Chiang Rai, Akha Hill Tribes, Phitsanulok & Sukhothai!!

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Well, it feels like ages but we have finally found an internet cafe!!! Woo hoo!!
We are now currently in Bangkok again (Khao San Rd...where else!). We're here for just the night and then heading to Kanchanaburi Monday afternoon to check out the Death Railway Bridge.

So anyway, back to the week just gone!!:

Chiang Rai 22/06/2009

We set of from Chiang Mai bus station to Chiang Rai--through the mountains we had a lovely view of Northern Thailand and its rustic charm. We had known beforehand that Chiang Rai used to be the center for opium production and trafficking and it was well known that vehicles are stopped and searched along the route for random drug searches! Although our vehicle was not subjected to this, the police presence was obvious with checkpoints every couple of km's (the journey back may be a different story!)

After 3 hours and one quick rest stop (not that we needed is as the bus was a VIP one and came with on board hostess, TV and complementary drinks and wafers!) we arrived in Chiang Rai, which appeared to be a frontier town with little in it. We soon discovered that the Lonely Planet guide we had followed (2007 edition) was slightly out of date (this was a town clearly on the up and in the process of huge renovation!). We found ourselves on the outskirts, at the newly titled Bus Terminal 2. This gave us an idea that we weren't exactly where we originally thought (in the center of town!).

After fending off willing tour guides and tuk-tuk drivers Dan managed to haggle the price down to 110 baht for the two of us. Not bad!

So we load up into the tuk-tuk and head into Chiang Rai to the Akha River House--Lonely Planet's pick. It's a warm friendly place, however, the government have commandeered some of the land next to it and are now building an expressway over the river. We suspect that this has taken its toll on the Akha River House as it was not as spectacular as Lonely Planet had said. We did not see the restaurant and the river was being renovated. However, it was satisfactory for a night's stay before we headed up to their sister guesthouse, the Akha Hill House in the jungle and mountains.
We acquainted ourselves with our basic but comfortable room and made our way into town, a longer walk than we would have liked--and through the rubble of the road works, we stumbled into the town's local market. We felt Chiang Rai was a more traditional Thai town, although it felt very corporate with all the government buildings, law courts and large city banks. In fact one could be mistaken for thinking it was Thailand's second city instead of Chiang Mai. That evening we headed to the famed night market and it was large, full of lots of shops selling souvenirs and clothes. Well worth a visit. This was also where we found all the westerners congregating.

After a stroll round the market (and still feeling tender from the Chiang Mai fish incident (now dubbed "fish-gate") we opted for...wait for it...."Pizza Pan" or something like that! It seemed to be Thailand's version of Pizza Hut and it hit the spot nicely (you need Western food every now and again!).

After dinner we toured the night market again before heading off to bed.

We slept soundly and checked out the next morning and headed into town for breakfast--well we did have 5 hours to kill until we got the pick-up to the Akha Hill House.
So after a leisurely breakfast we did a little shopping and got a little lost in the process (we used Lonely Planet's map, which again is out of date all the due to the changing city).

Out The Back and Beyond!--Akha Hill House!

At around 5pm we were put into the back of a pick up truck with a quirky Norwegian woman who permanently lived up in the hills and a 30-something Australian-American just trying to have a break from the West. The journey took us through small village roads and then a single path and then an even narrower dirt track only suitable for 4x4's. The scenery was stunning and what a way to be seeing it...at the back of a pick-up standing up ducking every now and then to avoid low branches.
After about an hour we arrived at the Akha Hill House set up by a tribe member amongst the Akha Hill Tribes themselves. The Hill House consisted of a few teak huts, some were mud & teak, built precariously high on a near vertical slope, 1500m in the mountains. We checked in to a mud & teak hut and was instantly transfixed at the view. As you step out of the door of the hut you are greeted by a view that is near impossible to describe! Looking out over the valley on a veranda only made of clumsy wood, with nothing between yourself and a 200m drop down, you can look out over dense jungle, with a small village or two on the other hillside complete with a column of smoke billowing from a small fire.
As the sun set the jungle came alive as millions of crickets fired themselves up, we headed to the outdoor "restaurant", ordered a beer and some food and watched in awe as day turned to night. And then if the crickets weren't enough, out came hundreds of fire flies lighting up the night sky with pulsating greens and yellows...we had found our first piece of paradise!

