Southeast Asia Part 1:Northern Thailand

Southeast AsiaPart One: Northern Thailand

February 7, 2012Dateline: Atlanta, GALatitude at Atlanta: 33.75 degrees North, Longitude 84.39degrees West

We drove to the Comfort Suites on Virginia Avenue near theairport to spend the night since our connecting flight toBangkok via Dallas left at 6:00 a.m. It was a good deal on theroom, but the great deal was that it included parking for 30days at the hotel. In the La Fiesta Restaurant attached to thehotel we had excellent margaritas and Mexican food. Wesuspected this would be our last chance at it for the nextmonth or so –and the excellent part – well that would indeedprove to be true, and we should have known since we do havesome faux Mexican experience in foreign countries. Rule ofThumb: One should not order Mexican food in Bangkok – more onthat later.

February 8, 2012Dateline: International Dateline

The Route toBangkok

We had to get up at 3:00 a.m. to catch the airport shuttle andwe departed from Atlanta on American Airlines on February 8,but crossed the international dateline (Longitude 180 degreesand the dividing line between East and West) and so during thenight and we lost at day. We would get a day back on ourreturn trip to the US. The flight from Atlanta to Dallas was alittle over 2 hours and then we had a 2 hour layover. Theflight from Dallas to Tokyo was 13 hours and 30 minutes and wewere thankful to be in Business Class. The flight was made alittle better with 3 movies and some light sleeping, but itwas long no matter what we were doing. Upon arriving inBangkok, we would be about 10,000 miles from home with a 14hour time difference. We would have another layover of 4 hoursin Tokyo and then a relatively short hop to Bangkok – justover 7 hours on JAL.

February 9, 2012Dateline: Bangkok, ThailandLatitude at Bangkok 13.75 degrees North, Longitude 100.46degrees East

We arrived in Tokyo’s Narita Airport seriously bleary eyed andstumbled to the Admiral’s Club where we were able to ascertainwhat time it was (12 hours ahead of Atlanta), when our nextflight was leaving and from which gate. This would be oursecond time in Tokyo, but both timeswe were just passingthrough so we can’t really cross that off our “Been There DoneThat List”.

OrchidsEverywhere you

Turn

We arrived in Bangkok at 11:00 p.m., which was not in time tocatch a flight to Chiang Mai, and thus our plan was to spendthe night in Bangkok. While it was on our itinerary to tourBangkok, it was to be at the end of our trip. This visit wasjust for transit purposes. We got our bags and found theshuttle to our hotel, the Novotel Suvarnabhumi at the airport.Suvarnabhumi is also the name of the airport and itspronunciation sounds something like “Soo-Var-Nah-Boo-ME” . Thehotel lobby was a grand affair with orchids and ficus trees,market umbrellas and soaring ceilings and marble everywhere. Aquick tooth brushing revived us and we enjoyed a great meal ofpad Thai, (one of many to come) in the hotel restaurant foraround 1400 baht ($46.00). The exchange rate is roughly 30baht to the dollar. The baht is divisible into 100 satang.Bills come in denominations of 1000, 500, 100, 50, 20 and 10.

The NovotelSuvarnabhumi

Our room was enormous and had the interesting feature of notonly a glass enclosed shower, but also a glass enclosedtoilet. We decided this was so you can make sure yourspouse/traveling companion has not fallen asleep on thetoilet, nor is reading War and Peace waiting for Nature tocall. We then collapsed into bed at 1:00 a.m. with a dose ofAmbien to deal with the jet lag.

The area that is the Kingdom of Thailand was formerly calledSiam (as portrayed to some extent – in the old 1956 movie The

King and I). Thailand today is a constitutional monarchy. Theking was in his 80’s when we were there, but the frequentlyseen pictures of him around the country are of him in his muchyounger days – kind of like those you see sometimes inobituary pictures in the U.S. They do have elections here butwith you have to try not to titter when they have trouble with“l”s and “r”s and call them erections.

February 10, 2012Dateline: Chiang Mai, ThailandLatitude at Chiang Mai 18.79 degrees North, Longitude 98.99EastWe awoke around 8:00 a.m. and adjusted our watches to 12 hoursahead of Eastern Standard Time, and so from a time zoneperspective, we found we were half way around the world. Wehad a quick buffet breakfast and took the shuttle to theairport to fly on Thai Airlines to Chiang Mai. (pronounced“ching-my”). It is the second largest city in Thailand afterBangkok. There we met our delightful guide, Nikki, who greetedus with jasmine leis, and our driver Lak (pronounced “lake”).Later we would be joined by our friends Stu and Sharon who hada direct flight to Chiang Mai and would be arriving in the weehours.

The BodhiSerene ChiangMai

We checked into the Bodhi Serene Hotel in the heart of Chiang

Mai, where we could step outside and become totally immersedin a different culture from our own. Chiang Mai is an ancientcity built in1296. The name means New City and it was thecapitol of the kingdom of Lanna. (whose name means 1,000 ricefields. The city was once walled and surrounded by a moat.There is little left of either. Most of the remaining wallsare in the corners and there are 5 surviving gates. The citywas built on the Ping River which is a tributary of theMekong.There are 44 temples within the 4 square kilometers of thecity and it is not unusual to see the orange robed monkseverywhere. Sometimes the setting is a little incongruous,like our sighting of a dozen of them riding in the back of abattered pick-up truck, but it keeps touring interesting.

Open Airmarket ChiangMai

Nikki, like many of the locals, carries a parasol to keep thesun off her face. Tourists on the other hand wear hats andsunscreen – and of course with Western tourists, the deadgiveaway is we are the big people looming over the crowd byabout a foot taller and several inches wider. Nikki told usthat darker skin is more prevalent in the south of Thailand(Indian influence) and lighter skin in the north (Chineseinfluence). The lighter skin is considered more desirable.We had a short nap and then walked down the street with Nikkifor a massage at a local place called Lilli’s for the modestprice of $12.00 for a two hour massage, plus a tip of $1.30.Nikki told us that Lilli hires ex-cons to train and work as

masseuses, but that we should not be alarmed. These are drugoffenders trying to go straight. Apparently Myanmar (a.k.a.Burma) is their Mexico with regard to illegal drugs andThailand has very strict laws regarding drug use. Lilli’ssalon is part of a parole program to provide jobs forparolees.

There was no massage table – the patrons are expected tostretch out on mats on the floor with a teeny pillow for thehead. Patrons first don some pajama like garments, sort ofresembling medical scrubs. The bottoms which have a drawstringthey call fisherman’s pants. The top is a button-up loosefitting shirt, orange for me and blue for Gary. Once we wereattired, the masseuses more or less climbed aboard our bodiesand went to work. The masseuses were tiny women, as agile asgymnasts who sort of climbed over our prone bodies using theirknees and elbows to work out the kinks. I could not stopthinking about Gulliver and the Lilliputians in Gulliver’sTravels. It sounds painful, but it was really very relaxing –you can get a lot of knots and kinks in your muscles from thatmarathon plane ride to get here. Amid the thumping andkneading of my muscles by these very strong women, I figuredthey would have been very tough in a prison fight.

Gary, Nikkiand a Tuk-Tuk

There is an abundance of what they call tuk-tuks here. Theyare called that because that is the noise it makes at it puttsdown the streets. It is essentially at a three wheeled vehicle– sort of like a motor scooter with a backseat cab with a

bench – like a motor scooter attached to a horse buggy. Thereare also a lot of pedicabs – where a person on a bicyclereplaces the motor scooter, but we chose to walk, so as tobetter to take in the sights, of which there were many. Westopped en route for some refreshments and Gary pronounced thelocal beer, Chiang, to be good. We also made a stop at an ATMto refresh our supply of baht.

