Sunday, November 23

Today's adventure will take us to Doi Inthanon National Park which is 54 miles southwest of ChiangMai and contains the highest mountain in Thailand at 8,464 feet.

We are picked up by a songthaew, red covered pick-up truck with two padded benches in back about 8:15AM.  We exit the city in 15-20 minutes and continue through outskirts and then into the countryside.  Major roads here are very nice, 4 lane divided highways.

We pass many fields of corn, rice and other plants, orchards (we think mango but it is past season so no fruit), some guava.  There are scattered workers in the fields, few cattle and occasional horses.

We arrive at the first checkpoint (entry where you pay admission) at 9:50AM and then begin to climb.  Sometimes very steep grades.  First stop is Wachirathan Waterfalls which is quite impressive! We spend a bit of time climbing trails and taking photos.

Next stop is a Karen village.  There are 3,000 or so Karen and Hmong tribal people living in the area and the village we stop at is occupied by White Karen.  There are also the longneck Karen in other areas.  The village is pretty basic with a few cows, rice fields and other plants.  The Karen are noted for their weaving and there are a few women demonstrating weaving and selling finished products.
They also grow coffee and have a small coffee stand.

Next is a smaller waterfalls, called Sirithan, named after the queen.

We pass many terraced areas of agriculture, and many plants covered with plastic coverings and with irrigation.  This is part of the King's Project which encourages the tribal people to grow products other than the poppies which were traditionally grown and are now illegal.  We stop at a little market where they are selling local produce and flowers....peppers, yams, pumpkin, some fresh fruits and many dried fruits.

We continue up the mountain to a visitor's center at the highest point.  It is pleasantly cool - 14 degrees C.  We wallk a trail through some virgin forest which has a Memorial Shrine to King Inthanon and a marker at the highest point.

Next stop is a few minutes down the mountain, the site of stupas built to honor the current King and Queen.  These are a quite modern style with beautifully landscaped gardens and lovely murals.

Next stop is a small complex with an open-air restaurant where we are served lunch.  Tom Yum soup, chicken with cashews, fried fish, rice and watermelon.  Quite good!

About 3:00 we head back toward ChiangMai and reach the hotel close to 5:00.  We go to our local Gai's for drinks and a snack.  Coca Cola has built plants here and Coke, Coke Zero and Coke Light are quite readily available.  Occasional Pepsi.  Greg and Tom have enjoyed trying local beers - Leo, Tiger, Singha.

 The Sunday market is going on not far from us, so Greg, Sue and I wonder through it for a while.  Lots of people, including these young dancers and some street musicians.  We have seen only a few homeless people here but at the markets there are usually a few disabled or handicapped people unobtrusively asking for donations.

T

 Saturday, November 22

Still full from last night’s feast, so we skipped breakfast and just had a little fruit and coffee this morning.  Relaxed for a bit, then did some walking again, this time to the Lanna Folklife Museum which had some interesting displays of life in Northern Thailand, including crafts, artifacts,  instruments, fabrics, etc. 

Of course we passed more wats, UmongMahatherachan and Wat PanPing.

We passed many school children leaving for their lunch. Neat, modest uniforms.  Mam says this was a private school.  The public schools are not so uniform.

We stopped at a little café and had fruit smoothies. These, milk shakes, frappes, etc. are very popular and inexpensive and made with mango, banana, papaya, pineapple and other fruits.  They also offered ice cream including “Rookie Road” and “Macadamia Bittle”.

A group of monks was at the table adjacent to us and one of them came and spoke with us for a while.  He was here visiting from Bangkok and had been a novice for 7 years but recently became a full monk, at age 21.  The two in bright orange robes were still novices.  He said he hadn’t decided his future yet but he enjoyed being a monk.  It is not a lifetime commitment, as some do it for only a short time as in months.  We took photos of each other and he practiced his English, which was pretty good, a bit more then said goodbye.

We did a quick visit to the Temple of Tethered Elephants – Wat LamChang.  The insides were closed for repairs.

Stopped at an interesting shop with had Khon Masks, all based on characters from their history and mythology.

We had lunch back at Gai’s Thai Café near our hotel.  Beth had apple pie with ice cream for a change – quite good!

