If you are a reader of my blog, you know that we were stuck in Cape Town’s harbor on a cruise ship at the beginning of the pandemic. After a few days floating in Table Bay, the South African government allowed us to go directly to the airport and fly out. Let’s just say that my memories of the visit are less than stellar. I have lots of pictures of Table Mountain taken from the balcony of our cabin and unpleasant memories of the airport and those that worked there as we departed.

We rebooked a cruise around Africa during the pandemic, followed by a tour from Cape Town to Johannesburg, but that was cancelled by both the cruise line and tour company.

Now that the pandemic is over, we decided to give it another try. We decided to skip the cruise part and go directly to the tour part this time.  We booked a 12-day tour from Cape Town to Johannesburg with a couple of game drives along the way.

Our flight from Chiang Mai to Cape Town was over 30 hours long, including layovers in Bangkok and Dubai. The Dubai airport was something else – if you ever need to shop for high-end goods at 2 am, this is your place! We flew on Emirates and have nothing but good things to say about them.  The lounge in Dubai was fabulous. I’m all about the buffet and theirs was top notch. We arrived in Cape Town around 11:30 in the morning. We passed through immigration quickly and were met by our taxi driver. I had pre-booked a taxi through booking.com which we have had great luck with on previous trips. Our driver was very friendly and outgoing. He dropped us at a hotel and took off. Notice I said “a” hotel? Not a typo. We went to the front desk to check in and no reservation could be found in our name. I told the woman helping us that we were on a Gate 1 tour, but she had no record of that, either. I was wondering whether we had arrived on the wrong date, or just what the problem was. Apparently, the taxi driver had dropped us at the wrong hotel – we were booked at the Southern Sun Waterfront; he took us to the Southern Sun Cape Sun.

The doorman was very helpful and kind after we figured out what the issue was. He suggested taking an Uber as a cab was likely to rip us off. He also said that oftentimes, Uber doesn’t show up when you book them. Fortunately, this time the driver appeared and took us to the correct hotel which did have our reservation. As we were checking in, so was our tour guide, Don! He was a friendly, outgoing guy and it was nice to have a chance to chat with him a bit before meeting up with the rest of the group.

Typically, the first day of a Gate 1 tour is for arrivals, and so there are no activities or meetings planned. We had the remainder of the day to recover from our flights. We hung out at the hotel, had an early dinner, and went to bed to get caught up on our sleep.

The next day, we started our tour. I am posting a separate page for each place we visited:

Cape Town City Tour

Cape Peninsula Tour

Wine Lands Tour

St. Lucia Estuary

Game Drive #1: Hluhluwe Imfolozi Park

Eswatini (Swaziland) and Matsamo Village Tour

Game Drive #2: Kruger National Park

Johannesburg

This was an amazing trip. I have a few suggestions if you are fortunate enough to travel to this area. First, bring a camera with a good zoom lens. Some in our group that only had camera phones were not able to get the quality of pictures that those carrying DSLRs were able to. I normally have to edit my pictures; the pictures I posted (except for the close-up of the leopard) are not edited at all. I used a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ300 that has an excellent zoom.

A good pair of binoculars is also needed. We have a couple of pairs of good binoculars back in Seattle. Unfortunately, I did not think to pack them and so bought a pair in Thailand (since that is where we flew from). Suffice it to say that they were not top-quality glass…

Some of the wildlife was very close to our vehicle – impalas and nyalas were everywhere – no binoculars needed. But lions, zebras, and giraffes were quite a distance away. Without either binoculars or a good zoom lens on your camera, you wouldn’t be able to see them as well as you might wish.

The power plugs in South Africa are different than most places; a typical universal adapter will not work. I bought one from Amazon that did not work except in the last two hotels we were at. Here is a picture of what you need:

One other thing to pack? A washcloth. Only one of our hotels provided them, so if you like to use one, bring your own.

It is very windy on the cape so if you have longer hair, bring something to tie it back with. Or wear a hat that stays on your head in windy conditions. Also bring sunscreen and insect repellent. We chose not to do anti-malaria prophylaxis and relied on a superior quality deet spray for Kruger.

I will leave you with the infamous words of our tour guide, Don, “Never, never, ever, ever let someone help you at an ATM!”.