Open Airmarket ChiangMai

We seemed to experience an exotic sensory overload as wewalked. Orchids abound everywhere on the streets. The colorsseemed brighter, the scents were stronger and even the frogsare louder that we are accustomed to. Nikki explained somelocal customs to us such as: The head is considered a sacredpart of the body – you should not touch anyone on their head,even small children. Feet are the dirtiest part of the body.You should not touch or point at anything with them, althoughsince few of us are nimble enough to point with our feet wewere safe on this point of etiquette. You should remove yourshoes before entering a temple. You should never raise yourvoice, even in a disagreement. You should always dressconservatively – especially in temples. You should never passin front of someone kneeling in a temple – in other words,don’t walk between them and the Buddha.

Nikki also showed us the “Wai”, that is the gesture of bowingslightly with your hands together – a sign of thanks andpoliteness. The older or more important the person you aregreeting, the higher your hands should be. Hello is “sawatdee”and you add “ca” or cha” depending on whether you areaddressing a man or a woman. It also means goodbye – kind oflike their version of aloha.

Fish Therapy

We took a tuk-tuk to the night market of Chiang Mai, whichproved to be an absolute assault on the senses – people,merchandise, food, crafts, brilliant colors. We took theplunge and sampled a few exotic food items. We tasted driedbamboo worms which we found tasteless, but silk worms wereslightly salty and looked like noodles. Feeling reallyadventurous now, we decided to try the much touted fishpedicure and chose an establishment called Garra Fish Therapy.The process is this: You have your feet thoroughly washed andscrubbed and then you sit on a bench to immerse them into anaquarium with a few dozen goldfish, which nibble away at thedead skin on your feet. This replaces (or so they say) theneed to use a loofah or pumice stone to soften your feet. Youcan dangle your feet for about $3.00 for half an hour. Thesensation is sort of a tickle – you can’t feel a “bite” atall.

After the fish spa, Nikki took us to a local noodle shop,

where we were the only non-locals there. We were looking forauthentic and found it. I had pad thai and Gary and Nikki hada noodle dish. The name of the place was written only in theThai alphabet (very different from ours) so I didn’t get arecord of the name, but Nikki told me is translates somethinglike “Rich Fat Lady” which is also the Thai name for waterchestnuts. We shared an icy sort of dessert topped with lotus,condensed milk, coconut and lychees. I won’t say I didn’t likeit, but suffice it to say I didn’t ask for the recipe.

The RollingBar at theNight Market

We went back to the night market (a.k.a. night bazaar, but itcould just as easily be called the night “bizarre”) for onemore pass before going to the hotel and the scene had changeda bit from PG 13 to R. There were a number of transvestitesdressed like Vegas showgirls working for tips from tourists.We suspected they might be trying to get enough money for someimplants since their cleavage was practically non-existent. Weeven saw a cocktail truck – sort of like a food truck in theU.S., but here the truck pulls up, the bar folds out andpatrons climb on stools to be served a beverage. We wouldlater see a variation on this – a mobile cocktail truck wherethe bar stools are equipped with bicycle pedals. Assuming thepatrons can peddle in unison, the whole thing can be propelleddown the street. The method of actually steering it wasunclear to us. It was clear, however, that this is a novelty

for tourists – no locals were seen taking part.

Shopping atthe NIghtMarket

We bought a teak carving of a Buddha face for our library –one of many purchases to come. We have found the craftsmanshipof the artisans here to be extraordinary and the prices arewell below reasonable. We then walked back to the hotelavoiding puddles from a rain shower and a flock of hookers –young attractive girls propositioning older Caucasian guys. Myhusband Gary fit the profile so Nikki and I sandwiched himbetween us as we walked to indicate he was already taken.February 11, 2012

The NationalMuseum

We met our friends, Stu and Sharon, for breakfast and beganour first full day of touring. Our first stop was an old

colonial building that housed the Chiang Mai National Museum.The city of Chiang Mai was founded by King Manga Rei in the12th Century here in what was believed to be an auspiciousplace, with the mountains to the west and the river to theeast ( in accordance with feng shui principles). In this casethe river is the Ping River. There are a lot of myths andstories around the city’s founding which I largely missed thegist of. There was something about an albino deer and fawnspotted here and then something about rats the size of cartaxles and their offspring. I much preferred the deer story tothe rat story since we were spending several days here.

Wat ChediLuang

Chiang Mai was the capital of what is termed the Lanna Kingdomfrom the 12th to the 18th Century which at that point coveredparts of what is today Burma (or Myanmar) and NorthernThailand. The architecture and culture of Burma and NorthernThailand today are much more similar than that of Northern andSouthern Thailand. Today it is the capital of one ofThailand’s 77 provinces and home to the largest number ofexpatriates in the country. Chiang Mai is a walled city whichboasts a number of wats (or temple complexes). Wats typicallyhave a stupa which is a type of pagoda built like a steppyramid. The stupa is also sometimes referred to as a chedi.Its purpose was to house religious relics (such as the ashesof the Buddha or royal families), a temple with sometimesmultiple Buddha statues, cloisters where the monks live and

meeting rooms.

Wat Phra Sing

We visited a temple called Wat Phra Sing the largest in ChiangMai which was begun in 1345, whose highlight was the reveredPhra Buddha Sing. We were instructed to take off our shoes,but we could take all the photos we wanted. Surrounding theBuddha was incense and flowers, gold leaf and dragons,elephants and bells and all manner of decoration. We walked toanother temple called the Chedi Luang, where within the templecompound, there is a monument to a king who was struck bylightning while riding his elephant to the market. The kingdied – no word on the elephant. The most notable sight here isa replica of the

Buddha in WatPhra Sing

priceless Emerald Buddha, which we would see later in Bangkok.We walked by several lesser temples which included one whichboasted the oldest stupa in Chiang Mai. Thailand is 90 percent Buddhist, 4% Muslim, 1% Christian. The other 5% are

listed as “none” and” other”.The local university has a program called “Monk Chat,” wherethey encourage English speaking tourists to spend some timechatting with a local monk enrolled in the school. The idea isthat they can give us information about his life, religion,country and so forth and we can give them practice withEnglish and make them more fluent. They are all self-taughtand are actually easier to understand than many who have takenEnglish lessons, attributable, they say, to the daily practicewith native speakers such as ourselves.

Monk Chat withSupot

The monks take turns (or shifts) sitting at an outdoor tableand the tourists come up and plop down for a chat. We met thevery delightful Supot Hongsa, a young man of 20, who told usthat many young boys become monks in order to get aneducation. They can choose to stay a monk or go into privatelife, to work, marry and have a family. He said there is a 50%dropout rate of boys who enter monk training.

Monks leavingthe Seminary

We learned several things from Supot, including that the goalof Buddhism is happiness. They are tolerant of all religionsand do not proselytize. They wear no jewelry or watches. Weasked how they get to class on time and Supot reached into hisrobe and produced a cell phone. We had a little chuckle withhim over that and asked where he keeps it. He showed us aplain white tee shirt under his orange robe with a chestpocket . I guess it’s a good thing that when the rules weremade up for monks, there were no cell phones or they wouldlikely be banned as well. The whole idea behind the ban onwatches was to keep them focused on spiritual matters, butthen they can always Google religious topics. For his othernecessities, such as books, he carries a simple cloth bag.Theprimary courses of study at the University are sociology,philosophy and religion, but there are courses that preparethem for medicine and engineering in colleges elsewhere.

A Young Monkwith hisHomework

They have very strict rules regarding contact with women –there is to be none, including family members. He told us thatwhen he visits his mother and sisters, he cannot touch themwhich we must have gawked at because he sort of shrugged andexplained that zero contact is easier to manage than makingrules for family and non family. When we sat down, Nikki hadtold us where to sit so that the two men in our group sat oneither side of him instead of one of the women. He said he ison Facebook and offered to give his email address to Gary to“Friend” him. I was the one with the pen and paper, but Icould not hand it directly to him. Stu took it from me andhanded it to him. Odd we thought, but we always like todiscover the odd things, the exotic things. I couldn’t resistasking what they do on a crowded bus when we see people wedgedin like sardines. Supot said this is a minor offense and is nobig deal.

