More Pai please!

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From Bangkok, I took an overnight sleeper train to Chiang Mai. Chiang Mai is the largest and most culturally significant city in northern Thailand. It is among some of the highest mountains in the country and stands on the Ping river, a major tributary of the Chao Phraya river. Travellers usually make their way up here for the variety of outdoor activites the city has to offer. You can rock climb on beautiful limestone cliffs, go trekking to nearby hilltribe villages, take some courses in Thai cooking, Thai massage, and/or Thai boxing (Muay Thai), or just hang out and enjoy the amazing night market along the Ping River.

As if I didn't see enough temples in Nepal and Bangkok, it was time for more in Chiang Mai. This city has more than 300 temples, which is almost as many as Bangkok, and Bangkok is a far larger city. The temple architecture here is different from other parts of Thailand. They have more intricate woodcarvings and colorful murals, which are hallmarks of the Lanna period from the 13th and 14th centuries. Three-tiered umbrellas adorning the tops of the temples, Singha lions guarding the entrances and high-based chedi are all Burmese influences imported into the city by wealthy teak merchants when they migrated to this important trade centre. The temples are very beautiful and although I did enjoy seeing them more than the ones in Bangkok, I was totally watted out by the thirty-something wat. It was time to move on and have some more fun in Chiang Mai.

First on my list was to take a Thai cooking course. Cooking classes are a big hit here and typically include an introduction to the Thai herbs and spices, a local market tour, cooking instructions and a recipe booklet. Plus, you get to eat all the delicious Thai food you cook. I took a course at the Chiang Mai Thai Cookery School. This internationally renowned cookery school was established in 1993 and was the first Thai cooking school to open in Chiang Mai. It is owned and runned by Sompon Nabnian, which is Thailand's international TV chef. With over 13 years experience of teaching over 100,000 people from all over the world, it is the leading Thai cooking school in Chiang Mai. I figured I couldn't go wrong here. There are five different menus to pick from. My menu consisted of the following six dishes: fried big noodles with sweet soy sauce, steamed snake-head fish in banana leaves, yellow curry with chicken, chicken with cashew nuts, spicy prawn salad, and finally, bananas in coconut milk. My dishes came out pretty good, if I do say so myself. I only hope I will be able to repeat some of them when I get home...we'll see about that one!

Next on my list was to visit the Golden Triangle. The Golden Triangle is one of Asia's two main illicit opium-producing areas. It is an area of around 350,000 square kilometres that overlaps the mountains of four countries of Southeast Asia: Myanmar (Burma), Laos, Vietnam, and Thailand. Along with Afghanistan in the Golden Crescent (together with Iran and Pakistan), it has been one of the most extensive opium-producing areas of Asia and of the world since the 1950s. The Golden Triangle also designates the confluence of the Ruak River and the Mekong river, since the term has been appropriated by the Thai tourist industry to describe the nearby junction of Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar. Opium and morphine base produced in northeastern Burma are transported by horse and donkey caravans to refineries along the Thailand-Burma border for conversion to heroin and heroin base. Most of the finished products are shipped across the border into various towns in North Thailand and down to Bangkok for further distribution to international markets. In the past major Thai Chinese and Burmese Chinese traffickers in Bangkok have controlled much of the foreign sales and movement of Southeast Asian heroin from Thailand, but a combination of law enforcement pressure, publicity and a regional drought has significantly reduced their role. As a consequence, many less-predominant traffickers in Bangkok and other parts of Thailand now control smaller quantities of the heroin going to international markets. Needless to say, I did not come here for opium. But I do find the history of the trade very interesting and it was amazing to be looking at the junction of three countries in SE Asia at once. We were also abe to take a speed boat over to a small Laos village to see their famous Laos Whiskey. This is made locally within the villages and is characterized with snakes and spiders in the bottles. On our way to the Golden Triangle, we stoped at Wat Che di Luang in Chiang Saen. This is the oldest city in Thailand and the original first capital of Northern Thailand. We also visited a nearby hot spring, where you can actually boil eggs in the water. After this, we went to see some local hilltribe villages. We visited with the Akha, Yao, Big Ear and Karen Long Neck Hilltribes. Of these, the Karen Long Neck tribes is the largest and most popular. The Karen themseves are not one homogeneous group but rather a loose confederation of heterogeneous and closely related tribes. Among the smallest of the Karen tribes in Thailand are the Karen Padaung. In Thailand, only a few families of Padaung have settled temporarily as refugees in Muang District of Mae Hong Son Province. Generally they live among other hilltribes groups, mostly Karen. The Padaung escaped from the Kaya State in Burma to Thailand in the mid to late 1900's and are actually refugees of a political turmoil. They belong to the Karenni sub-group of the Karen People, which are still fighting for their independence in Burma. The Padaung women famously wear brass rings around their necks. This distorts the growth of their collarbones and make them look as if they have long necks - which they don't. This row of brass rings do not actually stretch their necks but in fact squash the vertebrae and collar bones. A woman generally has about twenty or more rings around her neck. This neck ring adornment is started when the girls are 5 or 6 years old. The rings on the arms and the legs are not quite as prominent as those on the neck simply because the neck rings are so pronounced. However, these rings are just as important. The rings on the arms are worn on the forearm from the wrist to the elbow. Those on the legs are worn from the ankles to the knees, and cloth coverings are kept over most of these rings, from the shins down to the ankles. The women are forbidden to leave the villages. Since they are refugees, their obvious appearance does not allow them to leave. I feel bad they have to live this lifestyle but they seem content in living within their simple culture.