Beautiful and elegant are but two words that describe Thai dance. One of the best parts of living in a different country is learning about its cultural heritage. I had the opportunity to attend a class on Lanna dance and textiles. The Lanna Kingdom was the “kingdom of a million rice fields” in northern Thailand from the 13th to 18th centuries. There were over 30 tribes in the highlands and lowlands of Lanna; our class focused on five of them.

Traditionally, Thai women wear “pha sin”; what you might call a sarong. Unlike the sarongs that are sold to tourists, a pha sin (pronounced paw scene) is a round tube of fabric, divided into three sections: the head, body, and feet. The “head” holds the pha sin in place by being rolled down and is oftentimes covered by a belt. The “body” is the main part and contains many distinctive designs, depending on the tribe. What all have in common is a belief in cosmology; the patterns typically depict the ocean, sand, forests, mountains, flowers, etc. The “feet” is the end of the pha sin and typically has some type of trim in order to distinguish it from the head. Traditionally, the colors in a pha sin were muted as natural dyes were used. In modern times, artificial dyes are used, and so colors are brighter.

When wearing a pha sin, the seam is normally hidden by folding the tube of fabric over the seam. However, one tribe puts the seam in the back, to protect one from black magic. In some tribes, the ankles must be hidden. Going topless? Fine!

After learning about the textiles used to create the pha sin, we were treated to dances representing the tribes. In Thai culture, dances are for worship as opposed to performances.

Prior to dancing, women assist each other with ornamentation, adding jewelry and other items to complete their outfits. The first dance we saw was the Flower Blessing Dance from the Thai Yoan culture.

The next performance was representative of the Thai Lao. Typical ornamentation in this culture uses the flower which we call a plumeria or frangipani.

Thai Yao dancing

Thai Lue dance originated in Vietnam and Laos. The headdress that all are wearing are created from a long piece of fabric that is wound around the head.

The final dance was from the Thai Yai tribe, the Candle Dance. The maids in our apartment are Thai Yai; many came from Burma (now Myanmar) originally. People here still call the country Burma! The Thai Yai pha sin is the only one that is not a tube; it is a large piece of fabric that is wrapped around the dancer and secured with a rope at the waist. Then the fabric is rolled down to cover the rope. To me, the Thai Yai fabrics were the most beautiful.

The final dance: Thai Yai

The teacher explained that the spirit of the person is contained in the head of the pha sin, so when she dies, her pha sin will be passed along to her niece, but the heads will first be removed.

We couldn’t leave until we successfully figured out how to put on a pha sin!

Xin Chao from Vietnam!

We returned to our home in Chiang Mai several weeks ago and will be staying until April. We learned last year that April and May are just simply way too hot for our liking and so will head back to Seattle for those months. Rather than spend all our time in Thailand this time, we have a few side trips planned. We are currently in Vietnam on a Gate 1 Tour. We are not normally group tour people, but decided to give it another try. There are definitely pros and cons to touring with a group. Since we have toured Vietnam on our own twice, we decided to go with a group. I am hoping to learn more about the country by being with a tour guide.

We flew from Chiang Mai to Ho Chi Minh City the day before the tour was to begin. We like to arrive a day early in case there are any hiccups with travel. It gives us a nice safety net as well as giving us a chance to settle in and explore our surroundings before joining the group. I had pre-arranged a taxi to take us from the airport to our hotel through Booking.com. We had a bad experience with taxis in Vietnam previously so thought this would be a safer way to go. I highly recommend the service. A representative was waiting outside of customs with a sign with our name on it. He walked us over and waited with us until our taxi arrived. We had pre-paid for the ride so there was no issue with being overcharged. We had enough Vietnamese dong left from a previous trip so that we could tip the driver. Tipping is optional in Vietnam. Nevertheless, I like to give a tip for good service. Given the traffic when we arrived, the driver earned his money!

We booked a room at the Liberty Central Saigon Centre Hotel, which was the same hotel that Gate 1 booked. The receptionist provided us with a packet from Gate 1 that gave us our schedule and other tour-related information. We arrived in the evening and so just had dinner at the hotel before settling in for the night.

