A Tale of Timelessness in Old City Chiang Mai

​She wound her way down the narrow alley unhurried, but with purpose.

Here the old combined with the new, as the colorful scooters zipped through the centuries-old thoroughfares. ​

The fierce sun burned onto her shoulders while the impatient breeze cooled her skin just as quickly. The green leaves of tree branches contrasted with concrete and graffiti, and in every nook and cranny along her path there were people busily going about their daily lives as she passed.

The bag of laundry she had gone to pick up hung loosely from her fingertips, brushing gently against the material of her flowing pants as she walked. She turned the corner and caught a man’s gaze. She felt the gaze follow her as she passed, until suddenly, reaching her destination, she quickly sidestepped out of the hot sun of the alley and slipped through a mass of hanging vines into the cool shade of the hidden garden, disappearing from view. ​

 Once under the pink blooms of the plumeria tree, within the comforting walls of the garden, she made her way across the slab of thick wood that bridged the koi pond. ​

As she opened the door of the gracious two-story teak house, she slipped off her shoes in one effortless motion before entering, as she had learned to do in her time here. She stepped inside. The cool smooth concrete of the floor inside the house was welcoming beneath her feet. ​

She closed the door behind her, thankful to retreat within the house’s quiet walls to write for the rest of the afternoon.

​She quickly lost herself to the timelessness of this place, falling deep into thought, serenaded by the sounds of the birds being carried in through the open windows on the gentle afternoon breeze.

~Kasey

Written in Old City Chiang Mai, Baan Hanibah B&B, February 2017