Category: 2019 Asia

Today was our free day in Chiangmai.  Most of our group wanted to go to the tiger sanctuary.  Lin arranged to have our bus take us there.  They have about 45 tigers of a variety of breeds and ages.  We walked around and checked them all out. Ann, Rick and I had purchased tickets to go into the cages with the baby, 6 week old, tigers.  We had to wear a smock over our clothes and slippers. We spent about 15 minutes with the babies.  They were very cute and playful.  We all loved it. 

Sometime later someone told us that they may have drugged the tigers.  They didn’t seem drugged but I’m certainly no expert.  All I can say is I hope they don’t drug them.

Then we took the bus back to the hotel.  A smaller group of us went to a pizza restaurant just down the block from our hotel.  It was very good and another nice break from Thai food.  

Then we ventured into the city.  We stopped at a couple of temples and spoke with one of the nuns we met.  Then we headed off to the market.  Some of our group bought some items but we just looked around.  We were trying to find a tablecloth like the one we had seen at the home hosted dinner, but no luck.  It was really hot so we went back to the hotel.  After it cooled down a little, I walked into the old city which is only about 1 square mile.  It was surrounded by a moat and wall with beautiful flowers near the entrance.  Honestly it didn’t look much different from the rest of the city, but at least can say I explored it.    

 

According to TripAdvisor the 10th best restaurant in the world, called David’s Kitchen, is in Chiangmai.  We had made reservations about a month earlier.  Lin had arranged a taxi to take us there.  We didn’t quite make it on time because there were 4 colleges all getting out at the same time.  The traffic was terrible.  We were immediately greeted by David himself.  It was a really lovely restaurant with very, very attentive staff.  Rick and Ann shared two appetizers, gnocchi stuffed with lamb shank and grapefruit wrapped in cucumbers with fried fish on top.  For dinner Ann had salmon, Rick had snow fish and I had boeuf bourgeois.  It was excellent!

They called us a taxi and we headed back to the hotel.  

Today we started the day by visiting the long neck tribe or the Kayan people.  These people originate from hills around northern Thailand and Burma.  Many of them left Burma due to civil unrest.  They were living in refugee camps in Thailand but have now established their own villages.  They are known for the brass rings, as much as 5kg, they wear around their necks.  The rings do not lengthen their necks but push their shoulders down.  Women’s necks get very weak as a result of the rings and they can not support their heads without the rings.  Girls start wearing the ring at 5 years old.  According to Wikipedia, “Speculation by anthropologists, who have hypothesized that the rings protected women from becoming slaves; making them less attractive to other tribes. It has also been theorised that the coils originate from the desire to look more attractive by exaggerating sexual dimorphism, as women have more slender necks than men. It has also been suggested that the coils give the women resemblance to a dragon, an important figure in Kayan folklore. The coils might be meant to protect their wearers from tiger bites, perhaps literally but more likely symbolically. Kayan women, when asked, acknowledge these ideas, and often say that their purpose for wearing the rings is cultural identity (one associated with beauty).”

Through Lin we talked to the ladies.  Lin showed us one of their houses.  It was pretty basic.  They did some farming, including growing rice.  We did a little shopping. While their life doesn’t seem easy they appear happy and healthy.    

We got back on the trucks that had brought us to the village.  They took us to the elephant camp.  This camp was for elephants that had previously worked harvesting teak and were now “retired”.  We were introduced to Tata, a 35 year old female, and her mahoot or handler.  She had had a baby 5 years earlier and her baby was in the camp with her.  We took pictures with her.  While we were taking pictures her mahout was lovingly checking her skin.  It looked like a very tight relationship.  She seemed very relaxed with us.  Her mahout showed us how he got on and off her.  

We went to the little museum and wondered around for about 15 minutes.  Then they show us how they made paper from the elephant poop.  Elephants have very poor digestive systems so their poop is very fibrous and good for making paper.  We bought some elephant poop bookmarks.  Next they showed us how they make elephant vitamins balls.  We made quite a few and then we took them over to the elephants and fed them. They really like the vitamin balls and would open their mouths so that we could just drop them in.  The baby couldn’t get close enough and would take the ball with her trunk.  Once we finished the vitamin balls we fed them sugar cane.  They could get 4 pieces of sugar cane in their mouth before they chewed it.  I really liked feeding them and gave them lots of sugar cane.  