We had a day and a half on our own before any scheduled events, so revisited some places we had previously been, including the War Remnants Museum. The next day, we met our group and took a short tour of the city. Click here to read about Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon): HCMC

The following day, there was an optional tour of the Mekong Delta, which involved a boat ride down the Mekong River. We felt like we had seen all we needed to in Saigon since we had spent a considerable amount of time there in the past, so we signed up for the optional tour. Click here to read about the Mekong Delta tour: Mekong Delta

Next up was a flight to Da Nang, followed by a short bus ride to Hoi An where we spent two days. Click here to read about the charming ancient city of Hoi An: Hoi An

The imperial city of Hueʹ was next. On the way to Hue, we toured some sights along the coast before Bee led us on a tour of the Imperial City. The next day there was an optional tour. We opted to have time on our own instead. Information and pictures here: Hueʹ

Now it was time to head to the northern part of Vietnam. We flew to Hanoi and rode the bus out to Ha Long Bay. This is the only place on the tour that we had not previously visited! It is spectacular and I am so glad we were able to see it: Ha Long Bay

Finally, we ended up in Hanoi. We were “toured out” by then and so took it easy. We did do a city tour and took a few pictures: Hanoi

So, how did it go touring with a group? As I said in my introductory paragraph, there are plusses and minuses. On the plus side, having someone take care of all the details is wonderful. The hotels were all genuinely nice, and our tour guide Bee was truly knowledgeable and made the trip enjoyable. For us, one of the negatives was not being able to go at our own pace. We like to start our day early and tour places before the crowds arrive. We also like to eat dinner early, and all the group dinners were way past our normal dinner time. I also had a problem with motion sickness on the bus rides, which made things difficult. I also have a tough time when it’s hot and humid out (which is one reason we like to tour early in the day) but on a group tour, you are on a set schedule and are often out in the heat of the day. Given my bus and heat issues, we are rethinking our trip to India in the spring. To end on a positive note, I learned so much about Vietnam from Bee and enjoyed the people we toured with. We are going to return to Hanoi in a few months to spend some additional time in that beautiful city. We will also be in Saigon again as part of our cruise in December.

After being stuck at home for the past 3 years (except for a 2-month stint in Chiang Mai last year), we decided it was time to tick something off our bucket list: spending an extended period in Chiang Mai, Thailand. We have visited several times previously and fell in love with the city. Ideally, we would have liked to have spent September through March there, but my hip replacement surgery changed our timeline. We arrived in November and stayed until the end of May. Unlike the United States, there are only 3 seasons in Thailand – rainy, hot, and cold. If you add in smoky season, I guess that would be four, but smoky season is just a part of hot season. The cold season is not what most would call cold; the temperatures range from around 60 degrees at night to the mid-80’s during the day. I was a bit hesitant to stay there during smoky and hot seasons but decided to give it a go anyhow.

I have already shared much of what we did during our time in Chiang Mai in previous posts but wanted to share my thoughts after spending so much time there. And I neglected to post anything about Songkran so I will include that in this post as well.

One of the things that a person visiting Thailand will need to adapt to is not being able to read or speak the language. Now, I know that some visitors can, but I am not among them, nor is Clayton. The alphabet is completely different than ours; it contains 32 vowels (short and long), 44 consonants (split into 3 classes) and 4 tone marks (high, low, rising, falling). There is also a neutral tone, but it does not have a special mark. So, to read Thai, one needs to be able to read the letters (and there is no spacing between words; only a space at the end of a sentence), translate the Thai letters into Latin-script letters, and then understand what the word means. To speak Thai, add in the correct tone so that a Thai can understand what you said. I have provided much glee among the Thais that I have attempted to speak to. They giggle uproariously at my Thai! As an example, here is a simple sentence in Thai (the marks above some of the letters are tone marks):

Here it is in Latin-script alphabet:

Each “mai” is pronounced differently! The meaning of the sentence is “New wood doesn’t burn, does it?”. But you knew that, right? LOL!

Google Lens has provided to be an invaluable tool. After opening the app, you just point your camera at something written in Thai, and it translates it for you. It is not perfect, but it is tremendously helpful.

Clayton’s barber shop advertises a butt shave, according to Google Lens. I am assuming this is not an accurate translation, but you never know! I thought the translation for the first item at the nail salon wasn’t quite right but came back a week later and it had been fixed. So much better!

Google Translate works OK, too and allows you to have an actual conversation in a different language. Some of the translations are “interesting”.

