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Published: March 20th 2012
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Exhausted and disillusioned i found my way back to the Mai Sae busterminal and decided to hop a bus to Chiang Rai, about one hour ride south of the border ... this time also an a/c bus, however now i knew to sit on the correct side away from the sun and way in front ... during this trip my frustration ebbed away and as much as i had wanted to toss away LP, i browsed through it again to find my next destination, a little remote village hidden away in the stretch of mountains west of me ... it was described as to have a chinese feeling as the inhabitants are descendents from immigrants which fled China in1949 when the communist took over ... once i arrived at downtown Chiang Rai i ended up using my navigator to find a lowbudget hotel near to mi ... a few popped up on my screen and decided upon the one with the most authentic bamboo/wooden carved look ... Chiang Rai felt like Chiang Mai but then a smaller version with a glory way past ... and again i ended up as sole guest at the hotel ... i opted the first
time for a room with A/C since my arrival, which turned out to be a good choice as after traveling for 11 hrs i collapsed on my bed andbearded the rumbles of a rainstorm approaching ... the sky turned dark and another tropical storm drowned the grounds AND the electricity as within 15 minuts the hotel was without it ... oh well so much for the a/c ... a couple of cycles of sleep later i woke up with a jolt, ventured out, had some chicken from a streetvendor, found the way to touristic night market and strolled back interacting with a bun of teenagers ... beside the kids i think i like them best ... they all try to practise their best english on mi and they don't want your money ... they just wanna hear where your from, talk a little bit about life etc ... the next morning i took a tuktuk to the temple complex where the Emerald Buddha (and protector of the country) was found in the 14th centry when the building it was hidden in away from burmese invading armies was struck with lighting ... it's now placed at the Royal Palace complex in
Bangkok and thought as i had seen it, i should also make a little pilgrimage to this place ... so by 7'30am i wandered around, being the only foreigner amongst the locals who were all coming for their morning prayers ... at those moments i sometimes wish i can make myself invisible, small, tiny as i'm sticking out like a giant, two sometimes 3 heads above the thai women and completely feel out of place ... as much i as i try to be humble, quiet, insignificant or for that matter, contain my oozing energy, but am afraid to write, i don't think i'll ever be able to blend in ... after paying respect to the miniature emerald buddha i returned to the bus terminal and was told to go to bus 5 which would take mi half way back to Mai Sae ... probably because it was so early i ended up being the only foreigner amongst the local and village tribe people whom i recognized by their colorful clothing ... this time a local bus without A/C where i ended up as sole foreigner next to a Mai Sae university student ... the breeze while en route was
way better than the more expensive bus i took a day earlier ... as if she had never met a white giant on a bus like this b4 (which in hindsight she might not have) she took a picture of us together ... as i thought it was cute she 4warded it through facebook ... during the rest of the day i received 11 'friend request' and comments all in thai calligraphy, ... after a 2.5 hr ride (which same distance i had travelled the day before in 30 min) and many local stops in tiny little villages i was told to get off the bus at a dusty crossing ... again all by myself ... i decided to walk over to some buildings and when i turned the corner i noticed a two bench open minivan ... i sat down next to it and finally someone walked up to mi and asked where i wanted to go, i said Mae Salong and again i was told to wait ... after about 3 hrs an englishman and frenchman had joined the party and accompanied with 2 thai young women we hit the road ... circling up into the steep mountain
region which beside the many ricefields was filled with tea plantations ... after bout 1.5 hr ride we ended up about 1400 mtr high (almost 4500ft) in the chinese/thai mountain village ... Nico (the frenchman) and i both checked the LP again (he had the french version) to get the name of the guest house we wanted to stay at ... instead of paying €2.50 for the night for a tiny room with bathroom few stairs down and away against the steep mountain, i opted to pay €5 for my own little bungalow ... after resting a bit i wandered around and noticed that almost every sign was first written in chinese calligraphy followed by the thai ... not only that, as i happen to have a chinese astrology sign tatooted on my arm most of the elder nodded at mi, sticking up their thumbs and their friendly smiles exposed their black rotten teeth ... having bad teeth myself, i felt lucky i can afford my fake ones and gotta admit thusfar i have not felt this much accepted as right here ... which is a good thing as i've decided to stay here a few days, unwinding, walking, trekking
and climbing the 731 steps to the chinese/buddhist temple where of course i hit it off again with the kid of the caretaker..
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