I was there in 2007. We had a long Irishmen’s conversation which rambled all over the world. And we had no Guinness to fuel it.
We didn’t need it. Chiang Mai satisfies any good Celtic imagination. It’s full of diverse people in a tolerant society. As the above photo shows, it balances modern kitsch and old grace. If you like Berkeley, or Brussels, or Austin, Texas, you’ll love Chiang Mai. I found the same type of perspective that Thai temples encourage in its modern streets. Its diversity of perspectives allows lots of room for unexpected things to happen.
So raise your Guinness, or whatever else pleases you. Chiang Mai has a place for it.
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