Shopping was a bit of a struggle when we first arrived. And then we discovered Lazada – the Amazon of Thailand. My first purchase was a hairdryer. I thought the price was a misprint – $2 for a full-sized hairdryer. I figured I couldn’t go too far wrong by trying it out (shipping added another $1) and so if a toy hairdryer showed up, I wouldn’t be out too much money. Imagine my surprise and delight when a “real”, fully functioning hairdryer appeared a couple of days later. The delivery guy called when he arrived (they actually still do COD in Thailand, though I always paid for my purchases in advance). Since I had success with that first purchase, Clayton and I found all types of things we could make use of; all at bargain basement prices. Some of the items came from China, which added about a week to the delivery time. But still, the convenience couldn’t be beaten. When we stayed for two months last year, there were things we just did without. For a 6-month stay, we decided to purchase some items that would make our lives easier. The front desk guy at our apartment would hold our purchases for us so we didn’t need to be home to accept delivery.

Our day-to-day shopping was done at the fruit and vegetable market by the Chiang Mai gate. Every couple of weeks we made a pilgrimage to a “real” grocery store to pick up items that weren’t available at the fresh market or the small grocery store near us. I don’t want you to think that I did any actual cooking (one of the best parts of living in Thailand), but we did like to have breakfast and dinner in our apartment so that we didn’t eat out for three meals/day. Breakfast was typically eggs and toast or oatmeal, served with lots of tropical fruit. We ate lunch out daily. By the time we left, we had found our favorite places for our favorite Thai foods and rotated between them. Dinner was typically a sandwich and yogurt. We like to eat light in the evenings.

There were some definite differences in our daily life in Chiang Mai compared to the US. Garbage was put in plastic bags and tied to a fence. Our apartment had garbage cans, but that was atypical. The garbage was picked up by the garbage men who then often sat on the bags of garbage.

There were certain days that alcohol was not sold, either in restaurants or stores. Most of these were tried to Buddhist holidays but it was also true on election days. Incidentally, alcohol cannot be served in Chiang Mai between the hours of 2 pm to 5 pm. Apparent too many people were showing up drunk at work…

Fashion-wise, it was very much a mixed bag. Most people wore what they could afford, which meant that you saw the most interesting combinations of colors and patterns. In general, Thais dress very modestly. You don’t see many in shorts and/or revealing tops. Most wear long pants and long-sleeved shirts. Add to that a sweatshirt, even in over 100-degree heat! Occasionally, you see people in pajamas. I have been told that it is a sign of wealth. If you can afford special pajamas, you are upper-middle class. There is a minimum wage in Thailand, but it is just over $300 US per month. Social security exists as well, but only pays 600 Baht/month, which is around $20. The amount increases with age and tops out at 1000 Baht/month if you are over 90 (around $30). Most elderly Thais live with family. Obviously, even with the lower standard of living in Thailand, $20-$30/month isn’t sufficient for anyone to live independently. You often see older people working. Every day, we walked by an elderly woman grilling bananas and selling them for 10 Baht/each. She was a sweet little lady and always offered me bananas with a big smile. I nicknamed her “Nana Banana”. I tried one and let’s just say that it is an acquired taste. There are two types of bananas in Thailand – the kind you are probably familiar with, and the smaller, cooking bananas. She grilled the cooking bananas which are not as sweet. Grilling them gives them a leathery texture. I always felt bad turning down her bananas but didn’t want her to waste them on me since I didn’t really like them.

Marijuana was sort-of legalized last year and so the number of pot shops blossomed. Pot is legal in Washington state, where we live, so it was no big deal to us. But, for many of the British and Aussie backpacker set, it was a big draw. There were streets lined with pot shops near the main tourist part of town. One of my coffee shops got in on the action. Sadly, the Star Buds store wasn’t in business for long, though I do appreciate the name and location! Even Armani got into the game, fashion-wise. Not to be outdone, this haberdasher designed this fabulous suit.

