Khao Yao National Park
3/10/03 - 3/12/03
Cem We arrived into Bangkok International Airport in the morning and took the bus to Pak Chang, the small town outside of the oldest national park in Thailand. As usual, as soon as we got off the bus, we were approached by two people trying to lure us to their respective guesthouses. We ended up choosing a place called Wildlife Safari that would be able to begin a 1 ½ day trip into the park right away. So in the afternoon, we visited some caves with Buddhist altars, and a monastery. To be honest, after nearly a month in Thailand, none of this stuff seemed that interesting, and I was starting to think that this trip was going to be a let down. Then, I saw one of the most interesting wildlife phenomena’s I have ever seen. We drove to a mountain with a series of caves at the top. From one of these caves, every evening starting around 6-7pm, the estimated 1 – 3 million bats (!) that live in these caves fly out in unison towards the Khao Yao National Park, a 20+ km trip. It was something out of a cheap horror movie. A constant stream of bats flying together until the eye could see. Apparently, they fly together to the park, but then split up when looking for food and return back to the caves on their own. I had never seen or heard anything like it. I think just that sight alone would have made the trip well worth it.
The next morning, we met our guides and a swedish and a dutch couple for breakfast at 7am. We started the day by slowly driving towards the park headquarter with multiple stops for monkey and Hornbill sightings. I am starting to realize the monkeys are almost as common here as deer in the U.S. Then we did a 3-4 hour hike into the hills. (I think after Taman Negara and Khao Sok, I am a little spoiled and probably wasn’t impressed enough with some of the interesting scenery and wildlife we saw.) After lunch we walked to the Park's two famous waterfalls, the larger of which was in the movie The Beach. We went swimming under the falls which was a pretty neat experience since you could stand inside the falls and see the water fall down in front of you. Then we went to a lookout point we overlooked the highest mountain in the park (I think approximately 1400m high), although unfortunately it was a little hazy to really get a good view. After dinner, we went on a “night safari” which consisted of us driving through the park about 5mph with a spot light. Seeing a wild elephant was what was on everybody’s mind, but unfortunately we were disappointed. However, as we were driving back we almost ran over a python that must have been at least 3 meters.
Our original plan after this stop was to make our way to Ayuthaya, the former capital of Thailand. However, we decided to make a detour further east to the historical Khmer ruins of ...
Phanom Rung
3/13/03 - 3/14/03
Phanom Rung is described as the best Khmer ruins in Thailand. Since it was the only one we have been to, its tough for me to make the comparison, but the ruins were definitely impressive.
It was a four hour trip to get there from Khao Yao. Unfortunately, since we didn't get to Nang Rong, the small town outside of the ruins until after 3pm, we had to wait until the next morning to visit the ruins. We decided to do this stop in a little bit more convinient luxury and hired a taxi to take us there from our guesthouse, wait for us there for two hours and then bring us back into town to the bus staton. All of this for 500 baht(about $12.50). Expensive by Thai standards, but considering we had to do a 7-8 hour trip to Ayuthaya the same day, it was a worthwhile expenditure.
Our driver suggested he pick us up at 6:30 am, I think because he wanted to go back to work afterwards. We decided that this might actually give us better ligthing for the pictures and so agreed.
The ruins were definitely amazing and very interesting. Hopefully we will be able to put up some pictures here because I am not going to try to describe them here...
Unfortunately, after Phanom Rung, we decided to do a layover for a couple of hours in Khorat, the second largest city in Thailand. Khorat was about as interesting to me as Hat Yai had been in Southern Thailand. There were about two things to look at/visit in the entire city. We caught an express train the same evening to Ayuthaya.
Ayuthaya
3/15/03
My day in Ayuthaya started great. I checked my email and heard that I had been accepted by Tuck...
(Tam) Ruins, ruins and more ruins. Ayuthaya, an UNESCO World Heritage Site, is the old capital of the Siam empire from 1350 to 1767. It was, according to historical eye witness accounts of European traders, a magnificent and splendid city. What remains is still pretty cool looking. Exotic architecture. Tall graceful spiral tops. Definite Khmer influences. (Before 1350, the Khmers had extended their borders into what is now central Thailand.)
One of the coolest ruins we encountered was a granite head of Lord Buddha surrounded by tree roots which grew around the head and enclosed the head in the shelter of its roots. Pretty amazing sight.
Sukhotai
3/15/03 - 3/16/03
Phitsanoluk. Our train journey to Phitsanoluk, the transfer point to Sukothai, was expensive and long. Not only did we pay 4 times the cost of taking a bus, but we had to pay ridiculuously high (by Thai standards) service fees for dinner. We visited a famous temple in Phitsanoluk with a famous bronze Buddha image. What is strikingly unique is the flame-like halo around the head and torso that turns up at the bottom to become naga (dragonish/serpentlike mythical being) heads. Naga-a Khmer and Hindu influence. In fact the temple was a Hindu temple with a Khmer styled stupa before adding a wiihan (a hall to house the Buddha icon) to convert the Hindu temple to a Buddhist temple. This is also typical of other temples during the Sukothai and Ayuthaya periods - Hindu to Buddist conversions.
