Chiang Mai

When we entered Thailand by crossing the Mekong at Chiang Kong I got the same feeling I had 12 years ago when I went from East Berlin to West Berlin: from very poor to exuberant capitalism. From a place where you can do nothing with your money to a place where everything screams "buy". The transition was a bit of a shock, but a nice one. Luxury can be very pleasant you know. We arrived in Chiang Mai in the dark. The entire day we travelled in an airconditioned bus staring at some incredible boring landscape. A girl from Israel who travelled along gave us the tip to stay at the Paradise guesthouse. This was nothing like anything we had encountered before. Paradise was just outside the centre of town, with a swimming pool, a room filled with computers with access to the internet, a restaurant with MTV and a travel agency where you can book any trip you like. "Backpacking for dummy's".

Chiang Mai is an anti-climax after the very laidback and tranquil Laos. The frenzy of the big city had it's effects on us. We talked about splitting up. Some of us wanted to go directly to Angkor, some wanted to go to the beaches. Others thought it would be nice to endulge in some of the vices Chiang Mai could provide for. 24 Hours later we decided to leave Chiang Mai and go trekking up North. These pictures are made during that very strange day that everybody wanted to go their own way. What you see is Wat Chiang Man, the oldest Wat in Chiang Mai (build in 1296)