Abundance atthe LocalMarkets

We ate a lunch of local food at a local place. It was stickyrice (we love it) and noodles and chicken soup– family style.Nikki shared some local points of dining etiquette with ussuch as:If you are dining in a private home, you should wait for thehost to invite you to eat before starting. Eat all on yourplate so the host is not insulted. When at a restaurant, theperson perceived to be the wealthiest is presented with the

bill. If someone else is paying, one should not offer to help,or the person paying will lose “face”. If there are elderlywomen in the group, you let them order food for group (atradition). Serve yourself from dishes on the table. Do notpass them and take only as much as you can eat in 2 or 3mouthfuls. Use a fork only to push food onto your spoon. Neverput the fork directly in your mouth. Eat slowly. We noticedrestaurants bring food when it is ready and you are expectedto eat it while it is hot. No need to wait for others to gettheir orders. And finally, do not leave chopsticks in yourbowl – it is considered bad luck since it symbolizes death.Having told us that, she told us to do whatever we like –Thais are very indulgent of foreigners with a special softspot for Americans.

We are surrounded by the exotic and are just soaking it in. Weloved the incongruity of it all – it delights, amuses andamazes. Here are just a few examples:

A Spirit House

Small Spirit Houses – people keep these in their homes andtheir places of business with the same detailed features asthe larger ones seen in temple complexes. They are used as ashrine to ancestors and people will leave small offerings suchas flowers and seeds and in one place I saw cupcakes. Nikkitold us that it is not unusual for people to leave favoritefoods of their deceased relatives at the spirit house shrines

and temples.Transportation here is always interesting. In addition to thetuk-tuks and pedicabs, there are thousands of bicycles, motorscooters and few motorcycles, but always small – no full dressHarleys here. We saw a German Shepherd sized dog riding infront of a gentleman on a mo-ped. We saw a pickup truck bedfull of monks. We saw a motorcycle with a side car loaded witheggs, we saw a broom seller on a bicycle. People here drive onthe left – a holdover from British occupation.Electrical wiring here is quite a nightmare. There doesn’tseem to be any conduit and very few electrical poles here andthere. The wires mostly just hang from the eaves in snarledclumps. There is a lot of visual pollution which can becharming at times, unsightly at times, but always interesting.We saw massages being performed out in the streets,particularly at the night markets, where patrons recline onlawn chairs. This is a $4 per hour service or you can splurgeon the mats on the ground for $6. There were eatingenterprises everywhere, some commonplace such as sticky riceand some exotic such as quail eggs cooked to order in littlefry pans with a side of little crunchy worms.Toilets are referred to as the Happy Room. We were glad thatour guide knew the kind that made us happy, i.e. those with atoilet seat, toilet paper, sinks, soap and towels, because thelocals are not so picky.

The VirtualDressing Roomat the Waworot

Market

We visited the Warorot Day market which is the grocery storefor locals since they do not have supermarkets, but it alsosells crafts and clothing. Gary decided he could use anotherpair of shorts and found a pair he thought would work (whichwas no small feat given the diminutive stature of Thai men)and he proceeded to search for a dressing room to try them on.Apparently they only have dressing rooms on demand here at theWarorot, since two Thai men whipped out a large sheet and heldit up for him to hide behind to try on the shorts. He ended upnot purchasing them since he discovered that XL in Thailand isnot what it is in the USA. Crafts sold here include woodcarving, lacquer work, weaving, textiles, antiques andjewelry. We went back to the night market so Stu and Sharoncould enjoy the Fish Therapy and then to a local restaurant.Gary ordered a whole fish and I stuck with the dependably good– no surprises Pad Thai.

A NagaGuarding aTemple

Today we had learned about “nagas” which are mythicalprotective serpents – looking sort of like a snake crossedwith a dragon. They adorn many of the temples and palacesthroughout Southeast Asia and are believed to protect againstbad spirits, and they are significant in both the Buddhist andHindu religions. The way the story goes is that a “garuda” (a

mythical bird) attacks and subdues a naga that is trying toharm the Buddha. After this attack the naga goes over to theother side and becomes protective of Buddha and the king ofthe nagas, the improbably named Mucilinda, grows several headsin order to shelter the Buddha from a thunderstorm. Nagas arealso believed to control rainfall and provide water for cropswhen appropriately worshiped.February 12, 2012

Shopping forthe Monks

Today we arose and left the hotel before sunrise in order to“make merit” with the monks from the Wat Phrathat Doi SuthepMonastery as they began their walk on the streets of ChiangMai. To do this we had to stop by the local market and buyfresh produce. Part of their daily duties is to go forth amongthe people every morning seeking offerings of food. The do notgrow food or buy food – they only eat what is provided intheir bowls, in a Trick or Treat sort of fashion although theydo pool their gatherings, plus the senior monks who do not goout share in the food as well.

Making Merit

The ritual is this: we would kneel on a blanket and ask themfor permission to give them food. They graciously accept ouroffer and offer us a blessing to us in return. In this mannerwe “make merit”, i.e. receive blessings. The blessing ischanted and asking that we have Long Life, Happiness andEnergy. The monks are all male – ranging in age from 6 totheir early 20’s. They always look down and there is to be notalking. They all wear orange robes and have shaved heads.They walk barefoot so to be aware of where they are placingtheir feet in order to avoid injuring any living thing such aseven the tiniest insect (of which there are multitudes) Thefemale counterpart of the monks are the nuns who wear white.Novices don’t get to talk until they turn 20 – prior to thatthey are to listen and learn. Children in Thailand onlycomplete school through Grade 9. If anyone wants any educationpast that, boys can become monks, girls can leave the country.It is not uncommon for monks to leave the monastery if theydecide it is not for them.

Trekkers inthe Jungle

We had a short drive out in the country for a scenic hike inthe Doi Suthep Doi Pui National Park. The hike was only 3kilometers (just short of 2 miles), but it was all uphill andit took us 4 hours to reach the summit. We had a park guidewho cut bamboo walking sticks for us to use en route.We saw several waterfalls and so many tropical plants onlyseen in nurseries at home growing and going wild. There werealso figs and bananas growing wild and a fruit we had neverseen before called jackfruit which tastes sort of like a lemonflavored pear. There was a lodge at the top where we had apicnic lunch with some of the ubiquitous, but always delicioussticky rice, along with chicken, delicious mangoes and a ricecaramel dessert.

The Chedi atWat Doi Suthep

There is a temple founded in the 14th Century at the very topof a the highest peak (5,250 feet) called Wat Doi Suthep,where the monks we made merit with yesterday live. We took thefunicular up and walked back down via the elaborate NagaStaircase of 304 steps. While we were there, a few of themonks were touching up the paint job on the nagas on eitherside of the entrance. The wat’s central chedi is a multi-tiered dome-like structure, embellished with filigree and goldleaf, which is lovingly applied by pilgrims who come here toworship. It is said to enshrine sacred relics, in this casesome of what are believed to be some of the ashes of Buddha,which appear to be very widely spread given the number of

temples that claim them. A chedi somewhat resembles the UScapitol dome without

Bells of WatDoi suthep

the rounded edges and without the building underneath it.There is a bell tower called at ho rakang used to toll thehour and with a row of small bell used to call the monks andpeople to worship, which today visitors ring for good luck.There is also a wihan, or assembly hall where there aremultiple Buddhas.Among the numerous Buddhas, we found our personal Buddhas,based on the day of the week we were born. Gary’s was theMonday Buddha who is standing with one hand raised. Mine wasthe Thursday Buddha who sits and meditates.There are otherassembly halls reserved for monks called bots ,which aredemarcated by bai semas (sacred stones) used to identifyconsecrated ground. There are also

Young Dancersat the Temple

the cloisters which are the monks living quarters and various

“salas” for pilgrims to gather and religious lectures to beheld. We also saw the White Elephant Monument at the templewhich was comprised of a life-size elephant who was said to bethe personal transportation of King Ku Na. The elephant so thestory goes, in 1390 charged up the hill and selected this siteas the appropriate place to build a temple. In some versionsof the story, Buddha was aboard the elephant at the time. Hereportedly trumpeted loudly on his arrival at the summit andturned 3 times – so there was their sign to build right there.

