begining 2010

---

Mosquitoes 0 - Patrick 20. Or so I hope for the 0. I haven't felt a bite. It's a slaughter. The window by the seat 63, of the 7h15 bus taking me to Than Thon, is covered in flattened mosquitoes. The little buggers must have had a death wish coming here because nobody else on the bus seems to pay attention to them. Maybe I am not Buddhist enough. Only locals and no one speak English.
I know it is only a battle. I won't win the war.

Maybe bars are expensive. I am paying the same price for a 3 hour journey as I would for a beer. Maybe should drink less and travel more.

We are climbing nicely up a mountain. Steam is rising from the big leaves of little banana trees covered in dew from the heat of the warming sun.

Arrived in Than Thon, very nice. I could have arrived yesterday late afternoon and spent the night there. Spend some time having lunch before embarking in the little long boat. We are exactly the number to fit the boat. Maybe we left some unfortunate people behind. I didn't notice.

The gliding down the river Mae Nam Kok is very nice and it is a very leisurely way of seeing the world goes by, landscapes, children, fishermen, cows..

Started to meet the fellow travellers when we disembark to walk along side the river whilst our guide takes the boat safely through the rough bit. Furthermore civilities continue when we stop at the elephant village and feed them bananas. They don't put it in their mouth, they flick them in, like we do sometimes with peanuts.

Arriving in Chiang Mai we decided to unite to get a pick up taxi. When we arrive in the centre, still like meerkats we stayed together and we looked for a hotel together, a little group of 4. Except for the one weirdo who went to search on his own and who we are happy to see going.

We went for dinner and watched the city centre clock tower drawing the crowds for its show. Big Ben chime, changing of lighting and internal movements where sculptures take the place of others.

Nutt, a local guy who went to university in the U.S. with Whitney, one of our companion, arrives. We have a nice chat about Thai society and changes. Whitney and him went away for a reunion dinner. Chris, Michele and I go to the night bazaar, to eat some caterpillars and bugs. We watch the lady boys show on the stage bordering the restaurants.

Whitney, American, works for a NGO, providing counselling to Burmese victims who suffered atrocities. Chris, a Londoner who sold his flat, quitted his job and went travelling. Michelle, a Parisian, travelling as well.

The day after, the 4 of us walked. Visited 3 temples and chatted all the time.

I put a candle at the prosperity monument, symbolised by stones representing, symbollically the male organ, for all of my friends to be prosperous. The candle incredibly kept falling but eventually after several attempts when it stayed, others were using it to lit their candles. That must be significant.

Back in the city centre, Michele went to the bus station to enquire about timetables. I went to a travel agent to check tours. I was not too interested in half of what they had to propose on each tours. The agent said I should join with the other customer who was discussing with her colleague as we seemed to want the same thing. So I sat with the other customer and tried to taylor our own tour and negotiate a better rate as now we were two customers instead of one. Uncommonly the agent was getting stroppy, maybe we were delaying her from her preparations for new year eve and she suggested that we go see elsewhere. So Celia (the other customer) and I decided that actually we could go to all those places on our own, without a tour. We walked to a nice cafe (le petit cafe) to join with Chris and Whitney.

An hour later we all regrouped to check how the preparations for new year eve went in Chiang Rai, followed by eating and drinking a the Cat bar where they had invited us for a barbecue. I had bought a bottle of Lychee wine, which was nice but a bit too warm and that was our treat for the new year eve dinner!

Later we were in the centre, by the clock tower to await the countdown. It was really good atmosphere. Said happy new year to everyone. We signed the lantern of a family, with good wishes, before letting it rise in the night sky. I never tire of seeing those lanterns go up in the sky. (see pictures).

The big difference is that after midnight people start to leave and by 1 o'clock everybody was going to their own private parties.

The morning after I met with Celia at 7 to first go to the white temple and then to get the bus to Mae Salong.

Only regret before leaving was not to have been able to take a picture of the little shop with the sign saying "clothes doctor, treating case by case only".

The white temple has been designed by the same guy who design the clock tower in the city centre. We saw it starting to shine with the rising sun. It is a different temple from all the other traditional ones. This guy is to Chiang Rai what Gaudi was to Barcelona.

The bus dropped us on the junction for the little road going to Mae Salong. We had to bargain hard to get the price dropped from 70 to 60 bahts for the collective taxi. It was quite a climb. Mae Salong spread itself on each side of a road. It is difficult to say where the centre is. We visited a market, where the colourful locals produce tea. So we tasted everywhere and took pictures of the locals who are Chinese. They arrived at the second world war fighting the Japs and settle there in this little place of Thailand. The fact that Celia is Chinese helped to talk to them. We then went up to the top of the hill overseeing the market place and enjoyed the views on all sides. Beautiful mountaineous paths leading to distant villages meandering through woods and fields.

