Hilltribe Trek Day 2

This was the "hard" day of our trek.  It started easy, but pretty soon, we found a pretty steep uphill that looked even steeper in the heat of the day.  The group was upbeat and cheerful, so we all went up the hill with little problem with just a few water breaks.  The terrain during the hike was a combination of forest with the occasional opening into a field where the local people cultivate rice, corn, and tea.  May is the time to plant rice so that's the primary crop that we saw.

At the top of the hill, there was a wonderful resting tree.  It was interesting getting there, but it was nice to perch myself on it after the hot trek up.  Many of the people of the group followed me, with different degrees of success...  From the top of the hill, it was a nice downhill to the elephant camp.  At the camp, there were 6 elephants just playing around next to the creek.  As we got closer, two of them switch to some "adult play" which turned to be quite a show.

As we were having lunch, the handlers were preparing the elephants for our ride.  They all got a nice wash in the river and they set the saddles up (basically a bench for two, sitting in a horse-like saddle).  A pair of the male elephants were challenging each other so they were playfully pushing each other around (later on they were racing each other on the trail).  One of the female elephants was pregnant, but that didn't exclude her to carry two of the smaller people of the group.

After lunch, I saved some of the fruit to share with one of the elephants.  It's kind of scary to walk around these hyge elephants, but I figured out that they were very used to people so it would be fine.  After feeding pineapples and bananas to the elephant, it was time for our exciting ride down the trail to the next hill tribe village.

Our elephant, a dominant male, was saddled up and with the handler we headed down the hill.  I was surprised about how agile elephants are and how they can easily negotiate very narrow trails and steps.  At one time the trail widened and the challenging male that was fighting our elephant, just spring to pass our elephant.  Our elephant didn't like that a bit, but now the other elephant was ahead.  I think our elephant blamed us for his humiliation, so he started to picking up dirt with his trump and blowing it to each of us.  The ride gave us an interesting view of the jungle from higher up.  Unfortunately, no tigers...

Our village for the night was much larger than the previous village.  It had a sizable school and much better built houses.  Our homestay was next to the Mae Tang river so we tried to escape the heat by jumping in the river.  The local kids were doing the same, playing in the water a bit upstream from where we were.

Next to the river there were beautiful flowers and "sleeping plants", an amazing plant that closes its leaves when is touched.  We have the same plant in Venezuela, in fact, most of the plants in Thailand are surprisingly similar to the ones in Venezuela.  Even the fruits and the food in general(except for the amount of chilies) is very similar.  Sometimes it felt like I was back there, except that I was surrounded by smiling Thai people. 

In the late afternoon, it looked like the weather was turning really bad, but we just had a short rain shower and the blue skies returned.  It turned that there was a major storm just North of us, but we were lucky and missed us.

After cooking and eating dinner, our local guides came out with silly games designed to get you confused so you make a mistake.  These games were lots of fun, including the "medicine" for making a mistake, getting a sooth mark in your face.  As you can see in the picture above, some people made more mistakes than others :)

After dark, the rain brought a large number of fireflies, so just before going to bed, we were treated to a light show by then.

Hilltribe Trek Day 1

Today is the start of the trek to the hill tribes of Northern Thailand.

It's a long drive, so we broke the drive by stopping first at Mork Fak waterfall.  This is a 35m high waterfall that splits in several "showers" and drop in a nice pool where one can swim.  It was very hot when we got there (38C) so it was nice to jump in the water and stay under the waterfall for a while.  After the waterfall, we stopped in a local fresh fruit market and then on a road-side restaurant for a simple lunch.  The whole drive took a total of 5 hours on a very windy road, so we were very glad when we finally got to the trailhead for the start of our hike.

The hike started in a lush tropical forest where the greenery goes all the way to the horizon.  The area is higher than Chiang Mai, so fortunately, it wasn't as hot.  As we were hiking, we found very interesting flowers and insects.  It's the end of the dry season and some of the rain has already come, so a few of the rainy season plants (like the fire plant in the picture below) are starting to grow.  A favorite of everybody was the giant rolly-polly.  An insect that rolls itself in a hard ball when it feel threatened. It's very similar to the rolly-pollies found in California gardens, but much much bigger.

As we walked into the forest, the views of the mountains got better and better.  The faint mountains in the picture at the left are actually the Thai-Burmese border.  We also got our first glimpse on the far away Hill Tribe village where we would be spending the night.