Shoes of theworshipers

The temple was bustling with activity in some apparentcelebration with dancers and acrobats performing in thecourtyard. There were also plenty of worshipers as evidencedby the mounds of shoes around the door since shoes are alwaystaken off before entering a temple or shrine, as well as themounds of offerings at the various shrines.

MassageOutfits

We enjoyed our massage yesterday so much, the 4 of us , plusour guide Nikki, decided to go back for a group massage in theafternoon for a price roughly equal to $6.00 for two hours. Wewere given those same pajama like outfits to wear for themassage and laid on the cushioned mats on the floor – all 5 ofus in a row. The masseuses would kneel either next to useither on on or astride our backs, but they were so tiny, wehardly felt that there were there. I must confess I did peekat the others stretched out beside me with their tiny jockey-masseuses and I had to choke back a snort of laughter when Iconjured up images of Seabiscuit in the big race.

The NightMarket onWalking Street

Since today was Sunday, we were treated to a special SundayMarket lasting from 4 p.m. to midnight. There were hundreds ofstalls with hand made goods and food, drink and entertainment.Chiang Mai seems to be a continuous stream of markets – e.g.

Night Market, Day Market, Sunday Market . The latter was to befound along Walking Street, where we strolled and marveled.There were a number of blind musicians who were very youngmen, but who had worked as welders without the benefit of eyeprotection and consequently became blind at a young age – justa widely accepted occupational hazard here so Nikki told us.We had earlier noticed a business called Pooh Trek – whichrecycled dung into paper and it also doubled as a massage shopcalled Pooh Massage Therapy. They advertised that theirmassage therapists are blind (former welders no doubt). Wewould hope they don’t get their therapeutic mud mixed up withany elephant or other animal by-products since it is all underone roof.

Night MarketMassages

We also saw row after row of outdoor massage chairs – not whatyou see in the US where seated massages are offered, atairports for example. These could double as lawn chairs withcushions and there were rows of them, filled with customers.The going rate here was only a dollar or two depending on theservice desired. We also saw people selling eels and birds,which Nikki told us are sold to provide as offerings toBuddha, but rather than being prepared to be eaten, they areturned loose.We had dinner at the Tamarind Village Restaurant where almosteveryone enjoyed a local exotic dish – so exotic in fact a fewmeals got mixed up and no one knew the difference. I was the

one exception and ordered a ham and cheese sandwich withFrench Fries since my palate needed to give the Thai food arest. Tomorrow I would be prepared to attack it anew.February 13, 2012

A Mahout withthe Moms andBabies

Today I proclaimed to be one of the best days of my life – andI certainly have been blessed enough to have some good ones.This proclamation was issued while perched on the back of myown elephant for the day, a hulking guy named Bun Pak, as partof what is known locally as the Mahout for a Day program. Amahout is essentially an elephant trainer and caretaker.Usually they are assigned to an elephant at a very young ageand remain with him throughout his working life. Elephants inAsia, as opposed to Africa, have been used for work inlogging, hauling and transportation for centuries and arequite docile by comparison to their African counterparts.Elephants were used in hunting in previous centuries sincethey can run at about 12 miles and hour. Elephants also figurelargely in the Buddhist and Hindu religions and whiteelephants are held in particular regard and were consideredsacred

Ganesh

and only the king could own them. There is also a god in theHindu religion called Ganesh, who is the Hindu God ofknowledge, as well as the creator and remover of obstacles inlife. He has the body of a boy and the head of an elephantwhich can certainly make you do a double take while touring atemple. An elephant did not have to be solid white, butcertain parts had to be close to white to qualify as a whiteelephant. The origins of labeling something a white elephantcome from this tradition. Since only kings could ownelephants, they were of no use to anyone else – thus the label“white elephant” is applied to things perceived to be largeand useless.

The 9 MonthOld

The experience of this day was one of the best ever – theresimply aren’t enough superlatives to describe it. As a mahoutfor the day, our task was to do all the things for ourassigned elephant that their mahout would do which included,feeding, bathing, exercising, checking their health whichinvolved looking at their dung for signs of illness. It soundsworse than it was. Interesting enough elephant dung smells

like fresh hay. They told us that you can tell the age of anelephant by examining its dung, but we didn’t delve too muchinto that research.

Happy Mahoutsfor the Day

Our day started by driving about an hour out of Chiang Maiinto the countryside to a place called Patara (pronounced PahTa Rah with the accent on “Pah”) Elephant Camp. Their goal isto preserve elephants in Thailand by having tourists come toexperience them and spread the word while spreading thedollars. They are not trained to do tricks, but are trained toaccept humans. They have been protected by law since 1921, butwith continuing deforestation, their numbers have been reducedto just a few thousand. We started our elephant experience byhaving the opportunity to play with baby elephants. There were5 there with their mothers. It was a very wise move on thecamp manager’s part because we needed to get our ” elephantawe” under control so we could perhaps pay attention to ourguides and listen and learn.

Elephant

Wrestling

Surprisingly the elephant moms were not the least concernedabout us swarming around their babies – well swarming isprobably hyperbole – there were only 6 of us “mahout wannabes”that day. One baby in particular that they told us was 9months old was the youngest and the most playful. His favoriteplay seemed to be wrestling. He would use his trunk and oneleg to try to take down any challenger. Gary fared the bestsince he was more in this little guy’s weight class. The restof us had to be rescued by the handlers to keep from gettingpinned. All of the elephants seemed so affectionate – leaningagainst us, stretching out their trunks for a greeting, calmlylooking at us with those big liquid eyes, seeming to invite usto come closer (and of course if you had a treat like abanana, they were extra friendly). We didn’t see any of theprotectiveness that makes animal mothers in the wild sodangerous (e.g. a bear with a cub). It seems the elephantswere watchful, but trusting with the confidence that they caneasily address any threat we puny humans might present.Elephants have a two year gestation period so even thatprocess is laid back.

Open Wide!

After baby elephant recess, we proceeded to the seriousbusiness of mahout training. We were given special clothes towear, and as we would learn later, they were not just forornamentation. The shirts were pullover colorful hill tribe

weaves made by the Karen Tribe. The pants were heavy canvas“fisherman’s pants” – very loose fitting, and veryunflattering.Our first step was to bond with our assigned elephant. We didthe bonding by feeding our charge a bushel basket full ofbananas by hand. We didn’t hand them to them to take withtheir trunks, but rather we stood beside them, with a clusterof 6 or so unpeeled bananas in hand and gave the command,“bon”, which means something roughly equivalent to “openwide”. The elephant would then obey the command and we were toplace the bananas in its mouth, which is quite large, wet andsquishy. The real mahout would watch to see if the elephantbonded with us. That is, would the elephant, obey commandsfrom us. As

Bonding withBun Pak overBananans

a test we were to address the elephant by name to see how theelephant responded. A good response would be acknowledgementwith the elephant making a small trumpeting sound and/orgently flapping of its ears and swinging its of tail. Or itmight make a gentle rumbling sound, roughly equivalent to acat purring, although sounding more like a dog growling. Ourinstructor told us that sometimes elephants don’t like peopleand won’t even take bananas from them. A big time elephantrejection of a potential mahout for the day is marked by rapidflapping of ears and loud trumpeting, in which time a fullretreat is in order by the would-be mahout. Fortunately forus, all elephants liked all potential mahouts and we could

proceed.