We had lunch in Mae salong and left to go to Chiang Saen in the evening.
Arriving there we struggled to find hotels. I asked at the police station first for a map, and as they didn't have one, for directions for a hotel or guest house. They called a tuk tuk who took us to places with extrortionate prices. We told him and them that we were not interested. We walked back towards the police station, which is situated on the corner of the main avenue and the road alongside the Me Kong. We stopped at a beautiful temple, and I asked Buddha for good luck.

We continued towards the river. A couple of English people told us the hotels were a bit further down the road, around the corner from the police station. Those policemen completely forgot about it....

We found a hotel but as they only had one room and Celia was not keen to share ( she is Chinese) we ended up leaving. we saw tents in the courtyard. We enquired. They were much cheaper and we ended up sleeping in tents. That was actually fine, except in the morning when Thai men started to go for a wash at 6 and spent quite some time clearing their throat, nose and, well at least those two were noisy and offputting.

We went back to the nice temple, then took a collective taxi to the golden triangle. That is the corner where Thailand, Laos and Myanmar (Burma) meet. It also used to be the place for the growing and trading of opium.

Beside some temples there and a museum, there is nothing but lots of tourists taking pictures of themselves in front of numerous boards showing the map of the 3 countries or buying the tee shirt saying they have been there.

Back on the road, We changed buses in Mae Sae and after checking the timetables, decided not to take the risk of getting stuck by visiting Doi Thong. The bus we took, even though it was 15h00, was crowded and we stood almost all the way back to Chiang Rai.

I said good bye to Celia who was taking another bus to Bangkok and decided to stay the evening in Chiang Rai and come back to Chiang Mai the day after.

4TH January
Back in Chiang Mai. I Was going to Doi Suithep, the mountain overseeing the city today. I used the earliest part of the morning to catch up on the blog. I took a collective taxi, called songthaew, with a young English couple. The view from there to the city of Chiang Mai was good but hazy.
The place itself, the temple at the top, was filled with tourists, Thais and Westerners, and nick nack stalls.

Came back to Chiang Mai, decided to go to Monk chat, which is a place where you can go to talk to monks about their life. They like to talk to tourists to practise their English. The 2 I talked to were doing their bachelor degree in English. We talked about their life as monks and about Buddhism, particularly on the meaning of intention. For poor boys, monkhood is the place to get education. Practically all boys/men are supposed to have been monk at some point in their life. They also have national service. Don't know what happens there.

Then I walked to Nimmahemin Rd, which was a high street outside the area that tourists would visit. It was interesting to see where locals would hang out. They have really trendy bars and restaurants. The contrast between the modern and ancient Thailand is really obvious here.


5th January
Took a tour to Doi Ithanon, the highest spot in Thailand. We drove up there. We visited a farm where they grow vegetables using hydroponic, which is just water and no earth, a couple of waterfalls and pagodas, and villages of Karens and Mons, who are a tribe people. Lunch was good and so was the guide.
Back in Chiang Mai and I had a relatively early night.

6th January
Took the bus to Pai. This time a little VIP one, booked through the hotel.
On board a couple of Americans and a German guy, called Ronny. I mention so because when we arrived in Pai, he asked if he could join me in the search for a hotel. I had an address that the White house, my hotel in Chiang Mai had given me. We hired scooters and went to the guest house, Shan guest house.
We droped the bags and went to check an alternative hotel that was mentioned in the rough guide. According to the map given at the scooter place, it was supposed to be much further down and on the other side of the river, but as usual, Thai maps, unless they are done really professionally, are rubbish. And as usual, as soon as any of those places are in the guide, whether hotel or restaurant, they double\triple their price. We continued the road to a temple, high on the side of the mountain. We thought it would be a good place to watch the sunset from. We then headed towards a Chinese village. Stopped on the way to have a lunch on the side of the road. We asked for chicken but got pork. All the dishes but the one we had ordered were pork, so it must have been a safer choice anyway. It was a bit spicy hot, but the water was free.

The Chinese village on display was quite nice. We went further to waterfalls and actually passed the houses where those Chinese people live. A girl made signs on the side of the road as if she wanted to smoke. I slowed down to tell her I didn't have cigarettes but she actually said opium. I didn't stop to test the local produce. Further on, other ladies made the same signs and proposed opium.
It is another kind of sirens. A bit more unusual than the massage and bar girls, less vocal but more dangerous.

The waterfalls were good but we tried to rush back to the other side of the valley to catch a nice sunset.
I was always leading the way in Pai, Ronny was happy to followe. I always found straight away where we were supposed to go. Maybe to compensate for the bad maps.

