Up North
on My Thai (Thailand), 18/Apr/2011 07:03, 34 days ago
While everyone back home seems to be gearing up for Easter holidays and royal weddings it’s back to work for me after a much needed week off.At present I’m writing the outline of a training schedule for the few teachers left at my organisation, putting through a funding application to translate my scheme of work and embarking on another application for educational resources to be used in the learning centre here.It might sound like I’m busy but trust me, I’m really not!Anyway, I’m feeling all revitalised after a great week off where I managed to catch up with some friendly faces so I thought I’d fill you in on my travels...Thursday 7thAprilAfter work I raced back to the apartment to grab my rucksack before heading into Bangers.Luckily I’d found out there were minivans running from ‘The Armpit’ straight to Mo Chit which saved me the time and money of having to go into the centre of Bangkok and then back out on the BTS.So anyway, I arrived at Mo Chit with loads of time to spare which was a good thing really! Despite being a bus terminal it has the feel of an airport and took me some time to find my bearings.After a bit of a wait I boarded the VIP bus at the allotted hour and was off up north. After a few trial and error runs on the long distance coach front I’ve discovered that paying the extra few hundred Baht for the VIP bus really is money well spent.Maintaining the airport atmosphere of Mo Chit, VIP buses include blankets, food boxes (with unfailingly random contents), reclining seats and uniformed stewardesses who I’m convinced have one of the easiest jobs in the world, i.e. tell us how long the journey will take, give out water and food boxes, sleep for several hours, arrive at destination, repeat ad infinitum.The journey to Chiang Mai takes about nine hours and at 800 Baht (about£16) is pretty good value for money!Friday 8thAprilI arrived in Chiang Mai about 5.30am and then hung around the station for a few hours until it was an acceptable hour for people to be waking up.While it certainly wasn’t cold in Changers, the early morning temperature meant there were people walking around with coats and scarves on – something Thai people love to do whenever the weather drops below 80°!A few hours after arriving, Grace (my travel buddy for the week) and Taskin, another fellow VSOer, met me for breakfast.It seemed as though everyone in the town was gearing up for Songkran already– either closing up shop and shipping out, investing in water based weaponry or stocking up on food and DVDs that would free them from the need to leave the house during the festival.After some food it was back to the bus station for me and Grace and a three hour minivan ride to the town of Pai.Pai’s a crazy little place!It’s very similar to Khao San Road in Bangkok, only here it’s seemingly in the middle of nowhere! Surrounded by mountains and lush forests, Pai has gained a reputation as a farang friendly, laid back hippy town. A walk along the streets - past tie dyed clothes, tattoo parlours and cheap guesthouses - certainly proves this reputation is justified.Suffering the combined after effects of much travel and minimal sleep, I was grateful once we’d found a place to lay our heads for the night and took a few minutes respite from the heat before heading back out.We walked to a wat on the hilltop just outside of town that had a pretty impressive view and fought our way past the rabies brigade who were out in force. Despite being about half my size, Grace was pretty fearless whereas I was, as usual, a quivering wreck every time a dog barked in my direction!Saturday 9thAprilWe were up and out pretty early today to make the most of the time left in Pai before heading off to Mae Hong Son in the afternoon.We rented some motorbikes and the plan was to explore the surrounding area.While I’ve (somewhat unsuccessfully!) ridden a bike once before and therefore consider myself Evel Knievel-like in my abilities, Grace was a first timer so one of the guys from the shop drove us out to some quiet back streets where she could practise her moves. I think her short lesson was more in depththat the Thai license test itself, which apparently takes about five minutes to complete. Unfortunately Grace’s lesson didn’t include the right way to put on a helmet! Still, it would take a lot to beat the time I saw another volunteer (I’ll mention no names) put on a full face helmet back tofront and then wonder why they couldn’t see anything!So we were off!We took our slow, unlicensed selves off out of town and following my dubious map reading skills headed towards Pai Canyon.The canyon was pretty deserted and even at 10am was roasting hot. Much as I love walking back home, it’s just too damn hot here so after checking out the view and hiding in the shade for a few minutes it was back on the motors. By this point we’d discovered that leaving the bikes in direct sunlight while we were off exploring did not make for a comfortable ride so, to avoid the need for posterior skin grafts, were becoming a little obsessive about the importance of ‘shade’!After the canyon we travelled further out into the countryside until we reached the Tha Pai Hot Springs. I’ve always loved the idea of going to Iceland, being surrounded by snow and jumping into a steaming hot spring. Well, it turns out that in the midday Thai heat 80° water temperatures aren’t as soothing as I’d imagined! Heeding the warnings not to soak for more than fifteen minutes, I dangledmy feet into the water and kept them there until the lines on my legs started to remind me of Neapolitan ice cream.Feeling a little woozy after the extra dose of heat, we rode back to