Chapter 1: February 24, 2002

My first trip to Asia in 1995 has been my stimulation to write more that I have in all my life. The first travelog starts with the comment that snow flurries were falling as we drove to the airport. This fourth trip in early February had mild cold but I didn't see snow until I changed planes in Detroit.

Then I heard that Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow! Six more weeks of cold. Just in time if you live in the north and believe those scientists! I only mention this to share with you this warm feeling of knowing I'm not stuck in the cold. Ever since January '96 when Pete faxed me, "I hope you are having a good time 'cause we are up to our.... waist in snow here"!

It warms me right up; like sending postcards home. Just thought I'd share that. I hope it doesn't sound too smug.

As a humbling dose of reality, let me remind you I am a budget traveler. I hand wash my clothes. I have learned to appreciate the little things here in Asia, like a western toilet and a hose to shower, rather than only a bucket.

Being back in Bangkok was exciting just walking around this city I love, shopping and sampling tasty food everywhere I went. Some friends I know here invited me to meet them at the Snake Farm at the Red Cross Center. For 70 Bhat it is one of the best deals in Bangkok. You get to see all the cobras and other deadly serpents up close (as close as you dare).

It is a dusty city, and I knew a hut on the beach was as close as a few hours on an air conditioned bus. It was too hot this time of year to go further south. My new island this year was Koh Samet, off Rayong, east of Bangkok (towards Koh Chang and Cambodia). Ferry boats take you from the mainland to most islands. A Thai expression fits here; "Same-same, but different!" Koh Samet has a mountain ridge with high cliffs on the western side and white sand beaches on the northeast coast.

 

Chapter 2: March '02

A week later I took the overnight train from Bangkok north to Chiang Mai.

Chiang Mai, Thailand (the "Rose of the North") is like Paris compared to fast paced Bangkok. I have a similar expression that fits Hanoi and Saigon (which I call Miami)! In Chiang Mai I stayed at Hollandamontri Guest house on the Ping River. Check out www.come.to/hollandamontri for some photos and a real feeling of my surroundings. This quiet guesthouse is away from most action, but only a healthy walk, or you can take a short ride by a choice of cycle taxi, three-wheeled motorized tuk-tuk or an actual pedal driven one called a Samilor.

I enjoy walking through most any market and in Thailand there are weekend markets, morning markets, the flower market and numerous food markets. The neatest of all is the Chiang Mai Night Market. Thousands of stalls sell handicrafts but I've learned many have the same tourist junk I've seen before (and maybe bought my first trip).

But there are many exceptions. In 1998 I discovered the string animals and the Rope Dragon lady. Read all about it if you know not of what I speak. Ropedragons, CHECK 'EM OUT.

Anyway, the story is that while here four years ago I met an interesting street vendor. He brought me a copy of a clipping from a 1996 Bangkok Post article about his grandmother who was keeping this family tradition alive. This was a great story! I explained that I was learning about making websites and would create one as a tribute to them. After four years I was finally able to show it to him. I still don't think he grasps the Internet, and how people all over the world can now read the story (his and mine).

So I purchased more dragons in assorted sizes and took things easy for a few days, considering my options. With vastly different travel concerns, many countries I could visit are on hold. It's funny, but Viet Nam and Laos (the Communist ones) seemed the safest. You never hear about their Moslem violence in the south (like Thailand or the Philippines)! Unfortunately some of these other countries require a wait and even more dollars to obtain a visa. My Thai visa was running out and I realized the truth; I really just wanted to get out and come back for another month in Thailand. So I went to Burma!

Actually, what I did is what thousands of foreign travelers do to remain in the Kingdom of Thailand. You make a "Visa run" where you go to a select border town, in this case Mae Sai in the northernmost point of Thailand. For $5 you can cross the border there and enter the town of Thachileik, Myanmar for the day. At this time and border crossing you are not allowed to go to far away. I found it had a pinch of India. I walked through the market and found some real interesting old matches.

When I walked back, the Thai immigration officer stamped my passport with another free 30-day visa. What a country!