On the way we picked up 2 German girls who were going up the hill towards the temple. Lots of other people, Thais, were there for the same purpose. Although they took a lot more photos that we did. They do like to pose for the picture.

We went back down in town for diner. We ate very cheaply in the walking street (pedestrian area). Then we looked at the stalls and got very tempted by everything they sold. I was tempted by a couple of tee shirts, a wooly hat and a scarf.
I eventually went back and got the wooly hat.
We sat and had a beer at a live music bar, the Pai Post,quite popular.
We walked the shopping streets a bit more and then the girls left.
Ronnie and I went towards another bar, Be-Bop, towards where our hotel was. It was advertised as a place where anyone could perform on stage.

When we arrived the place was half filled. A guy was singing the blues, quite good. He was replaced by a Thai girl who was very good and then a Thai rock band who stayed for the rest of the night and were excellent. The night was brilliant and after midnight the place was packed and heeving. Next to us were Rasta Thais, looking the part. Ronny and I really enjoyed the time there. So many good musicians and singers in Thailand. It is quite unbelievable.

7th January
I start by the end, night time. I am in Mae Hong son. The guest house manager is either off his head on something strong or off his trolley for good. He is an English guy, still young but looking lost and soulless. He is shouting at someone at the top of his voice. I go to the window to check and there is nobody else in the room. It is in front on my window and I can see his living room/office as the light is on. A cat is howling as if cornered so maybe he is shouting at the cat. He is telling that they are barking made, that they cloned the Egyptian pyramids, those bastards, amongst other incoherence. Probably lost his marbles. Between outbursts, he is playing music very loud, the last one being Pop music, a song from 30 years ago that I hadn't heard since. When he stops, he is replaced by frogs, at least one, that sounds like someone trying to start an engine that would not start. Now it is a girl who is singing. Maybe it is a CD. The frog did not stop. Now the cat is going at it. He sounds like a baby, in fact the more it goes the more I think it may be a baby. More frogs have joined in. Now it seems that it may be a guy, the Manager it seems, asking to get in the room next door,asking a Suzanna to open. She doesn't. Now he is gone. Good night.


Back to this morning. I had decided to leave Pai. I thought similarly last night. The place is beautiful, lots of things to see, lots of nice people and good vibes but something is telling me to move on. I have til mid day to still go around and visit before returning the scooter.
We (Ronny and I) went up a road, on the other side of the river and arrived at a hot spring. 2 Thai boys were cooking eggs in the water of the first pool, were the water emerged. Takes 35 mins apparently to get boiled eggs.
The place was in a beautiful setting. There were few camping tents. There are many campsites all over the place around Pai.
On the way back we stopped at an elephant place and had a drink watching them being prepared for taking passengers. Then we stopped at a nice restaurant up a hill with a very good view and had late breakfast. It took a little while, so there was no more time to go and visit other places.
We went back to the hotel, checked out, and went back to the scooter shop to return my scooter. Ronny stayed in Pai and kept his scooter and I took a bus to Mae hong son, about 2 and a bit hours away. I took the normal bus. Passengers included a monk, young girls, few men and women, some arguing the price with the young guy who was collecting the money, mainly based on the amount of stuff they had with them. Basically the back of the bus was full of boxes and bags. There are basically 2 types of buses, the normal coach that locals use and stop anywhere at request, and the VIP mini bus that is only used by tourists going from a destination to another.

I found difficult as ever to focus on my book. I don't think I will ever finish the life of Pi, except if I get stuck in a lift, which is very unlikely here.
There is always something to see out of the window or with other passengers.
Anyway arrived in Mae Hong Son, got a ride on a scooter taxi to a guest house advertised at the bus station. Room OKish but pressure to drop the bags. The guest house is around a lake, right in the centre of town. I went to visit the temples, also on the side of the lake. Couldn't quite appreciate what they had to offer, despite the fact that they were half museum with antiques and naive art. One of the temple seemed to be a large dormitory, where Thai tourists seemed to set their beds for the night. I have since learnt that it was not unusual.

Outside older people were doing their tai chi style exercise.
I walked around, to the night market. Nothing to declare if to say that I met an unusual lady at a scarf stall, called Nik. She spoke very good English which is unusual it seems in this place. She worked with Burmese refugees, the Karen tribe, to help them with adapting to other cultures. Lots of them go to America. She also taught Thai culture to the US army corp. She was very engaging and I ended up leaving her 500 bhats for a 80 bhas scarf. Money going for a good cause.
I had a dinner at a big open air restaurant with a guy who was singing and playing guitar on traditional american folk music, like Simon and Garfunkel and hotel california. Went to sleep and that is what I described above at the begining of the chapter happened.

January 8th.

