Chiang Mai
Despite being more than 700 years old and filled with more than 300 Buddhist temples, Chiang Mai means "new city" - and is Thailand's second largest city. It still manages to preserve a little of the atmosphere of an overgrown village. The Old Quarter, set within a two-kilometre square moat, has retained many of its traditional wooden houses, inviting guesthouses plus good markets and plenty of sights make it hugely appealing place to many travellers.
The next day we awoke to melting heat, so a relaxing swim in the hotel pool was in order....
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| Melanie 3 floors up and we were the only ones here. |
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| As seen from the pool; WTF #4. It's the pigeon shit cleaner. |
After a refreshing swim and our reflection on the hard work of the Health & Safety Committees in Thailand, we head out to explore this ancient town.....
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| Oh look, it's the Broom Salesman.....the amazing thing is he has a lot of customers. Apparently he drives a BMW. |
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| Narrow streets are the norm in Chiang Mai.....scooters are also the norm. |
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| The infamous Thailand tuk-tuk taxi stand. |
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| DAMN. Guess I can't go any further. |
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| "Yes, I'll have the Gaul of Goat please." |
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| The Yupparaj Wittayalai School crossing...say that real fast three times! |
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| WTF #15.....no seriously, WTF??? |
Twelve years ago, I was in Chiang Mai with my brother Wayne (see that blog), and we had taken a three day trek into the mountains of Northern Thailand. I loved it so much that Melanie & I decided to sign up and do the same excursion. As part of that trip we were taken to a Karen Tribe Village.
The Karen tribe, which is unofficially called the Long Neck tribe, came to Thailand from Burma, when escaping war and violence in their country. They are world famous for their women, who wear golden rings around their necks. From the time when they are 5 to their 21st birthday, each year one ring is added to their collection. At the end their necks get so long that these women are often called “dragon ladies”, or just “long necks”. According to Karen people, the longer the neck the more beautiful the woman who wears them is.
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| By the time these young girls are 21, the brass rings around their neck will weigh over 5kg. |
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| Melanie claims her inspiration for travel came from seeing a National Geographic magazine in the late 70's featuring an article on the Karen Tribe women of Burma. I am so glad that she saw that issue! |
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| The necks are stretched so much that when the rings are removed there isn't enough muscle mass to hold the head up....something similar to me after 14 beer. |
We leave the Long-necks behind and continue to the start-up point of the trek where we hook up with the other people partaking in the same excursion....
As part of our tour, we had the opportunity to feed and bathe the big guys (girls)...
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| Mel giving Noa, the 32 year old beauty, a bath! |
Later that night, our guide Chet, took us into the nearby village to a "party". It was supposed to be a mere 20 minute walk but it turned out to be a full 1 1/2 hour trek dodging stray Thai dogs all the way. The party was in dedication to the opening of new temple at the local village Wat.
The next day were had only one thing on the agenda (besides getting out of bed....of course) and that was to whitewater raft down the river....
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| One would be hard pressed to call this a raging river but the scenery was spectacular, and we weren't walking in the BLISTERING heat. |
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| Just chillin' and a hangin'. |
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| We weren't alone, here come the Others. |
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| There was some whitewater but mainly a lot of BIG rocks and riverside villages. |
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| "Look, a moose...." |
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| .....did I mention this was Asian elephant country? Yes, on the river bank was an elephant, similar to seeing a crocodile on a riverbank in Africa or a moose in Newfoundland. |
The final portion of our 3 day excursion was to take a bamboo raft down a portion of the same river....
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| The bamboo raft portion of the trip left us a little perplexed? Why not simply stay in our whitewater rubber dingy since we loaded it onto the bamboo raft and took it with us anyway?? |
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| Two more moose....I mean elephants in the distance. |
After our jungle trek we journey northward by taking a mini-van taxi to the village-turn-town of.....
Pai
Pronounced pie, as in Apple pie, this little town has a party feel to it with a vibrant live music scene and hordes of young people wearing dreadlocks and clothes that they would never consider wearing at home. Guesthouses appear to outnumber private residences in the ‘downtown’ area, a trekking agency or restaurant is never more than a few steps away. Despite all this, the town’s popularity has yet to negatively impact its nearly picture-perfect setting in a mountain valley. There’s a host of natural, lazy activities to keep visitors entertained along with the nightly walking street.
