“Chiang Mai, shall we go back again?”

It's been a while since I've traveled.
For those of you hungry for travel, illustrator Youngmin, who has consistently received love for his book "What's Your Portugal Like?", recommends "Chiang Mai."
There is no particular reason.
Because it's good, because it's a place I want to go back to.
To Youngmin, Chiang Mai appears as a bright, soft lemon color, the deep green of the trees, the red of the flowers blooming along the road, the refreshing blue of the swimming pool, and the vivid orange robes of the monks.
Although it may seem chaotic, Yeongmin recommends a '5-minute trip' to this place, which is 'infinitely more beautiful when you look closely'.
Youngmin says that if you put down your smartphone and focus on what's in front of you for five minutes while traveling, you'll see white flowers hidden beneath your feet and hear the laughter of children passing by.


Youngmin's hobby is 'picking up' things while traveling.
A useless and strange hobby that if you ask, “Why did you pick that up?” you can only say, “It was just there.”
I looked at the photos I took today, thought about what to draw, drew something, collaged the things I collected, and made a small book at each travel destination.
That 'useless' thing led to 'How's Your Portugal?' and 'How's Your Chiang Mai?'
This is illustrator Youngmin's travel guide.

I woke up to the sound of birds chirping in my second-floor bedroom, opened the wooden window, and was greeted by the scenery of Chiang Mai for the first time.
Fresh air, a garden full of lush trees, sunlight pouring down on red flowers that had fallen to the ground.
The sound of leaves rustling against each other and the chirping of insects filled my ears.
I was quietly moved to think, "I've finally arrived in Chiang Mai."
The cottages are all so different in appearance that they are very far apart, making you feel like you've entered a small forest village.
We walked slowly to a restaurant next to the pool to have a Thai breakfast.
It was a perfect morning.
The start of my second trip was also at Hoshihana Village.
Unlike my first trip, I was alone, so I booked a single room, Lime Cottage.
I lie in my small, cozy room and think, listening to the same sounds of leaves, birds, and insects I've heard before.
I'm back in Chiang Mai again.

A photo of a small bakery located in the countryside.
The appearance of the store, which was so small and cute that it looked like a toy, piqued my curiosity.
When I typed in the address on Google Maps from Bankangwat, it said 'one hour walk'.
I started walking without thinking.
The road I walked along was a country road in itself.
Chickens and chicks roam freely, and new and exotic plants grow here and there.
If you look into the colorful, strange, and bizarre shops, you will find that they sell unfamiliar items whose identity you cannot identify.
There was no time to get bored while walking the long distance.
Finally arrived at the bakery.
The tiny space, where you could reach both the right and left windows with your arms outstretched, felt more like someone's small attic than a store.
I ordered an egg tart and a glass of iced coffee.
It may taste a bit ordinary, but what could be unpleasant for someone who has walked for an hour?
I stayed in that small shop for less than 15 minutes.
I walked for another hour back to where I started.
The way back always feels a little closer, and, strangely enough, you discover a completely new landscape.
The chickens I saw on my way here were still pecking at the floor, which made me laugh.
To me, that bakery is not just the half-pyeong shop in the photo, but a wide space that includes the country road I walked along for a long time.
Sometimes the journey to get to a destination is more meaningful than the destination itself.

Early in the morning, I headed to the market near my accommodation.
In a surprisingly small, modest market, I quickly discovered a shop stacked high with fruit.
I realized it when I got right in front of the store.
This was the exact store my friend had mentioned.
There was no other place that used tablecloths with slightly childish, colorful patterns.
It came to me right away.
Oh my! As soon as I ordered yogurt, the owner took some fruit out of the cooler and started chopping it into big chunks.
It's not a fancy dish, but it's packed with fresh Thai fruits and honey, so it can't be bad.
After I finished my bowl with satisfaction and sent a picture of the yogurt to a friend with the message, “It’s here!”, she asked if he had seen the tiny smiley sticker she had placed on the corner of the table.
I've already left the market and haven't been able to find the sticker, but it's probably still there.
I also mentally put a 'It was really delicious' sticker on it.

Put your phone down for a moment and set a timer.
Just focus on observing everything in front of you for just 5 minutes and record any impressive scenes.
Of course, you can't draw a perfect picture or write a well-structured piece in that short amount of time.
Open your five senses and draw the impressive shapes you see right now and write down the sounds you hear.
Before you begin, something miraculous will happen: you will hear and see things you never saw before.
The white flowers hidden beneath my feet, the children laughing and chatting as they passed by, the small scenery visible in the dust in the distance was so beautiful… … .
I finally see the scenery I almost missed while looking at my phone.
Not the cries of the city, but a low whisper.
Things that only reveal themselves when you deliberately take the time to stop.


After finishing today's trip, my steps back to my accommodation are light.
In his right hand, he holds pad thai and beer bought from a street vendor, intending to eat it as a late-night snack.
Without looking at the map, I naturally turned into the alley on the right and crossed the bridge.
Then go straight.
The moment when you no longer have to look at the map.
It's one of my favorite moments from traveling.
It's different from the slight boredom or familiarity I feel on the way home after hundreds of days in Korea.
I'm not entirely used to it yet, but I know that if I walk another 10 minutes or so from here, I'll be at my accommodation.
It was only a few days ago that I walked this road anxiously, constantly checking the map in case I went to the wrong accommodation, but now I can find my accommodation without looking at the map, even at night.
The nights here are no longer scary.
Because in that darkness, there is the lovely scenery I saw during the day.
The summer night air has slightly cooled down, the exotic noises are heard here and there, and as I walk along the quiet road, which is still awkward but has become somewhat familiar, I feel a sense of freedom.


