I had been to Thailand a number of times before but never to the northern part of the country. But, an old pal of mine from Del Mar, John Ball, could not afford the cost of living in Southern California and decided to move to Chiang Mai. Coincidentally, my “cousin” Jeff Hambleton has roots there (more on that later). So, in January, 2019 I caught a cheap flight on JAL out of LAX and set foot in Chiang Mai to visit my two contacts in the city.

Located 700 km (435 miles) north of Bangkok in a verdant valley on the banks of the Ping River, Chiang Mai was founded in 1296 as the capital of the ancient Lanna Kingdom. Today it is a place where past and the present seamlessly merge with modern buildings standing side by side.

The center of the city — the Old City — is the historical, walled capital of the old Lanna Kingdom surrounded by a moat and filled with beautiful temples.