After feeding them we went to feed ourselves.  Lin had had sandwiches brought in, a nice change from Thai food.  After lunch we chatted with the mahout before heading back to our little truck which took us down the mountain to our bus.  

We returned to the hotel where Rick and I regrouped before going furniture shopping.  Lin said that Chiangmai would be a good place to buy furniture. We took a taxi, a pickup truck with covered seats in the back.  Pam came with us and we dropped her off at the silk store where she was buying material to make a skirt and top.  We arrived at the furniture store and there was a gentleman carving a beautifully intricate headboard.  They also had huge pieces of a teak tree and a rosewood tree.  We wandered through the store.  Everything was gorgeous, but many pieces were a little too ornate for us.  We found a cabinet that would look nice in the living room.  We also looked at beds. We didn’t buy anything but might order something when we get home.  Our taxi had waited for us and took us back to the hotel.  

That evening we went out to dinner at a local restaurant where the proprietor prepared flaming chicken at our tables.

We left the hotel this morning at 8.  Today we are driving 5 hours to Chiangmai.  

Luckily we have a couple of stops to break up the journey.  First stop was at a boar feeding stop.  People release boars into this area to get good karma so there were quite a few boars.  The boars know people stop in this area to feed them so they wait in a fenced area for people to come.  Lin bought some bananas and boar food for us to give them. 

During the ride, Lin talked about various issues including prostitution and human trafficking.  Girls from this area are particularly vulnerable because they are light skinned, something considered more desirable, and because they and their families are somewhat naïve.  Drug traffickers are prevalent in the Chiangmai and Chiangrai area.  Poppies are grown in Burma and then the heroine is moved through Thailand to the rest of the world.  Lin grew up in the area and she estimates that 80% of her class ended up in prostitution, or drug trafficking. Sad statistic!

Once we arrived in Chiangmai we went to a gems gallery.  They showed us a short video on the mining and cutting processes and escorted us into the showroom. They had many beautiful things, but I didn’t get anything.

Afterward we went to our hotel and got checked in.  That evening we went to a home hosted dinner.  Our host was a lovely woman who was married and had one son. Neither her son nor her husband were there.  She had her niece and nephew help her cook and host the dinner.  Her name was Runa which translates to rainbow.  She was energetic, positive, and a joy to send time with.  

Her English was quite good.  She had worked in a factory for three years in Taiwan where she learned English.  She and her husband own a small grocery store.  She showed us around her house.  It was very nicely furnished. 

She said initially she was unsure about hosting people in her house but then she tried it and loved it.  We started out making our own salad. 

Then the niece and nephew served dinner and dessert.

 It was a very pleasant evening. 

We were up early to give alms to the monks.  I had done it when I was in Laos and loved it.  We sat on the bridge that lead to the monastery in Sukhothai.  Lin gave us packages of food that she had bought in the market.  Shortly before sunrise, after the monks had finished chanting, they started walking across the bridge.  We put our bag of food in their bowl.  They take all the food back to the monastery and share it with each other.  After they finished collecting alms they came back to bless us.  Here are the words to the blessing.  

It left me with a peaceful, happy feeling.

Then we went to the market and looked around for about a half an hour.  It was very typical selling everything from vegetables and meat to home goods.  

Here is a video of some monks blessing a vendor at the market.

We came back to the hotel to have breakfast and to get ready for our visit to Ban Na Sroi village.  OAT, our tour company, calls this “A Day in the Life” and it’s designed to show us what typical village life is like.  Our first stop was at a house that ran the village’s rice mill.  Lin explained the mill output.  Some goes to the animals and some is for human consumption.  The owner of the rice mill keeps the animal feed as payment for using her mill. Lin also showed us some of the other products she was selling.  

Then we went next door to a lady who had a small shop.  She was weaving bamboo into products she would sell.  Often they would sell them to a middle man who periodically visits the village who would take the products to the market. This lady also had a little shop.

Next stop was a farmer’s house.  He grew fruit and vegetables.  He had bought more land in hopes of growing more produce, but he didn’t have the water required for the additional plants.  It was too expensive to dig a well so the land was not used.  He supplemented his income by building fish traps and kites (which made a humming, whirring sound as he whipped in around). This was a common theme — people need to have multiple sources of income to support themselves. 

