Thailand by LAND part Two

Refugees and a New Country (28 Nov 2009)

So from Sokhothai we took another long distance double Decker bus to the town of Tak and from there a Mini bus to the border town of Mae Sot. The latter was a bit scary as we had to go over a mountain pass and the bus driver tried to break the world record for that distance. Arriving in Mae Sot we walked from the bus station to the guest house, at first in the wrong direction. Mae Sot, 7 km from the Burmese border, has a fascinating cultural mix. Walking down the streets and markets we saw interesting ethnic mixtures, Burmese men in their long sarongs, Hmong and Karen Hill tribe women in traditional hill tribe dresses carrying large baskets on their heads. Many residents are western Doctors, NGO ( Non Government Organisations) workers and also Army personnel. At the moment over 150000 Burmese refugees live in camps scattered along the border. In these camps international organisations provide humanitarian aid like health care and schooling. A huge volunteer program has been established in Mae Sot. Many guesthouses accommodated these volunteers and most guesthouses are very nice and very cheap.
We stayed at Ban Thai Guesthouse (same name again) which is on a large property set back from the main road. We had a large bungalow set among beautiful gardens, with nice teak furniture and TV (at least 50 channels) and the most comfortable mattress. All for the price of AU $18 per day. No restaurant was attached to the guesthouse, but many restaurants line the main road within a few minutes’ walk. At dinner that night, we talked to one of the staff in the restaurant and he admitted to be a Burmese escapee. He was not allowed to leave the premises at all. Mae Sot is also a black market trading town between Myanmar and Thailand, mainly teak. On the second day we wanted to do our Visa run. Fortunately, at the time of our visit no border fighting between Myanmar’s government and ethnic Hill Tribes happened. We were told they can break out at any time. So, off we went to the bus stop, 200 m from Ban Tai. We waited one hour before we went back to the guesthouse. No buses on Sunday? The manager there kindly called a Tuk Tuk to take us to the Friendship Bridge at Mae Nam Moei, 6 km away. Arriving 10 minutes later we checked out of Thailand, walked across the bridge over the river Mae Nam Moei, and checked into Myanmar (Burma). The border officials were very friendly and kept our passport. We entered the town of Myawadi and walked up and down the main road for half an hour. It looked pretty much like Thailand but more deteriorated and poorer. So, check out of Myanmar and walk over the bridge again to the Thai immigration booth for new Visa. We only got another 15 days. Before we went back to Mae Sot by local sawngthaew we walked through a vibrant market next to the river that legally sells Burmese goods, including a large range of very nice teak furniture, tapestry, woven products, jade and gems. Back at Mae Sot we enjoyed a walk through town but could not find the night markets. So we ended up at an Italian restaurant where we had a good Thai curry.
There was really not much to see around Mae Sot (we were templed out –remember) and the Tigers at Chiang Mai were waiting for us, so the next day we took the Minibus back for the trip to Tuk. This time the trip took twice as long (slow driver) and the van was stopped at least 5 times by border officials for passport controls. They didn’t really wanted to see ours, just glanced at it for half a second but very thoroughly checked the other passengers’ documents so see if they were Burmese refugees. At Tak bus station we changed into a big bus for the 6 hour trip to Chiang Mai.