So I have been to Myanmar (Burma) and survived. I feel like when I visited San Diego and walked across the border to Tijuana for the day. I laugh now when I say I went to Mexico. The same can now be said about another country but this time I have a stamp in my passport to prove it.

Detail Map of North Thailand (116k)

Someday soon I want to experience the country for real, and that goes for both Myanmar and Mexico.

I planned to return to a favorite spot in the Northwest corner of the country called Mae Hong Son. One reason I discovered it in 1998 was that there is an airport and three, cheap 25-minute flights a day from Chiang Mai. Since just last year the price of a ticket doubled (it is now $18)! The bus is much less but it takes eight hours. The other thing about the Thai-Air jet is they don't make a stop in Pai, about half way on the bus route.

But Pai is a place I've heard so much about and never gone to and the four-hour bus was just fine. Pai is a mix of kind of an artist community. It is "New Age" in a Northern Thailand kind of way. There is a lot of catering to backpacker type tourists. It certainly is mostly Thai but the streets have a mix that includes Moslem and hill-tribe people carrying on their business. The is a choice of nice restaurants and there are bakeries with exquisite baked goods like warm croissants and pastries with fruit or chocolate. On the other hand, fresh milk meant uht milk in a box.

Among other things, different fruits grow in the North, like strawberries.

 I rented a Honda motorbike and went off to discover where each road out of town went. I swam in a pool under a waterfall. It was delightful, as were the young naked hill-kids who showed me how to get wet. I don't want to think about how that sounds. Get your mind out of the gutter; it was special.

Later, on the other side of town, I passed a few places that had signs like "Joy Elephant Training Farm", and one or two elephants doing things elephants do with their keepers. It was like a local garage with one bay. Some of their business was people stopping and buying bunches of bananas for the brief experience (GULP) of feeding. I didn't stop but waived. I have had a respect for these large gentle creatures since riding one (for over an hour) on a trek to visit the hilltribes back in '95.

Heading back to town I passed a trainer walking with a baby elephant. I pulled to a stop across the narrow road. I was innocently smiling as the cute cuddly thing trotted over to say hello. Across the street I could see the trainer frantically pulling up the slack on the heavy chain that was attached to one leg. He was hollering something in Thai; maybe something like "NO"! He understood the cute, really heavy creature was about to rub against me, possibly damaging the motorbike, me or both!

But like everything on this trip so far, it worked out just fine. The chain restrained him (her?) just in time. I understand trainers live with their "students" for a lot of the animal's life, and develop a real relationship. When a trained elephant is sold, the trainer (called a Mahoot) is needed for a long while making the adjustment to the new owner.

Anyway, I must amend my previous travel advice (Asia travelogues #2 and #3) to fly from Chiang Mai to Mae Hong Son. Now I say to take the bus to Pai, get a guesthouse by the river and when you feel the time is right, take the bus on to, and maybe fly back from Mae Hong Son.

Back in Chiang Mai I drove out to a hot springs with a couple I met who had rented a car. The place was a park with deluxe bungalows for rent. There is a restaurant, a pool and a bathhouse where you fill a large private tub with hot spring water. One tap was marked "Very Hot" and of course I found out why. There are a few places on the grounds where the actual spring gushes out. No one can get in water this temperature. What many do is buy a ceremonial sack of eggs on a pole that they hold in the water, and then sit around eating the eggs. I just watched. You have to understand that both the spring water and the air you breathe here has a strong sulfur smell.

I previously mused that I thought more toilet paper was used here than anywhere else in the world, just not in the bathroom. It is mostly used as economical paper towels by food stalls where the most tables have plastic dispensers specifically designed for the paper rolls.

Writing this back in my guesthouse I hear a local native from the bathroom (or maybe at the screened vent) every now and then. He can stay silent (like Chinese water torture) for up to an hour, and then real loud, 'EEHCO'. It is not a Gecko! I am told it is a Tookie and is much larger than a Gecko! They tell me if he chirps nine times it is good luck but if your house doesn't have one, it is bad luck!