Sukothai. More ruins.... Sukothai, another UNESCO World Heritage Site, is the original capital of the first Thai kingdom, from the mid 13th century to late 14th century. The Sukothai kingdom is viewed as the "golden age" of Thai civilisation - the religious art and architecture of the era are considered to be the most classic of Thai styles. On our first day, we rented bicycles and biked around the pleasant park, passing by more ruins than I can count and stopping at the major ones. Cem also went the next morning for sunrise shots of the ruins.
Same, same... But Different: This is one phrase you here everyday in Thailand that I keep forgetting to mention. I am assuming its a direct translation of something in Thailand. But basically a popular way to describe something is to compare it to something else by saying its either "Same, Same" or "Same, Same... But Different." Funny enough, its actually become a part of our vocubulary now as well when speaking with Thai/Lao people.
Chiang Mai
3/16/03 - 3/18/03 Chaing Mai turned out to be one of my favorite Thai cities. It offered many of the positives characteristics of Bangkok, but was a much more manageble city (lot less peaple, traffic and orderly city layout) with. Plus, the food was plentiful and cheap and accomadations were a great bargain. Although not a very large city, Chaing Mai actually has over 300 Wats, (I believe that's nearly as many as in Bangkok). Not surprisingly given the size of the city, there were some streets that had more than one Wat on it.
We broke our Chaing Mai visit into two. We stayed in Chaing Mai for two nights, then left to go the Pai (where we did our hilltribe trekking) for four nights before returning back to Chaing Mai for another two nights. Some of the things we did:
* Wats, Wats and more Wats... As everywhere else, we visited about ten or so Wats. Maybe Tam can elaborate more on them later. Otherwise, we took some great pictures we will put online at some point...
* Culture Night: Tam suggested we attend a culture night at the Old Chaing Mai Culture Center. This was one of those dancing, music and food culture events that are existent in almost all countries. Our fellow viewers/diners were generally people 40+ of age, staying in the more fancier accomadations in town. At nearly $7 per person, this was not a big attraction for backbackers. Nonetheless, I really ended up enjoying it. The food, a variety of northern Thai and hilltribe dishes, was amazing and in unlimited quality. Some of the dancing was more interesting then others, but it was still worth watching the whole show.
* Night Bazar, Weekend Bazar etc. Shoping till you drop. Chaing Mai has historically been an important trading city between the Burmese, Chinese, Thai and other ethnic groups. This continues today. There is a huge night bazaar that goes on nightly, rain or shine and every day of the year. Most of the stuff was junk, but there were definitely some good bargains there. Tam and I actually both ended up buying some new traveling clothes. I think we are starting to become much better bargainers, a difficult task in Thailand. None of the vendors seemed to happy with us after our transactions...
* Elephant Farm. One of the more fun things we did was rent a car for a day (I chickened out on renting a moped, after witnessing several accidents. ) and drive around the city of Chaing Mai. The drive itself turned out to be less picturesque then people made it out to be to us, but it also took us to an elephant farm. The elephant farm was where we got to be kids again and go elephant riding etc. Riding an elephant was actually quite a bit of fun, although a little intimadating at first. I had forgotten just how high off the ground we would be and how much rocking there would be. Probably the highlight of the day was feeding the elephants sugar cane and bananas. Especially to a one month old elephant recently born on the farm! This guy even stepped on my foot, although at his size, this was not really a lethal threat.
* Pitstop. We also took care of a couple important housekeeping functions. Had to apply for a Laos visa, mail unneed gear and supplies (including my business suit I was carrying around with me for interviews), buy new mini dvs etc...
Pai (Pronounced Bye)
3/18/03 - 3/22/03 Pai is a small charming town. It reminds us of a ski town, but instead of skiing, most visitors arrange treks instead. The town in mainly devoted to tourism. Originally, it was a Shan village (Shan are an ethnic minority in Thailand who emigrated from Burma). In Pai, we got our last traditional Thai massage. A full two hour massage! Boy that felt good. Traditional coffee We also tried traditional Thai coffee - or at least traditional northeastern Thai coffee. Here is the ingredients: Thai coffee bean (30%), Corn seeds (20%), Soy beans (5%), Brown rice (10%), Sesame (3%), Sugar (38%), Margarine (1%), and Salt (1%).
