Overnight Bus to Phan

Posted by Stuart at 07:23 AM on August 22, 2002

At 5 AM this morning I found myself dropped off by the side of the road at hok yak phan or the "Big Junction in Phan, Thailand" (Actually it's translated as "Six Intersections in Phan", or where 6 roads meet at one point). Isara arrived on his motorcycle a few minutes later and picked me up. We headed back to his house, and I took a much needed nap after not sleeping very much on the 9 hour overnight bus ride.

Once I woke up, we took a motorcycle ride around his home village of Phan, and then rode a bus north for an hour to the city of Chaing Rai. We spent the day visiting several old temples, including the original home of the Emerald Buddha that is now housed in Bangkok. Tonight we ate another delicious, cheap Thai meal and watched Thai dancing and listened to Thai music. We were going to watch Men in Black II, but then realized it was dubbed in Thai. No thanks! So we had Swenson's ice cream instead.

We are spending the night here, and going to visit more temples and a few waterfalls tomorrow...

Wat Rong Khon and Doi Luang National Park

Posted by Stuart at 07:56 AM on August 24, 2002

After spending the night in a cheap but decent guest house, and having French Toast and coffee for breakfast (how Thai!), Isara and I went to his college to pick up his transcript. At the college we took a walk around the gardens named after the King's Mother. It was a beautiful terraced garden with lots of trees and flowering bushes surrounding a big lake, and a statue of the park's namesake.

This is all fine and good, but I have to admit I have a problem here. In various literature and conversations, I have heard the nickname of the King's Mother as "Grandmother Princess", "Grandmother Prince's", and "Prince's Mother". I have no idea which is correct. But at least I do know it was a nice park.

On the way back to Phan from Chiang Rai, we stopped by a brand new white and silver temple called Wat Rong Khon that is being designed and built by a famous Thai artist named Master Charlermchai Kositpipat. Its modern, yet classical style was quite impressive.

We then rode the motorcycle to Doi Luang National Park, where we rented a tent for the night. We had the campground to ourselves, since the idea of camping out during the rainy season is an unpopular one (if not downright strange!). Sure enough, it rained most of the night, but we stayed dry in the tent. When the rain stopped in the morning, we hiked about 1 km to see the Pa Keng waterfalls. There are 9 waterfalls in all -- each unique in size and shape. Needless to say I took a lot of pictures here.

After bathing in the falls, we hiked back along the very slippery and steep trail. We then took the motorcyle to another hillside temple, then to the town of Phayao on the lake for dinner.

After dinner we traveled north through Phan and back to Chiang Rai, where we visited the Night Bazaar again (no rain this time) and went to a few nightclubs to sample the night life of a medium-sized northern Thai town. We spent the night in Chaing Rai again, this time at a different cheap (yet still decent) guesthouse.

Handicrafts, hot springs, and fruit

Posted by Stuart at 06:11 AM on August 25, 2002

We have been taking it relatively easy in Chiang Rai today, after yesterday's full schedule. On the way back to Phan we stopped by a traditional Thai handicrafts store to check out their collection of ceramics, thai silk, woodcarvings, etc, and we also stopped at some hot springs.

Later in the day we rode the motorbike out to Isara's family farm, in the foothills of the nearby mountains. There we enjoyed the fresh longan (fruit) and corn on the cob that we had bought in the market in town.

Tomorrow we head to Mae Sai for a couple of days. This area is Thailand's northern-most point, and is also known as the Golden Triangle, for it is the border betweeen Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar (Burma).

Golden Triangle

Posted by Stuart at 03:46 AM on August 27, 2002

The past few days have been spent in Mae Sai, on the Thai / Myanmar (Burma) border. The border crossing is closed now, so we have stayed on the Thai side. There has been plenty to do here.

We arrived the afternoon of the first day, found a guest house right next to the Mae Sai River (with Myanmar on the other side) and rented a motorcycle. The next day we rode the motorcycle about 30 km to Chaeng Saen, also known as the Golden Triangle. Here, the Mae Sai River meets the Mekong River, and the countries of Thailand, Myanmar, and Laos touch. Chiang Seng is one of the oldest cities in Thailand, and so we visited a few temples, one of which was built in the 10th century and on from the 13th century.

We were also hoping to visit the Chiang Saen National Museum. Isara remebered it from a high school field trip, saying that it was full of artifacts and information on the Golden Triangle's 1000 year history. Unfortunately, it was closed, so instead we went to the Opium Museum to learn about the Golden Triangle's infamous illegal opium production. Thailand has done a pretty good job of stopping its people (hilltribes, mostly) from growing and harvesting poppies, but apparently it is still produced in large quanties in Myanmar and Laos. In any case, the Opium Museum was a very educational trip through the facts and history of opium in this part of the world.

Remaining time in Mae Sai: Doi Tung Royal Villa

Posted by Stuart at 07:28 AM on August 28, 2002

After visiting the Golden Triangle, Isara and I headed back to Mae Sai, and then went 30 km in the other direction to Doi Tung (Tung Mountain), where we saw an extremely old temple and the Grandmother Princess' Royal Villa and Gardens.

The trip up the mountain was perhaps the most exciting part. The road was in good condition, but it was perhaps the steepest, narrowest "two-lane" road I have ever been on. There were several times when we weren't sure if the motorcycle was going to make it up the hill!

The views, though, were amazing. The road runs parallell to the Thai / Myanmar border. I would think that illegally crossing the border here would be next to impossible considering the jungle and the steep hills, but we passed through several police checkpoints in any case. Speaking of illegal crossings, the first night we checked into our guesthouse bungalow, we had a great time watching people cross the fast-flowing Mae Sai River from Thailand to Myanmar and back in intertubes, just around the bend from a watchful police station.

Today, Isara took the bus home to Phan to prepare for his move to Bangkok later this week. After I dropped him off at the bus station, I continued on the motorcycle, exploring the countryside and visiting hilltribe villages on my own. Tonight I will spend my last night in Chiang Rai and take the bus to visit friends in Chiang Mai tomorrow. My friend Champ from Chiang Rai will be joining me, as he has friends in Chiang Mai as well, so at least I will have company on the 3 hour bus ride.

Time Change

Posted by Stuart at 11:18 PM on August 28, 2002

As you might be able to tell from the entries below (or the fact that I haven't replied to an email you sent a while back! :) we have been staying very busy here in Chiang Rai. Just today I have started going through my backlog of emails, and have been able to enter my journal for the last few days.

I also just changed the official time clock on this site to the correct time zone. All posts before this one have Pacific time. For example, the one right before this was done a half hour ago... in the morning in SF. But it is really night time, as the time stamp on this entry shows. So, from now on, the time stamps will be more accurate. Whew.