October 2012
Chiang Mai
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| Cappuccino art |
After getting our fill of Chinese tour buses, bustling
markets and tuk-tuk drivers, we headed north to the ancient capitol of Chiang Mai
for a bit of calm. Our sleeper train had 2 stacked berths that were cozy nests
inside gold curtains that ran around the beds. The ride was accented with
screeching brakes and jerky starts until we were all awakened at 5:30 am and told
there was a train accident, and we needed to abandon our berths and board tour
buses for the rest of the trip. This maneuver added another 2 hours onto the
original 14 hour trip. Later we learned that these “accidents” happen often
because the tracks are in disrepair, but no one is hurt, just delayed.
Chiang Mai’s center has an ancient walled city with a moat
running around it making for a charming ambiance that foreigners have flocked
to. Expats are everywhere running restaurants and shops, and spreading Western
influence. At one restaurant we had great cappuccinos complete with foam art. They
were the perfect complement to sticky rice and mangoes, yum.
Wat Phra That Doi
Suthep
One of the most famous Buddhist temples in Thailand is
located at the top of a mountain just outside Chiang Mai. The story goes that a
sacred white elephant was let loose to wander in the jungle and when it stopped,
that is where the temple would be built. It came to this place and lay down and
died, poor elephant. We made our pilgrimage to the temple via a tuk-tuk and a
pickup truck fitted with benches flying up the windy roads a high speed,
slowing only for the hairpin turns. Still alive but a bit dizzy we arrived at
the foot of the temple stairs which were covered with venders selling all kinds
of things: clothes, toys, bags, food, gems, and just about anything else you
might be tempted to buy.
Dragon Stairs to Nirvana
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| Dragon Stairway to Temple |
350 stairs guarded by dragons whose tails were covered by
colorful ceramic tiles and paints ran all the way up to the temple. A very
impressive staircase, I must say, that led not only to an impressive temple but
a stunning view of the jungle and city below.
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| Buddhist temple |
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| Many Many Buddhas |
The temple plaza had several gold clad pagodas, each holding
many Buddhas, ranging from very large to very small, decked out in necklaces,
silk robes and flowers. It seems that if one Buddha is good, many is better. This
temple had many, many offering boxes with designated recipients including a
temple in the USA. Bells of all sizes were everywhere and worshipers rang the
bells and brought flowers and incense to the Buddha statues. Because it was a
holy day, monks were on hand to bless the masses as we knelt before them. It was
a very colorful place, as saffron robed monks circulated among the tourists, and
little hill tribe girls danced with pink and blue umbrellas to a band playing
traditional northern Thailand instruments.
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| Hill Tribe Dancers |
Hill Tribe Village
Trek
Although Chiang Mai is calmer than Bangkok, it is still a
city, and we wanted to get out into the country so we signed onto a 3 day trek
to a Karen village. Our trekking mates were 4 Dutch and one Aussie, all about 30
- very delightful young men and one woman.
First Stop -
Elephants
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| Baby elephant playing tag with trainer. |
To our surprise our first stop was to ride elephants. Not
something we were looking for but it turned out to be really fun because we had
a 2 year old baby elephant with us who was full of antics, running into the
bush with the trainers in hot pursuit, and at one point the mother elephant ran
after her baby with her 2 riders hanging on for dear life. She got her baby
back with no problem and we proceeded to the elephant drive-through, where we
bought bananas for the elephants. It was great to have them reach their trunks
up to us and gently take the banana from our hands.
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| Our hungry elephant |
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| McBanana drive-through |
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| More bananas please! |
Karen Village
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| Hill Tribe Country |
Our pickup truck dropped us off in a National Park and we
proceeded to hike over a mountain to a lovely waterfall for lunch. To
everyone’s delight this was a challenging hike on a remote trail that wound
through the jungle, over fences, along rice paddies, and past villages. It was a
great hike. Beautiful bright green fields tucked in tiny valleys with water
buffalo with big black horns curved around their heads grazing at the edges.
Huts with thatched roofs perched on the hillsides overlooking their fields.
Our home for the night was in a Karen village of about 15
homes with roofs woven of grass or banana leaves. All the homes were on stilts
about 6 feet above the ground providing a place for the pigs and chickens to
live under each house.
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| Pigs under the houses. |
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| Karen Village |
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Our accommodations had thin mattresses and mosquito nets hung over each bed.
The happy house as our guide called it, had a shower, a squat toilet and big
tube of water with a dipper to flush. Very sophisticated. This “hotel” was run
by the matriarch of the village and she brought us rice and noodles in big
pots. After a delicious dinner of curry, cooked by our guide, we were serenaded
by 10 of the village children around a camp fire that they built for us.
They sang about 10 songs at the top of their lungs, and then asked us to
sing to them. Too cute.
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| Karen children singing to us. |
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| Who are those strange people? |
7-Eleven Stop
The next day we hiked through more beautiful rice fields and rain forests and
had lunch at a small hut next to a rice paddy, where we had noodles and
chestnuts we had gathered in the forest and roasted over the fire. Two women were
there herding their 3 water buffaloes into a small pen next to us. They
provided bottled water for us that they kept in a cooler of ice. Coolers of
iced beer, coke and water appeared by magic at every stop. Our guide
called these stops 7-Elevens.
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| Hiking through the rice paddies. |
Bamboo Toaster
That night we camped by a waterfalls that was our shower for the day and slept
on woven plastic mats on the wood floor of another large dorm hut. Not so much
sleep as tossing and turning. Breakfast was cooked over the camp fire with a
toaster made of split bamboo to hold the bread over the fire. Nescafé is the
coffee choice or tea in big teakettle set right in the fire. Neither are great
considering they grow both coffee and tea here. Oh well when in Rome....
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| Bamboo toaster and Nescafe |
Bamboo Rafting
Our last day of hiking ended at a river were we boarded 25 foot long, 3 feet
wide bamboo rafts, four on each. The captain stood at the front with a long
pole to steer and we were off down the river of class 1 and 2 rapids. No one was
asked if they could swim and no life jackets. We were immediately soaked as we
sat on the raft that was mostly submerged. The pole man was very skilled at
missing all the rocks as we sped through the rapids, but the end of the raft,
where Jenise was sitting, was often swept around and hit rocks or low branches. But
she hung on, and we had a great ride. They even let Jenise and I ride through
the last shoot which was a 3 foot drop. What fun, it made our canoeing trips
seem easy.
Mr. P
Our 62 year old guide was a character whose favorite sayings were “Oh My
Buddha” and “Have a good life” and “Same, same - only different” which he used in
response to everything. He told jokes and did match tricks to keep us
entertained after dinner. He used to be a farmer but could not make any money.
He said “no money, no honey, no baby” so he became a guide for 20 years in the
hills where he used to live.
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| Our Guide Mr. P. |
Back in our Guest House we are in the lap of luxury with a hot shower, soft bed
and clean white sheets. Ahhhhhhh. We even have real coffee that we brought from
home. Life is good.