We learned to “drive like Thais”; in other words, to drive as if no traffic laws, signs, or signals exist. We became immune to seeing two-year olds “help” their parents steer their motor scooters. It became common to see four on a scooter, the family minivan of Thailand. People drive what they can afford, and not everyone can afford a car. Scooters drive right through the markets – why walk when you can ride? Whilst riding, we became used to cars pulling out in front of us (without signaling), other scooters passing us on the left and right within our own lane, scooters driving really fast (typically, the food delivery drivers) or really slow (tuk-tuks, scooters with sidecars attached that haul goods, multiple people riding a 110-cc bike, etc.).  As scary as the other scooter drivers are, the car drivers are even scarier. I may be completely off-base, but I think that since most Thais grow up riding scooters that being in a bigger vehicle throws off their depth perception in gauging distances. It’s crazy getting behind a car turning. Most come to an almost complete stop before making a turn and then either turn wide or cut the corner. Or the exact opposite – typically a young guy in a big pickup driving like a bat out of hell! The excitement comes in by trying to anticipate what everyone around you is going to do and to be prepared for all eventualities.

Our first few months were idyllic – the weather was fantastic. In the mornings, the temperature was typically in the 60’s to low 70’s. By late afternoon, it warmed to the mid-80’s and then cooled off after the sun went down (between 6:30 and 7:00 pm). It was perfect weather for walking. We took morning walks, midday walks (to get lunch) and evening walks. And then, in February, smoky season started. Farmers burn their crops at this time of year. Usually, it is worst during the months of March and April. This year, it started early and lasted longer. It is illegal to burn, but that doesn’t stop anyone from doing it. Besides, farmers from surrounding countries burn crops, so even if Thailand managed to quash the habit, there would still be smoke. Locals told us that this was the worst burning season in years. Chiang Mai topped the “world’s most polluted city” list for weeks on end. To make matters worse, hot season kicked in in April. So, besides the nasty smoke, the temperature hovered around 105 degrees daily. We returned to wearing masks outdoors. It helped keep us breathing and helped keep the crud out of our lungs. We ran an air purifier day and night. We also had to run air conditioning 24/7 because of the excessive heat. It did cool down at night, but the temperature only dropped into the upper 70’s to low 80’s. Sadly, our lovely daily walks had to end. From what I read in the news, this was the worst heat wave SE Asia has ever seen.

In the middle of this record-setting hot spell, Songkran happened. Songkran is the Thai New Year, which is celebrated over 3 days (or more!). If you have seen pictures of the world’s largest water fight, you have seen Songkran! It is a much deeper experience for Thai people than just super-soakers, though. The roots of Songkran are in the Buddhist faith. The faithful here go to their local Wat (temple), pour water on elders’ hands, spend time with family, and of course, go crazy with water! A week before Songkran, we started to see signs of the upcoming festivities. We had seen pictures of the craziness and really didn’t know what to expect. Friends had told us that the locals used water from the moat that surrounds the old city to refill their water guns. Gross, gross, gross. The moat water is not clean, and we weren’t too sure that we wanted to be a part of that. But we did want to experience a little bit of fun, so the first morning of Songkran, we walked to the Tha Pae Gate area. All along the moat, there were booths set up selling buckets, water guns, masks, cell phone protectors, and all sorts of accoutrements related to the festival. There was supposed to be a “Thai women in traditional dress carrying umbrellas while riding bicycles” competition and so we set up shop on the 2^nd floor of the McDonalds across the street. We had an excellent view of the action – garbage cans filled with water lined the streets and if you walked or rode by, someone would throw buckets of water on you. There were pickups filled with young people shooting you with their super-soakers and people with hoses spraying those that walked by. One thing we did not see was anyone using moat water. Lots of local businesses provided water for refills. Despite the signs, we never saw anyone in the moat, either.

Everyone was having so much fun that we decided to join in. Incidentally, due to Covid, this was the first Songkran Festival in three years, and so people were really letting loose! We didn’t have water guns but were happy to let others soak us. Clayton made it a special point to let the little ones spray him. Given the excessive heat, it felt great!

Thank you Chat GPT for producing this lovely Songkran Rap:

Yo yo yo, it’s time to celebrate
The Thai New Year with a splash of fate
Songkran is the festival of water and fun
When you can soak anyone under the sun

It’s a tradition that goes back to ancient times
When people sprinkled water as a sign of good vibes
Now it’s a massive water fight in the streets
With buckets, hoses, and water guns on repeat

But Songkran is more than just getting wet
It’s also about respect and gratitude, don’t forget
You can visit temples, make offerings, and pray
Or wash the hands of elders and monks in a gentle way

Songkran is a time to cleanse and renew
To wash away the bad and welcome the good
So grab your friends, family, and strangers too
And join the party of Songkran, the coolest thing to do!