The Akha Hill Tribe are of Tibetan origin and make up one of about 10 officially known tribes in the Golden Triangle area that consists of Thailand, Burma and Laos and a small part of Southern China. Although they now have running water and electricity they have still kept some of their traditional values.

The next day we decided to skip the various treks on offer (between 1-7 days!) and had an explore on our own. Ourselves and Clinton (the Australian-American) decided to head to the nearby waterfall about 10 minutes away. Straight away we took a wrong turning and ended up taking an hour long trek along and up a small path in jungle that got denser and denser. In the end we decided to turn back (well, Clinton decided to push on!). Back near the village we found the right path and finally ended up at the waterfall. After jumping into the pool we realized there wasn't an easy way out of it again and after a while deliberating we clambered out and headed back.

While we've been in Thailand Amy has already been confronted by two of her biggest fears. The first being sick after Fish-Gate in Chiang Mai and the second fear of bees and wasps. And they don't come any bigger than the huge black bees about the size of your big tow! I thought I'd give it a mention!

So next we head back to Chiang Rai to hopefully catch a bus down to Central Thailand to the riverside city of Phitsanulok and the ancient ruins of Sukhothai.

We would definitely recommend looking up the Akha Hill House and if you're ever in Thailand, it's a must. Absolutely spellbinding!

Phitsanulok & Sukhothai

We decided to head back to Chiang Mai in the end the next day. We had the option of taking a bus from Chiang Rai straight to Phitsanulok (or Philok as the locals call it!) but wanted to catch the train as we had missed out on the most scenic part on the way up to Chiang Mai due to the floods. We caught the bus back to Chiang Mai. We arrived in Chiang Mai and headed to the train station to book our train for early the next morning. We checked in to a guesthouse opposite the station as we had to catch the 6:45am train. The guesthouse was interesting...we concluded that it used to be some kind of hospital of the mental variety. It had hospital beds but the room looked like a prison rather than a ward! It was comfortable enought and the next day jumped on the 2nd class train (45 mins late departing)

The trip was scenic, twisting through the jungle, mountains and even a few caves! After 7 1/2 hours we arrived at Philok and headed for a guesthouse the Lonely Planet had as one of their picks.
The guy who checked us in was a bit of a dufus and very large and camp...maybe a drag queen by night???? He put us in a room with A/C (450baht) but charged us for a room with fan (350baht). he realized what he had done and tried to change the price but in Thailand once a deal is done it is sealed. So we got a bargain!
We headed out to the Night Bazaar nearby and next to a really nice river and had a bite to eat next to it. Philok is an interesting town. There is no romanized writing anywhere and no westerners which is nice. The one thing that stood out was the amount of very trendy, young people around. Philok used to be Thailand's capital in the 1400's but it seemed to be as affluent. Oh, and if I was a single guy I'd definitely live in Philok....a lot of nice looking women and not of the bar-girl variety! (Sorry Amy!)

On the way back we encountered our first "problem person". Meaning a potential mugging threat. We were being stalked by a tacky looking teenager who so obviously followed us into a 7-11 and left with with us without buying anything. He clocked us watching him so headed off the other way while we watched him from a market watching us. As we walked back to the guesthouse we saw him crossing the street just ahead (he was so obvious!) and seeing us walking towards him in scarpered!

The next day we hopped on a city bus and then another bus to Sukhothai Historical Park, one of UNESCO's World Heritage Sites. The ruins were similar to those in Cambodia and we rented some bicycles to explore the park for the day before heading back.

Speaking of birds earlier, one s**t on me while in Philok, for some reason they all congregate in the evening making a lot of noise and yes, they c**p everywhere! (I am talking about the animal variety by the way!)

PS...once again folks we'll have to put the pics on another day as it's taking a really long time to upload!!

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