Bun Pak theElephant

I was assigned to a male elephant named Bun Pak which meanshandsome man and Gary was assigned a female elephant namedMaha Pak which means beautiful flower. With Asian elephants,only the males have tusks and Bun Pak had quite an impressiveset of them. Both elephants were young by elephant standards,and among the largest in the herd. Bun Pak was 16 and Maha Pakwas 32. Elephants have longevity comparable to those of humanswith an average life span of 85 years. Bun Pak and Maha Pakboth wolfed down an entire basket of bananas apiece and thenfrisked our pockets and private places for more that might behidden. Once the mahouts indicated we were compatible, we wereready for our next step – the health check.

Pooh Check

Elephant health issues mostly center around their feet, which

are prone to infection if injured and digestive issues if theyhave over-eaten or eaten something not good for them. The feetare visually inspected and the poop is as well, where you arelooking for firmness and straw content. Elephants can alsosuffer from loneliness and depression and so there is constantattention paid to the elephants’ mental well being. We alsolearned that elephants sweat only around their toenails sothat is something to be watched to make sure they are notgetting over-heated. We also learned to check for sleeppatterns – healthy elephants lie down alternating sides aboutevery 30 minutes and will have dirt evenly distributed on bothsides. A sick elephant will sleep standing up, as willelephants desiring only a quick nap.

Dusting offMaha Pak

We were told we need to bathe our elephants in a four-stepprocess. The first step was to dust them off. Elephants throwdust on their back to act as a natural sunscreen and so wewere given “dusters” made from thin tree branches with leavesstill attached and we set to work. We all had to have someremedial work here. We started out like we were dustingWaterford Crystal, but the mahouts showed us we need to usedthe dusters more like flyswatters and really slap them againsttheir hides, sort of like you would beat a contrary mule. Theyassured us that unlike horses, they would not bolt and trampleus into the dirt in the process. With their thick hides, theydon’t even notice and in fact, they kneeled on the ground so

we could reach their backs more easily.

Hosing DownBun Pak

Step Two involved rinsing them off with a garden hose and theyreally had fun with that. Bun Pak insisted on drinking hisrinsing water directly from the hose, but after a few dozengallons, he let me have it back to spray on him.Step Three was perhaps the most amazing thing of this amazingday. These elephants are entirely unrestrained – no chains, nohooks, no hobbles. They operate strictly on verbal commands.Our job was to walk our elephants down to the river ( adistance of maybe 500 yards) and go into the water with themand give them a good scrub. Walkng

Wlaking BunPak

them to the river involved grabbing the elephant by the earand issuing the command “Mah” which means “ come” or in doglanguage “heel”. When you consider the size of the elephant –21 feet long, 10 feet tall and 11,000 pounds, it totally blew

me away that this creature would allow me to hold onto his earand amble down a path with me like an extremely well traineddog, simply because I told him “mah”. But “mah” he did, and weproceeded down the trail.

A Good RinseCycle

Arriving at the river, we began Step 4. There was a waist deeppool below a waterfall and all the elephants knew the drilland they plunged right in and squatted down in the water so wewould have full access to them. We were given a bucket with ascrub brush and got to work with a one way brushing motionwhich the elephants liked best. To the elephants this seemedto be the equivalent of a dog having his ears scratched. I wasa little concerned that in that dark water, one of thesecreatures would step on my foot and crush it to mush, but theywere amazingly careful with their feet. The mahouts told usthey have very sensitive feet and when they step where theycan’t see, they feel around to make sure of their footing.They walk on rocky areas to wear their toenails down to keepthem short.

Mahouts forthe Day Get aShower

Since I had the only male elephant in the group, he requiredsome special tusk cleaning, and so Gary helped me gather sandfrom the river bottom to polish them up. The mahouts had somefun with all of us, posing us by the waterfall for picturetaking and then having one of the more playful elephants namedLucky to give us a good surprise shower from her trunk. We hadthe opportunity for a little rinse off in the upper pool(above the elephant’s bathtub) before our lunch break.

Lunch onBanana Leaves

The mahouts took the elephants away to dry and have theirlunch and we sat down to ours – no chairs, we sat on the floorof the porch of a hut. Our table cloth was a series of bananaleaves with a veritable feast of fresh fruit, sticky rice and

fried chicken laid out before us. After we ate, we wereoffered special hill tribe coffee which was brewed in asection of bamboo (which we learned has individual chambers)over a camp fire. The coffee mugs were also made from a singlesection of bamboo. We were responsible for cleaning up afterlunch which involved discarding chicken bones and rolling upeverything else into the bamboo leaves to feed to ourelephants.

Ready to Ride

After lunch we were reunited with our elephants, so we gavethem their snack and it was time to go for a ride. When mosttourists go for an elephant ride in Asia, they generally ridein a “howdah”. This is a contrivance with a seat and raisedsides, which is strapped on the elephant’s back like a saddle, only it is a saddle that will hold two people seated on abench. In olden times, the howdah’s size and decoration wouldreflect the status of the riders, with the king having themost elaborate of all howdahs with a roof or at the very leasta parasol. Our ride was to be sitting directly on theelephant, right where his neck joined his shoulders, just likein the circus. The first task was to get on board. They toldus there are

ClimbingAboard MahaPak

three ways to do this. The elephant can lower its trunk andsort of flip you up there (not recommended for males due totusk interference), the elephant can be commanded to go bellydown on the ground and you can climb up or the elephant can becommanded to raise one leg any you can step on the bent leg,grab an ear and haul yourself up. We both chose option 3, butI have to admit I did have to have some serious boostingassistance from the mahouts, who I am sure were having a goodchuckle.

On the Trail

Once we were on board, it became apparent why we needed thecanvas pants. Elephants have sparse hair on their bodies, thatfeels like little toothpicks poking into your skin when youapply pressure to them. The canvas pants assure a morecomfortable ride, comfort being relative since the elephant’sback is so broad that even the tallest of riders cannot avoidhaving his or her knees stick out at right angles, which does

get tiring after a while.Before we set off, we had to learn the basic commands to useon our ride. The mahouts very ingeniously wrote them out onour forearms with magic marker to ensure we could access themeasily to remain in control. The commands are not in Thai, butin Hindi, one of the languages of India. The reasoning is thatthey don’t want the elephant to hear a couple of localstalking and think they are talking to him, and thus perhapspay no attention to his mahout or rider.

The CommandCheat Sheet

The commands were:Pai (pronounced Pie) which means go (or in cowboy parlance“giddyup”. You could give a few “pai’s” strung together tooffer more encouragement)How which is pronounced just like it sounds and means stopNon Long – which means down and is key for a non-disastrousdismountLook – which means is up – the command opposite “non long”Toy – which is the command to back upYana – which means no, in case you have occasion to scold anaughty elephant – maybe one who wants to graze instead ofgiddyup.Didi – which means “good elephant” , always useful praise forgood behaviorWe took a ride into the jungle, with our real mahouts trailingnot too far away in case any of our elephants decided to go

rogue and run off with us. We were told the best way to rideis sitting on the neck with our legs drawn up so our feet arejust behind the ears. Easy for them to say since the tallestof them is probably 5 foot nothing. We taller people found itmore comfortable to have our legs dangle and the elephantsdidn’t seem to mind.

Pai Pai

To start moving, we were to simply tap on the elephant’s earsand utter “pai-pai” and off we went. I did have to give BunPak a few “Yanas” since he was tempted to graze, but we movedpretty well. My mahout caught up with us and gave me sometreats he had picked to give to Bun Pak, who somehow knew Ihad them since he kept lifting his trunk up to get some. Healso knew when they were gone and went back to the occasionalforay into the bush. We rode for around two hours which wasboth wonderful and tiring, very hard on the thighs and kneesat that 90 degree angle. We had nothing to hold on to but theears and a rope behind us encircling the elephants girth, butthe elephant’s back was so broad, and he moved so slowly,you’re really have to work at it to fall off, no matter howsteep the trail got.

