I stepped through the doorway, took off my shoes and slid into a pair of Chinese slippers. The floor was of varnished mahogany, the furniture inside the teahouse similarly polished to a high sheen, with quintessential Chinese designs finely engraved into every nook and cranny. In the far corner stood a man, dressed in traditional clothing – of which tradition it was hard to tell – with a silver teapot in his hand and a serene smile on his face.

I’m a glass half full kind of girl. Always have been. And while my Pollyannish outlook has often led me into all sorts of trouble, I believe optimism makes me a happier person. That isn’t to say that I don’t treasure my cynicism. Cynicism is a healthy state, it makes us question the world around us and challenge status quos. Which leads us to search for solutions to make things better, which brings us right back to that brimming glass. So my cynicism is in fact most sunny in its disposition.

The last few days were rough. Rob and I both got food poisoning from an ill-conceived late night hot dog binge, and spent our final hours taking turns packing and puking. Farewells were a fever dream; my nausea felt like a premonition – leaving Chiang Mai literally made me sick.

We consider ourselves a fairly intelligent bunch here at Citylife; I mean, we write things that people read and all. To be fair, I don’t know many people who wouldn’t describe themselves as intelligent, so I suppose our opinions of our own gray matter are neither here nor there. But when we heard about the soon to be opened Escape Hunt, we reckoned we would get a team together and go along to show off our smarts and come back feeling smug in our intellect.

So the holidays are upon us and, for me at least, I never quite get in the same spirit of the season as I did when I lived in the States. Maybe it’s the weather or lack of Christmas overtones breathing down my neck everywhere I go. Either way, Chiang Mai does liven up around this time of year with parties and events every weekend. While the streets may not be lined with Christmas trees and snowmen (something I am actually thankful for) there is still plenty going on in the city this season that will bring joy into your hearts.

For everyone, it is important to look your best, feel your best and just take good care of our bodies and our brains. For some that could involve a two week detox at a spa in the mountains or a heavy workout to get the blood pumping, for others it could be a little of nip and tuck to feel younger again. So however you wish to improve yourself, ether inside or out, here are three places just for you to book into and begin the transformation.

Succeeding as a foreign entrepreneur in Chiang Mai, or anywhere else in Thailand for that matter, is not easy. Expats who’ve been here for some years will vouch for that. Foreign owned restaurants, for instance, come and go as regularly as the three Thai seasons. There are however a handful of entrepreneurs who came to Chiang Mai for a holiday, like so many of us, and ended up taking a bright idea and turning it into a remarkable business.

Chiang Mai has a wide range of menus across the city, from Italian to Japanese, Thai to American. For anyone living here or even just visiting, the options are endless. If you can’t decide what menu to try tonight, why not try one of these new restaurants?

What with turkeys in the US coming down with a touch of the avian sniffles causing a ban on imports of the feathered gobblers to Thailand, a rampant war on booze and a disgraceful lack of real evergreen conifers, Christmas is in danger of being a bit of a damp squib this year.

Who doesn’t love Chiang Mai? We all say we do, but do any of us actually take care of our so called love? In the past it was frustrating for the average citizen lacking a voice or the power to affect change, but with today’s social media, we can all speak up. And amazingly, we are being heard, and even listened to! The more of us shouting together, the louder the message will be received by those who are hindering or can help.

For those of us who get caught up in the inner-city lifestyle, it is hard sometimes to escape the concrete walls and venture into the nature which surrounds Chiang Mai. Here are three places that help you formulate that perfect excuse to escape town, be it to enjoy the views of the mountains with a fresh coffee in hand, or to do a bit of unique shopping at an organic garden market.