The hill tribe people are minority ethnic groups in Thailand that has remained relatively isolated from the rest of the country for many years. A disastrous decision 80 years ago is still affecting them today... In 1920, Thailand was importing large amounts of opium from the British controlled East India Company.  The local demand was high and the government decided that they could save a lot of money by producing opium locally.  The area where the hill tribes live was selected as the best area to produce opium and the government gave incentives to the people there to switch from their traditional crops to opium fields.  This was well intended and it was thought as a way of improving the standard of life of the hill tribe people.  However, 40 years later, the opium trade and consumption was banned, but the economic dependence on the opium production by the hill tribe people was strong.  The result was that the opium production in the area went underground and it was taken over by the Chinese mafia.  With the support of Burmese warlords, the trade soared and private armies, fed by the opium income, roamed the area at the expense of the Hill Tribe people.  The government tried to give incentives to produce other crops, but all attempts to replace opium failed.  Opium is almost the perfect crop: high price, high yield, low volume, long shelf life.  Finding a replacement looked unlikely until Oolong Tea came along...  Now many fields in the hill tribe territories are producing this fragrant premium tea for export.  This crop, and tourism, gave an alternative to the Hill Tribe people and today opium production is almost eradicated.

Our accommodations on the Karen Hill tribe were very simple.  Our homestay was built on the traditional Hill tribe house layout.  The main house is raised from the ground on posts with relatively low roofs designed to shed water rapidly.  The main bedroom had a bamboo floor with a large raised platform where we had sleeping bamboo mats.  For protection against mosquitoes, we also had nets over our mats.  The "shower" was a simple bamboo pipe that channel the water flowing in the nearby creek.  

The kitchen was adjacent to the main bedroom and it had no furniture except for two heavy rock pots that are used to contain the wood fire for cooking.  Most people in the group helped cooking dinner by chopping vegetables, fish, and chicken under the supervision of our local guides.

 

 

 

After dinner, we ended the day with a nice bonfire.  It was a bit challenging to get it started as the wood is quite wet in this area, but with the help of the old trick of soaking toilet paper in hand sanitizer, we finally got it going.

That night, as I was laying on bed, I wrote a bit for this blog.  The light of my headlamp attracted insects that landed on the outside of my mosquito net.  Most of those insects were fireflies, so when I turned off my light, they started glowing all around me, a special treat just before going to sleep.

Chiang Mai

We arrived at Chiang Mai in the night train fro Bangkok very early in the morning which allowed us for a full day of activities.  After a short taxi ride to the hotel, a quick shower, a change of clothes and breakfast, we were ready to explore Chiang Mai.  We started the day by going to a bike ride.  We rode for a short time on the busy city streets, but in no time, we got to the back roads of Chiang Mai.  Our first stop was the temple of Wat Ko Klan (Temple of the Island).

 

The most outstanding feature of this temple is the vivid frescos which, unlike most temples that describe the life of Buddha, describe the mythical foundation of the city and the construction of the temple itself.  The frescos can be "read" from left to right and in a very iconographic way tell us that the city had an old temple that was destroyed by a flood.  People were able to save the sacred scrolls and relics but they were sad for the lost of their temple.  Then, they decided to build an island high on the river where a new temple will be built.  The final panel shows us the huge party for the opening of the new temple on the artificial island. For the party, even a member of the royal family showed up (depicted with 7 umbrellas, a number reserved for the royal family). 

The temple also has beautiful columns decorated in mother of pearl with complex designs and amazing details.

From the temple, we continued on the countryside next to corn fields and recently seeded rice fields.  We also visited the McCain institute, an old leper colony where residents make handicrafts including beautiful lacquered wood bowls.  We then went for lunch in a small shop where I had the traditional Chiang Mai food, Kao Soi noodles with Chicken curry.  After lunch, we did more bike riding and we visited a funerary crematorium.  We were not allowed to approach the funerary pyre as a person was created the previous day and the remains were still there.  Although, there is a brand new modern crematorium next to the funerary pyre, the town people still uses the old pyre as it's considered a bad omen if a young person is the first one to be cremated there.  They are waiting for somebody over 60 year old to open the new crematorium for business.

We then go to Wat Pupia, the old site of a temple that it is part of the old city ruins.  This temple was built between the 16th and 17th century, but it was mostly made of wood, so most of it is lost.  We ended the bike trip with an interesting ride on very narrow, somewhat steep back streets of Chiang Mai back to our hotel.

In the late afternoon, we went to Doi Suthep, a temple situated at the top of a mountain NorthWest of Chiang Mai.  This temple was built in 1383 and it's still used as a place of worship today.  The legend says that the place was chosen by putting a relic of Buddha on the back of an elephant and letting it roam until it came to rest at the top of the hill.