Farewell toour Elephantsand their realMahouts

We had a short rest and the elephants were given an afternoonsnack of bamboo and then we had a second ride. This time Itold Bun Pak he needed to “non long” (come down) so I couldget on. For this ride, the mahouts suggested we sit on theelephant’s head for a different experience. This was a muchnarrower and more precipitous perch, especially when Bun Pakwanted to detour for a snack. Fortunately we were on a flattrail along a lake so it wasn’t as conducive to a spill as thesteeper trek earlier in the day. We had to take care to haveour legs positioned to hang between their eyes so as not toobstruct their vision. With great sadness, we said goodbye toour elephants and their real mahouts and rode back to ChiangMai.

A Dancer atthe MandarinOriental Hotel

Local wisdom says mankind would do well to be more likeelephants in the way we proceed forward and eat. That is, takeeach step carefully, and only eat vegetables. We promptlyignored this and went to the Mandarin Oriental Hotel to pamperourselves with a luxurious carnivorous evening after anexhausting exhilarating day of “mahouting”. It was a beautifulhotel, but we much preferred staying in town at the BodhiSerene with real life right outside your door. At the MandarinOriental, real Thai life was kept at bay with a high fence,luxurious gardens and guards at the entrance.February 14, 2012Dateline: Chiang Rai, ThailandLatitude at Chiang Rai 19.90 degrees North, 99.82 degrees East

Countryside ofNorthernThailand

Today we started our anti-Malaria medications since we wouldbe going to the lowland areas of Southeast Asia in a few daystime. We left Chiang Mai early to drive to Chiang Rai via thescenic route in the northernmost provinces of Thailand and anarea called The Golden Triangle. This area borders Burma andLaos and the point where the Mekong River flows out of Chinato Thailand’s borders. The first Thai settlements were alsohere. The ride afforded us some really exotic scenes –mountains, rice paddies, jungle – as we shared the road withwhat the locals jokingly refer to as Japanese Water Buffalo –that is, Yamaha and Honda motorbikes. Nikki explained to us

that the local people here train monkeys to

In the GoldenTriangle

harvest their coconuts and we told her we would like to seethat , to which she gave here standard response of “that ispossible” no matter what we asked to see or do.We took route 107 north paralleling the border with Myanmar(a.k.a. Burma). Our route would take us through the villagesof Mae Rim, Mai Taeng, Chiang Dao, Fang, Mai Ai and Mai Chanbefore stopping for the night in Chiag Rai. All of themsounded ultra exotic, but I was particularly interested inseeing what Fang looked like. It turned out to be a tinymarket town, with no hint of violence one would associate with“fang”.

The OrchidFarm

We stopped at an Orchid Farm just outside of Chiang Mai wherewe saw the most beautiful collection I have ever seen of trulywonderful specimens. The orchids are grown from tiny seeds and

are put into a growing medium such as agar in a bottle togerminate. Their roots thrive in air and require little or nosoil. There were acres and acres of them in every size, shapeand color and it was quite lovely to see. Orchids grow wild inmany parts of Thailand, but are also largely cultivated andorchid poaching is not uncommon since some of the varietiesare extremely valuable and the local people are extremelypoor. We had a snack on the grounds in very serene gardensetting. Our snacking would continue throughout the drive toChiang Rai.

Pooh Recycling

Our next stop was not so lovely, but really interesting andnot on our itinerary, but Nikki made it possible. We had beentold that Thai people waste nothing including elephant poopand we made this stop to see just what was being done with it.We met an older gentleman who was in charge (at least helooked older) and he showed us aground with great pride. Wenoticed he had on a tee shirt proclaiming the superiority ofthe Purdue Boilermakers. He had no idea what either one wassince he got the shirt at a flea market, so we proceeded totry to explain through Nikki as our translator. He got theUniversity part, but we weren’t sure Nikki was able toadequately explain what a “boiler maker” was.So here is the scoop on the poop, elephant poop that is. Atthis facility, it is recycled into paper in a multi-stepprocess that goes something like this: It is bleached, boiledand cooked down to a thick gravy-like substance that is spread

on a screen to dry out in the yard. Once dry it is dyed andcut and fabricated into boxes, paper, albums and so forth.They do make stationery, but it makes for pretty lumpywriting.

Sticky Ricecooking overan Open Fire

We also made a sticky rice stop at a roadside place near thevillage of Chiang Dao that Nikki told us makes the very bestin the country. The place is nothing fancy and it is strictlystand and eat or take it out. The workers either squat or seatthemselves on low plastic chairs – very low like they camefrom a kindergarten class room. To make the sticky rice theyadd the desired ingredients to the rice to make it sweet,spicy or whatever . The ones we had were sweet. They place therice mixture in bamboo stalks and soak it overnight. They thencut it into sections and make a stopper out of coconut fibersand cook it over an open fire. The tough outer part of thebamboo is then cut away, leaving only a thin membrane-likelining that can be peeled like a banana when you are ready toeat it. It was as advertised – delicious and the price was amere 30 baht which was less than a dollar. Nikki says we wouldmake good Thais since we always enjoy eating. Nikki did tellus that the new generations of Thai people are growing biggeras they have more access to protein and calcium supplied byWestern food. She said pretty soon no one in Thailand will fiton an elephant any more.

Trees inFlower nearChiang Rai

The countryside became more scenic and more mountainous as weprogressed toward Chiang Rai. We passed teak wood groves,prosperous-looking farms, and verdant fields of lychee, garlicand lavender. There was also a profusion of wild bloomingtrees and shrubs such as jacaranda (lavender color), goldenshower (yellow gold), and bauhinia (purple). The mountainsare largely limestone karsts that formed interestingsilhouettes on either side of the road.Nikki told us about the opium trade that once flourished hereand how the government is implementing programs to try tostamp out addiction and production. Programs include farmassistance in getting alternative crops established. Theking’s mother travels here frequently by helicopter sinceredirecting the efforts of the former opium farmers is one ofher pet projects. We were told that the locals call her“Mother From the Sky”. Nikki has a really delightfulexpression in English to describe any number of rule breakersand that is that they are “naughty”. Naughty can apply to drugsmugglers, orchid poachers, corrupt government officials,pedophiles, pickpockets, monks texting during prayers andillegal aliens. We found it really charming that Nikki hasn’tlapsed into English slang and expletives to describe wrong-doers. There is something so kind and gentle about the word“naughty”.

A Hmong Market

Smog is a problem in the area, but it is not from automobiles,but rather from farmers burning the fields to get rid ofstubble from crops already harvested. Most of the nativepeople in this area are Hmong (prononouced “mong”), who arebelieved to have migrated from China. Another prominent hilltribe is the Karen people who are noted for their custom ofusing brass bands ( as much as 16 pounds of them) to elongatethe necks of their young women, from Age 5 through 25. It wasconsidered a sign of wealth to have the women in your familystretch their necks in this manner. A long swan-like neck wasalso considered beautiful back in the day, but the healthproblems associated with this practice (atrophy of neckmuscles and strain on shoulder muscles) and influence from theoutside world have made it far less popular today and womentypically only do it to make money from tourists for photoopportunities.

Game Cocks atthe Market

There is a third tribe quite populous here called the Akha whohold holistic beliefs about their relationship with thenatural world. Collectively, the hill tribes do not have a

religion as the Western world knows it, but many have beenconverted to Christianity. We stopped at a couple of Hmongroadside markets to sample some of the local productsincluding other types of sticky rice, jackfruit, custard,dragon fruit, tapioca, peaches and mango. They are also notedfor raising fighting cocks, of which we saw a plentiful supplyin cages at the market place. They are very resourceful here.We saw a strange contraption that looked sort of like a SmartCar pickup that had a tiny truck bed, a seat atop motorcycleengine, and some handlebars, all sort of haphazardly weldedtogether with a family of 4 driving off with the day’sshopping done at the market. This was just a few yards from afarmer turning into the market on his mo-ped dressed in baggypants and shirt, flip flops and a straw hat with a hoe overhis shoulder. We stopped at a noodle shop for lunch and ourtab came to a whopping $9.00 for 6 people.