We arrived in Pai for three days and ended up staying for six, such was the place, however because of a music festival that was happening on the weekend when we arrived we were forced to take a place out in the boonies, however this allowed us to visit the Wat Phra That Mae Yen.....
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| It was a very hot day to climb the 353 steps to the top of the Wat. |
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| I'm sure there is something sacrilegious about this Melanie. |
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| Given that this is a temple, women must be appropriately dressed and that means no exposed parts, so Melanie has to cover up her bits! |
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| The final steps up to the massive 'White Buddha' sitting high on the hill over looking Pai. |
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| "This better be worth it!" |
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| Now this is one big mudder of a Buddha! |
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| The view of Pai from the Temple. |
Every night we headed into the town to stroll the nightly 'walking street' and listen to some of the awesome music playing in the bars in Pai....
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| A freshly harvested rice field along the 2km road into town. |
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| A river runs through it. |
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| WTF #16. Long way from home aren't you Mr. Moai? |
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| The 'Tea Man', who probably qualifies for his own WTF designation, dishing out bamboo mugs of various teas from the giant vats. What's with the horns there big guy? |
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| Hippies came here in the 70's and never left, probably because their Volkswagen Van was being used as the store.....flip flops anyone? |
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| Street food in Pai but we never ever saw any pie anywhere..... |
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| ....we did however see squid and octopus on a stick.... |
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| .....and spiral fried potatoes (also on a stick). |
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| Street lanterns adorn the night. |
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| It's not Howlin' Wolf but rather Howlin' Dawg. |
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| Okay be honest with me.......when was the last time you saw blacklights and blacklight posters? |
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| Having a time! hic |
So if you go to Pai, than sooner or later you'll end up renting a scooter to get around, as most of the sites and sounds are outside of the town. So we rented ourselves a pink 125CC scooter and got our motor running and headed out on the the highway looking for adventure in whatever came our way.
First stop the Pai Memorial bridge. According to legend, the Japanese army wanted to have a route for which to attack Burma, which was a colony of the United Kingdom, at that time. To establish the route, a bridge was built over the Pai River in 1941 using elephants to drag trees from the jungle and forcing villagers and POW's to construct the bridge.
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| OK, I'm not going to lie to you. It looks like a bridge....nothing more..... |
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| .....the exciting part came when the local water buffalo came down to the river for a dip.... |
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| ....from up on the bridge watching these brutes take a bath is actually pretty fasinating to see. |
After the canyon we hop on our souped up scooter and head home but not before coming across this speed bump...
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| Potential road kill ahead! |
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| WTF #87. Am I the only one who sees the irony in this? |
We decided to give up the our hot-rod scooter and get down by going down......underground that is to the Tham Lod cave. In its entirety, Tham Lod is more than 1.5 kilometres long, with the spectacular main chamber running to a height of 50 metres, from floor to ceiling.
The Lang river flows through more than a third of the cave’s length, giving you an opportunity to float through on bamboo rafts. Floating along in the darkness, listening to the bats and smelling the bat guano, makes for a special experience!