Thai school children have their summer break during hot season, which makes sense. School starts up again in mid-May, which is when smoky season finally ended. There were some fabulous thunderstorms around then as well. I attempted (unsuccessfully) to upload a couple of videos I took of the rain; I have never seen anything like it, and I have been in tropical storms before. Within 5 minutes, the street in front of our place had turned into a river. Crazy!

Will we be in Chiang Mai during the smoky and hot season again? Not on purpose. Once was enough. We will return in September after spending the summer back in Seattle. It will be rainy season when we go back, but in the northern part of Thailand, that means one or two rainstorms daily, and nice weather in between. We will miss the lovely people of Chiang Mai while we are gone. We had lots of hugs and tears when we let people know that we were leaving, but that gives us that much more to look forward to when we return. Thais are known for being warm and friendly. We certainly experienced that, and it is one of the main reasons why we love the area so much.

When we return in September, we have a few side trips planned that I will be writing about. We are taking a trip to Vietnam in October, a cruise in December, and a trip to India in February. More adventures ahead!

We are still loving life here and plan on returning next September. I have taken a couple of tours, which shockingly (not) revolve around food! We also took a train journey to Bangkok, and then continued to Kanchanaburi. Other than that, life continues as normal:

• lots of walking
• drinking coffee
• people-watching
• scooter riding
• massages (less than $10 for an hour!)
• pedicures (about $5)
• delicious food

 It is smoky season here, and all over SE Asia. Farmers burn their crops making very poor air quality. We are staying indoors a bit more as well as running an air purifier to keep the crud out of our lungs. N-95 masks are used outdoors, not for COVID protection, but as a health precaution due to pollution.

I am valiantly trying to learn a little Thai. It’s not easy – Thai is a tonal language, and the same word can be pronounced five different ways, with five different meanings. The letters are a challenge, and the words are not separated by spaces. They say it’s important to keep your brain active and challenged as you age; learning Thai qualifies! I do know a couple of important phrases: mai pet (not spicy) and pet nik noy (a little spicy). We are acclimating to the spiciness of much of the food and now actually add spice such as prik nam pla (fish sauce with chilies) or just ground chilies if the food isn’t spicy enough for our palates.

Since getting our Thai driver’s licenses, we have only been pulled over once. The police officer that pulled Clayton over was delighted to find that he had an actual Thai motorcycle license. He even high-fived Clayton before allowing him to drive on! As for me, I think the police officer either didn’t believe that my license was legitimate (an old, white foreign woman, properly licensed and riding a motorcycle???) or he was extra-disappointed that he wouldn’t be able to charge me a fine. Either way, he questioned me extensively and examined both my Thai and US driver’s licenses before scowling at me and sending me on my way.

We are pretty cautious about eating street food, given the lack of refrigeration that exists for meat. Nonetheless, I wanted to try some different foods so thought it was a good idea to take a street food tour. That way, the places I tried should be safe. There are several companies that offer tours; I settled on Chiang Mai Foodie Tours. They offer both a morning and an evening tour. I opted for morning, given that there is a bit of walking on the tour and mornings are much cooler than evenings. Also, I don’t like to eat much in the evening. It was a fun activity, and you can read about it here.

If you follow my blog, you know that I have taken three different cooking classes on previous visits to Chiang Mai. This year, I opted for Smile Organic Farm Cooking School. The class took place on the farm as opposed to most classes which are located near the old city and include a visit to the local market to teach about the vegetables used in Thai cooking. Since I visit the local market several times per week, I thought it would be more interesting to take the farm class. My friend, Mary Jo, as well as a couple of her friends took the class together. My post about the class can be found here.

Clayton and I love taking train trips, from traveling from south Vietnam to north Vietnam by train (36 hours of beautiful scenery), traveling around Europe on a Eurail Pass for a couple of months, or taking the Trans-Siberian Railroad from Beijing to St. Petersburg. We wanted to visit Kanchanaburi, which is located several hours from Bangkok. There are many ways to get to Bangkok – fly, night train, day train, bus, and private car. We wanted to experience the train. We opted for the day train so that we could enjoy the scenery. The journey is supposed to take 10 hours and costs less than $20 per person. In contrast, one can fly to Bangkok for around $31, so not much more expensive (but way less scenic). We spent two days in Bangkok and then took a train to Kanchanaburi: a 2.5-hour ride in a 3^rd class, non-air-conditioned train. We loved the Bangkok to Kanchanaburi train, the Chiang Mai to Bangkok, not so much. If you want to read about our experiences as well as some of the history of the death railway and Hellfire Pass, or if you just want to browse my photos, click here.

