Chiang Mai, Wednesday, February 23
My plane left Siem Reap at 11:00 A.M. Back in Bangkok, I walked over to the domestic terminal and got on a huge 747 that was about half-full and flew up to Chiang Mai, in the north of Thailand. I arrived about 3:30 P.M.
Outside the terminal I found the taxi stand and paid 100 Baht for a ride to my hotel, the Diamond Riverside. It was a large, modern place that caters mostly to Asian tourists. While a little worn, my room on the 7th floor had a great view of the river - it cost 950 Baht ($27) a night.
After a short walk in the area around the hotel, I went looking for dinner. I found a restaurant in front of the hotel that looked interesting: I believe it was called the Antique House - it sat in a little garden. I ordered a beer and chicken curry soup. It came with the same little incendiary peppers I had in Cambodia. Soft Thai music played in the background. When I was done I asked myself, "Does it get any better than this?" Clearly the answer was, "No!"
After dinner I walked across the street to the tut-tut stand. "How much for a city tour?" I asked one of the drivers. "How long you go?" he replied. We agreed on an hour tour for 150 Baht ($4.) We drove past several night markets, a large resort hotel, a couple of hospitals, a shopping mall, the bus station and of course massage parlors and girlie bars. There was a whole area of them and the driver slowed way down to give me a good look. I guess he thought I might be interested.
It was a very pleasant way to spend an hour: the evening was delightfully cool. Chiang Mai is at a high altitude and turned out to be much cooler than either Bangkok or Siem Reap. I finished the evening by sitting at a bar near my hotel, having another beer and bringing my journal up-to-date.
Chiang Mai, Thursday, February 24
After breakfast I headed off to visit Doi Suthep - it's a wat located on a hill overlooking Chiang Mai and is one of the area's more popular sights. First, I took a tut-tut to the north side of Chiang Mai, out by the University. There I found a couple of songthaew waiting along the road. One of the drivers told me the fare would be 30 Baht, but he wasn't going to leave until the songthaew was full. As no one else was waiting, I decided to take a little walk around the area - looking in shops and generally nosing about.
Finally, I saw a group of Thai monks arrive. I figured there might be enough of them to fill the songthaew, so I hurried back. Sure enough we all piled in and we were on our way. A windy road led up the hills to Doi Suthep, about 20 minutes away. As we swayed along, I tried to talk to the monks but no one spoke any English and I speak no Thai - too bad.
When we arrived and were paying our fare, I asked the monks if I could take their picture. They all stood in a little group but didn't smile. I'm really not sure that they wanted their picture taken - maybe they were just being polite. Anyway, it's a nice picture of them - I'm glad I asked.
Being in a lazy mood I decided to take the cable car to the top instead of walking the 300 stairs. That cost me 20 Baht. At the top I found lots and lots of tourists - as I said Doi Suthep is a popular spot. Around the outside wall of the wat was a row of bells. Tourists and monks go around ringing them - it's not clear why. I took my turn with them too. They made a soothing, deep ring - not too loud or harsh.
After looking at the outside, I decided to enter the wat. First, I took my shoes off and put them in a locker. Then, as I was heading toward the entrance, a young girl yelled at me, "Mister!" I had shorts on and she wanted me to rent a pair of trouser to cover my bare legs. There was a sign that said they cost 10 Baht. I handed her a 20 Baht note and she asked, "Ok?" She wanted to keep the change. I shook my head no and she made a face at me and went to get change.
In the center of the compound sat a large chedi. It was round with a long, narrow spire at the top. It was covered with gold and shown brilliantly in the midday sun. There were also several other temple buildings that were trimmed in gold. I walked around a little, talked to a few tourists and then head off to find a songthaew back to Chiang Mai.
In the afternoon I did a little shopping and then made arrangements with the hotel travel office for a car and driver for the next day - they wanted 1200 Baht ($32) plus gas for the day. I wanted to visit the Young Elephant Training Center and a few wats that were about an hour south of Chiang Mai. I asked for two things: an air-conditioned car and driver that spoke some English.
