Tying one on in Thailand - Day 5

We walk up to a beautiful view of a river and extensive well maintained grounds.  They have a garden where they grow many of the fruits and vegetables that are used at the restaurant. 

Another plentiful breakfast buffet.  We sit out side on the veranda and enjoy the slightly fresher, cooler air than Bangkok. 

Today we take another long boat up the river into the hill country to a village of the Karen tribe. The Northern tribes were incorporated into Thailand relatively recently.  The people were given full Thai citizenship but also required to study the Thai language.  For many of the older generation, Thai language proficiency is quite limited.  Missionaries have been quite active in this area so many have converted to Christianity.. 

When we arrive, there is a small market area where they are selling handcrafts.  A woman is demonstrating the back-strap loom and has shawls for sale.  I am always surprised at how universal the back-strap loom is. 

An old woman is dressed up in the traditional dress and posing for pictures for tips.  She  is only a little taller than my waist!  From her black teeth, we know that she has been chewing betel nuts for many years. 

Walking a bit further, we pass a preschool with the children lining up.  Of course, they are cute and adorable and we all want to take pictures.  It turns out that they are lining up to all go visit another  student who has been out sick for several days.  They have all been taught to walk with their hands behind their backs – just how we teach our little ones to walk.  Even still, there are a few who need more herding than others.  Kids are kids wherever you are in the world. 

From the village, we drive to the Golden Triangle where Thailand, Laos and Miramar come together on the Mekong river  This is where the drug trade was thickest and supported the rebels in the 1960’s and 70’s.  Now, the opium  trade has been cleaned up and there is a museum about the period.  The vice has changed.  Gambling isn’t allowed in Thailand but it is in Laos so there are big casinos just over the river.  The Thai side has many little shops and a Buddhist temple that has more of a touristy feel than a spiritual feel. 

We get back to the hotel relatively early and have dinner on our own. Everyone on the bus wants to go to the night market so Rio arranges for the bus driver to take us and drop us off.  A lively place with food, drink, music, stalls with things for both tourists and locals.  Even though it is the evening, it is still pretty warm and humid. 

On the way back to the hotel, we drive past the clocktower which is the center of a round about.  It was designed by the same person as designed the temple that we’re going to in the morning. 

Tying one on in Thailand - Day 4

Bangkok 

Since arriving in China, I’ve been having trouble with the sciatic nerve.  During the night, it got really bad.  Painful to be in bed, sit on the side of the bed, forget about leaning over.  I wondered if I would even be able to continue the tour.  The first thing on the agenda for the morning is a boat ride on the river and canals to a Buddhist temple and then return to the hotel to fly to Chiang Rai.  If I’m going to do anything about this, like see an acupuncture person or massage, this morning is the time to do it.  I talk with Rio in the morning and he discouraged me from doing either of those things.  I do some stretches that I found on the internet and load up with ibuprofen.  Hoping for the best. 

The boat picks us up at a dock right outside of our hotel  It’s a long wooden boat with benches for 2 people on each side and a nice covering to keep off the sun.  This will work.  We ride a ways up the river and then turn into a little canal.  It’s interesting to see the houses along the canal and glimpses of life.  

Rio says that up to about 10 years ago, you would see kids swimming in the canals and women washing clothes.  He says that it is due to a big typhoon that came through and many gators escaped into the canals and were never found.  I must admit that I have trouble believing this is the reason as I think we would see some gator evidence if they were really still there.  The water looked muddy and that is more the reason I wouldn’t want to get into it.  At one point, we did see a small gator looking animal that maybe could have taken on a small cat but certainly not a human.  

 We stop at one point and feed the fish bread.  It was quite the feeding frenzy.  

We stop at a temple that is built in the Cambodian style.  It is white stucco with pieces of broken pottery stuck in the plaster for decoration.  Quite beautiful!  Melodie and I climb the steps to the first level and find that is as far as we’re allowed to go.  People warn us of the step steps.  Oh, these aren’t anything compared to what we climb on the ruins in Yucatan.  We’re pros! 

Back to the boat and a short ride to the hotel where we got back on the bus and go through the horrendous traffic to the Jim Thompson house.  I must admit that I hadn’t heard of Jim Thompson before but now want to go and read about him.  He was an architect and bought several traditional Thai houses next to each other.  He made changes in the houses to make them work as one big, beautiful, comfortable house.  He also made his fortune through marketing and designing silk batiks. He tried to protect ancient artifacts from looters and many were displayed in his home.  A fortune teller told him to be careful during his 61^st year.  A few weeks before his birthday, he was vacationing in a jungle, took a walk and never returned.  There are conjectures on what happened to him but no one really knows.  His body was never recovered. 

                                                    Melodie gets some kitty fix.

Back to the bus to the airport to fly to Chiang Rai in the Northern hills of Thailand.  The airport in Chiang Rai is the most cheerful airport I’ve ever experienced. Flowers in the center of the baggage claim area, grass green carpet, smiling women bowing and giving polite gestures as to which way to go.