Back in Chiang Mai

I'm back in Chiang Mai, taking cooking classes and working on blog entries (one more on Angkor still coming). I think tomorrow I'll go to Pai for a bit of trekking. I took another class today and learned how to make red curries, papaya salad and steamed banana cake, plus three or four other dishes, all of which I prepared and ate. Mmmm. Don't think I'll eat again for a week. I fly back to Bangkok on the 24th and then on to Dehli on the 26th- I've emailed a couple hotels looking for reservations for that first night in town.

A couple days ago, I sat in a travel agent's office in Bangkok and she asked me where I wanted to go next after India (at the time I thought I needed an outbound ticket to get the visa, which turned out to be wrong). Immediately the answer of "Istanbul" came to mind, because that had been my plan all along. But then I hestitated. I have also begun to entertain other destinations, based on the recommendations of other travelers I've met along the way, and for a split second I nearly said "Cairo" or "Wellington" or "Dubai" or "Sydney". For just a moment, I shook with excitement. I could change gears in mid stream with no consequence whatsoever. All of these were entirely reasonable possibilities. There was no reason why not to go to one of these other places, on the merest whim. The freedom expressed in this one moment of hesitation was intoxicating. What a lucky man.

As it turned out, I bought no other ticket that day, and instead just concentrated on where I'm going in India. After Delhi, I think I'll head west to Chandrigarh by train, and then perhaps north by bus through the moutain passes to Leh and the Himalayas. Or not!