In the evening I took a tut-tut over to the Riverside restaurant - the lady I rented the car from recommended it. I had another incredibly delicious meal. I sat out on the deck with the lights of Chiang Mai sparkling on the calm river. The evening was mild and the setting lovely. Later I walked around the night market and then sat drinking a beer while I worked on my journal.
Chiang Mai, Friday, February 25
I was surprised to find the car I was renting was actually an 11-passenger Toyota van. Remembering that I would be paying for the gas, I immediately wondered what kind of mileage this beast would get. My second surprise was the driver: he spoke almost no English. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised, that almost always happens to me.
Anyway the driver - I never did learn his name - held the van's side door open for me but I told him I would rather sit up front. He closed the door and I went around to what should have been the passenger side, if I had been at home. I kept forgetting that Thai drive on the left side, so the driver and I were both trying to get into same door. I looked up and found that he and some other drivers were having a good laugh at that. I had the same problem in England: I was forever looking the wrong way when crossing the street. I can't imagine what driving would have been like - suicidal, I guess.
For a while we crawled in busy morning traffic. At major intersections there were police directing traffic and they were wearing masks against the dust and fumes. Some wore simple cloth masks, while other had the industrial variety with a filter canister. When you see that kind of protection, you don't need to ask what the air is like.
Finally we broke free of Chiang Mai and onto a broad four-lane highway. The land was flat and still fairly built up for a while: we passed factories, car dealers, super markets and gas stations - all very new and modern. There was a steady stream of motorbikes driving on the shoulder and trucks, cars and buses on the highway.
In a little less than an hour we entered some low hills and not long after that turned off at the Young Elephant Training Center. This center looked to me to have been setup mainly to put shows on for the tourists and to give employment to the elephant drivers, mahouts, now that logging is not an option. It wasn't my impression that they actually trained elephants for work in the forests anymore.
We were a little early, so we watched a trainer feeding a mother elephant and her baby. The mother was chained in the center of small corral, but the baby was free to roam - and roam it did, grabbing at anything within reach of it's prehensile trunk, including me. I had to repeatedly jump back as the baby made a swipe at me.
The most interesting thing was the trainers watering the mother. He had a hose and she was trying to drink the running water. To help her the trainer held the hose in her trunk. When she had enough she sprayed it into her mouth - it sounded like water rushing out of a fire hose. The baby did the same in between making passes at me.
All this time visitors were arriving. Among them was a group of perhaps 75 Thai school kids. They were all in their school uniforms. I walked over to take some pictures as they got off their bus. They all said hello to me - their teacher coached them: "Say hello."
Then the show started: first, we watched the elephants lumber down to a small lake for a bath. Then there was a show of their skills in handling logs. Finally, the elephants lined up for the tourist to fed them.
I have never seen such hungry, greedy animals. As the tourists handed them bananas and sugar cane, the elephants packed their mouths and chewed with loud mashing sounds. They continued to reach for more as they ate. When their eating couldn't keep pace with the handouts, they passed the excess over their head to the mahouts - presumably to be eaten later or maybe to be resold to us tourists. The Thai kids squealed with delight.
After the show my driver asked if I wanted to take a ride. I wasn't sure. I had ridden an elephant in India and knew that it wasn't exactly a smooth ride. We walked over to the stand and found out that it was only for a half-hour, so I decided to go. It was 400 Baht ($11.)
I climbed a platform and got on the elephant's back. There was a forward facing chair and a little chain to keep me from falling out - like an amusement park ride. We waded into the lake, up and over a few hills, and through a very dry forest. The lead mahout was whistling a little tune as we swayed slowly along. It was a very pleasant, if somewhat touristy, half-hour.
Our next stop was at Wat Phra That Lampang Luang outside the city of Lampang. This temple has a chedi that is said to contain a hair from the Buddha. After looking around a little my driver led me to a small building in the back. We took off our shoes and climbed the stairs. After we got inside he closed the door and we stood in the complete darkness for awhile - I started wondering why he had brought me there. Slowly, as my eyes became accustomed, I saw an image on a stretched white cloth. It was the chedi - upside down. It was being projected through a tiny hole in the wall the same way photographic images are made. The room was acting like large camera.
