Thailand 17: May 15, 2002

OK, now for northern Thailand.

This past weekend, we visited Chiang Rai province, the most northern province in the country, which borders Laos and Burma. I arranged the plans without telling Liz where we were going in order to surprise her for her birthday. She found out our destination when we got to the airport.

We never spent any time in Chiang Rai city. Instead, a hotel car picked us up at the airport and took us to the hotel, located about 45 minutes north in Mae Chan. The hotel is built primarily out of bamboo and the rooms cling to the cliff of a 300 foot hill and have outstanding views of the surrounding mountains. Unlike Bangkok, the far north is not so humid and evening thunderstorms at this time of year really clear the air, allowing us to sleep with the windows open and the air conditioning off. While at the resort we got another massage. I still am not quite comfortable with the whole process, but I try to convince myself I'm some boxer (or better yet, gladiator) getting a post-match rub down. Alright, so it probably doesn't work, but I cling at anything. While we received our massages, the spa played some new age music. Interesting, particularly because it was one of those CDs that featured whales and dolphin singing, which contrasted a bit with the mountain wood surroundings.

The next day we rented a car and driver and headed north. We stopped at Mae Sai, the most northern city in Thai land, right on the Burmese border. Mae Sai isn't a real looker of a city, but its main street contains numerous little gem stores that sell stones brought over from Burma. The two countries are separated by a small creek, that looks pretty wadeable, which is why Mae Sai is one of the main transit points for meta-amphetamines smuggled into Thailand. Those Burmese who are able (one way or another) to cross into Thailand, spend the day shopping for consumer goods and seeing doctors/dentists, so many of the signs are in Burmese, as well as Thai. We climbed a hill up to a wat that overlooked the border and I took a picture of Liz posing in front of a giant scorpion. Not sure why the scorpion was there, but it made for fine photography.

We then headed over to Sop Ruak, where the Mekong forms the border between Laos, Thailand and Burma. There's a beautiful hotel there, the Baan Booran, where several friends have stayed before. Several other lower-budget hotels are located in the area catering largely to foreigners attracted to the Golden Triangle region. We hired a boat to take us out into the river. Across from the Baan Booran in Burmese territory is a huge new casino built by a Thai millionaire designed to attract gambling Thais. Past the casino, the river winds between fairly pristine Lao and Burmese territory. Heading back down the river is a small Lao island that you can stop at for a twenty baht fee (40 cents). It owes its existence to the tourists staying on the Thai side who come over to say they've been in Laos. Its like a very, very downmarket display at EPCOT center where you can mail a Lao postcard, buy Lao cigarettes and drink Lao beer. Liz and I, experts on all things Lao by virtue of our three days in Luang Prabang, were indignant until we discovered the stalls selling fine Chinese wines. After a mouth-puckering taste test, we settled on a bottle of Golden Lion red (vintage 1998), which has a sweet and vinegary taste reminiscent of a combination of Maneschewiz mixed with cooking sherry. In 2002, we'll serve it at Passover and instead of the traditional "next year in Jerusalem," it will be "next year in Guangdong." The island was also notable for its herd of turkeys.

After a visit to the Opium museum (small and dated, but still worth a visit for the displays of opium paraphenalia), we checked out the museum at Chaeng Sen, which contained 700 year old statuary and carvings from the region, and excellent pictures of local hilltribes. We finished with a few beers overlooking a local lake and enjoyed the quiet -- unlike traffic filled Bangkok.

The next day we again rented a car and traveled about 20 miles west to Mae Salong, which also abuts the Burmese border. We passed through beautiful scenery as we drove up into the mountains and traveled along ridge lines close to 3,000 feet up. The views were spectacular, though the windy, up and down roads could leave you a little dizzy. Mae Salong is a fascinating town, populated largely by former Kuomintang soldiers and their descendants who fled from China when the Communists took over in 1949. This renegade regiment originally fled into Burma but were forced over the border to Thailand in 1961. In the early 1970s, the Thai Government used these soldiers to fight Thai communist guerillas, rewarding them with Thai citizenship. However, the town is still largely Chinese and the locals speak Yunnanese. For years, it was extremely isolated, but the government ran roads up to the village about 10 years ago and has worked to wean them off opium cultivation. The area now is surrounded by tea plantations and the village contains several tea houses selling local tea and imported Chinese sweets. They use an elaborate procedure to prepare the tea involving lots of different little cups and a lot of hot water. You can also purchase a variety of herbal concoctions, including pickled snake and centipede. There's a market where several hill tribes come in to sell their wares. However, we arrived at noon, long after the market's prime time. A few Akha women (one of the local hilltribes) remained in front of a few stalls and popped up when they saw us coming. A few purchases (gongs, bracelets) later, we were on our way. We visited the tomb of General Duang, the KMT leader who headed up the regiment. Its a beautiful, traditional Chinese temple overlooking the region. From there, we went to a Yunnanese restaurant. Like most of the stores in Thailand, it had a picture of the king behind the counter, but like most of the stores in Mae Salong, it also had a portrait of General Duang.

I'm attaching a picture of Liz and a new friend.

Special News Flash:

Well, we all knew it was only a matter of time. That's right, Liz and I have made our innaugural appearance in the pages of Thailand's high society magazines. This month's "Dichan" (yes, the one with Princess Ubolratana on the cover) contains a beautiful color photo of us as we grace a local soiree with our presence. Liz, of course, is smiling broadly, while my look of haughty self-importance is somewhat undercut by the fact that my tie is compeletely askew.