The DoiMaesalong NokTea Plantation

Just before Chiang Rai we stopped at the Doi Maesalong Nok teaplantation for a tea tasting, very similar to a wine tastingin a tasting room set upon a mountain top overlooking the vastacreage of cultivated fields. The land was immaculatelygroomed and terraced and we saw temples on just about everyhill top. Nikki told us that tea grows well in this climate,but there is a constant battle with naughty caterpillars. Eachplant is hand trimmed and harvested and different flowers and

spices are combined with the tea leaves to create specialblends. This was such a tasteful, serene, and tranquilretreat, but we have learned to expect contrast here and werenot disappointed. Upon leaving the tasteful serenity of thetea

Enjoying theTea Tasting

room, we saw a koi pond which we also thought to be tranquil,serene, until we noticed that the fountain supplying water tothe pond was coming from a tea-pot which had two bare boobs onthe side with water coming from the nipples and splashing intothe pond. So much for tasteful I guess.We stopped at a market that Nikki said was run by Chinese fromYunnan province and immediately became aware of the differencein sales styles between the Hmong and the Chinese – on the onehand a shy smile and a nod (Thai) and on the other hand an allout hawking and stalking (Chinese). We did buy some roastedpeanuts at this market to keep our feeding frenzy going, butwe then beat a hasty retreat to the safety of our van. Nikkisays 10% of the population in this area is Chinese and manyare naughty illegal immigrants.

Tiny SweetPineapples ata RoadsideMarket

And speaking of naughty – we had to go through a road blockwhere Thai drug enforcement was stopping cars looking fordrugs being smuggled in from Burma. They just took one peek atour Caucasian faces and waved us through. Apparently we didnot fit the profile, but there were plenty of pat-downs beingconducted on locals and those who could pass for local.We had one more stop before Chiang Rai for another, youguessed it, snack. This time it was tiny pineapples at aroadside stand that were so sweet, you would swear they hadsugar sprinkled on them. They were also selling tiny littlesweet bananas which we sampled too. We asked Nikki if therewas anything not grown here and she said they had to importcotton – it’s not dry enough here and also crops that likecold weather such as apples and pears don’t do well here.There used to be acres and acres of rubber plantations and fewdo still exist, but they have been largely replaced bypetroleum products. Nikki says the biggest problem the farmersface in this region are naughty rats who eat their crops.

Gardens NearChiang Rai

We drove into Chiang Rai at almost dusk and were struck by thenumber of 7-11 stores – just one more incongruity in a daythat continued to be filled with them. There were cars drivingaround with Las Vegas Style Lights – enough to make you wantto put your sunglasses on.. Then there was a billboard inEnglish encouraging people to log onto www.DEArewards.com tosnitch on opium growers we presume. It sounds like the DEAneeds to get some of those naughty rats to start eating opiumpoppies. Then we saw a billboard advertising a doctor whowould perform sex change operations at a very reasonableprice, complete with before and after pictures. Nicky told usthat this is really a big business here, along with plasticsurgery for breast and other implants and almost all of thecustomers are foreigners. We speculated on how that would workwith the visa and passport system. If you come in with yourgender designated “F” and you leave as a man, do you have tochange it? There were rows and rows of roadside businessselling rattan products. Nikki told us these merchants aremostly parolees who learned this trade while in prison fordrug trafficking and now have a new line of work.

Dinner at theNight Market

We checked into our hotel, the Legend Chiang Rai Resortsituated on the picturesque Kok River. We just dropped off oursuitcases and rejoined Nikki to visit Chiang Rai’s NightMarket. There were dozens of food stalls – sort of a Thai FoodCourt and we each picked our own food – shrimp for me and awhole fish for Gary, along with mounds of French fries (whichis what they call them here too).

Looking around at the tables we commented on the large numberof Caucasians, but on second glance we saw a marked absence ofCaucasian women, and for that matter, young Caucasian males.All the Caucasians seemed to be portly balding men over 55.Their companions were local young women in their twenties andthirties. Nikki told us it is very common here for foreign mento move here and take a much younger wife or mistress. Theycan live like kings on $12,000 per year. Quite often the womanin question is a single mother. Apparently there is no suchthing as child support in Thailand and the woman is totallyresponsible for any children she may bear and a child’s fathercan just walk away, which they apparently do in droves. Whileour Western sensibilities were telling us this was wrong in somany ways, we had to adjust our thinking. Nikki explained tous that while we might feel the men are taking advantage ofthe young girls, that it is actually an arrangement to benefitboth. There is no public school for girls in Thailand for themost part. With no education and no skills, they can chooseprotection (male expat) or prostitution. Thus the man gets a

trophy wife he could never afford back home, and the womangets a life-style far beyond her wildest dreams and herchildren have more opportunity than they would otherwise. Whenseen from that perspective– it forces you to step back and bea little less judgmental, which is never a bad thing.

February 15, 2012

We used Chiang Rai as our base to explore the Golden Trianglewhere the countries of Laos, Burma and Thailand meet. The townwas founded in 1262 by King Mengrai who made it the capital ofhis Lanna Kingdom, but the capital was moved to Chiang Maiafter only 34 years. We found it interesting that Thailand wasnever colonized, not even by the British. Instead a series ofkings ruled kingdoms of varying names and territory for manycenturies until democratic elections were held in 1988.Monarchy in Thailand continues, it just doesn’t rule. Therewere at least 5 tourist-worthy wats (temples) in Chiang Rai,but we were close to suffering from “temple overload” and sowe set off exploring the countryside instead of theseparticular temples.

ThawanDuchaneeGallery

Our first stop was the home (and now museum) of Thailand’smost famous artist, Thawan Duchanee. His art was known for his

use of things from the natural world – shells, animal bones,skins, and horns and the extensive use of teakwood. There wasa gallery of his paintings where the colors he used werealmost exclusively red, black and white. The grounds of hishouse were filled with gardens, temples and various buildingsthat house his collections and his work which includedpainting, sculpture and applied art such as drums and baskets.

Old Buddha atWatJeedhelhoung

We did make one temple exception due to its historicsignificance in the complex called Wat Jedeelhoung, which waslargely in ruins, understandably so since it dates back to the13th Century . The complex is set among centuries old teak andbanyan trees. At one time it was a walled city on the MekongRiver with Laos on the other side, but the river has sincechanged course. We found ourselves some sticky rice vendors onthe grounds (sesame sticky rice this time) and some saltedpineapple which was unexpectedly tasty. We also bought a smallspirit house here to take home – about the size of abirdhouse, but very elaborately detailed like a miniaturepagoda. They are used in Thai homes as a shrine to theprotective spirit of a place.

The Mekong atthe GoldenTriangle

The Mekong River originates in Tibet, flows though China andthen to Southeast Asia, creating the border between Thailandand Laos before continuing south through Cambodia and Vietnam.There is an ongoing battle with the Chinese, who have beenbuilding dams on it and causing low water levels to the othercountries. We stopped at the point where the 3 countries meet(Thailand, Myanmar or Burma and Laos) to take in the view andthen we continued to a spot on the riverbank to see thelargest Buddha in Thailand, built to honor the Queen ofThailand. We have seen a number of statuary images of Buddhain many different poses. Today we learned that each pose hasits own significance. There are four basic postures: standing,sitting, walking and reclining. The first 3 are associatedwith Buddha’s life on earth and the 4th, the recliningposition represents his final moments on earth when he hasachieved nirvana (ultimate wisdom). The four postures arecombined with hand and feet positions to create a variety of“mudras” or attitudes. One king had written up a manual ofsorts identifying 40 of these, but most sculptors employedonly a dozen or so.

Seated BuddhaTouching theEarth

The seated image referred to as “touching the earth” is themost common one. In it Buddha sits under a tree with his legscross in the lotus position, his left hand on his lap and hisright resting on his leg pointing downward toward the earth.However if he is seated with legs in the lotus position withboth hands palms up, the right over the left, this symbolizesmeditation. Another fairly common one is Buddha standing,touching a thumb and forefinger to make a circle which is saidto represent the: turning of the wheel of law” . Buddhistsbelieve is perpetual reincarnation, where each life isinfluenced by the actions and deeds of the previous one. Thiscause and effect philosophy is called karma and is symbolizedby the wheel of law depicted in the flag of Buddhism. WhenBuddha has one hand extended palm facing you (like TheSupremes performing “Stop in the Name of Love” it is intendedto convey reassurance. However if both palms are extendedforward, it refers to Buddha restraining the flood waters.