In an adjacent courtyard there was a tree that had hundreds of poles holding it up. They were long sticks with a "Y" at the end. They had been placed to hold up the tree's limbs. Apparently people put them there in the hopes of keeping the tree alive as long a possible - and they believe that helps them live longer too.
In front of the wat I saw a woman sitting with 10 or 12 small cages in front of her. I bent down to look and saw they contained little birds. The birds were no more than an inch and a half long - way too small to eat. I asked the lady, "What are these for?" She held up a 20 Baht note and one tiny cage that held two birds. "Ok, so that's what they cost, but what do you do with them?" She showed me that one of the bars were removable. All of a sudden the light went on. I had read somewhere that you buy the caged birds and let them go - for luck.
I got out some money and gave here 20 Baht. I stood up and pulled the bar out. The birds were gone in a flash, heading straight over the wat. It all happened so fast that I felt there should be more to it, so I waved my hand at the rapidly disappearing birds and said, "Bye-bye." I looked down and saw the bird lady and some of the other vendors were all laughing. There was something priceless about the moment: standing there in the hot, Thai sun with the wat in the background, the birds making a rapid get-away and everybody laughing.
We continued on and after a short drive we stopped at a restaurant in Lampang. It was on a covered terrace, overlooking a river. We ordered and sat waiting in silence. There was a man in the river fishing with a throw net. A group of Thai men at the next table were eating and laughing. The air was hot and still. Shortly our food came.
When we were done eating my driver said something: I only understood the last word, market. I was hoping to visit the market in Lampang and assumed that that was what he had suggested. It turned out instead that he was taking me to the Thung Kwian Forest Market back near the elephant camp. There under a football-sized metal roof was a market selling forest products: honey, woodcarvings, spices and herbs, and some very strange food: I saw a huge mound of fried grasshopper and a large wok of boiling caterpillars.
We headed back to Chiang Mai and stopped at a couple more wats. Finally, in town we stopped at a gas station to fill up. I was prepared for the worst, but the bill only came to 310 Baht ($8) - not bad.
Later that evening I went for dinner at the Antique House again. As I was eating another delicious meal, I asked for a second beer. When it came the waiter poured some in my glass and then put the bottle on a table next to me, and not on my table as he had done with the first one. I wondered why and looked over at the bottle. I noticed that the neck was broken off! The guy had poured my beer from a broken bottle! I called him back and told him I wanted a new beer and clean glass. He brought it and then apologized, but the damage was done. Being a bachelor I often eat out. You have to have a certain amount of faith in the cook and wait-staff - that trust was gone. I wouldn't be eating at the Antique House again.
Chiang Mai, Saturday, February 26
I took a tut-tut to the Chiang Mai gate on the south side of the city in the morning. There was a bus stop there just outside the city wall. I walked around until I found the right bus to San Pa Thong, a city about 20 minutes away. I was on my way to visit an ox market: I had read about it in the Lonely Plant guidebook. When I asked at the tourist office, the lady said, "I don't believe you have anything like it at home." She was right.
I also had her write the words "ox market" for me in Thai. When I got off the bus in San Pa Thong, I started showing the note around. I showed it to one old fellow and his face lit up. He pointed to himself and then up the road. Next, he pointed to the ground where he was standing. He was talking in Thai the whole time, but I knew exactly what he was saying - he was going to the market too and I should wait with him. In just a few minutes a songthaew arrived and he motioned me in. We rode along and soon my friend tapped my arm and pointed that we should get out.
Although it was still early there were lots of people streaming into the market. In the front was a large area selling consumer goods, but I passed that by looking for the animals. When I got all the way in the rear I found them: cows, oxen, bulls and water buffalo. Groups of men in blue work shirts were walking around among the animals, checking them out. There must have been several hundred animals tied up in the field and trucks with more were pulling in all the time. I walked around taking pictures.