3 Day Trek
Cem and I went on a 3 day trek to visit the hilltribe villages of Northwestern Thailand in the Mae Hong Song district, close to Pai. Our guide, Pat, is a local from a Shan village close to Pai. Now in the middle of the dry season, Pai is very dry. However as we headed away from Pai towards the mountains, the climate noticeably became cooler and greener. Our porter, Chana, is from the Lahu village where we stayed overnight. Pat did a great job answering our questions and providing background on the overall plight of the hillstribe people and particularly on the problems aflicting the Lahu village and our host family. For example, there's lots of corrupt policemen who would hassle and extort money from hillstribe people since the policemen know that they're not Thai, and thus have no rights. It's a pretty sad story. On our second day, we stayed overnight at a Karen village. It was a great time to come as the Karens were celebrating a marriage that day. Thus they slaughtered and butchered two pigs. It was quite interesting to watch as I never seen anything of the like before. During this time, Cem and the other trekkers drank homemade herbal rice whisky with the villagers! At night, there was lots of singing and merry-making. One of the girls on our trek wanted to buy opium from the hilltribe people and kept on making a nuisance of herself by asking everywhere we went for opium. (It was one of her "to do" items for Thailand) Our tour guide got tired of her and I think he avoided hanging out with us on the second night. Stupid girl! She hasn't read the newspapers. Over 1,300 people have been killed, most mysteriously, since the government decided to crack down on illicit drugs. Even the UN is involved now - they're here to monitor the situation.
We finished the 3 day long trek with a 3 hour bamboo raft cruise down the river. Our bamboo rafts were specially constructed for us by our pilots/navigators/gondala guys. What a relaxing way to end the trip! It was also quite fun, especially when we went down some rapids on our makeshift raft. Misc. items about Thailand: 1) Blood-sucking flies - I didn't think anything could be as the mosquitoes in Thailand and Montana, but the blood-sucking flies are the worst! Even worse than the leeches in Malaysia or ticks in Thailand! It's been at least 10 days since I've been bitten, but the bites aren't swelling down. Nor has the itchiness decrease. I even bought anti-itch cream from the pharmacy and it only helps for a little bit. Blood-sucking flies! 2) Hilltribe villages - Hilltribe people in Thailand, or at least around Pai, do not wear their traditional clothing on a regular basis, only on special occassions now, unless they are in the tourism business. They've discovered cheap t-shirts.
Chiang Mai
3/22/03 - 3/24/03 See Previous Chiang Mai Entry
Chiang Rai
3/24/03 - 3/25/03 Our next stop (after Chaing Mai) was the city of Chaing Rai, a much more smaller city. I think it retrospect, we probably would have skipped this city. Most people only seem to stop here to go Hilltribe trekking. We decided that our experience in Pai was plenty and so left after only spending one evening to go to Chaing Klong, our jumping point into Laos.
Chiang Khong
3/25/03 - 3/26/03 Not much to say on this city. We basically spent the day doing various odd things and drank with a group of two Australians and Brits. Highlight was probably seeing Tam drank a whole small bottle of rum. We left the next morning to begin our trip down the Mekong River into Laos...
Tam Closing Thailand Comments...
Shacks and satellites. It’s surprising for me to see a television set in bamboo huts or a satellite dish or antennae. I’d figured if the family had extra money, they would spend it building a sturdier home or on something of use. Thus, it’s rather surprising to see so many poor homes with television.
Monks and Marines. In Thailand, every male is expected to become a monk for a short period of his life, typically between the time he finishes school and starts a career or marries. Typically the male is around 20 or under. He enters the monastery as a novice. Traditionally, the length of time spent in the wat varies from 3 months to a year. Nowadays, men may spend as little as a week to accrue merit as monks. Additionally, most male are required to serve in the military. The conscription process works on a lottery basis. And there are no exceptions, even for monks.
Monk Chat. We chatted with a young monk regarding his life as a monk. A novice only has to adhere to 10 precepts or vows, such as no stealing, no lying, no killing, no sexual involvement, and no intoxication. In addition, they can’t eat after 11 a.m., listen to music or dance, and accept money for personal use. And if you think this is hard, monks have to follow over 200 precepts! Odd monk sightings: monk watching television, monk on the internet, and monk on a cell phone!
Hah, sucker! One of our friends, Pal (Paul), made a comment regarding his travels in Thailand. The Thais are always smiling, when they greet you, when they thank you. You just got to wonder if they think, "hah, sucker!" because you could have gotten the goods or services for a buck, but instead you paid 5 bucks. Once I remembered Pal's comment, I always did wonder what was behind the mysterious Thai smile.
Golden Triangle and Drug War. The golden triangle refers to the area where Burma, Thailand and Laos meet. This was the site of much opium cultivation and trade. This is a thing of the past. At the beginning of our travels in Thailand, the Thai government announced an anti-drug campaign. Since then, over 1300+ people have died. Most of the deaths are “unexplained”. The UN and humanitarian organizations had to be called in to monitor the campaign.
Lady Boys and Prostitution. Prostitution is found everywhere in Thailand, although more prominently in Bangkok, Pattaya, Phuket, and Chiang Mai. I still can’t get over the sight of a lady boy when I see one. Luckily, I don’t understand the motivation/desperation that drives a person to change his sex to make a living/put food in his mouth. I think this is one of the saddest sights that I will remember from my travels.
Wrap-up. Thailand was a wonderful playground. Hilltribe trekking, jungle safaris, boat safaris, kayaking, elephant riding, bamboo rafting, caving, tubing and of course, my all-time favorite – lounging on the beach. Additionally, there's lots of history and culture to the place. Lots of historical temples and ruins. Wonderful jungles and beaches. The people - always smiling and friendly. The food - fantastic cuisine!