The views from the temple are almost as breathtaking as the 306 steps needed to get to the top (a cable car is available, but the steps are more fun).   There is also a number of additional temple that were as nice and interesting as the main one.  Chiang Mai people tell you that if you haven't visited Doi Suthep, you haven't been to Chiang Mai.

After visiting the temple, we had a pre-trek meeting at the hotel and we headed to a trekking shop where people were able to buy or rent what they needed for the trip (all I needed was a lighter).  After the shop, we went to the famous Chiang Mai night market (a former end of one of the silk routes).  At the market, we had a nice dinner in an outdoor restaurant (I had Panaeng chicken, chicken in a spicy red curry sauce with crushed peanuts).

After dinner, I went to the Thai Boxing stadium where we got ring side seats for the 9 fights of the night.   Each fight starts with a choreographic dance done by the boxers that it's a combination of a warm up and a sign of respect to the other boxer, the spectators, and the sport.  This dance, as well as the fight, are accompanied by Thai traditional music which adds to the excitement of the event.  The fights were on different divisions, starting with very light boxers, 38 kilos (and probably not older than 14), and ending with heavy weights of 75 kilos.  Two fights ended in a knock out.  Four were stopped by the referee and three ended with the judges awarding the fight by points to one of the boxers.

Bangkok Day 2

I started the day taking a river boat to Wat Arun.  Bangkok has a very good boat transportation system that it's easy to navigate and very cheap.  Each stop has a number and many guidebooks list the stop number most convenient for the main tourist attractions.  An important thing to check is the flag that the boat is waving.  The flags indicate which kind of boat it is (express, fast, local) which determines where the boat will stop.  Occasionally, the boat will leave you on the "wrong" side of the river (like in the case of Wat Arun) in which case one needs to take a cross river ferry which cost just 3 Bahts (about $0.01).

Wat Arun is a beautiful temple with incredible steep staircases that take you to the mid level of the spire.  Wat Arun is named after the Indian god of dawn (Aruna) and it's 82 meter high.  The temple complex has other buildings as well that are used for worshiping and praying.  A particularly impressive one is built after a Greek temple (although I couldn't find any reference confirming this).  Most worshippers were at that temple rather than at the spire.

 

As I was leaving Wat Arun, I was surprised to see some of my group (Terry, Richard, and Gemma) on the boat I was about to take heading to Chinatown.  They were also heading there, so we decided to stick together.  Chinatown is a very busy area of the city.  In a way, it looks like the way I was expecting all Bangkok to look like.  There are small shops everywhere selling clothing, toys, electronics, jewelry, raw ingredients, and lots and lots of food.  You get a sensory overload from all the neon signs, smells, sounds, and if you get a bouza or two, the flavor of the food.  In Chinatown, we were heading to see the Golden Buddha.  Unfortunately, it turned to be closed for repairs, so we couldn't see it.

From Chinatwon, we decided to take the subway and the Skytrain to check them out (Although, it would have been cheaper to take a taxi given that there were four of us).  Bangkok has a very clean, air conditioned, subway with very nice trains and easy to follow signs.  Cost is based on number of stations and whey you pay you get a reusable RFID token that you use to enter and exit the subway system.  The Skytrain, a separate system which connects with the subway but requires additional payment, is also modern, clean and air conditioned.  Our destination with the Skytrain was the MBK shopping center.  This shopping mall is very modern and a bit upscale.  It has 7 stories of shops in an interconnected maze of buildings that span a whole city block.

Not far from the MBK center is the Jim Thompson house.  Hew was an American that exported silk from Thailand to the US.  He mysteriously disappeared in 1967 in the Malaysia's Cameron Highlands.  Nobody knows what happened to him and legends abound about his fate.  He built his house by combining several traditional Thai houses and adding a bit of western style.  The result is incredibly harmonious helped by the original furniture and the Thai art throughout in the house.  The nice garden and the canal behind the house is a good place to relax and it just amazing that it's so close to one of the major shopping areas of Bangkok. 

After some hard negotiation with taxi drivers (we had to get off three until we found one that reluctantly accepted to use the meter), we got back to our hotel to get ready for the overnight train to Chiang Mai.

The train station is not very modern, but it has lots of shops and a spectacular stained glass windows over the tracks.  Our train, the Express Bangkok-Chiang Mai train departed on time and it was schedule to arrive 11 hours later at Chiang Mai.  Dinner is available in the train and served on your seat at 7pm.  Some people bought dinner at the train station which is slightly cheaper, but not as good.

We  traveled 2nd class soft sleepers.  The setup during the day was two facing seats that are converted into a pair of bunk beds at nighttime.  The beds were setup by the car attendant around 9pm.  After a restful night of sleep, we arrived at Chiang Mai at 7:20am.