It seems hard to believe, but we have been living in Chiang Mai for about 3 months already. Time flies when you are living the good life! We take lots of walks and scooter rides as well as eating fabulous food. What could be better?

Since we are here for more than 90 days, we were required to get our Thai driver’s licenses. The process was simpler than it might have been because we both have motorcycle endorsements and International Driver’s Permits so essentially, we had to fill out tons of paperwork (thanks, Thai Assist Visa!), get a medical clearance (got weighed, height measured, and blood pressure taken), and then spent a fair amount of time having our documents checked, rechecked repeatedly (at least by 3 different people) at the Department of Land Transport, were tested for color blindness (but no vision check), paid a nominal fee, and had our pictures taken for our licenses. We are now legal to drive (both car and motorcycle) in Thailand for two years. After two years have passed, we get to do it all over again, but then will receive a “permanent” license for five years. The fact that there is no eye test whatsoever is kind of frightening…

This post is primarily photos of things that caught my eye during our many walks around town; things that are dramatically different than what we normally see at home in Seattle. I revisited the Silver Temple, attended the Chiang Mai Flower Festival and parade, and took pictures of things I found interesting.

We will be taking the train from Chiang Mai to Bangkok in early March, and from there will be taking the train to Kanchanaburi to view the Death Railway and Hellfire Pass. Look for a new post then!

The Silver Temple

Chiang Mai Flower Festival

Flower Festival Parade

This and That Around Town

As a change of pace, we decided to spend a couple of days in Chiang Rai. We visited there four or five years ago and wanted to return, even though we had already seen the major attractions in the area. The bus ride to Chiang Rai from Chiang Mai is between 3 and 4 hours, depending on traffic. Though there is an airport in Chiang Rai, it seemed silly to fly for such a short distance. There are different levels of comfort available for the bus; we chose VIP, which is the nicest. The bus has three seats across rather than four, so there is quite a bit of room. A small snack and a bottle of water are provided and there is a bathroom in the back, though you would only want to use it in an emergency…Though we were on the first trip of the day, the toilet was backed up and had not been cleaned out for quite a while.

The route goes through a mountain pass or two. The first part of the trip is quite windy, then the road straightens out for a bit before turning windy again. If you have motion sickness, I recommend taking meclizine or something comparable beforehand! We arrived in Chiang Rai around noon and walked to our hotel. First on the agenda was a massage and walking around town. Afterwards, we were both so tired we took a long afternoon nap. Retired life is great! We had dinner at the hotel. Though they had a very complete menu that included western food, only Thai food was actually available. And it was quite spicy!

Our tour van picked us up around 8:30 the following morning. We had a full day’s agenda ahead: White Temple, Blue Temple, Black House, Long-Neck Karen Tribe, Tea Plantation, Mae Sai (border town with Myanmar), and the Golden Triangle (including a stop at the Opium Museum). A very full day indeed! Our tour guide was Guy; the driver was Boy. And yes, Guy was a girl! Thai’s use nicknames rather than their given names. We shared the van with a couple from northern California and a family that was spending ten months traveling the world. We lucked out in that everyone was friendly; it made for a very pleasant day.

The White Temple (Wat Rong Khun) is located south of Chiang Rai. It is a spectacular temple that has been completely redone by a Thai artist, Chalermchai Kositpipat, though it is not yet complete. Since it is privately owned, the entry fees collected go towards completion of the temple. There is a donation limit of 10,000 Thai Baht (around $300 US). I did notice one building that had been constructed, but not “bedazzled” just yet! To enter the Wat (temple), you must pass through the artist’s vision of hell before getting to heaven. As is true of any Buddhist temple, shoes must be removed before entering.

Photos inside the temple are not allowed. The back wall is painted to resemble a demon. If you look closely, you can see that the eyes contain images of two men. The right eye is Osama bin Laden; the right is George Bush. Interesting symbolism! The left-hand wall has paintings that represent the circle of life. On the right, three people are portrayed: the first is painted dark, the next is half dark/half-light, and the final is light to represent the progress towards enlightenment. All point towards the Buddha.

