How I got here

I'm warmly snuggled up in my bed at the Baan Saen Doi Resort & Spa in Chiang Mai while it's pouring outside, with my evening coffee on the bedside table and my laptop, well, in my lap... life, in short, couldn't get much better. But, wait, I'm getting ahead of myself, way ahead. Let's start from from how I got to this country in the first place.

Those of you who know me well (and I don't expect those who don't to be reading this blog anyway), would know that I've spent most of my last 6 months sitting at home, working on TWISH (our startup), with no friends in town and not many options for going out. Let me tell you a little secret, that life gets to you after a while! So I was desperate for a holiday, if only to go as far as Ranchi, pay my respects to Dhoni's statue (is it up yet?) and come back.

As you would also know, most of my friends (including you?) are employed and are not yet at that stage of their career when they can take a break from office whenever I demand so. So I was desperately short of company. Chinmay (Chinu) was going on a trip to Thailand with his friends but he would be there only for the last 3 days of his friends' trip, and I thought piling onto his friends was probably not the besst thing to do. Pankaj (Pango) postponed his proposed Himalayan trek for reasons beyond his control (no, he couldn't change Madhur's marriage date to suit his holiday plans). So I kept postponing my holiday plans so I could find someone to go with.

And then, one day, it happened - my famously large patience ran out, and I said to myself, "To hell with plans and company and piling on and whatnot... I'm outta here! Chinu, you're going to have some elite company (finally) on your trip!" A quick call to Chinu and a few credit card transactions later, I was booked on a trip to Thailand starting in a couple of days. Woohoo!

The initial idea was to travel around the country as and when I pleased, but I realized over the next couple of days that I had grown too old for that kinda thing (good for me, or I wouldn't have gotten my visa on arrival without the return ticket) and booked hotels and tickets for the places I was going to visit. I was ready to holiday!

Now I know you'll get bored if you read my whole travelogue together, so I'm going to divide my posts by day (better read all of them now). You're most welcome to leave comments, especially those that praise my writing skills and tell me that I look really good in the photographs. Enjoi!