Face of Buddha

by the Mekong

Enlightenment (nirvana) is the final state of evolving whenthe pinnacle is reached and the cycle of rebirth is ended. Thegoal of Buddhists is to develop the 3 pillars of their belief:morality, meditation and wisdom. They do this by following acode of behavior in each of their reincarnated lives,utilizing the virtues of tolerance and non-violence. Thaipeople practice Theravada Buddhism, which originated in Indiaand incorporates many beliefs of other religions. As forBuddha’s time on Earth, he was born a prince in India in the6th Century BC. He gave up his riches to seek Enlightenment,and after 10 lives, he achieved Nirvana. His teachings fromthose lives are followed by Buddhists today.

Gates Leadingto the GiantBuddha on theMekong

From there we went to the House of Opium, a $10 million dollarmuseum built by donations from the Japanese and is dedicatedto telling the story of opium and how it has crippledgenerations and almost destroyed the country. There arehundreds of artifacts, photographs and articles telling thestories. Opium was first grown in the highlands of Thailand inthe late 19th century by the hill tribes and became a majorcash crop. It was outlawed in 1959, but continued to flourishwell into the 20th Century in the Golden Triangle. There were

many bloody power struggles for control of the poppy fields inthe century prior to its being outlawed, including the OpiumWars with the British for control of the drug trade in themid-19th Century. The British won giving them control of tradein China. Opium was legalized in China and opium dens sproutedup across Southeast Asia and addiction ran rampant. It seemsthe Chinese partook of the drug and British didn’t and thusthe Brits achieved domination of China while the Chinese theywere fighting mostly got too stoned to either care or notice.More recently the Kuomintang Army from China fought a localdrug lord in 1967, giving the Golden Triangle furthernotoriety. The drug lord retreated to Burma and the victoryhere eventually allowed the government to gain the upper handand begin the long process of eradication of both growing andusing. Since the 1980’s the hill tribes have been incented bythe government under the rule of King Bhumibol to grow othercrops, but the area remains active in the trading, if not thegrowing, of opium.

Thailand-Myanmar Border

After lunch Nikki gave us the option of crossing a shortbridge and briefly visiting Myanmar which we thought was justthe thing to do. To get to Myanmar, we drove to the Thaiborder town of Mae Sai, separated from Burma by the Sai River.The town was bustling with trade, the main street lined withfood vendors and all manner of goods for locals and fortourists, with most of the merchandise coming from across the

river in Myanmar. We stopped at Thai immigration and got thenecessary paperwork done to walk across the bridge. Then westopped at Myanmar immigration on the other side of the bridgeto do the same. However we had to leave our passports withthem which caused a little frisson of alarm, but Nikki assuredus all would be well.

A YoungBurmese Boy

Myanmar is actually the old name for the country, which meansstrong health and happiness. The name Burma came about, as sooften happened when the British came to colonize. In 1989 itwas changed back officially to Myanmar, which is much closerto the historical name in the local language The capital citywas originally Yangon, which the British changed to Rangoonfor whatever reason. Now it is back to Yangon.

Streets ofTachilek

The town on the Myanmar side is Tachilek and like its Thaicounterpart on the other side of the bridge, it too isbustling with trade. A major difference is that in Tachilekthere is a thriving black market for pirated goods and knock-offs which Nikki advised us will be promptly seized when aperson re-enters Thailand, a nation which has partnered withthe West to try to protect patents, copyrights and trademarks.There are no such niceties observed in Myanmar where it isopen season on Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Gucci, Oakley, Viagra,Marlboros and a host of other name brands. whose pirated orknock-off products can be purchased for pennies on the dollar.

The LittleTuk-tuk thatCould Not

The main attraction in Tachilek is a massive temple called theTachilek Shwedagon Pagoda, sitting upon a hill overlooking thetown. We hired two tuk-tuks (small vehicles that are like apowered rickshaw – a motor scooter in the front attached to asmall truck bed with a seat) to take us up to the temple. Theydon’t haul much of a payload since at one point we had to getout and push to get up a hill. It seems these tuk-tuks don’thave much horsepower, but then again, we Americans presentquite a payload for hauling. We decided it would be a goodidea to pick the skinniest of the skinny drivers and maybe putone passesnger per tuk-tuk to avoid having to push. We couldeasily have been in the music video for Salt-N-Pepa’s song,“Push It Real Good”. We definitely had to push it real good

going up that hill.

The Stupa atthe TachilekSwegdon Pagoda

The temple and its setting were beautiful , so we left ourshoes at the entrance and enjoyed a walk around the grounds.We bought incense and flowers from local sellers to pay ourrespects at the temple, whose stupa (chedi) was a replica ofone in Yangon. Here we had the opportunity to locate thestatue of our personal Buddha, based on the day of the week wewere born. Each of the 7 sites has a large statue of Buddha,with flower vases and incense burners on either side. In frontof that there is a basin full of water with a small standingBuddha statue in the center of it. Below that is another basinwith an animal, a different one representing each day of theweek. We each sought out our birthday Buddha, and Nikki showedus the appropriate process for paying our respects.

PayingRespects tothe Thursday

Buddha

Here were the instructions:1) Stand before the Buddha and bow 3 times with hands togetherin a Wai position2) Put incense in the jar and flowers in a pot provided3) Dip out 3 cups of water and pour on the little Buddha4) Dip out 2 cups of water to put on the hands of the BigBuddha who is holding a shell5) Dip out one cup of water and pour on your Burmese Zodiacanimal – in my case it was the rat, and Gary’s was a tiger.

Jolly Monks

We also had out picture taken with what is sometimes calledthe Double Buddha, but it is actually larger than lifesculptures of two jolly and seemingly frolicking monks. Thisis said to bring good luck and if that wouldn’t do it, we alsorang the large gong to bring even more. You can’t have toomuch good luck.We were besieged by postcard sellers who insisted we must buytheir product so we gave them a dollar or two just to go away,but this only produced more post card sellers who not onlywanted to sell postcards, but they also said were also hungryto boot. Gary offered to buy them something to eat, but theydeclined that offer and went back to hawking postcards. Webeat a hasty retreat to our tuk-tuk for the trip back to townwith no pushing since it was all down-hill.

Tachilek’sThrivingMarkets –Black andOtherwise

We retraced our steps and retrieved our passports at theMyanmar Immigration office. They passed each passport outindividually, carefully studying the face of the claimant tomake sure some Burmese peasant was not trying to pull a fastone. It was quite interesting since most of us strive to notlook like our passport pictures since they are usually sounflattering. We also had an interesting time at Thai customswhere they looked through all our possessions to make sure wewere not bringing back any contraband cigarettes, designerbags or erectile dysfunction meds. I am glad to say we weredeclared innocent on all counts and allowed back intoThailand.

Relaxing bythe Kok River

We had a little free time before dinner so we enjoyed somerelaxation at our hotel where they had set up lounge chairsalong the River Kwok to enjoy the peace and tranquility of theevening. After dealing with the tuk-tuk pushing, the respectpaying and the hungry post card sellers, it was nice to relax.We noticed that everyone here is busy – no loitering, nolollygagging. Aside from taking time for a massage ormeditation, hardly any locals sit still for any length oftime. Everyone appears to be industrious and creative, whichmay be a reaction to the bad old days when everyone was almostcomatose on opium. There is a genuine warmth and graciousnessof the Thai people that we have come to admire during our stayhere and we had time as we lollygagged by the river to reflecton it. Tomorrow we will bid farewell to Thailand and cross theMekong River to begin our tour of Laos.