Chiang Mai was the first place I went in Thailand. The friendliness of the people and the ease with which they smiled while offering me whatever assistance they could really impressed me. Aside from the strange local fascination with skin bleaching, I felt at home right away. After kicking some mean jet-lag, I spent my first day bumming around downtown, stumbling into ornate temples, and sitting silently before different sized, shaped and colored icons of the Buddha.