Wherever I go in the world, I like to stop by art stores or stationery shops and buy stationery from that country.
Even in Chiang Mai, I couldn't miss visiting a stationery store.
The three-story large stationery store that my friend told me about was a treasure trove for stationery nerds.
I went up and down the floors, searching through everything, even the faded and dusty items that had not been sold for years.
From stamps to stationery, staples, notebooks, stickers, and files.
The Thai I couldn't read felt like just abstract, visual decoration.
If it weren't for my brother's glare telling me to just get out, I would have stayed here much longer.
The colorful staples and old kraft envelopes I bought here are still in good use.

When I travel, my gaze often turns to the floor.
One of my hobbies is 'picking up' things while traveling.
It's such a useless and strange hobby.
If you ask, “Why did you pick that up?” all I can say is, “Because it was just there.”
I pick up and collect things here and there that are objectively useless but look pretty to me.
Keep them in your wallet, bag, stick them on your notebook, or slip them between books you bring with you to read while traveling.
Connecting the disjointed pieces of a journey.
I decorate notes and make books.
With strange puzzle pieces
Relive the impressions of this trip.
So I made a small book for each travel destination.
Even useless things become meaningful if done consistently.
Anyway, the funniest thing about this hobby is that I never know what I'm going to find.
Only after returning from the trip will we know how the puzzle pieces will fit together.

Mae Rim is an area located about 30 minutes north of downtown Chiang Mai, and is mostly made up of mountains and rice paddies.
The reason I stayed here was very simple.
I searched Chiang Mai on Airbnb and chose the prettiest Airbnb, which was in Mae Rim.
I vaguely thought, "If it's a place with vintage furniture filling a wooden house, a lovely kitchen, and a wonderful garden, wouldn't it be okay to be a little far from the city?"
I didn't know it would be this far from the city, and I certainly didn't know it would be this rural.
It was a convenient location for me as I really didn't know anything about the geography of Chiang Mai.
(I was planning to tour downtown Seoul, but it felt like I was staying in Gyeonggi-do.) First of all, there were only a few yellow songthaew buses running between Mae-rim and the city center per day, so I had to wait for a long time.
The bus was always full, and the Thai people were adept at hanging on to the poles outside the bus.
If you get off at the Mae-rim market, you have to walk for about 30 minutes on an unpaved country road to your accommodation.
Not only was there nothing of interest to tourists, but there weren't even any decent shops after passing the market.
I cross several shabby-looking bridges between vast expanses of rice paddies.
The dogs' enthusiastic welcome and the chickens' obstruction of the path are a bonus as they react to the smell of foreigners.
Since going into the city and returning to the accommodation every day was a long journey in itself, the daily schedule was naturally inevitably shortened.
But I don't regret staying in a hotel deep in the forest.
No, I think that's fortunate.
Because Mae Rim was the place that truly fulfilled my expectations of Chiang Mai.
Mae Rim is perhaps the most Chiang Mai-like area, and the most attractive.

Late at night.
Take out your notebook, writing utensils, scissors, glue, etc.
I look at the photos I took today and think about what to draw.
Finally I started drawing something and even did a simple collage with the things I collected.
Even though I am a professional painter, I am not good at drawing from the beginning.
Sometimes, when I draw a picture in my notebook that I am not satisfied with, I feel a sense of self-loathing.
If you ignore your disappointment or fatigue and keep drawing, there will come a moment when it suddenly becomes fun and your hands start moving freely.
'Runner's high' refers to the feeling of euphoria that comes after running for more than 30 minutes. It is said that once you get past the difficult point, your body becomes lighter, fatigue disappears, and you feel like you want to keep running.
Even in drawing, there are moments like 'runner's high'.
Anyone who has ever had the feeling that they could stay up all night drawing because it was so much fun, they will keep drawing.
Today's memories are piled up in lines and planes in a drawing book.
Drawing continues until dawn.

The excitement continues the next morning.
After a delicious and beautiful breakfast at Raya Heritage, I sat on a bench by the river, the sunlight breaking through, and thought.
Is it okay to be this beautiful?
This place was like a little paradise in the mountains.
The price of one night at Raya Heritage is equivalent to the average monthly salary of a person in Chiang Mai.
Staying at such a luxury hotel felt like a departure from the real Chiang Mai experience.
But this place offers a complete Chiang Mai experience in another sense.
It showcases Chiang Mai's traditions and culture in their most luxurious and sophisticated form.
But it is never exaggerated or unnatural.
I can't say I completely relaxed here.
I'm the type of person who tends to over-focus when I go to a place that's too beautiful.
This place is too nice to just clear your head and relax.
Every corner I looked at was beautiful and I was amazed at every moment.
All of my experiences were so impressive that it would be difficult to list them all.
Is it really that sad that check-out time is approaching?

Back to Incheon Airport.
I arrived wearing a sleeveless dress and sandals.
Anyone who sees it will notice that you have come from a hot country.
I take my carrier, which is much heavier than when I left, out of the spinning luggage belt and look for the coat, winter shoes, and gloves that I had left in the coat room.
Perhaps because I've been staying in a hot country, the wind feels bitterly cold.
Midwinter again.
Somehow I feel like I've woken up from a dream.
There are many places in the world worth visiting, but money and time are limited.
Still, there are many reasons why people choose to travel to a place they have already been to.
It's a small trigger, like when you're eating a piece of som tam that's a bit off at a Thai restaurant in Korea and blurt out, "Oh, this would be really delicious if you ate it in Chiang Mai..." or when you realize that the pretty plate your friend is using was bought in Chiang Mai.
So, the thought of “Should I go to Chiang Mai again?” comes to mind again, and I wait for the day when I can finally get on a plane and set foot in Chiang Mai again.

--- From the text