Chiang Rai

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An easy bus ride from Chiang Mai brought us to another great Northern Thai city, Chiang Rai. We arrived mid-afternoon and after some minor hunting arrived at Ben's Guesthouse, a lovely old teak structure with intriquicately carved eaves. While having a beer in the garden, we were very lucky to meet a young expat from Chicago, Carrie, who lived at a neighboring residence. She had been living in Thailand for a year or so and had done some travel to Laos, peaking our interest as the locale was next on our itinerary. Her greatest wish was to visit the Bokeo Nature Reserve and partake of the Gibbon Experience. A well-loved and slightly tattered brochure was given to us and we saw about setting up an excursion. More about that later.

By foot, we cruised into town looking for dinner. Luckily, we settled on Aye's Restaurant. Aye's was on a street that makes a 90 degree turn and yet keeps the same name (we managed to get lost twice in Chiang Rai) but the restaurant was otherwise physically uninteresting. A local guitarist played saccharin but not unpleasant Thai tunes and soft rock covers. The true gold laid in the curries, which were rich and complex. We had our first Thai Massaman curry and loved the way the potatoes absorbed the flavors and were offset by the sweet and tender-crisp onions.

We rented a scooter to go touring. On the proprietor's advice, we visited the largest water fall in the province. We had a short hike and were rewarded; the falls were striking, and high, misting your face as you stood at its foot. Not yet tired, we scooted a bit more and found an organic, green tea plantation. A charming young man agreed to give us a short tour. We saw the bushes, of which only the top 2 leaves of each shoot are harvested. Dark green and lush, with careful pruning, they can be harvested every 65 days. The leaves are cleaned and dried very carefully. We were lucky enough to try a cup and the care was easy to taste. The tea was alive and pure. On our way back, we stopped at a Wat that was still being built. A great, white edifice, its decorative mirrors had been inlaid but it had not yet been painted the garish golds and reds that most wats we'd seen had been. Modern sculptures, of arms reaching from a (hellish?) pit surrounded it in a moat outside.

Eventually, we made it back to town just in time to savour some more wonderful curries at Aye's. We could never tire of them, although the same musician was there and we could have done without him. This time we tried "Chiang Mai" noodles. These are ramen-like, yellow noodles cooked in a spicy curry sauce and topped with crispy, fried noodles. A green curry cooked in young coconut was the real star though. Intense with lime, coconut, and gentle heat, the moist bits of unripe coconut flesh hiding within were so delicious as to escape full description.

Touring day two started with a tour of some Royal gardens to the North. These were impressive and sprawling. The grounds included an orchid tissue culture lab, a sculpture garden, a large pond with the loudest frogs in the world, as well as all the flowers you could imagine. Further up the road we stopped briefly at the arboretum but it had fallen into disrepair and didn't seem worth the baht. We stole up to the roof though for some magnificent views of Thai and Laosian mountains. A roadsign suggested we could take an alternate route back to the city. The highway had been a bit nerve-racking but we didn't know what we were going to have for comparison... Although we are experienced drivers of highway one, this was something else entirely. Hairpins more like switchbacks were stacked one after another at dizzying angles. Frequently, we were looking directly down as well as forward. It at once incredibly fun as well as completely terrifying.

After a round-about way home, the back way kind of, we made it to Ben's and headed to the river for the Loi Kratong festival. It took a bit to convince our Tuk-Tuk driver to take us straight into the chaos but he finally did and got us to a great spot. Like a giant night market with more small children, this was a sight to convince one to move to Thailand. The gist of the celebration is that you send your past year's sins away by launching them: either on great billowy, white, hot air balloons or on candlelit floats crafted of bamboo and marigolds (kratongs), sent down the Mekong. Simultaneously, you make wishes for the new year. So many candles on the river and so many balloons in the sky, both disappearing into the night with your ill-deeds and great desires. It was impossible not to have warm hopes and not to cast a million kratongs, so we did! I (China, that is) got a little carried away after a beer Chang or two and decided that it was my duty to rescued someone's shipwrecked kratong in the reeds by the shore of the river. I was punished by sinking thigh-deep into oily, smelly mud. Better luck next year?--not likely. Feeling pretty lucky these days...

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