Day Eight: Chiang Rai

On the way to Phayao, we stopped to watch some rice workers in the field. I tried my hand at cutting the rice, much to the amusement of the workers. I guess I'd better stick with my day job.

We took a coffee break at Phayao, a lovely little town near a beatiful big lake. Ole said that families liked to picnic there. One of the town specialties is "jumping shrimp". Little shrimps are collected from the lake. They are mixed, ALIVE, with cilantro, garlic, lemongrass and chilies. One then scoops up the mixture and gets it into the mouth before the shrimp jump off the spoon. I was not as brave as some of my fellow travelers. I like my shrimp scampied.

After a lunch of Northern Thai Curry Noodles (imagine spaghetti noodles with curry instead of spaghetti sauce. Not bad - but I prefer curry over rice), we visited the Hill Tribe villages near Chiang Rai. It was a bittersweet experience. The hill tribe people have a very simple life, living off of subsistence farming. But now they've become a tourist attraction and make money by selling trinkets. As soon as they saw our truck coming, they came running down the hill, arms loaded with stuff.

I suppose selling souvenirs is a better way to make a buck than outright begging, but it still made me feel a little uncomfortable. Which is OK. That is part of this trip experience. In the U.S., we are fortunate to enjoy the best standard of living in the world. It's good to be reminded of our blessings. And, as Ole pointed out, these folks are happy. Little kids were playing with puppies, women were chatting and the men... well, I don't know what the men were up to. We didn't see many of them.

Our hotel in Chiang Rai was a very nice resort about 15 minutes outside of town. We had individual huts for our rooms and the pool looked like something out of an upscale travel magazine, complete with mermaid statue.

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