After months of Skypes and emails, the only way to really find out how Josh and Julia were doing was for us to hit the road. After all, on behalf of parents everywhere, we have a need to know, you know. After a New York-Chiang Mai route that was a bit more circuitous than planned, Patch and Terry arrived to find Thailand’s second-largest city instantly exotic in appearance, lush in warm, end-of-rainy season daily downpours and too-familiar urban traffic, pollution and Dunkin’ Donut franchises.

The reunion itself has been terrific and made outstanding by our arrival in time for Julia’s faculty art show at Chaing Mai University. The artwork that Julia has labored on was great;  the smoothness of presentation to colleagues and students in fluent Thai was amazing to witness, even to the point of leaving the audience with a laugh. There were noodles, of course, because there are always noodles. Armed with a few phrases of greeting in Thai, we had the chance to meet people of whom we had heard mention and see first-hand how much they have taken to Josh and Julia. We could build on that with conversation at a the home of a faculty colleague, learning directly about what it is like to live in Chiang Mai both from those who were born here or who had chosen to live here.

Touring in the city started straightaway, with our first taste of khao soi, the northern Thai curry and a visit to the old city produce and open air markets. Abandoning the rental car, Patch and I jumped on the the back of Julia/Josh’s motorbikes and joined the ever-present weave on the streets. We spend time at our first wat, Chet Yod, in their neighborhood and felt the peace of entering an oasis of respect and quiet even alongside a main highway and businesses. Among other things, we learned about the centuries-old history of this wat, and about the abundance of wats in Chiang Mai.

We saw more wats, including the Chedi Luang, as we joined the Sunday Night street tour near the Old City. These old chedi structures–we have seen several more–are startling in their resilience to weather and wars, earthquakes and rebuilding efforts, but, specially lit, have strong power in eliciting emotion and meditative spirit, creating a unique sense of eternal bliss. Nearby are other more modern temple buildings, each beautiful in a different way for their use of gold paints and their positioning of Buddha figures for contemplation and self-examination. In contrast, the streets were filled to overflowing with tent upon tent of hard-working craftspeople, food stalls, clothing and jewelry vendors and street performers. For us, you might see, there was a stop for eight feet to be massaged.

The pictures here also show us all going on the road to the north, to the hill country. We spent a night in a lodge on the mountain at Chiang Dao, third highest in Thailand, known in particular for its caves — which began as a way. Temple buildings now surround the entrance to the caves, but inside, one can see statuary that apparently was placed as early as the year 200. We were staying at a lovely inn with bamboo cottages, endless flowers, butterflies the size of your hand and two restaurants – one for Western style of cooking and one Thai.

And then there were the caves. We were plunged into darkness, with Buddha figures for the first hundred yards or so. To go further, we needed a guide with an oil-burning lantern. Up various worn stone steps, past the bats clinging to the ceiling like stars, over rivulets of streaming water to see stones shaped vaguely like animals and room after room of naturally produced eeriness and dankness. It was about a half-hour in that we then learned that the only way to continue was through the small hole in the rocks. Now, I am not a small person. So everyone looked at the hole, and looked at me . . . and basically wondered what would happen. As it worked out, I slithered through somewhat less easily than our lithe Thai woman guide in flip-flops and the rest of us, learning something about eternal gratitude. Of course, our guardian at the inn told us that only good people can get through small holes.

The rest of the visit was marvelous, and we moved on to Phrao, an hour’s drive away to another lodge where Josh had been contracted to make photographs. This was in a largely agricultural area, near widespread rice fields that stretched to a mountainous horizon. As it happened, our foursome was alone in the inn, and we made the most of it. Part of the day was a Thai cooking class, in which we produced our own dinner, which we enjoyed. We also underwent the inn’s offered massages outdoors on the deck as the morning rains came down gently around us. (The woman assigned to me hugged me spontaneously upon seeing our size difference). We visited the local produce markets with our cooking teacher, a trip both enjoyable and educational — except for heaving to get out to push the tuk-tuk transportation to get it going. Later, Josh, Julia and Patch got on bikes for a quick tour of the surroundings.

We have also visited the Doi Suthep area, with its fantastic wats, a Hmong village and the winter royal palace. There will be more local touring, possibly including a visit with elephants, before heading together for Bangkok.

All that said, two parents are grateful and gratified to see healthy offspring who handle themselves with grace and ease far away from what they have known.

–Terry and Patch Schwadron