 I have my dragons to protect me.

So with a bags of rope animals and other stuff from street markets and stores, I am heading back to Bangkok with no fix on what is next. It seems a waste to miss the experience of hopping to a neighboring country but life here in Thailand is pretty good.

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Chapter 3: March '02

I visited the Orphanage twice before I left Chiang Mai. It's funny but it seemed that the same three year old kids jumped all over me. I guess it couldn't be them but they looked just like they did four years ago when I first visited and took this photo.

These kids may have had a sad and varied past, but the orphanage does place them with families all the time. Meanwhile the staff couldn't appear to love them more. They get plenty of attention, with daily visits from people who give the team a break by doing nothing more than pushing a swing or holding the one who is crying. People like me.. and those blond students from Denmark.

I decided I had to go back to Koh Samet to enjoy the Gulf of Thailand again. There are many islands off the coast of Southern Asia. Some are uninhabited and some are rather touristy but many have huts and bungalows on the beach. Most are family owned with restaurants that offer everything from an "American Breakfast" to Thai food and of course fruit, shellfish and seafood.

Click to view Maps of Thailand

I constantly restrain myself from writing how little things cost here. It is just not my most colorful writing, but it is a fact that hits me constantly. For 20 Bhat (under $.50) a tire repair guy fixed a flat tire and a shoe repairman glued my boot heels to be wanderin' (the same pair another street cobbler patched inside while in Laos last year). I'm on a roll here; for about this price, street vendors (every few steps) offer you a choice of real sliced meat like chicken, pork or duck or even an unknown creature (or many spicy veggie dishes). You can get it over rice, or with your choice of noodle, stir-fired or in delicious soup large enough to share (well, we might be up to 30 Bhat now). And since we're sharing, 20 Bhat will buy two bags of fruit like pineapple, melon or my favorite, papaya, cut into cubes and double bagged. There are bicycle ice cream vendors everywhere from Bangkok to the islands and for 20 Bhat we both can get a cup of about ten small scoops of fresh (real) fruit ice cream.

In the capitol cities, quality restaurants abound. For $4 I had a Filet Minion dinner, an Indian buffet or a Sushi set including miso soup and salads. Of course this amount was for each meal but remember, this is Thailand. After tax and tip the total came to… $4! Then there was a dollar for a taxi when I didn't feel like walking.

I will eventually become one of the many I have met who not only come here every winter, but spend close to half the year on this side of the globe. To do this one periodically has to leave Thailand (aka The Kingdom) to obtain a new visa, either on a border run like I did last month, or really travel into a neighboring county for a longer stay. As I write this, I am on a waiting list for a flight home and my current visa expires in a week. If I can't get a flight by then, a 10 day extension can be obtained but an option would be leave the country again. I could fly to Singapore for a day. The round trip flight is only $120 and the visas are free. Go to Singapore for lunch… maybe have a Singapore Sling at Raffles (where the drink originated). I wonder if I can find that foodstall frying oyster balls from New Years 1996 on my first trip to Asia.

My airline advised me that although seats can come available every day, the next open date for a return flight is over a month away! I was one of many waiting for an opening but that is not enough.

I sent an Email and a few post cards home saying: Bad News- I'm stuck in Thailand! All flights home are booked. Good News- I'm stuck in Thailand!

I soon realized the thing to do is call the airline every day and day three was my lucky one. I got a flight that left at dawn o'clock April 2nd and I was able to return home. With an extra stop, the four flights took almost 30 hours!

Well, due to obligations at home, I didn't know when I might return to Asia. In 2006 I discovered Costa-Rica and Panama, similar to Thailand in a few ways and only 5 hours away. Fresh seafood, new fruits, a Pacific coast to the west and the Caribean coast to the east. There is a Costa Rican webpage here somewhere.

But in 2007 I worked it out and with "permission", went back to Thailand and Singapore. United Airlines has a flight with only the stop in Tokyo. Excited? Click for my fifth trip.