town, returned our bikes without crashing them (a first for me after the last time!) and headed to the bus station. After being told there was only one seat left on the day’s last minivan to Mae Hong Son we discovered that a sorng-tao would be leaving at 4pm. At 80B it was good news for our shallow volunteer pockets but it’s not the most comfortable mode of transport for a three hour journey! Grace abandoned me to take the comfy passenger seat and bug the driver up front while I was on a thinly padded bench in the back with, amongst other things, a cage of hamsters and the post run for all the villages along the route.And just as we were about to set off the heavens opened.Despite the steep and windy roads I managed to pass most of the time reading and shuffling around trying to find a more comfortable position and by the time we’d made it to Mae Hong Son all was dark. After dumping our bags at the guesthouse we headed back out with our personal tour guide for the next few days. Brandon, a fellow VSO volunteer, lives in a small village not far from the town and had made the bike ride through the rain to join us for dinnerwhere we were also met by Beth, the other VSOer living in Mae Hong Son. Although it was too dark to form any impression of the town itself, what I was most aware of was the calm and quiet around us. Sat in the centre of town at around 8pm it was somewhat disarming not to hear the constant hum of traffic or see trails of street lights blurring the sky.Still, I guess the power cut might have had something to do with that!Sunday 10thAprilLooking out of the window in the morning I could see the town’s lake directly in front of our guesthouse and a seemingly endless line of orange robed monks passing in front of it. Rushing out to join Brandon and Grace, I was just in time to see the procession enter the gates of the wat overlooking the water. Each of the monks carries an alms bowl and peopleoften line the streets to make offerings and receive blessings as they make their journey. The hotel owners waved us over to the road side and handed out rice and cartons of milk for us to place in the alms bowls. Following their lead we then crouched down on the curb while the monks chanted a blessing over us. Me, being stupid and unsure of what to do in most situations, ended up holding my carton throughout the proceedings and then passed the holy milk onto Grace feeling I was bound to have brought some bad karma on myself!After the previous day’s success on the bikes we rented some slightly more souped up models and stopped off at the Sunday market for breakfast. In Thailand breakfast as we know it doesn’t really exist but is rather just another meal, generally hot, with rice. We had some strange but delicious concoction of tofu strips, fried tofu triangles and sauces while planning the day’s itinerary. Since we were heading a fair way out of town and had been warned about the steepness and windiness of the roads, Grace left her bike at the shop and hopped on as Brandon’s passenger while I tried to keep up behind them.It didn’t take me long to love Mae Hong Son.After ten minutes of riding we were definitely‘out of town’ – surrounded by wooded mountains and fields at every turn. I tried to get to grips with sharp turns and breaks but the hour or so it took us to reach Baan Rak Thai was a great way to explore the area and plan ways of convincing my organisation to relocate!Baan Rak Thai, which translates as‘Thai Loving Village’, is a small Chinese settlement close to the Burmese border. The Chinese first came here as refugees and the simple buildings made of wood or straw and mud surround a small artificial lake at the heart of the village. The town, being so far north, is pretty mild as far as Thai temperatures go and this climate has led to the growth of both vineyards and tea plantations. We stopped at a small hut for some tea tasting (Jasmine was my favourite) and, from speaking to the woman running the stall, I learnt that‘Chin’ is still the first language for residents of the village which, until around fifteen years ago, didn’t have electricity. At least that’s what my mangled Thai understood!Without a doubt the highlight of Baan Rak Thai had to be the wooden DIY ferris wheel we found on the lakeshore. Through a combination of climbing (on Brandon’s part), sitting, pushing, pulling and jumping we were able to whiz around dangerously and, for three grown adults, spent way too long and laughed way too hard at something obviously designed for five year olds!Once our feet were safely back on the ground we headed a few minutes out of the village along a dusty track. Despite it looking somewhat unpromising, our tour guide had come up trumps again as we reached the track’s end and the Thai-Burma border.   About 20 feet of bamboo fencing, tapering off into bushes at either end, was all that separated the two countries and the crossing itself was merely a gap in the fence with a few planks of wood slotted through. We’d been told the guard post, a dilapidated wooden shack with Thai flag and sandbags, wasn’t always manned so were hoping to do the old ‘one leg in, one leg out’ thing. Lovely as the two guards on duty were, there’s no doubt in my mind that we’d have been tackled to the ground and swiftlydeported if we’d tried any funny business! They politely refused to let us walk along the border path, a Thai army base being just around the bend, but did take and pose for photos which is more than you’d get at Buckingham Palace!After our brief viewing of the mountains in Burma we started the ride back, stopping off en route to visit a waterfall.Back in town we drove up to a wat overlooking Mae Hong Son just in time for sundown.The town