Ian Rambles
John, a friend for fifteen years, moved to Thailand a few years ago. He is now a Thai resident and runs a restaurant and guest house - the Brick Road Cafe - in the heart of Chiang Mai in northern Thailand. We had been looking forward to a couple of weeks break from travelling and settling into one place for a while. Chiang Mai and the Brick Road did not disappoint!

The rooms at the Brick Road aren't ensuite and don't have aircon but they are inexpensive and big with effective fans. The room that George and Harry took has an impressive view of the next door temple. The room that Fi and I shared has a balcony with a view of street life seen from above.

Fiona's Journal
Brick Road Cafe
John has lived in Chiang Mai for two years now and he and his partner Som Boon rent the building that houses the cafe on the ground floor, living accommodation on the next two floors and the guest rooms on the top floor.

They have only recently opened the guest house part of the operation and it has a somewhat unfinished feel about it but the rooms are large, with fantastic views and the beds are comfortable and we felt very much at home there. The plumbing is delicate, as it appears to be all over Asia, so loo paper has to go into a bin but we do have the luxury of Western-style loos and a variably warm shower. The loo paper supply is erratic but we are travelling with our own roll (as advised by my brother Bob – thanks Bob, excellent advice) so thats not a problem.

Cleaning upstairs is equally unpredictable, which is not entirely surprising since it has to be done by the cafe staff when things are quiet downstairs, but we are perfectly capable clearing a clogged shower drain or wiping round a basin for ourselves. The rooms cost £.3.20 a night so you can't expect hotel-style service.

The cafe is a delight! The food and drink served is really good, and generous in quantity and inexpensive. The coffee, hot or iced, is the best we've had anywhere and the mango lassies are to die for.

They do Thai and Western dishes and the boys were very happy to eat Full English Breakfast and Fish and Chips (proper fat potato chips, not skinny fries) again but also enjoyed the Thai dishes. I loved the rice with green curry and the meusli breakfast, which is really a magnificent exotic fruit salad with added muesli for crunchiness all smothered in very good creamy yoghurt.

The cafe staff are lovely and the morning and evening waiters, Kwan and Big, both speak some English and understand more, which is very useful as many of the customers are English speaking backpackers. We idled away a lot of time in this cafe, sampling the full range of delicious drinks and at least half the food menu in our 10 days here and chatting to John and Boon (on the rare occasions when he wasn't working or sleeping) and to many of his friends who dropped in.

We are out of the main tourist season now and there are some very quiet days but also some really busy periods, especially during the Sunday market which completely takes over Rachadamnoen Road. I am truly impressed by what John has achieved here and I hope he wont mind my saying (for he is bound to read this) slightly surprised. We have known John for many years in Britain and he has a long history of great ideas and projects begun with huge enthusiasm which never quite came to fruition. This one looks like a success and the happy go lucky Thai attitude suits John very well – I am so pleased for him.

John has been adopted by a really charming little Thai street dog - which John has named "Whisper" - of whom we all grew very fond during our stay. We have so missed an enthusiastic waggy-tailed greeting on returning from a day out.

Ian and I accompanied John on his early morning market trip one day, which was great fun. The market is huge, with rows and rows of stalls selling mounds of every sort of fresh produce you could imagine and many you couldn't and John is clearly well known here as the excentric “ferang” who shops here daily, on his bicycle with side cart. We had curry and Thai tea for breakfast before returning to the cafe in three bicycle rickshaws - which was fun but a little scary, in the thick of the motorised traffic!

Chiang Mai itself is a lovely city, with big chunks of its original city wall and moat still surviving and many pleasant quiet side roads lined with older buildings, secluded gardens and temples and the smaller open-fronted shops. The main roads are pretty mad and impossible to cross at some places and of course there are street traders and a few beggars and the odd hustler in the centre of town but is so much less pressured than Bankok. The people generally are friendly and helpful but not pushy. I felt entirely relaxed and on holiday here.

Even when we lost George briefly I was only mildly anxious whereas in Bangkok I would have been frantic. He had asked if could walk home to The Brick Road Cafe ahead of us and, since he generally has excellent navigation skills and it was only a quarter of a mile, I said yes. When we got back 30 minutes later George wasn't there so John went out on his motorbike, having guessed where he might have missed a turning. He soon found him, in a car sales showroom being fussed over by all the staff, and the police had already been phoned. John got the ticking-off that was due to me, for letting a child out of my sight, and George got sweets and a ride home on the back of a motorbike!

The boys and I walked across town, about a mile and a half, on three occasions, in order to use the excellent swimming pool at the Backpackers Meeting Point. Harry had managed to lose his swimming trunks somewhere on the trek so I lent him the shorts part of my two-piece and on the second visit he left those behind too and they were never found again. That brings Harry's total of swimming trunks lost on this trip to three!

George wore the traditional Northern Thailand embroidered jacket and baggy trousers (that John had sent him two years ago) most of the time we were in Chiang Mai and become well known at his favourite haunts, particularly the 7/11 shop where he spent his pocket money on sweets most mornings.

Oh, and by the way, our passports did come back to us safe and sound.

Arthur's Log:

We left on the bus late last night and I talked to a french dude for a while. At 8 am we arrived at the Brick Road Cafe/Guesthouse after the bus breaking down. John was waiting for us, drinking coffee in the front of the cafe and so was Samboon. (everyone calls him Boon). Harry and george have the best view from room 1. They can see out over the wooden roof of a old Thai building to a 600 year old stone temple. Moss growing down the walls it looks truly Aztec. I have a view level with the top of a pine tree and in the distance tree covered moutain with a tiny gold spec which is (so I'm told) a temple.

Every morning John goes to the market to get frest produce for the cafe. Mum and dad went and i slept. They got back a few hours later and we all ate, The food is good and so cheap, for a fiver you can get a 3 course meal and all you could possibly want to drink. Talking to John you know what the best stuff from the market was and change your order accordingly. Mum and dad went off to find mum some new shoes for the trek tomorow, she lost hers and cannot find them anywere, she has been wearing those boots as long as I can remember and she is pretty peaved about losing them.

The Brick Road Cafe really knows how to do muesli! Basically it has almost no muesli - it is 95% fruit and yoghurt with just a sprinkle of muesli for crunch.