Another must see for me was some Traditional Thai dancing. I decided to go to a Khantoke Dinner. Here, you are provided with a vast array of Northern Thai cuisine while enjoying some tradional Thai songs and dancing. After that, I hit the Chiang Mai Night Bazaar. This is the leading tourist attraction and is in fact the legacy of the original Yunnanese trading caravans that stopped here along the ancient trade route between Simao (in China) and Mawlamyine (on Myanmar's Indian Ocean coast). Today commerce is doing well here. The market is sprawled out for several blocks to the Ping River. There are dozen of street vendors, offering a huge variety of Thai and northern Thai goods from hand-woven fabrics to hilltribe crafts. And let's not forget all the yummy Thai street food!

After fully exhausting Chiang Mai, I decided to head north for a few days and stay in a little hippy village called Pai. Pai seems to have emerged from nowhere in a cool, moist corner of a mountain-fortressed valley along a rambling river. It is a mountain paradise of easy living and became my favorite destination so far. It's a small town with a permanent population of Shan, Thai and Muslim Chinese. The town itself can be explored in a matter of minutes, but the real adventure lies along the paths in the hills beyond. There is every activity here from rafting, visiting elephant campd, chilliing out at hot springs, trekking to waterfalls, or just hanging out and doing absolutely nothing. I couldn't wait to go rafting. Rafting is quickly becoming my favorite activity to do while I travel. I feel it's the absolute best way to truelly see the country side. I did a five hour raft, which went from the Lang River to the Khong River and ended on the Mae Hong Son. Along the way, we stopped at a hotspring and a waterfall before eating lunch at the Lahu Village. It was so peaceful floating down the river and seeing all the amazing flora and fauna along the way.

After relaxing in Pai, it was time to head back down to Chiang Mai for the annual Loi Krathong Lanna Festival. This festival is held on the full-moon night in November. Every year thousands of people assemble floating banana-leaf containers (krathong) decorated with flowers and candles onto the waterways of the city to worship the Goddess of Water. Lanna-style hot-air lanterns (khom fai) are launched into the air. These are believed to help rid the locals of troubles and are also taken to decorate houses and streets. So, after setting my Lanna lantern off and ridding my troubles away, my time in northern Thailand came to an end.

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Photos

Myanmar (Burmese) border
Unfortunately, this is the closest I will get to Myanmar for now.

The famous Dorian Fruit
This is a rare treat that I got to try, as it is only available a few months out of the year. I don't know what the big fuss is...it smelt fine and tasted great!!