Just in front of the oxen were roosters. These, I assumed, were the fighting variety because of the close attention they were receiving from prospective buyers. Next, I found bicycles and motorcycles. Kids were riding the bikes in circles and older shoppers were revving up the engines of the motorcycles. And finally, in the front of the whole thing, was the market I had passed on the way in. There was everything from vegetables to clothing, from tools to furniture. I took more pictures and then sat in one of the food stalls and had a drink.
I was wearing pants with zip off legs. They were quite handy in Chiang Mai where the mornings were cool and the afternoons hot. As I sat drinking a luke warm 7 Up, I zipped off my pant legs. The guys at the next table smiled to see me doing this. They had that "crazy tourist" look on their faces.
Next, I did a little shopping myself: I bought a large wall map that had the counties names written in Thai - I thought that would make a great souvenir. Then I bought a little clay amulet with an image of Buddha with his hands covering his eyes. When I asked the vendor what that posture meant all I could get from him was that it was for good luck. The image appealed to my sense of the absurd - Buddha hiding his eyes.
Finally, I walked back to the road and tried to figure how I was going to return to Chiang Mai. I asked a few songthaew drivers if they we going to Chiang Mai, but they just shook their heads. I wondered if that was because they didn't understand me, so I asked a policeman for help. He motioned that I should follow him and he walked me over to one of the same songthaews I had just talked to. The policeman talked to the driver for a minute and then motioned me to get in the back. I was still a little worried that this might be the wrong truck, so I asked the other passengers, "Chiang Mai?" Sure enough, it was the right truck.
I had been told repeatedly how good the shopping was in Chiang Mai, so I decided that I had better buy my gifts before I left. On the way back to the hotel I stopped to look at a silk shop. I walked around pricing different scarves. When I would make a lower counter offer, the young lady who was waiting on me would get an exasperated look on her face and say, "Mister, please!" I guess she thought my offers were a little low.
Finally, I picked out several scarves and set them on the counter - I was getting ready to do some serious bargaining with her. I did a little math on her calculator and then offered her 2000 Baht ($54) for the lot. When she just said "Fine" - my heart sank. I must have offered her way too much or she never would have accepted so quickly.
So, I got out my money, mentally kicking myself, while she wrapped them up. Then I asked her if I could take her picture. She stepped to the door and I noticed she still had my money in her hand. I asked her to hold it up and she obligingly fanned it out in front of her. Now I have this great picture of her and my money.
Later I stopped at the night market again and made a few more purchases. Then I went to my favorite bar and had one last cold beer in Chiang Mai. I had had a really delightful stay - there were a lot of interesting thing to do - but I was ready to move on. In the morning I was off to Hua Hin, a beach resort about 3 hours south of Bangkok.
Hua Hin, Sunday, February 27
In the morning I flew back to Bangkok and then took a taxi to the southern bus station. When the driver found out I was going to Hua Hin, he tried to talk me into having him drive me the whole way - for 1500 Baht ($40.) He kept saying, "Bus slow, bus slow." Well, it couldn't be that slow.
At the station I wandered around a little before finding the correct window and then bought a ticket - it was 110 Baht ($3.) My timing was excellent: the next bus was due to leave in just a few minutes. When I got on an attendant showed me to my seat. Later she came around with a little bottle of water for each passenger.
I just love getting on a bus. It's so full of promise: there's the hope that I will see some lovely scenery long the way and that in the end, will end up some place interesting. That's how I feel when I get on.
The bus left right on time. First, we passed through the standard industrial suburbs: factories, gas stations and lots and lots of new construction. The land was flat and after awhile we passed giant ponds on either side of the road. They looked like they were salt ponds for evaporated seawater to make salt - I could see the windmills used to lift the water into them. Father along there were bright green rice fields and stands of banana trees.
By the time I got to Hua Hin, three hours later, I was more that ready to get off. After my initial excitement, restlessness always takes over. The bus stopped in the center of town. Instead of taking a moto to my hotel, which was a little ways out of town, I decided I need to stretch my legs.