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| The entrance to the cave with the Lang River and its carp filled waters. |
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| Question: What's the difference between a stalagmite and stalactite? This is a stalagmite, an upward-growing mound of mineral deposits that have precipitated from water dripping onto the floor of a cave...... |
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| ....and this is a stalactite, an icicle-shaped formation that hangs from the ceiling of a cave, and is produced by precipitation of minerals from water dripping through the cave ceiling..... |
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| .....and this is Melanie, neither a stalactite nor a stalagmite but rather a novice spelunker!! |
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| OK your turn.....stalactite or stalagmite? |
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| People have been here before - a prehistoric painting found at a high level of the cave system. This painting, of a couple deer, was made about 3,000 years ago. |
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| Some of these stalactites were massive, such as this one that was nearly 50 metres tall, probably took a million years to form - one drop at a time. |
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| Our guide was quick to point out shapes in the stalactites and stalagmites - such as the resemblance to a Buddha here. I personally think she shouldn't smoke so much opium! |
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| After about a hour of spelunking we hit the Lang River in our bamboo rafts and floated hazily lazily dazily down river - in a cave - on a raft. Sooooo cooooool. |
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| The Lang River is over-run with large carp and they were looking for food. Warning: DO NOT PUT YOUR HAND IN THE WATER. |
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| Our raft eventually comes to the other end of the cave where the Lang River spills out into sunshine. |
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| We disembark and start the climb up the rickety bat guano-encrusted stairs to the upper chambers of the cave. |
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| The size of this cave isn't realized until you see the people standing near the opening....it is HUGE. |
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| Melanie and our guide. |
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| Big WOW factor going on here. |
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| This cave held other secrets besides the WOW factor........ |
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| .....it's also a burial ground. These canoe-shaped pieces of wood are coffins that date back 2,400 years. They were skinnier back then. |
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| And now it's back to the bamboo rafts for our journey back up river thru the caves to where we started off. |
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| Three to a raft with two oarsmen pushing against the current. |
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| All and all one of the best caves we've ever been in. |
We continue our journey via mini-van another 100 km further north to the quiet little town of.....
Chiang Dao
We were asked by an American, whom our taxi driver double-dippingly picked up in Chaing Mai and whom had apparently "lived" in Chaing Mai for 2 years, as to why we would go to Chiang Dao and what was there? He obviously didn't do to much exploring in those 2 years, but our answer was to see a temple. His response was, "wasn't there more than enough temples to see in Chaing Mai?" Fair enough to his astute observations, but the truth is the temple in Chaing Dao was different.....it was underground in a 12km cave complex (as if we hadn't seen enough caves at this point in time!).
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| Just before entering the cave complex......how very Asian! |
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| Guess who got a new selfie stick!?!?!?!? |
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| The cave town counsel...... |
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| ....and Andy the mayor. |
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| It's yoga time! OK everyone lets do the upside down inside out backward forward pose. |
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| Fawking tight squeeze....shouldn't have had that last beer. |
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| My Lotus Flower! |
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| And down we go into the dark depths of Modor. |
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| The monks added coloured lighting to up the effect anti. Crafty! |
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| "Watch out Mel, the stalactite is about to bite your head off." |
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| OK, so this is still a functioning temple which comes complete with Buddhist monks. Who knew? |
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| Meet Mr. Big Stalactite and his little brother, Mr. Little Stalactite. |
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| OK, have you figured out who has a new selfie stick yet???? |
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| Look up.....look way up! |
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| Back outside. |
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| Melanie's new friend, some watery tart that she met. |
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| I call this piece "Buddha and the Banana Leaf". Thank you Cat Stevens for the inspiration! |
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| This Temple complex has been around for a while as is evident by these....these....these? Does anyone know what these things are called? |
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| Taking a walk around the complex brings us to this old disused entrance to the cave complex. |
With our spelunking days behind us, we head, via chicken bus, even further north to the village of......
Tha Ton
Smack-dab in the middle of the old opium region known as the Golden Triangle (shared with Burma, Laos and Thailand) is the tiny village of Tha Ton. We didn't come for the opium.....just saying. Our real purpose for going so far north was to take the river boat to Chiang Rai, our next destination.
We wander around town and eventually make our way up to the Wat Tha Ton. Considered one of the best Wat's in Thailand, this intriguing monastery complex sprawls over nine (9) levels of the mountain and each comes with its own collection of supersize statues.
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| Tha Ton. Not much of a town. This is the view from our hotel. |
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| Wat Tha Ton with the administrative buildings in the foreground. |
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| It's a 45 minute steady climb to the top of the Wat but the view is awesome. That's Myanmar (or Burma...you pick) just over there in dem dere hills. |
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| Level # 3...I think there was once water running over these stones but they have long since turn it off, or the hose broke. |
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| Our second monster-sized White Buddha in Thailand also sharing the podium with the selfie miesters! |
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| Level #8. One very large stupa, with some very large.......... |
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| .........dragons. Massive dragons! Do you feel like Daenerys Targaryen, Melanie? "NOT without my dragons." |
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| We'll take this one, he's got the money bag! |
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| You can actually go into the Stupa which, surprisingly, also has dragons! |
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| They are everywhere! Funny they picked the dragon to be their symbol, I guess it is better than a platypus. |
As I stated, the real reason for coming so far north was to take the fast boat down the Mae Nam Kok river to Chiang Rai. We could've taken a bus, but what fun would that have been!
