With more glitz and flash than a Japanese tour bus, the
Chiang Mai Sunday Night Market presented a dizzying array of merchandise, food
and entertainment on a balmy full moon evening. For two hours we negotiated up Tapae Road in
the Old City,
eventually reaching the end, only to do a U turn and walk down the other side. Every
available space was
jam packed by local vendors displaying various arts and crafts while food vendors spilled over from the surrounding temple grounds and street musicians occupied sections of the road. We had never before seen a night market of this scale, it just went on and on and on…
We had arrived in Chiang Mai after looping through some of the outlying regions of Northern Thailand. After a week in Pai, it was time to move on before we got so lazy and chilled out, our trip would grind to a halt. Just 2 hours up the road from Pai, was the very small village of Soppong, where we intended to spend a few days. Hopping off the bus, it was clear that we could check out the 6 or so places to stay rather quickly, since a slow
blink and you would be through the town.
Sitting next to the Pai River, we decided on the Soppong River Inn, owned and managed by the lovely Miss Joy. We spent a delightful 3 days at this Inn, relaxing on the decks overlooking the river and sampling the fine meals that Joy cooked up. After Pai, it was a refreshing change of pace. But, let’s be clear, in Pai there are lots of activities to keep you occupied, there are multiple restaurants and live music at night, night markets and people milling about – in Soppong, there is none of this – you come here to do nothing.
Outside of town there is the famous Lod cave. One very hot day we walked to it through the woods – about 6 miles – and decided on the way back to hitch a ride. Marge successfully was able to secure a ride on the back of a motorbike, but unfortunately, I was skunked and ended up walking the 6 miles back into town. Nonetheless, we both enjoyed the town of Soppong, our pick for sleepy town of Thailand.
Next stop was Mae Hong Son, another 4 hours by local bus, a destination I was really looking forward to and was most disappointed in once we arrived. The town itself is not attractive, in fact it’s kind of grungy, and although we found a couple of really cute places to stay - Piya Guesthouse and Jongkum Place - we decided rather quickly to move on
after just one night. Sorry, Mae Hong Son, maybe my expectations were too high, but it’s not worth the effort to come this far down the road to visit this little hamlet.
Our intended loop was to include a few days in the next village of Mae Sa Riang, another 4 hours by bus, but after our disappointment in Mae Hong Son,, we decided to just continue on the loop all the way back to Chiang Mai, a 9 hour bus ride, since everyone seems to love this town. Plus, we had made plans to be in Cambodia the last week of March, so
didn’t have that many extra days to waste, and wanted to stay put for a week.
So, after a not so bad 9 hour all day bus ride (you do have the option of flying from Mae Hong Son to Chiang Mai on a small propeller plane in about 30 minutes), we arrived at dark in the town of Chiang Mai, the largest city in Northern Thailand. They say that everything you can do in Bangkok you can do here, only on a much smaller scale. We settled in at the Tapae Place Hotel, centrally located and very comfortable. No sooner had our bags hit the floor then we were off to sample the Night Market (the daily Night Market versus the Sunday Night Market), something Chiang Mai is notably famous for. We also wanted to check out a few guesthouses since we knew we were going to stay up to a week here, and although we liked the Tapae Place Hotel, it is a hotel and not a smaller
guesthouse, which we prefer.
Local vendors line the streets in Chiang Mai selling most everything – lots of fabrics, local handicrafts, and best of all, street food. We’ve become so accustomed to eating the street food, that we’re not sure how we’re going to adapt once we return home – maybe spend all our money at the taco wagons around town? People here eat all day long, it’s just a series of small snacks which we’ve adapted to quite easily. Marge is particularly fond of the lemon shakes they make around here, and hardly passes a food cart that sells them without partaking.
There are two parts to Chiang Mai, the old city surrounded by a crumbling brick wall and moat, and the newer section, where most of the night market action takes place. We stumbled across this great little
guesthouse (again) – Mandala Guesthouse – situated between these two sections and moved the next morning (actually one of our better accommodations to date - $26/night includes wonderful breakfast – this place gets our 5
star ***** highest recommendation, although they really need to do something about those door locks which can be jimmied without a key in about 5 seconds).
