Goodbye Chiang Mai!

Today is my last day in Chiang Mai before I make a seriously convoluted journey home, passing through Laos, Bangkok and Mumbai (airport). I'm sad to be leaving the people and the city but I think it's time to go. I'm the last intern left in the BABSEA house now and it's quite sad - although it's all changed since The Americans were here, and I did get a whole double bed to myself last night.
Apparently I am sharing the house with a ghost - my boss is firmly convinced the house is haunted and actually called a priest in to do a Thai exorcism or calming of the spirits. Apparently this involved offering the ghost a roast chicken, I kid you not. Thai people are quite strong believers in spirits and ghosts - a relic of a pre-buddhist animist tradition. Every house has a little "spirit house" outside and people normally offer the spirits food and incense.

Apparently wooden houses have the most ghosts in them because trees have spirits too. And if you do see a ghost (which is most likely if you're about to die, you're pregnant or you're a dog) you're not meant to mention it to anyone so the ghost doesn't know you know it's there. Anyway, over the past week we have managed to thoroughly freak ourselves out by telling ghost stories and living in a massive empty house is pretty creepy anyway, so it's probably best to leave before I give myself a heart attack.
That was completely unrelated to the whole "i'm leaving" theme but never mind. Chiang Mai is an awesome city and I've got very settled here - it's got a population of a million but it never feels too big because it's quite low rise and you can cycle everywhere. It's got plenty of wats and old things, but it's a massive student city so there's delicious cheap food on every corner and packed bars and clubs everywhere you turn. The cafes are trendy and the coffee is delicious, so you always bump into people just hanging out, studying whatever. No-one seems to stay at home because there's just too much fun to be had out and about. So yes, I love chiang mai and if you ever get a chance, come visit!
The saddest thing about leaving though isn't the city but the people, especially Win and Tze.

Xiaomei, Me, Win and Clara - dream team!

Both of them have taken me places you'd never go as a tourist, either in the front seat of Win's BMW or on the back of Tze's bright green motorbike. Win is a self-declared playboy who has mastered the English sexual innuendo, but also incredibly sweet and generous (like all the best playboys, you always think they're good boys). Tze's personality can be summed up by the fact that the three things he says he needs to be happy are japanese wood sandals, a micro pig and a packet of marlboro smooths. You'd better add chewing gum to that list, because despite being 24, he's still hiding the fact that he smokes from his mum. He also gets up at 5am every day to make the best noodles in Chiang Mai, before working at BABSEA and squeezing in studying for an MBA in between. Win studies law, takes us to restaurants, drinks black label whisky, goes to the gym and chats up girls. Over the past few weeks he's become a combination of tour guide, younger brother, chauffeur, study buddy and best friend and I'm not quite sure how I'll cope without him picking me up for lunch every day when I get home.
 I'm excited to be moving on though, beer lao and laap are callling me... after a 14 hour bus journey that is.