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| The long-tail speed boats ply this river ferrying goods and passengers up & down the Mae Nam Kok. |
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| Every Long-Tail speed boat has the jeezily big car motor attached to the rear allowing you to move along at warp-speed. The name "long-tail" comes from the propeller shaft that extends from the car motor out into the water by about 6 feet. |
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| Love the new hair do B! |
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| Although we were sailing along at breakneck speed, the sites were still pretty awesome. |
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| I think it's the village Bingo Hall. |
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| Local fisherman. |
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| A typical country estate in Thailand (actually two houses). |
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| More of the local fisherman. No need for fancy boats and fish finders here! |
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| Buddha is never far away. |
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| After getting splashed a few times and with an unusual cold snap passing through, the trip was a tad chilly. I know, I know, you thought it was Omar the Terrorist sitting next to me. |
After a drench-filled boat trip of 4 hours, we arrived in......
Chiang Rai
Chiang Rai conjures up evocative and exotic images of opium warlords leading mule trains through the dense jungles of the Golden Triangle, but this picturesque riverbank town has more to offer than the opium trade. With a population of 200,000 it is the epic centre of the provincial north.
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| Chiang Rai with its colourful streets. |
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| We went looking for a place to eat and settled on the tabletop personal BBQ. Hmmmm yummy! |
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| The Chaing Rai clock tower was designed by the same artist that built the famous Chaing Rai White Temple (you'll know what I mean in a bit)!! |
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| We went to the night market in Chiang Rai where there was hundreds of stalls selling an unimaginable amount of foods, including Nemo and his friends. |
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| Too bad we already ate. |
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WTF # 27. I have to ask.....if you got up at 3:00 AM to use the shitter and when you turned on the light you saw one of these
2-inch brutes scurrying along at mach-speed, would you have an uncontrollable urge to pick it up and throw it on the BBQ? |
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| WTF #33. 'Cat-n-Cup', a cafe which is overrun by rescued cats......and I thought they ate them here?!?!? |
We were in Chiang Rai as it is on the route to Chiang Khong which is where we catch a boat to the country of Laos, however while we were there we HAD to go see the city's most famous attraction, the Wat Rong Khun (White Temple). With its modern Buddhist design and intricately carved facade, the White Temple is unlike any other religious structure in Thailand — even the “templed out” will be overwhelmed by its unique beauty. Constructed by Chalermchai Kositpipat, who also built the Chiang Rai Clock Tower, this Wat will not be completed until 2070 but what is completed now is high on the WOW factor.
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| The entrance to the 'White Temple', one of the few structures that isn't pure white. |
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| The main hall’s exterior is all white to symbolize the purity of Buddha, and embedded with glistening, mirrored fragments to reflect his wisdom. |
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| In a way; the White Temple is similar to India's Taj Mahal....same same only different. |
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| The main temple is guarded not by dragons, as is the norm, rather it's this guy. Whomever he may be. |
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| To enter the Temple, visitors must cross a bridge over a 'sea of suffering'...... |
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| ....the 'sea of suffering' — untamed desire and greed personified by thousands of ghostly hands reaching out in eerie desperation. |
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| Thousands of ghostly hands reaching upout of the depths of hell. |
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| The artist's profound religious and philosophical meaning behind his work is: one must overcome hell (the cycle of death and rebirth) to reach heaven and nirvana. |
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| Welcome to my nightmare!...... |
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| .....or welcome to his nightmare!! |
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| WTF #77. The artist like to mix pop culture within his work, showing a kind of good versus evil.....hey isn't that Hellboy hanging over there!?!? |
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| Definitely not what we have seen at other Buddhist Temples. |
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| The beauty of this place leaves you mesmerized and gobstruck. |
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| Besides the White Temple there are other out buildings scattered throughout.... |
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| ....plus intricate carvings and statues. |
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| The path under the Canopy of Prayer Plates. Millions of silver maple leaf-size/shape plates adorn the top of this walkway - for a fee visitors can purchase one and have it hung here as well. |
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| I particularly like the way I balanced the carving on my head! |
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| A moment of peaceful bliss in a corner of tourist madness. |
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| A whiter shade of pale. |
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| WTF #15. Like seriously WTF Melanie....you'll take up with the first shiny guy that comes along. |
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| Interesting fruit! Anyone know what kind this is? |
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| "Are you talking to me?" "No, are YOU talking to me?" |
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| "Hey Mel, I like your wings....growl." |
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| Among it all, this is still a working Buddhist Temple. |
*****
We leave Thailand and head for Laos & Cambodia for a couple of months before returning to Thailand. Our story picks up at our return........