Chaing Mai – Tigers and Mountains

As we got to Chiang Mai late that afternoon some other backpacking tourists warned us (and we also read it in the Lonely Planet that the Tuk Tuk drivers in Chiang Mai take you not to the guesthouse you request but take you to a different one, where they get commission. We had a reservation at SK Guesthouse http://www.sk-riverview.com/ and called them to pick us up from the Bus station. They said to take a TUK TUK. A bit worried, we got in the vehicle but our friendly driver took us straight to our requested premises. SK House was another good choice, as the guest house had a nice common area, full with antiques and traditional Thai scenes painted on the doors. A bonus was the good and cheap restaurant and the internet room with hi-speed access. Our room was good too, just a bit noisy, as it faced the internal courtyard.
Chiang Mai has a lot to offer. You could easily spent 2 weeks here, take cooking and art classes, shop until you drop and see the many sides around the city. The mornings are fresh and crisp around this time of the year and we were glad we had our warm jackets. The days warmed to nearly 30 degrees but it was a dry heat. So we did some of the tourist things, walked the “old City temple walk”. Yes, more temples! Most of them are very impressive and were well photographed by us. You can look forward to see all our photos of the hundreds of temples. Only kidding. We also visited the Chiang Mai Ram Hospital for some minor problem. I was very impressed of this modern hospital. Our old Kodak camera stopped working that day and we had left our new Olympus at the boat (thought it was too heavy). So, for the sake of Mike and his Tigers we bought another little Olympus at the big shopping centre.
Next day finally arrived (Mike was excited like a little child the day before Xmas). We hired a motorbike (a Honda 100cc) for $5 a day and drove to Tiger Kingdom, www.tigerkindom.com 12 km north of Chiang Mai. Arriving at the reception desk of this relatively new park, we had the choice of being with the baby tigers (2 months), toddlers (4 months), 7 months old or big ones (over 18 months of age). I wanted to play with the little ones so I decided to go to the 2 months old cubs. And you guessed it, Mike wanted to see and play with them all, preferably all day long. Because he bought the whole package, including being accompanied by a photographer, he was given a bonus 30 minutes with two young lions cubs, about 7 months of age. To make a long story short just look at our photos at face book, and the smiles on our faces will tell the story of this fantastic half day at Tiger Kingdom.

Afterwards we took the scenic drive of the forested loop of the Mae Sae valley, passed orchid farms, elephant camps, butterfly parks, botanical gardens and waterfalls. The drive took us to an altitude of 1600 m and being on a motorbike we regretted not having taken our jackets, it was very very cold up there. We stopped at the Mae Sae Waterfall, but didn’t feel like walking much. The only other stop was at the village of Samoeng, the western most extension of the loop and 35 km from Tiger Kingdom, where we strolled around the local wet market and ate a pancake.
The next daythe little Honda took us back to the mountains to Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, a temple/monastery near the summit of Doi Suthep (1676m). This is one of the most sacred temples in Thailand. At the end of the winding road a staircase of 306 steps leads to the wat (Thai for temple). Looking down from up there to Chiang Mai was not bad but it was hazy. Like most wats in Thailand, souvenir shops surround the temple. “Have a look at my shop” they all asked and soon we had bargained for a big elephant made from teak. Weighing more than 7 kg. What now? Take him down on the bike? Ok, he (it’s a male elephant) can sit between us. Down the mountain I was holding the elephant with one hand and Mike’s belly with the other. I was glad when we got back to the guesthouse. Who had that idea?
we stayed 5 days in Chiang Mai enjoying good food, live music, the atmosphere at the Chiang Mai Night Bazaar, and many other markets. Being two weeks on the go now, we started to get a bit tired and homesick. Travelling is a good thing but there is nothing like home, even if it is a small sailboat.
The bus trip to Bangkok took 13 hours. The lady at the ticket counter offered us 1st class, we hesitated for a few seconds (we were only changing Baht to Dollars in our mind) and down came the price, we paid for 2nd class and got first and had the privilege to sit in the double Decker bus right in the first row, second level, and enjoyed the views of rural Thailand and of course the legroom.