Bangkok Day 1

I started the day by visiting the National Museum in Bangkok.  The museum grounds are on the grounds of a former palace of the Deputy King (equivalent to the crown prince in Western royalties).  The architecture is a combination of beautiful Thai buildings and not-so-nice 60s architecture.  The museum is quite large and a bit intimidating, but I was lucky enough to go there on a Wednesday when free English tour are offered to the public.  My guide, Alan, is a retiree from the USA that loves Thailand and its history.  He told us the history of Thailand monarch from Rama I, to the (very beloved) current king, Rama IX. If Thais can agree on something is on their love and admiration for the king.  He has stayed above all the political struggles, military coups, counter coups, and revolutions that have affected the country during his reign.  A symbol of stability for the Thai people, he is portrayed at the entrance of every town and in every house.  Nobody was expecting the current king to ascend to the throne.  A younger brother of Rama VIII, he was an unlikely candidate.  He was born in Massachusetts, while his father was studying at Harvard (yes, he could be a US citizen).   When Rama VIII was found shot dead under "mysterious circumstances,"  Rama IX was a science student in Lucerne, Switzerland.  He quickly changed major to political science and returned to the country after finishing his studies to become king.  He has reigned since 1946, making one of the longest reigns in history (just two years away from Queen Victoria's record).

The museum collection includes a historical house (the red house), a large number of sculptures, most of them of religious nature (Buddha, Hindu gods, demons, and mythological beings).   It also includes funerary carriages used by former royalty (no pictures allowed on those), but I was allowed to photograph the ones used for "minor" royalty.

During the tour, a journalist from the Bangkok Post, came and interview us about our experience in Bangkok.  I was told that the article will be published in the Sunday paper (go online and check it out, if you do, send me a copy of the article as I'll be trekking Sunday and I won't have access to Internet).

I had lunch in the Museum cafeteria (Pad Thai) with a nice couple from Singapore and from there headed to the Grand Palace.

The Grand Palace and the grounds of the Temple of the Emerald Buddha (Wat Phra Kaew) is built to impress. Gold is the predominant color with details in red, green, and blue.  Everything here is larger than life.  The giant guards are 15 meter tall and every temple is capped by a dome in the shape of the Thai crown.  The highlight of the complex is the Emerald Buddha, a sculpture of Buddha carved, not on an emerald, but on a single block of jasper.  The Emerald Buddha is in a special temple where the faithful burn incense and give offerings of fruits and money in return for holy water. The story of the Buddha is interesting.  It has been sized by enemy troops many times and eventually was hidden inside a stucco statue and forgotten, until one day the stucco broke up, revealing its valuable content.

Beyond the temple area, there are the royal palaces and the king official residence.  Today these buildings are only used for ceremonial purposes.  The throne room is open to the public.  To my surprise, the room is quite spartan, except for two magnificent thrones each capped by 9 umbrellas, a number of umbrellas reserved only for the king.  In that area, there is also a small weapons museum and the museum of the Emerald Buddha that houses the offerings made by devotees as well as the gold "clothing" for the Buddha (the clothing is changed by the king three times at year according to the seasons: winter, summer, and monsoon).

Close by the Grand Palace is Wat Pho, the temple of the famous reclining Buddha.  The reclining buddha is 46m long and 15m high.  The Buddha is build with a core of brick, covered by plaster and gold leaf.  The sole of the feet is made of mother of pearl and displays the 108 auspicious laksana (characteristics of Buddha).

To my surprise, Wat Pho is more than the reclining Buddha.  The complex houses an incredible number of Buddha statues in all shapes and sizes.  Just for the fun of it, I was keeping tally of how many statues of Buddha I've seen there.  When I got 187, I got tired of the game... It also has beautiful temple, a pre-school, and a school of massage (which is supposed to be very good, although I didn't have the time to try it).   The place is fun to walk around.

I headed back to the hotel with a brief stop at a local fruit market and views of the Rama VIII bridge and the river.  The park by the river was a fun people watching spot with kids playing around, teenagers doing break dancing, and loudspeakers playing pop disco.  The park is extremely clean and well patrolled (somebody was scolded for having their feet on a bench).

At the hotel, I met my Thailand group.  For this trip, we have a full house, 12 participants.  four Australians, three British, two Americans, myself, and two other that are meeting us at Chiang Mai.  After the typical Intrepid formalities, we headed all together for dinner at a small restaurant a block from the famous Khao Sand Road,  a magnet for backpackers all over the world because of its cheap eateries and shops.