Catcher in the Rai (Chiang Rai that is)

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Hello Faithful,

We are currently in Ko Samui (an Island in the Gulf of Thailand) but I'm going to update from the past few days before that in Chiang Rai.

Chiang Rai (means Cow City, I thought that was Chicago) is one of the northernmost cities in Thailand, but pretty small. During our stay there we saw some very unique things so I'll lay it out for ya as best as can.

WHERE WE STAYED - THE LEGEND RESORT & SPA
The Legend lives up to its name in groundskeeping and architecture, but kind of strays from there. Being that Chiang Rai is somewhat newer to the tourist boom there seemed to be much less English spoken there, which I guess is ok since we ARE in Thailand, but that has been the exception not the rule. Speaking of which, Elise and I have now upgraded to a few more Thai colloquialisms: Hello, Thank You, and we know how to ask our horse and dog to come (Ma, Ma, Maaa - trust us they all sound different).

Oh, back to the Legend. Our room was a very unique space with a gigantic shower room with an unfortunate trickle for the shower itself - strange.

Also, our bed was something out of the Flintstone line of furniture - a best guess was a slab of limestone covered with a sheet.

Also, just for not so good measure, they were the only ones not to do anything for our Honeymoon thus far - and sucking up goes a long way in getting good marks on the Big Teeth Blog. I will say that their Spa was delightful (2 hour massages, mmm mmmm) save the booming fireworks that made us think we were under attack.

side note: we learned that in some villages in Thailand, the cremated remains of family members are put into a firecracker and shot into the heavens.

WHAT WE SAW - HILL TRIBES (YAO, AKHA) and GOLDEN TRIANGLE/BURMA
Despite our less than glowing review of the hotel, our time spent in Chiang Rai was spectacular in that we got to experience some really different things.

Our tour guide named Gai (which means Chicken, yay, another word we know) took us to a few of the hill tribe villages. These are primarily people who have origins out of Thailand and were resettled there for one reason or another. They also were primarily engaged in opium, selling and using, up until recently as the government has made an effort to help them educate their children and move away from drugs.

Our first stop was at the YAO Village. The YAO were originally from China and fled when the Communists took over in the 40s. They were members of Chiang Kai Shek's Koumintang for you history peeps.

We then visited the AKHA, originally from Tibet. The people in the villages were very welcoming and we were fortunate to visit some of the less Disney-fied villages where the folks dress up in traditional garb and shuck and jive (so to speak) for the tourists. We definitely fell in love with most of the kids there and a few little puppies as well. They posed for photos and our guide gave them some snacks so they wouldn't beg for money.

Another thing of note of many of these hill tribes is that they are now Catholic or Baptist in many cases. Yep, alongside their spirit animals were pictures of good ol' JC. Thanks to some missionaries who think that butting in to uneducated people's lives and padding their numbers in exchange for some extra rice is ok. Now off my soap box and back to our travels.

GOLDEN TRIANGLE
The Golden Triangle is the border between Thailand, Laos and Burma (Myanmar). This was so named because of the opium trade that brought lots of money to the region (also lots of addiction, poverty and violence for the majority).

We started on the Thai side and could look out over the Mae Khong (aka Mekong River) and see all three countries - all overlooked by an enormous Buddha statue that we posed for many photos with.

After a brief visit to the opium museum (which unfortunately does not go the route of the Beer Brewery and hand out samples at the end) we moved on for a brief visit to Burma.

BURMA, now called Myanmar, is much poorer than Thailand and they are ethnically somewhere between the Thai's and Indians - which was a bonus for me as I fit right in there.

We, along with our trust guide Gai, crossed over the border into the town of Tachilek which seems to be set up solely for tourism from Thailand, or for Thai people to buy knock-off items from China, only about 200 KM away mind you.

So, we trekked into Burma (don't worry parents, we weren't near the pro-Democracy rallies in Rangoon) and amidst the knock off markets, we saw a Mini-Monk Training Camp... its kind of like pre-season high school football - uniforms, strict drills, but instead of cheerleaders you have buddha statues.

Then onto another buddhist temple with some more sculptures. While there we were able to interact with some Burmese children who surprised us with well spoken English, apparantly thanks to the friendly British occupation of the previous century. But, to the local people, the best attraction there was the Thai driver who crashed himself into a pole b/c the Burmese drive on our side of the road, and the Thai on the left.

After our Burmese side trip we came back "home" to Thailand and headed on to the airport to fly to Samui, where we currently are.

I'll try and report on Samui and my overall observations at a later date, but Samui is mostly time at the pool along with many massages and getting harrassed by timeshare hucksters and tailors.

I'd say farewell in Thai, but we haven't learned that one yet.

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Comments

[Dad Jaffe]

Czech it out!
Hi guys- Sounds like you are having fun and enjoying the new experiences and areas we are unlikely to visit for lack of five star amenities and sleek shopping malls. Learning about other cultures and the influence of colonial powers does change your perspective on what takes place today and in the past. Anyway, enough about you. We really enjoyed Budapest and found it very unique. We arrived in Prague yesterday and immediately went to the old town square to observe the crowds and the Church with the hourly midieval ringing and revolving saint-marionette show. Very entertaining. Today we are headed to prague Castle and later to the Jewish Quarter (remarkably, no Neiman-Marcus!) Later on in the week we will visit Teresin and the concentration camp (ironically driven in a Mercedes!) We love Prague and we are happy we are staying five days with so much to see and a great street scene everyware. Anyway, have fun and keep in touch, Love Mom and dad

[dad and terrie]

........educationally speaking.............
what a trip you are on! how fascinating and educational it all sounds. it sounds like you are getting a great deal out of your adventures and are having some wonderful relaxation along the way. keep on enjoying. We love you guys.xoxo