Here is a video of the farmer twirling the kite.

Last stop was with men who train roosters for cock fighting.  According to Lin cock fighting is quite popular.  Roosters are quite territorial and will fight if there is another rooster in their territory.  We saw roosters kept in cages at peoples’ houses in order to keep them apart.  

Next we went to the village school.  Lin introduced the principal who introduced two new teachers.  Today newly licensed teachers are required to pass an English proficiency test before they get their teaching certificate.  

We were all escorted through the school by the kids  I had 2 boys who were about 10 years old.  We went into one classroom where the children were being taught remotely via a computer monitor.  Apparently the last king wanted to make sure all children were properly educated so he directed that teaching videos be made to supplement the teachers.  There are not enough teachers in the rural areas.

 One of the teachers showed us how to make flowers about of palm fronds.  The kids were supposed to help us but my boys had no idea what they were doing so I gave up. 

They took us through each of the classrooms and we ended our tour in the “cafeteria” where the boys promptly ditched me for food.  The children bring rice for lunch but the rest of their lunch is supplied by the school.  We gave the principal our gifts, we had brought socks, and I gave them 3 knitted elephants that I had made.  

After the school we went to the mayor’s house for lunch. 

She was elected by the village but the government is eliminating this position and just assigning someone to manage the village.  We had a lovely lunch with  several ladies from the village who were there to help.  We invited them to join at the table us but they were very hesitant because that’s not done in their culture.  Eventually they agreed and we were able to ask them questions.  Lin said that domestic violence is fairly common and occurs in about a third of the couples.  None of hosts were victims of domestic violence.  

We said good bye to our hosts and some of us went to a celadon factory.  Celadon is green pottery that traditionally is made in this area.  We saw some very intricate work, but nothing that we felt we absolutely needed.  

 

We left Nakhon Sawan for Sukhothai this morning. After driving for about 1 1/2 hours we arrived at Naresuan University, a government sponsored school in Phitsanulok. The university has 16 faculties and about 20,000 full-time students.  We met with a professor in the education department who is trying to bring community based education to Thailand.  According to the internet, community-based learning refers to a wide variety of instructional methods and programs that educators use to connect what is being taught in schools to their surrounding communities, including local institutions, history, literature, cultural heritage, and natural environments. She gave us a brief lecture on her research and answered our questions.

The building where our lecture was held was surrounded by beautiful rice paddies.  Inside it was teak with many lovely pieces of oriental pottery.

It was lunchtime so we went to the students’ canteen for lunch.  Lin broke us into three groups and each group was assigned a student to help us manage the process.  There were a lot of little restaurant stalls with all types of food.  It was a little overwhelming.   Rick and I got chicken curry.  During lunch we were able to ask the students questions about college life.

After lunch our three student helpers said good-bye.

Back on the bus we drove to our hotel in Sukhothai.  Sukhothai was the capital of Thailand from 1238 until 1438.  It was selected because it floods every year and the rulers thought the flooding would protect the Thai people from invaders, specifically the Burmese.  It worked, the Burmese’s didn’t invade while Sukhothai was the capital.  The city contains the ruins of temples built when the city was the capital.  The temples started out as Hindu temples but were later converted to Buddhist temples.  Some of the people in our group rode from temple to temple on bicycles, the rest of us rode in a small trolley.  We were there as the sun was setting and the light on the buildings was spectacular.

Interestingly we met a Swiss family there that had driven from Switzerland through Pakistan and Iran to Thailand.  Quite an adventure requiring all sorts of security folks while traveling on the road.

We are staying in a lovely hotel with lots of ponds and beautiful greenery.

 

 

 

We left our lovely tented camp early this morning because we have a 5 hour drive.  We are slowly making our way to Chiang Mai and the next stop, Uthai Thani, is a half way point.

We had several stops to break up the trip.  Our first stop was just outside the camp, a rubber farm.  The farmer happened to be there and showed us how he cut the bark of the tree and collected the rubber.  He had about 700 trees and couldn’t find enough laborers to do the work.  They need to collect the rubber daily before it sets to ensure a good price on the market.  We went through the economics and, while it sounds profitable, the farmer clearly isn’t get rich farming rubber.

