Thailand - A first taste of Asia

        In Baja I had a schedule. I had to kayak to the next town before I ran out of water. In Europe we had a schedule. Relatives and friends of the family were expecting us to visit during certain weeks. Now our traveling has taken on a much more leisurely speed. The pace of life is slower. We are not interested in rushing around and trying to see "everything" there is to be seen. It has been more our style to pick a town and settle down for a bit, exploring the trails and countryside around the town, seeing some of the sites, and meeting some of the people that live there. 

      Once everyone had left Koh Samui after the wedding we hung out there for a few days with our friend Seth discussing plans for Nepal in the spring (see www.sethwolpin.com for all the crazy stuff he has been and will be up to).

View from Sarocha Villas, Koh Samui

We then flew up to Chiang Mai which is the big city in Northern Thailand. It is a town of about 175,000 people and its biggest drawback is that the air quality can get REALLY poor there since the pollution gets trapped within the mountains. Otherwise there is a lot going on in Chiang Mai. It is the gate way to the northern mountains and very much on the backpacker/tourist circuit. In most of Thailand there are temples everywhere but there are even a higher density here. Over 700 was the number I believe I read somewhere. They all have very similar features but are each unique at the same time, much like the cathedrals in Europe. At Wat (Temple) Srisuphan they have a "monk chat" three nights a week where the monks get to practice their English and the farang (Westerners) get to ask the monks questions about their life.

Wat Srisuphan, Chiang Mai

For many of them, being a monk is a way for them to get an education. The monk we talked to planned on being a monk for 10 years and hoped to get a masters degree. He said that many of the laypeople don't truly understand Buddhism but just go through the motions. We remarked that we thought at some level all religions are like that. For example I was raised a Christian but don't really understand the holy trinity - Father (God), Son (Jesus), and the Holy Ghost - where did the ghost come from? I thought ghosts were pagan? Ghosts or spirits are a real belief here and there is a spirit house (altar) in most houses and businesses with daily offerings of food, water, and incense. While in Chiang Mai we also met some local runners through a Hash House Harrier run (see FidEgan's Fastpacks - Epidsode 5 - Hash Running In Thailand). We did some running with them and then spent some days exploring the hills above town in Doi Suthep-Pui National Park.

Doi Suthep Park with Square Rooter and Brown Finger

View toward Chiang Mai

   
     Next stop was Chiang Dao where the mountains become more rugged as they get close to the Myanmar border. These hills are considered to be the very beginning (or end) of the Himalaya. We played tourist and rode elephants bareback. We laughed since we rode camels when we got engaged in Tunisia and now elephants on our "honeymoon" but we have never ridden horses together. We spent 2 days trekking the mountains and spent the night in a Hmong village.

Tarzan? - nope, just John

Hiking into Hmong village

Tarzan? - nope, just John

The other place we spent a chunk of time in was Chiang Rai which is smaller and much less polluted than Chiang Mai. Chiang Mai had some of the worst air quality I have ever been in though it did improve while we were there after it rained. Chiang Rai is a great place to relax. We rented a motor bike one day and explored the countryside.

The White Temple, Chiang Rai

Mae Korn Waterfall, Chiang Rai

We ran with some locals that our Chiang Mai friends had put us in touch with. We did a visa run to the Myanmar border one day which was interesting. That part of Myanmar we were told is run by two warlords (there used to be 3 but one was killed) and that area produces over 600 tons of heroin which is second only to Afghanistan. The border town of Tachileik was a fairly dreary place with a bit of a wild west feel to it. To truly enter Myanmar you have to fly in. Crossing the land border you are limited to that area and only for a day (or 14 days with special permission). We wandered the town for an hour before deciding the food options were more appealing in Thailand so we crossed back across the Mai Nam Sai River which reset our Thai visas to allow us to stay for another 30 days.

Mai Nam Sai River into Myanmar

     
We then went back to Bangkok for Christmas with the Fiddlers. We stopped at Sukhothai on the way which is an archaeological World Heritage Site. It was originally a Khmer city but was then the place where the first kings of Thailand began to develop their empire in the 1200s. There were spectacular ruins with influences from India, China, and Indonesia scattered over a wide area and we spent the day riding bikes around the area.

Wat Mahathat, Sukhothai

Wat Mahathat, Sukhothai

Impressions of Thailand - it was the perfect place to start a trip around SE Asia. Not many people speak English (beyond a few words) yet it has been really easy to travel in. People have been friendly and helpful. The food is amazing and we have had no gastrointestinal issues (so far). It is crazy affordable, especially after being in Europe last summer. The guesthouses we have been staying in have been between $10-25 a night. Entrees at a restaurant are $3-4 but you can eat street food (choosing carefully) for even less. Transportation costs are also very low. Sometimes when we are haggling over a fare for a tuk tuk or sorngtaaou (pickup truck taxi) we realize that it is over 30 cents and just decide to pay the "tourist price". Combined we have been living off of about $50 a day. We met a few expats that are retired and living here off of nothing but their social security. That said, if you want a western lifestyle in the east, you will pay for it. It's really a matter of choice. We prefer to live simply and are able to do it so cheaply here.

Next stop: Laos (though we will be back in Thailand at the end of January to do some veterinary work).