Pai and Mae Hong Son

Hello again! We're a few days behind in posting because we haven't had time to post. We've been travelling to many different places.

On the 28th, we left Chiang Mai - a lovely city - and drove to the small mountain village of Pai. We stopped at a Hilltribe Museum, and our guide Udon explained the history of many of the different hilltribes in northern Thailand.

We stopped at the tiny village of Mae Malai - a starting point for many hilltribe treks. Our guide, Udon, used to take people out for 3-4 day hikes to visit different hilltribe villages, so he knew many of the local people. At the market, we saw many of the delicasies of northern Thailand: deepfried bananas and sweet potatoes, curries, many fruits (including my favorite, the mangosteen), and roasted bugs. We sampled all of these things except the bugs. The deepfried potatoes and bananas were very yummy. Bananas here come in many sizes and textures. Generally, they're much smaller than we get in the US.

We stopped at the Hmong Chem Yen hilltribe village. It was very interesting: the village entrance is right on the highway, so the people have motorcycles, some trucks, and plenty of western clothes. Many of the people are also rather good at English - they know what words they need to use to sell many of their handicrafts.

We had one pleasant surprise - at one of the homes (a wood house with a thatch roof), an older man was giving a younger man a music lesson. They were using an instrument they blew into like a recorder, but it had several different pipes (Udon says they're usually made of bamboo, but these were made of metal pipe). The music and the language of the Hmong people is not written, so they only learn by speaking and by playing music to each other. We have a nice video of the music lesson, but we can't post it here.

After the visit, we headed to the Mork Fah Waterfall. It was a beautiful waterfall and at first there were quite a few swimmers. After having a terrific lunch outside the waterfall's entrance, we went back for a swim, and we had the entire waterfall and pond to ourselves. It was a terrific way to cool down on a hot day!

After the waterfall, we drove a bit longer to get to Pai. We stopped at Pong Deaud Hot Springs, and eventually made it to Pai. Pai is a very relaxed and laid-back mountain town. We loved our eco-tourist "hotel", the Belle Vista Resort. We basically had a small cabin to ourselves, and it was terrific. We wished we had another day to hang out in Pai, but there was no time... we had another several hour drive to Mae Hong Son on the 29th.

Mark has decided he would like to send a thank-you card to the makers of Dramamine. The road from Chiang Mai to Mae Hong Son has over 1800 hairpin curves - even for those who don't get motion sickness, it's quite a trip. We both felt just terrific the whole way.

We visited a Lisu and hilltribe village, and saw the vast differences between some of the wealthier families (who have motorcycles and even a satellite dish) and some of the less fortunate families. We visited the home of a woman who had four small children and was pregnant with another - it was a typical Lisu home, with two rooms (one with an elevated bamboo platform for sleeping, one open room for living). We realized most of the hilltribe people who live near accessible roads have western clothes, Coca Cola, and many modern conveniences. Those in very remote areas (which we won't visit) have more traditional ways, according to Udon, but they are not completely isolated from the outside world.

We continued our drive and went spelunking. We visited Thailand's largest cave system, Tham Lot. We hiked up and through the cave system, and took a bamboo raft through parts of it. Very fun. Mark really had a blast. Lynne enjoyed it, but didn't like the handfull of bat feces she got when she touched a rock. Oh well - that's why we always carry hand sanitizer!

In Mae HOng Son, we took an elephant ride and visited a temple at the top of a mountain. The temple is Burmese style - many white stupas and white Buddha images.

Mae Hong Son was nice (the Fern Resort was pretty nice, too - and dinner at the Bai Fern was terrific). We're sorry to leave Thailand, as we really like it a lot.

Our next stop is Siem Riep Cambodia. Until then!

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