is settled in a deep valley and surrounded by mountain ranges so is still relatively isolated due to its geography and infrastructure. I see this as a blessing as there’s little room for development or expansion and, despite an unnervingly short runway in the centre of town, feels a million miles away from the industrialisation of ‘The Armpit’ or the chaos of Bangkok.Due in part to the heat and forest fires which are widespread at this time of the year, the valley was misty and the sky cloudy but it was great to watch the light slowly fade as the bells on the large white chedis tinkled behind us.Monday 11thAprilDespite my awesome performance on a motorbike over the previous few days, Grace very wisely decided it was safer to hire her own bike again since we were setting out Brandon-less this time. We followed the distinctly‘Not to Scale’ map and rode out to Brandon’s village. Along the route we passed through a thick mass of butterflies that seemed to go on and on – yellow wings flickering all around us. It was truly mesmerising and something I’ve never seen before.Once we’d made it to the village we took a tour around.It always amazes me the range of experiences VSO volunteers can have, even those within the same country. Brandon’s village is about as far removed from ‘The Armpit’ as it’s possible to get: bamboo huts, leaf roofs, water from a well, outhouses, chickens running wild. It was fascinating listening to one of the NGO workers there – his experiences in Burma and dedication to supporting the welfare of his people. To be pompous and quote George Eliot, ‘the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts’ and each of the people there had overlooked personal gain and wellbeing in the hopes of creating a better, safer future for others.Anyway, preaching over!After leaving the village we took a different route back to stop off at the intriguingly named‘Fish Cave’. I think the unfortunate typo on the sign summed it up best really since the ‘cave’ was about a foot wide. Still, I learnt that ‘crap’ fish like melon more than fish pellets so I guess it wasn’t all a wasted journey!In the evening Grace and Brandon headed to Beth’s place for a belated birthday party but, possibly because of all the travel or more probably because of old age my back ‘went’ so I spent the evening lying prostrate on the bed and watching BBC News instead.Tuesday 12thAprilAfter somehow riding up to 7/11 without turning my head more than 10° and loading up on Tylenol we boarded the minivan to ride the five hours and 1864 curves back to Changers......and yes, someone really has counted all the bends in the road!Along the way we passed many people starting their Songkran celebrations early– children gathered in groups to throw buckets of water over passing vehicles and just a taste of what was to come!Wednesday 13thAprilThailand follows a solar calendar where new year falls during April and, due to the Buddhist Era beginning in the year 543BC, was all set to celebrate the dawn of 2555.Because the Thai new year falls at the hottest time of the year, a water festival has developed which lasts for at least three days. Originally the gentle pouring of water over Buddha statues and the shoulders of older relatives was a way of paying respect, washing away sins and bringing good fortune. Depending on your viewpoint it’s either evolved or devolved from this into a manic, no holds barred, no mercy water fight.Chiang Mai has a reputation as the place to be for Songkran but as we took the quiet and uneventful walk towards the old town’s moat it seemed hard to imagine why. It turned out that the rest of the town was pretty quiet because every resident had crammed onto the pavement surrounding the moat, armed themselves with a pistol, hose or bucket and let rip!After about ten minutes I was drenched so we armed ourselves with a water shooter and fought back. Barrels of water could be found every 10 metres or so for a quick reloading but we were fighting a losing battle. Thai people really know how to play the game and, after taking shelter from the rain in front of a bar, I had a whole bucket of ice water thrown over me from behind by the nice old lady running the place. The roads were busy with pickups– all with barrels of water and crowds of people crammed in the back to get their revenge on the pedestrians. At one point I saw a guy ride past on a motorbike wearing a wetsuit. Probably a wise move if you don’t want to develop pneumonia by the time you reach your destination.Ordinarily the cold water would be refreshing at such a baking time of the year but, that day of all days, it decided to pour down and was actually quite chilly. After a few hours of adrenalin rush and feeling like I was eight years old I was wet, cold and in serious need of a hot shower!Somehow we made it to the shopping centre Kad Suan Kaew in search of a hot drink and by the time we left I’d done enough dripping to make a sizable puddle on the floor.After some walking and extortionate sorng-taoing I finally got my hot shower and packed up ready for the long bus ride back to Bangers. After some dinner with Taskin, Grace and her friends I managed to get to the bus without a second soaking and was on my way back down south.Being a geek I’ve worked out that I clocked up over 29 hours travelling time over those few days and that’s without all the biking in between! By the time I made it back to Mahachai I was relieved to have made it through with, apart from a sore back, pretty little trauma!It was great to get away for a few days, catch up with some friends and see some more of this beautiful country.And I now think I’m about as cool on a bike as Dennis Hopper inEasy Rider! Deluded? Moi?