Woke up at 8, read to 9, to make sure I progress a bit on the book.
Left the guest house to look for replacement. Checked the neighbouring guest houses. Went to the tourist authority, got maps and then to the restaurant that the girl I described above, Nik, runs. She served me a fried rice with shrimps and refused that I pay. Paying was for customer and I was a friend. Her husband noticed that my watch was full of condensation (from the bamboo rafting). He proposed to take it and leave in rice overnight and it would suck out the water. Nik gave me an itinerary. I visited a guest house she suggested and transfered my stuff from the Prince's guest house (the mad English one) to friends' guest house. Then I went to hire a scooter and headed up towards the north.

First stop was supposed to be fish cave. I saw a sign saying 300 meters, thinking I had travelled that istance, I stopped at a little parking outside a cave where I saw the monk got off the bus yesterday. I looked around but there was no clear sign of a fish cave which up til now had direction signs. I was about to leave when I saw a guy coming out of the cave. I asked him if I was at fish cave and he said yes. (Thai people never say no! even more so if you ask if it is right or left. They say yes) I went inside the cave and there was an old monk there, sitting. The other guy said I could go inside. The cave was small and just a small habitation for the monk. Unsure of what to do, I sat down in front of him and we looked at each other, smiling for a while. He was covered in tatoo and relatively old. In Thailand each tatoo has a significance. They get tatoo as good luck, protection from this or that, for possessing special qualities or strength. He cut a piece of string for tying around my wrist. The other guy wanted one as well and got one. Then the monk blessed us. I felt bad that I did not get my camera to record the sound of it as it was strange and beautiful and longer than what you would normally get in a temple.
As him and the other guy were talking about me. I took some pictures and a difficult conversation followed on the subject of my camera. I showed the pics I had previously taken. Before I left, the monk he gave me a pink thread to put around my neck. The other guy seemed very impressed with the gift.

I left at the same time as he did. I took the moped further down the road where the actual fish cave was. It was a tourist attraction and lots of stalls and seeds for the fishes were sold. It was a nice place and I spent a little time there, in very good mood, meandering around the river and flowers.

Then I took the road again, up a steep windy road. I saw a waterfall and then Ban Ruam Thai, a hill tribe village very pretty. Further down the road a beautiful lake surrounded by forests, and at one place a campsite with tents. It was absolutely idylicly gorgeous. I spent some time chatting with some retired people from Bangkok who had rented the bungalows there and were having a good time. They were all in high positions in society, high civil servants, Major in the army. They really insisted for me to stay there and spend the night. I had to go back to Mae Hong son though. We took pictures and I went on my way to the next place, Ban Rak Thai, a Chinese village where they grow tea. I took some pictures with Thai girls from Bangkok who were wearing traditional Chinese outfits and who I mistook for the genuine article, but it was all fun. The village was around a lake. It was very picturesque and gorgeous. I had a funny situation with tasting some tea. I stopped at a stall to drink some tea. However they were just selling packets but the young girl at the stall with her mother and grandmother went to get some hot water to make tea for me. I enjoyed it and paid her 20 Bhats for the drink. She insisted on giving me a packet, which I eventually took.
I was behind her stalls and was trying to sell the tea to touristspassing by. Some Thai ones, who I had met several times, at the waterfall and at a previous villages laughed and said that actually the tea was 35 Bhats. The girl had been too embarassed to have said anything. So I took my 20 Bhats back from her and gave her a 50 Bhats banknote instead, for the packet she had given me and for the tea I drank. She was relieved and starting telling people around about the 20 bhats situation. It was all in good spirits and a funny misundersanding, and quite a story for her. 😱

I rushed back to Mae hong Son, the sun was starting to dive behind the hills and the temperature was dropping. We were 1000 metres high, and I was keen to get back before total darkness.
The trip was a bit over 100 kms and had been a great experience. Riding leisurely a motorbike on those great countryside roads is great.

When I got back to the guest house, I arrived at the same time as another biker who I had seen at the waterfalls. Talking to him we realised that we had gone to the same places, except the monk. An English guy from Milton Keynes, Kevin. He had bought a motorbike and had 3 months to tour Thailand. A French guy, Stephane, joined in and we agreed to meet at the bar restaurant nearby by the lake. We spent the evening talking about our experiences. A German girl joined us, Melina. At one point there was a real racket and it was difficult to know where it came from. Cats were chasing each other on the big metal roof.

Afer few hours we all went to bed. Really good day. Connected with a lot of people, Thais and Westerners. I am much more open and less cynical than I used to be, influence of Thais and holiday.

January 9

I was wokened up by the birds. It seems like a Hitchkok scenario. There seems to be hundreds of them making a real racket. Then roosters, followed by a beautiful voice, a Thai woman chanting/praying. It is gorgeous.

---