We stopped at a stand selling the bamboo tubes with the sticky rice cooked inside (we had this in Cambodia).  They also made bamboo sheds.

Before lunch we also stopped at a tapioca farm.  Lin saw the plants so we just pulled the bus over and walked into the field.  Lin was showing us the roots when the farmer arrived.  Via Lin he explained about growing tapioca.  A plant matures in about 8 months and you can get about a 10 kg root at that point. The root has cyanide in it and needs to be properly prepared to rid the tapioca of the cyanide.  He gave us one of his 2 month old plants so it could be prepared for our lunch later that day.

Last stop before lunch was at a little road side stand.  Lin explained that they eat all the pests from the rice fields, including small birds and rats.  This stand was selling both.  The woman also sold duck eggs (in both Thailand and Cambodia, they eat a lot more duck eggs than chicken eggs) that are painted with limestone.  The ones painted with white limestone taste salty and the ones painted with pink turn the egg black.

During our bus ride we learned about education in Thailand.  School is free for children until the 12th grade but many do not graduate.  Private grade schools typically provide a better education.  At the college level the public schools tend to be better.  Lin told us that there weren’t enough teachers in the rural districts.  She also explained that children need to wear uniforms and the teachers are very strict about the length of their hair.  If a boy’s hair is too long they will cut it at school so that it conforms to the rules.

We also learned about the health care system.  The government pays for seniors and government employees.  Most people do not have insurance. There are not enough doctors, particularly in rural areas.

Eventually we arrived at the Sakae Krang River where we boarded a traditional wooden rice barge for lunch.  We had a very nice lunch as we cruised along. The Princess, the King’s sister, has a house in this town and many of the other houses are painted purple in her honor.  She is liked much better by the Thai people than her brother.  The King is thought to be a spoiled individual and is looked down upon for living in Germany, away from his people.

After lunch we made our way to Nakhon Sawan.  This is a the halfway point to Chang Mai, so we’re only staying for one night.  After checking in and getting settled we went to Sawan Park.  It was after 5 and everyone in the park was exercising.  There were several exercise dance classes.  Lin and some of our group joined right in.  We walked around and explored the park.  That evening we had dinner at the hotel.

 

 

This morning we walked along the Hellfire pass. There were two options, a short walk or a long walk.  I still wasn’t feeling 100% so I opted for the short walk.  Rick took the long walk.  The Hellfire pass was one of the most difficult sections of railroad built by POWs during WWII.  The prisoners had to cut through the rock before the track could be laid.  It is called Hellfire Pass because the sight of emaciated prisoners labouring at night by torchlight was said to resemble a scene from Hell.

Here are some pictures.

After the walk we visited a museum which contained video interviews with POWs that had worked on the pass.  It was very powerful.  I don’t think we can come close to understanding the hell these people were put through.  

After the museum we took a boat ride down the river.  It was somewhat hazy and smoky.  People in Thailand tend to do a lot of burning, in their fields, for their trash, and sometimes areas of forest.  We saw this throughout country.  Here are some pictures.  

We had lunch at a restuarant near the train station.  After lunch we went into town and took a walk up to a little waterfall.  

We also walked along a row of little shops, many of which were selling various kinds of dried fruit.  There are a lot of fruits and vegetables we don’t see in the US.

I haven’t written much about Lin.  She is in her 50s and has been guiding OAT trips for 20 years.  She is really marvelous.   She guides this trip as well as another OAT trip that covers Bangkok, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. Because of her years of experience guiding this other trip she knows a lot about the history of the region, not just Thailand, and does a great job explaining the interconnection of these countries.  She’s very funny, loves to laugh, and is a joy to be around.  She is one of the best guides we have ever had.  We really lucked out!

We returned to the camp and had some free time.  That evening Lin arranged for a stateless woman to speak to us.   

Here’s some background about the stateless people from an organization called “The Thailand Project”

“Since 1962, the “world’s worst military dictatorship” has ruled over Burma (Myanmar). A huge number of human rights violations were inflicted by the junta upon ethnic minorities.  Hundreds of thousands of families and individuals fled, crossing the border into Northern Thailand. There they are denied political refugee status, but allowed to live within tight “districts of constraint” with very few rights. They have no legal bond with any country and are therefore stateless. In Thailand, this means that they are denied the right to vote, travel, own property, work legally or have access to education and health care.