It looked like it had recently rained in Hua Hin: there was water standing in many of the streets. When I finally got out to my hotel, I saw that I wouldn't be able to reach it on foot - the driveway was under water. Nearby there was a moto stand and I asked one of the drivers how much he wanted to drive me the 300 feet (100 meters) or so to my hotel. He said 10 Baht - well, it was better than getting my feet wet. So I got on his motorcycle and said, "Don't get me wet, pal." He smiled and drove me carefully through the water.
I checked in and got a sea view room this time. I was staying at the Grand and somehow had the idea that it would be on the beach. Much to my disappointment it was quite a ways away - and worse, the only beach access was back in town. Anyway, it was a large modern place: adequate but uninspiring. It had all the standard stuff: pool, satellite TV, buffet breakfast and a clean, modern room all for 1400 Baht ($39). It was full of western tourist.
In the evening I headed back to the center of town to check out the night market, but found the seafood restaurants more interesting. They had put tables and chairs out in the street and even set up the kitchen there. You could walk along and look at the fish on ice and then watch them being cooked. I settled into a restaurant and ordered spicy fried squid. As always the night was warm and pleasant. Thailand is full of so many wonderful places to eat and drink. It's one of the few places where the evening activities are as interesting as the daytime ones.
Hua Hin, Monday, February 28
I did precious little today. I spent the morning walking around the market taking pictures. Thailand is a photographer's paradise: there are lots of interesting thing to shoot and the Thai never seem to mind being in your pictures. I took one of an old woman grinding up peppers and onions - when she saw my camera she broke into a big, wide smile. I also took some pictures of a guy putting huge blocks of ice in a grinder. The blocks sat on the ground before he put them in the grinder. I looked at that chipped ice and hoped none of it would end up in my drink. Then I realized it was probably destine to keep the seafood fresh and not drinks cold.
Next, I walked down to the city beach. There I found several piers that had restaurants at the ends. I stopped at one and sat under an umbrella listening to the water surge below me. There was a stiff breeze that rattled the umbrella. There was no one else around and I sat writing for an hour or so.
In the afternoon I walked to the tourist beach: it was small and almost entirely covered with umbrellas and lounge chairs. Restaurants nearer the shore kept the tourist happily supplied with food and drink. There were row after row of tourist there and some looked like some of them had gotten a little too much sun.
In the evening I went out for more cold beer and spicy seafood. Instead of a moto, I took a pedacab back to the hotel. The driver wanted twice as much as the motos, but I managed to get him down to 30 Baht. As we were riding along, and he was huffing and puffing, I realized I was trying to bargain down the wrong guy - he deserved the money. When I got out I gave him the 40 Baht that he had originally asked for.
Bangkok, Tuesday, February 29
I lounged around most of the morning. After lunch I packed up and took a 1:00 bus back to Bangkok. At the station I got a taxi to my hotel, the Ravipha - it was out near the airport. I wanted to be close because I had a 6:00 A.M. flight.
What with the three-hour trip back and the thick Bangkok traffic, I got to the hotel just before 6:00 P.M. As odd as it seems, they were getting ready to close the desk. Apparently most of their business was long term residence. So I checked in and they told me where I could find something to eat. They also made arrangements for a taxi in the morning.
If you have an early flight out of Bangkok, I highly recommend this place. The rooms were clean and modern - it some ways it was one of the nicest places I stayed. It was cheap too - 990 Baht ($28). Just make sure you arrive before 6:00. You can make a reservation at http://www.asiatravel.com/thailand.html.
I walked over to the area the desk clerk had described and found there were lots of restaurants to choose from. I picked a Japanese place and had one last delicious meal in Thailand.
So that's it: next morning I got up at 4:00 and took a taxi to the airport. By 6:00 I was on a plane heading back home. Thailand was one of the few places I have visited that I would gladly have stayed several more weeks.
Looking back I can't imagine an easier or more pleasant place to travel in Asia. The Thai were a joy to be around - I can't remember a single grouch. They were always smiling and were quick to laugh. I can now see why Thailand is such a popular place. If you have a hankering for Asia, Thailand would be a great place to start.
Ann Arbor, Michigan
April 2000
Part One: Bangkok & Siem Reap
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