There is a beautiful golden building on the grounds. Every other building is glistening white except for this one. What else could be golden but the throne room, aka happy room, aka toilets? I was not able to get a picture because my phone decided to act up.

Next on the agenda was the blue temple, Wat Rong Seur Ten. This is also a reconstructed temple that was designed by a student of Kositpipat (who designed the White Temple) between 2005 and 2015, though there are still some parts that are being built. The tigers on the side of the building are representative of the fact that tigers used to roam in this area.

The last stop near Chiang Rai was the Baandam Museum (baan means house, dam means black). This place was quite unique compared to the temples we had just visited. The artist, Thawan Duchanee, started collecting animal skins, bones, and other unique items from around the world. The Black House is not a single building; it consists of 40 buildings spread around a large garden area. It started as a hut to contain his collection of “stuff”, then grew to a house, and eventually spread into a complex.   He was already an acclaimed painter and replicas of his paintings dot the walls of the main building. Each painting has a QR code that can be scanned to get further information about it. What really draws a person’s attention, however, is the sculptures and other objects d’arte. Let’s just say that he has a strong fascination for the phallic! It is quite the counterpoint to the White Temple.

We were now heading north towards the border with Myanmar. Our next stop was at a long-necked Karen village. The Karen tribe originates in Myanmar but has relocated to Thailand. They are not allowed to work and so exist by selling admission to their “village” which is actually a series of stands filled with objects that they well. You may wonder why they wear the coils on their necks. Legend has it that a tribal leader started the practice to protect the women from being attacked by tigers. Girls start accumulating rings at age 5. New rings get added every couple of years. The rings are quite heavy but there is a maximum weight of 5.5 kilograms (12 pounds) allowed, so at a certain age, no new rings get added. They switched metals about 20 years ago and started using a lighter one. The rings can be removed but if they are, the woman must leave the tribe. It does not kill the woman to remove her rings, but she does have very weak neck muscles. The wearing of rings is not allowed in schools, so the girls in the tribe are not educated. They must marry within their tribe. The elongated look is partially due to the women’s shoulders being pushed down by the weight of the rings.

Each booth sold essentially the same things. Several women were weaving. The first booth or two were Akha women rather than Karen.

I had mixed feelings after the visit. It’s very unfortunate that the only way these tribes can subsist is by selling tickets for tourists to gawk at them. But, if they did not have that option, they would starve.

Our last stop before lunch was at a tea plantation. Given the number of tour vans and tourists milling about, it seemed to be a common stop on the tour circuit! We were given three teas to taste; none were to our liking, so we did not purchase any. It seems that most tours seem to include one dedicated shopping stop.

Finally, it was time to eat! We had been on the road/touring for 6 hours and we were pretty hungry! The restaurant seemed to cater to tour groups. They provided a small buffet of Thai food (rice, a couple of stir-fried dishes and a couple of soups) as well as some french fries. It helped stave off starvation and gave us energy for the rest of the tour.

The last time we visited Chiang Rai, we were able to cross the border into Myanmar. It is one of our fondest travel memories and so I was curious to see what things were like now with the border closed. There used to be a 5 km zone where the people that lived in Tachilek, on the Myanmar side, could cross into Mae Sai, on the Thailand side, to purchase items without having a visa. Mae Sai was a bustling town filled with people buying all types of items and bringing them back to Burma (Myanmar). Now, it seemed to only have tourists. Though the markets were still open, there were very few customers. It looked like a ghost town compared to what it was in the past.

Our final stop of the day was the Golden Triangle, the place where Thailand, Myanmar, and Laos meet. Its claim to fame is the opium trade, and there is a museum to visit to learn all about it. We had visited the same museum on our previous trip, so opted to sit outside and wait for the rest of the group.

The ride back to Chiang Rai was about 1.5 hours. I spent it chatting with the mom of the family that was taking a sabbatical year to tour the world. What a fabulous experience for those kids! She was home-schooling them to keep them up on their studies, but the experiences they are having will educate them in ways no classroom can. The time flew by, and we were back at our hotel, exhausted from our day.

We took the bus back to Chiang Mai the following morning. Tentatively, we plan on taking the train to Bangkok in March. I will update my blog then.