There is little hope among the stateless people in Thailand (estimated to be 3.5 million), as the few legal rights they have are not understood, and new laws intended to smooth the pathway to Thai citizenship are never truly implemented. Corruption and discrimination within Thai governmental district offices create further blockades. Racism and prejudice also run rampant within the admissions offices of schools and institutions of higher education. Enrollment forms demand Thai nationality IDs, even though laws have passed supposedly granting access to all.”

This lovely young woman, her husband, and her son have no citizenship anywhere.  She is working to rectify that, but it is very difficult and the future for her family is uncertain.  Her grandmother came to Thailand from Burma in 1958 and she and her dependents have been refugees ever since.  Burma won’t take them back and Thailand doesn’t recognize them as citizens.  Luckily the resort seems very open to helping these people by providing shelter and food for them in return for employment.  She is a maid and her husband is a bartender. While their situation seems somewhat hopeless, she didn’t seem to feel that way.  I had knitted elephants to give away to Thai children so I gave one to her 7 month son.  She is wearing the white makeup on her face which is very common in Burma.   Here is a picture of her and her son.

That evening we had dinner at the resort.

I was feeling somewhat better this morning.  We were leaving Bangkok and headed to Kanchanaburi Province which is where WWII POWs were forced to build a railway from Bangkok to Burma. It was a 4 1/2 hour drive so we stopped several times along the way to check out local sites. 

During the ride Lin told us a little about the language.  It was based on Sanskrit.  It has 44 consonants and 24 vowels.  It is a tonal language and the meaning of the word changes when you change the ending. 

Our first stop was at the salt flats where locals were harvesting salt.  They flood the area and typically wait about 3 weeks for most of the water to evaporate.  Then they harvest the salt.  It looked like difficult work.  

Next stop was a floating market.  We took a long tail boat from the bus to the market which wasn’t actually floating. The market had mostly souvenirs and some food stalls.  We didn’t see anything we wanted or need.  One of our companions paid to have hold a giant snake and have his picture taken.  Here are pictures of the market.   

We drove a little further to our lunch restaurant which was called Cabbage and Condoms in a town called Ratchaburi. All of the restaurant’s profits support the The Population & Community Development Association (PDA) and its programs in primary health, education, HIV/AIDS, rural development, environment and water etc.  

Our next stop was Kanchanaburi’s war cemetery.  It was in this area that Allied POWs and Asian conscripts were forced to build the infamous World War II railway.  In 1942 the Allies were rapidly capturing the Japan’s sea routes to Burma, forcing the Japanese to develop an overland supply route from the east to support their troops.  The Japanese decided that the most viable option was a railway that followed the River Kwai through the dense jungle on either side.  About 200,000 Asian laborers and 61,000 Allied prisoners of war built this 260-mile stretch of rail in abominable conditions-for every half-mile of track laid 38 POWs perished.  Many of the prisoners graves were moved to this cemetery which is currently maintained by Australian funds.

After spending a few minutes looking around we went to the bridge over the River Kwai which was originally made of wood but later replaced by a steel iteration.  The train traversed the bridge while we were there.  Afterwards we walked over the bridge and took pictures, remembering all those who gave their lives during its construction.  

Back on the bus we headed to our tent camp which would be our home for the next two nights.  It was beautiful.  Here are pictures.  

We had a buffet that night. The camp had lights in the trees and up high along the paths. 

The pictures don’t do it justice.

I did not have a good night.  I was up several times with intestinal problems.  I haven’t been feeling great for a couple of days but the grand palace is on today’s agenda.  I saw it 5 years ago when I was in Bangkok and I thought it was amazing so I decided to go even though I wasn’t feeling well.  It was really, really crowded.  The palace has been the official residence of the Kings of Siam (and later Thailand) since 1782.  Most of the grounds are really a temple and including one building which houses the Emerald Buddha (which isn’t actually emerald but is jade.). I couldn’t take a picture of the Buddha so here are a couple I found on the internet.  

Here are pictures of the palace.