Bangkok ¬- Ladies and Gentlemen fasten your seatbelts

We arrived in Bangkok around 8 pm in peak our traffic. Bangkok is known for its traffic jams and slow move and we experienced it firsthand. Roads and highways were to their fullest and our bus moved only very slowly. Many roads are 2 stories high and the seconds level is a kind of toll road with no traffic light or roundabouts. Being on the second level front seat on the bus and on the second level of highway was like flying over a city in a jet plane, only slower. So we actually enjoyed the bad traffic and took in the many millions of lights and noises. From the Northern Bus terminal we took the Sky train to our hotel. We booked this the day before and our choice was a 3.5 star hotel, close to a train station and not over $50 incl. breakfast. Other guesthouse accommodation didn’t sound very appealing to us and were and not much cheaper than hotels anyway. Walking down Soi 4 of Sukumvit road we quickly realised that this erea is indeed a red light district with bars, nightclubs and more bars and of course hotels. The sex industry is in its full swing here. Hundreds of elderly men, most of them bold, with teenage Thai girls holding hands .I better hold on to my skipper before anyone is going to drag him away from me. Our hotel was indeed very nice and I wondered if it was a normal hotel or a kind of “hourly rooms” hotel. Well, the admiral was very naive. I was the only westerner looking women and probably the oldest one at breakfast. Some men had breakfast with their Thai lovers; other guys were having their breakfast alone. It was the 5th of December and today was the Kings birthday. A public holiday, celebrated by locals with parades and fireworks. We took the sky train to National stadium station and started walking towards the Grand Palace. The closer we got the more people filled the streets, nearly all of them wearing a pink T shirts. Also, a large number of police and military personal wandering around. People were already sitting at the roadsides on rugs or on nothing to watch the celebrations and fireworks scheduled for the night. So, we walked past the Grand Palace towards the river and took a river ferry for a short trip to Chinatown. We’ll come back to the palace another day when there are less crowds. But Chinatown was not much different, crowded and chaotic with street so busy that even walking was very slow. By midafternoon, all we wanted was getting back to the hotel and put our feet up. But we didn’t miss out on the kings Birthday celebrations( speeches and more speeches followed by a splendid firework) as we watched from our TV at the hotel at night.
On Sunday we went to the Chatuchak Weekend Market. One of the biggest markets in Thailand with over 1500 stalls. Luckily most of them were inside some sort of hall. Everything imaginable is for sale, from handmade silks, fashion clothing, art and antiques to pottery, leather, books, woodcraft, and even cats and dogs. I had a great time exploring this market and I had the impression that this is not just for tourist; most of the shoppers were actually locals. Only the skipper was a bit bored, there were no Electronic, Tools or useful items for sales. Later on in the afternoon we had a sticky beak at Central World Plaza, apparently the biggest shopping centre in South East Asia. It was big alright. We could only see a small part of it and were fascinated by the food courts. Later that night short stroll took us to the Arabic quarter of Bangkok, where we found a nice restaurant selling kebabs. It’s kind of strange to see Muslim women, covered completely but the eyelids, next to Thai prostitutes and transvestites standing at the traffic lights.
By the end of the day our feet and legs were really sore and tired. We didn’t want to see more markets or Shopping centres. So the only thing left for us to visit was the Grand Palace. On Monday we ask at the reception if we could check out a 2 pm and they said it was OK. We left just after 7.30 am and again took the train and ferry to get there. The complex of the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Keaw, known as the temple of the Emerald Buddha is very impressive. So many beautiful mansions and temple buildings and so many tourists. Our new camera ran out of battery after the first few photos. Well this will speed up our visit. We got back to our hotel at half past one, packed and left the hotel to make our way to the Southern Bus terminal. Getting there was a bit complicated, (Sky train, change to another Sky train line, Ferryboat and then a local bus. But it didn’t cost much and we had plenty of time. Our big bus to Satun was leaving a 5.30 pm for the long 14 hour trip. We had enough of this 7 million people, air polluted city full of scams and tourist traps. Not that we were a victim. Jemimah was waiting and we needed a “holiday.”
Until the end of the year we will stay at Rebak Marina Resort http://www.tajhotels.com/ preparing for our journey to the Andaman Islands in early January. We wish you all a very happy Christmas and best Wished for the Year 2010.
Bye for now Mike and Rosi