latagaw : Chiang Mai เชียงใหม่, Thailand

"Check-through," I informed the attendant at the airline check-in desk as I handed-in my bag and the Cebu-Manila-Bangkok ticket plus passport for identification. W, my sidekick for this trip, tried to amuse me with worst case scenarios of lost luggage. But I tried to stay cool to blend-in with the cool temperature outside the terminal building. That morning, I woke up to the sound of branches pelting the hostel roof. While waiting for a ride to the airport, with the vanilla sky beginning to fall, the wind seemed to get stronger by the minute. As soon as I settled at the backseat of the taxi, the driver asked me twice, as if I was lost or just plain crazy to fly that day, if I am headed to the airport while he tried to peek at the sky to remind me I appeared silly.

After all the check-in procedures were done, the waiting game started. One flight after the other was "definitely" cancelled, goes the PA announcement. It was the Sunday typhoon Ketsana started to lash her way from Manila to the Mountain Province. With most of Manila's streets starting to drown in floodwaters and a Manila airport terminal building in blackout, it was but apparent the Bangkok-bound plane would be canceled as well.

As the incessant rain brought about by the storm turned streets into streams from Laguna to Pampanga to Pangasinan, I also stormed the heavens for the best. In the end, I lifted up to Him whatever my plans were. The PA announced the flight will be delayed for an hour due to the unfavorable weather condition in Manila. Then, another flight was canceled and ask passengers to approach a counter for the hotel arrangement. I said to myself, "if this flight is canceled, at the very least, there is free hotel and chow." An hour had passed. The airport seemed to be on a standstill. No further announcements yet. Within a few heartbeats, it was finally boarding time. It was practically smooth, save for a couple of turbulence, throughout the duration of the flight.

Then, another waiting game in Manila. The flight to Bangkok was supposed to leave at 10AM but due to lack of crew, with many of them stranded by the storm, it was moved indefinitely. The passengers soon grew impatient and congregated around the boarding counter hurling insults at the poor attendant.

NAIA Terminal 2 looked like one big evacuation center with many stranded passengers wrapped in the ubiquitous PAL blankets. The fun part was the announcement of free meals, queued and all, only to find out there wasn't any. That was how pathetic PAL seemed to be that day. Past lunchtime, the boarding announcement was made and off we flew to Bangkok!

After three hours of mild turbulence, the plane touched-down Bangkok. But the adventures and misadventures didn't stop there (the busted zipper of my checked-in bag is another story). W and I had to take another flight to Chiang Mai through Airasia. We arrived an hour late for the flight and informed the counter of the backstory. After completing the necessary endorsements from PAL and hopping from one end of the rather huge terminal building to the other, it was boarding time on the next available flight. It was one friggin' hot Sunday afternoon when we landed but the evening weather was a complete turnaround. I have a phobia for plane rides. Much more plane rides during a stormy evening. So the plot thickened. Not really.

After about thirty minutes midair of rainshowers and thunderstorms, the sky began to clear up and the harvest moon hang by the Siam sky.

Chiang Mai from the web: One of the many questions Thais may ask a foreigner visiting Thailand is ‘Have you been to Chiang Mai yet?’, underscoring the feeling that Chiang Mai is a keystone of any journey to Thailand. Along with Sukhothai further south, it was the first Southeast Asian state to make the historic transition from domination by Mon and Khmer cultures to a new era ruled by Thais.

Located more than 700km northwest of Bangkok, Chiang Mai has in excess of 300 temples (121 within the thêtsàbaan or municipal limits) – almost as many as are in Bangkok – a circumstance that makes the old city centre visually striking. Thais idealise their beloved northern capital as a quaint, moated and walled city surrounded by mountains with legendary, mystical attributes. In reality, Chiang Mai is a dynamic and modern city, which has successfully managed to combine its rich history and traditions with its increasingly modern side. However, a result of this rapid development has been the rise in traffic and pollution. Environmentalists are also voicing concerns about development of the verdant and auspicious Doi Suthep mountain (1676m), located to the west of the city, and sometimes referred to as Chiang Mai’s lungs (lifted from lonelyplanet.com).