*****
Melanie's Cambodian VISA was about to expire so we left Sihanoukville in Cambodia (see blog posting in this 2018 series.) and headed for the Thailand island of
Ko Chang
With steep, jungle-covered peaks, picturesque Ko Chang Island retains its remote and rugged spirit – despite the transformation of parts of it into a package-tour destination. Sweeping bays are sprinkled along the west coast and most have superfine sand and 30C water temperatures.
We arrived just as the Thailand New Year celebrations were about to begin.....
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| HAPPY NEW YEAR!! Thailand uses the Solar calendar (as opposed to the Gregorian calendar) and the year is 2561. As part of the celebrations the locals & tourist line the streets and throw water at all that comes near. If you get even closer, you'll be smeared with talcum powder.....go figure! |
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| There's no escaping the deluge and if you can't beat them, well you might as well join them..... |
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| ....like this guy, we purchased a couple of water guns and shot everyone that came within range!! Armed and dangerous! |
Right next door to our hotel was a massive Asian BBQ restaurant, so one night we went for the jeezily big feed!!
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| After much confusion as to what we were supposed to do, we end up with a personal BBQ and a personal steamer. Some good!!! |
Ko Chang is part of the Mu Koh Chang National Park, and it is the largest and most popular of the islands in eastern Thailand however it is, at present, far less touristy and far less well-known than some of Thailand's other islands. The west coast is considered just one big beach with no one on it.....
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| We were staying only 200 metres from Klong Prao Beach, however we only went there once to have a look. Big beach. |
Snorkeling is one of the most popular activities for visitors to Ko Chang. The best snorkeling sites rival those you’ll find in the south of Thailand and we decided to make a day of it and go on a snorkeling trip. Nowadays, Bang Bao village has established itself as the island’s main point of departure for the myriad of competing trips exploring the archipelago, both above and below water.
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| Bang Bao used to be a classic Thai fishing village with life centred around a narrow 350 metre long pier of traditional wooden stilt houses and boats moored up ready for sea. |
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| Side jetties off the main pier with the many stilt shop-houses, guesthouses and private residences. |
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| Colourful boats take snorkelers to the many outlying islands. |
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| It was a full day trip with three separate snorkels, a feed of delicious Thai curry and amazing scenery. |
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| The tiny islet of Ko Lon was our first stop. |
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| The water was crystal clear with an abundance of colourful coral. |
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| The water was so clear and warm at Ko Lon that it didn't even seem like you were in the water. True story! |
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| Koh Rang – a large uninhabited (except for a few National Park rangers) island south of Koh Chang was where we stopped for lunch. |
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| The Ko Rang floating pier leading out to our boat. |
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| Another island, another snorkel. |
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| As with the last island, this one was under crystal clear super warm islands. |
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| Our last island is Ko Wai which is much larger than the other islands that we visited. |
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| This is the site of our last snorkel. |
The following is a video.
Some of the underwater sights from our last snorkel. The water wasn't so clear here but there was still a lot to see!
The following is a video.
Some more sights!
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| On our way back to Ko Chang island we stop to see some monkeys on the shoreline. |
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| The colourful snorkeling and dive boats at Bang Bao pier. |
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| The sun setting on this not-so-lucky snorkeling boat. |
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| Yes this is a persons house. No Jehovah Witness knocking on his door! |
Well folks that is it for now. We head back to Newfoundland before heading to Nova Scotia for the summer.
Cheers......
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