Northern Thailand

Thailand

Northern Thailand
25 February 2007
Chiang Mae, Thailand

Thailand, so far, is a very impressive place: friendly people, good infrastructure, efficient and comfortable transportation, and all quite affordable. The train we took from Bangkok to Chiang Mae beats the pants off Amtrak, and for about 20 percent of the price! The food here is excellent! We could go on and on, but suffice it to say we love Thailand!

One discovery so far has been that we know less about Asia than we realized, and we are very excited about learning more. We would like to learn the Chinese language, which is, of course, quite different from the Thai language. However, learning Chinese seems to make more financial sense than learning Thai. The future is wide open for us!

We haven't seen much of Chiang Mae yet, though what we've seen seems quite nice. It seems quieter than Bangkok, and certainly not as hot at night. There is a famous Night Market here, which is said to be very nice. We'll go out and have a look around the town and see the market!

A Sudden Change of Plans (by Andy)
27 February 2007
Chiang Mae, Thailand

Liza left today, going to spend 10 days at a Buddhist meditation retreat. I'm trying to figure out what to do with myself for these days. She had talked about doing a meditation retreat, and when we visited Wat Ram Poeng, the temple complex where she's staying, she made a snap decision to enroll in a 10-day retreat. I'm toying with the idea of renting a motorcycle and driving around the north of Thailand. Maybe I'll catch a bus up to the Laos border and cross into Laos for a few days. Or maybe I'll take a bus over to Pai, then Mae Hong Son. I could also hang around Chiang Mae for these days, getting to know the city. I don't know …

Motorcycle Days (by Andy)
2 March 2007
Chiang Mae, Thailand

Yesterday was a very good day spent riding motorbikes around the countryside and mountains near Chiang Mae, with Ari from Canada and Steven from Belgium. We started out by riding up a mountain called Doi Suthep, where there is a very old temple that we didn't go inside of. We were looking for waterfalls. We asked a group of young Thais, and after a stumbling conversation, they said they'd show us the waterfalls. They took off in a pickup truck like bats out of hell, and while Ari and I lagged behind, actually braking for curves, Steven somehow managed to keep up with them. At the park where the waterfall is, we had lunch and met a woman from Denver who told me to waste no time and move immediately to Thailand, as she had done six years ago. We explored this waterfall and then rode on to find more waterfalls. We came to two parks that charge 420 baht to enter – Thais pay nothing – so we skipped those and instead rode around the countryside. We visited a Hmong village and were invited by a man to have a beer with him. He told us about the surrounding jungle and we exchanged stories about our travels.

We've begun to consider leaving Chiang Mae, which we've been using as a base. Instead, we could stash our things at the guest house, and take just a small backpack. There are guest houses all over the countryside, and they're quite cheap. We could make our way up to Pai, and then Mae Hong Son.

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