Back to the hotel, we planned tomorrow and called Jason to arrange a trip to Doi Inthanon National Park.  Greg went for a swim in the pool while Tom and Sue went for a massage.  Jason came by to collect our fees and give us a voucher for tomorrow's trip.  Ran into Judith - the volunteer we met at dinner the other night - turns out she is staying here also!

Chap came to pick us up at 6:30 and we went to a Burmese restaurant with him and Mam.  He and Mam ordered and we shared.  Very good….kind of a cross between Thai and Indian food.

Next Chap drove to a little bar called Players, where we met Jim and Cheron and some of their friends to listen to a Thai band that bills themselves as bluegrass.  They played a selection of songs like “She’ll be comin’ round the mountain”,  “Will the Circle Be Unbroken”,  “Mountain Home” and others kind of a mix of country, folk and a little rock and roll.  All decked out in cowboy hats, there was a fiddle, banjo, guitar and harmonica, and base.  We enjoyed and then played a game of pool before getting a tuk-tuk (motorcycle with attached covered seating).  We have heard they can be a pretty wild ride, but traffic was light so it wasn't bad - except for Greg who volunteered for the "jump seat" next to the driver!

The Saturday night market was still going on on the street next to our hotel, so we walked a bit and Sue found another cool scarf - she is taking many home as gifts.  On Saturday and Sunday they close one of the major streets and hundreds of vendors set up stalls. Still lots of foods, fresh, being cooked, cooked and packaged.  Below is sausage and a variety of things "on a stick" including squid, which we see often.

Friday, November 21

Early morning everyone checks and sends emails, check news on internet and sometimes watch CNN for a bit.  Tom and Greg check out Baan Bakery while Sue and I pass.

We walk to the Three Kings Monument and Wat Inthakhin Saduemuang, a beautiful black and gold wat with fun baby buddha statues.  They are in the process of replacing much of the gold leaf inside.

Donation boxes are located in all the wats and there are often "money trees" branches or small artificial trees that have little clips to attach money.  These are also seen often in restaurants or other businesses or near shrines.  The money goes to the wats.

We are visiting the Cultural Center today, as yesterday's taxi driver suggested.  It tells the history of the Lanna Kingdom which originally took in Northern Thailand, and traces the origins of the Lanna people and its development.  There are signs of human settlements as much as 7,000 years ago and some archeological  sites,  but the Lanna Kingdom is about 700 years old.  Much of the layout of the city is from the 1200's and was established using Cosmology and belief that the city was the center of the Universe. They believed the city was a living entity. The city was walled and had 5 gates and 4 corners. Our hotel is near the south east ChiangMai Gate.

There are some displays about the Hill Tribes: the Karen, Hmong, Yao, Lahu, Lisaw and Akha.  These tribes are being integrated into Thailand to varying degrees but many are still rather isolated, insular and mostly very poor. They originated in China, in Burma and Thailand and many do not have citizenship in any country, though Thailand is working to make this easier.  They do not have written language but do have dialects, with some now learning Thai.

We walked to the Chinese area of town and did some shopping, looking for small silver bowls, which we found! Many fabric stores!

We walked through the Ton Lam Yai Market, to the river, and had lunch at the Riverside Bar and Restaurant on the other side of the river. This is my fried rice with chicken and vegetables topped by an egg!

We walked and stopped at a few shops including the Elephant Parade Shop which donates part of sales to an Elephant Rescue program.  The limited edition elephants are of varying sizes and some are designed by famous celebrities.

Walked through another part of the flower market and then caught a red taxi back to the hotel. The lotus flowers are sold with sticks of incense and a candle to place at a buddhist shrine.

At 6:00 we asked the desk to get us a taxi to Chap and Mam's dinner celebrating their marriage.
It was about a 25 minute ride and the driver agreed to wait for us for 2 1/2 hours!  All this for less than $20.00.

The restaurant, Ban Rom Mai was a beautiful building and Chap and Mam rented a room for 20+ friends and family.  Dinner was amazing, with dozens of dishes served family style. The table was covered!  We discovered that Karaoke is very popular here and Mam's Dad as well as several other guests sang.  A good time was had by all...

 This is Mam's Dad and Greg.