After we finished up there I decided I wanted to go back to the hotel.  The rest of the group went on to see the reclining Buddha.  The reclining Buddha was built in 1832. The image of the reclining Buddha represents the entry of Buddha into Nirvana and the end of all reincarnations. The figure is 15 m high and 46 m long, and it is one of the largest Buddha statues in Thailand. The figure has a brick core, which was modelled and shaped with plaster, then gilded.  Here are some of Rick’s pictures.

I meanwhile went back to the hotel and went to sleep.  When I woke up I tried to drink some water and promptly got sick.  When Rick returned we talked about what to do and decided to call Lin.  She sent us to the private hospital around the corner.  We went to the digestive care department.  The doctor said I had acute gastroenteritis.  They gave me a shot of cipro and prescriptions for every possible symptom.  We were supposed to go to the welcome dinner but decided to stay in.  

We had a relatively late departure from our hotel this morning, 9:30.  We started by driving to the flower market which was similar to the flower market in a Hong Kong in that it was one flower store after another but different in the flowers they sold.  In Hong Kong we saw a lot of orchids while in Bangkok it was lots of marigolds.  We walked through the flower market and ended at the Chao Phraya river, the main river that flows through Bangkok.

We boarded a long tail boat and drove along the river to a canal.  The river flows to the Gulf of Thailand and is influenced by the tides.  Bangkok is only 3.5 ft above sea level so during high tide the river would flood the canals.  The entrance to the canal is controlled by a lock to prevent flooding.  Over the years erosion has widened the canal.  People built houses on the edge of the canal, but due to the erosion those houses are today on the verge of being overcome by water.  The king owns the land in and along the canal.  If the people living there could afford to buy the land from the King, those people generally have taken care and renovated their house as needed.  Others have a house that is on the king’s land and the king can repossess the land at anytime, so they do not invest in their house.  Consequently many of the houses in and along the canal are in a questionable state.

We rode for about 20 minutes before arriving at a nice home where we had a cooking demonstration.  A very nice Thai lady showed us how to make red curry.  Rick helped with the cooking.

After the demonstration we had lunch, including the chicken in red curry.  We also took this opportunity to visit the happy room.  Apparently the Thai word for bathroom translates to happy room, so throughout the trip Lin has talked about the next happy room stop.  😁

After lunch we were supposed to have free time but Lin took those of us who were interested to the Jim Thompson House.  Jim Thompson was an American businessman who helped revitalise the Thai silk industry in the 1950s and 1960s.  He mysteriously disappeared in 1967 and was never found.  There are various theories on what happened to him, one suggests he was working for the CIA when he disappeared.  He was trained as an architect and had a really lovely house that he designed and had built out of teak purchased from other houses in the region. There was a silk store at the house with many lovely things, but we didn’t buy anything.

That evening a journalist took some time out of her job  to speak with us.  In Thailand the press and the people do not have free speech.  Thai people can not criticize the King or the government.  People can get a 15 year jail sentence for each criticism posted on social media.  The website this journalist works for walks a narrow line between stating the facts and being critical. S/he (I don’t want to identify the gender of the person) would potentially be harassed by government personnel just for talking to us.  Here’s some of what the journalist told us. 

The current government was established by a coup in 2014.  Since May 2014 Thailand has been ruled by a military junta, the National Council for Peace and Order, which has partially repealed in the 2007 constitution, declared martial law and nationwide curfew, banned political gatherings, arrested and detained politicians and anti-coup activists, imposed internet censorship and taken control of the media.

They also have a king who does not have a lot of political power, but is an important moral leader to the people.  The last king who died in 2016 was very popular due to his kind and gentle nature.  His son is destined to assume the role of king, but has not yet been coronated. The queen of England, along with a number of other democratically lead countries, would likely boycott his coronation until proper elections for prime minister are held.  Therefore the government has announced elections in May, but it’s questionable if they will actually happen.  The government is giving out payments of 500 baht, about $16, to farmers to essentially buy their votes.  The King is living in Germany until he is coronated.  The King is very unpopular here because  people believe he is spoiled. 

It was a very sobering discussion and I thanked the journalist for his/her bravery to speak out against the current situation.  

After the discussion Lin took us to a local restaurant and we had a very nice dinner.