The Old City must have the highest concentration of wats in any one area – amazingly, there seems to be one or two on every block – and we spent two days just wandering the streets and sampling the varying architectural styles of these wonderful temples. The city itself is very easy to navigate, everything is within walking distance, there’s tons of
shopping, and lots of aforementioned eating.
One day, I happened upon this wat where there was a lot of commotion going on – people were coming out of this building carrying these little kids (could not have been more than 5-6 years of age) on their shoulders all decked out in
colorful sequined clothing, holding these ornate and elaborate umbrellas over their heads. I had stumbled upon an annual ceremony to initiate young boys into the monk way of life. As the kids were carried from the grounds on the shoulders of their parents or relatives, they were loaded into pickup trucks and paraded through town. One cute kid was smiling through the window on the front seat and I managed to take his picture, at the same time
telling him ‘shogdee’, which is good luck in Thai. Besides becoming a respected member of society, being a monk grants access to better educational options and potentially, a chance to attend the university someday.
We both loved Northern Thailand, the people are very friendly, the scenery is outstanding, you have a variety of experiences to sample, from visiting indigenous hill tribes, to chilling out in fun loving Pai, or relaxing in small town Tha Ton and Soppong, to sampling ‘Big’ city atmosphere in Chiang Mai. We’d pass on Mae Hong Son, Mae Sa Riang, Chiang Rai and Mae Salong in favor of these other destinations.
Our next adventure is a dip into Cambodia, the land of ancient kings, rich culture and evocative temples, a destination I’ve been looking forward to for many years.
Like an episode from ‘Survivor’, I clung to the door frame of the rickety local bus while standing on the lower step, wedged between my wife and another person, challenging myself to hang on just a little while longer, hopeful that someone, anyone, would get off at the next village and make just a little more room for me. When the local bus pulled into Ma Ma Lai, we could see it was full, with people already standing in the aisles, yet 15 more people needed to fit in, and Marge and I were last in line.
Little did I realize that 3 hours later, I would still be occupying the same 1 foot section of the lower door, as even more people squeezed in the back section of the bus. As the bus
navigated endless switchbacks on the uphill climb to Pai, and my body occupied a space half in and half out the bus, I developed a rhythm - relax on the left hand turns as my weight was thrown inwards, and maintain a death grip on the right hand turns as my mass was thrown outwards. The kilometers passed by agonizingly slow as I shifted my weight to prevent cramps and watched the landscape from the door, careful to duck inside when we passed low lying branches, or the driver cut a corner sharply. Then at the end, the money collector wanted to charge me full price – whereupon I smiled and negotiated a much smaller fee for the standing room only seat.
We had left the small town of Tha Ton, set north of Chiang Rai, after 3 days. We were kind of neutral on Chiang Rai – having spent 2 days there, it didn’t really merit any more time.
We did get to see the ‘White Temple’, a magnificent wat just outside of town, whitewashed in color and embedded with thousands of pieces of reflective glass which gives it this hard to describe look and feel which changes based on the mood of the day. Would we recommend Chiang Rai? – only 1 day stopover at best.
Tha Ton, on the other hand, was a great little town, with the Kok River bisecting the downtown and a limited number of guesthouses scattered throughout town. Not many tourists come here, those that do use the town as a base for visiting local hill tribes - in fact, you can simply walk from downtown and visit a number
of indigenous villages. We’re kind of ambivalent on
these hill tribe visits – some have big signs on the side of the highway and
charge admission, some are tucked away and require a few hours walk to get to, while
there are others
(like the Karen long neck tribe), that deliberately create a
market for themselves. On the one hand, for many it’s a source of income, yet
how would you feel if a big tour bus dumped a load of people in your
neighborhood and they proceeded to wander through your yard taking pictures.
Hence the ambivalence – we like to observe, but not to intrude.
One day we rented a motorbike to tour some of the outlying areas – they’re cheap, everyone rents them and you can see every wat within 30 miles if you so choose. We drove up to the highly touted Mae Saelong, a Chinese settlement set high up in the hills,
which took most of an hour. Other than the beautiful drive up, we didn’t think there was that much to see or recommend in this town, unless you like to shop Chinese souvenir stands that sell basically the same thing – tea and dried fruit.
Tha Ton itself is smack up against the border with Burma. One day we meandered down a
dirt road and came upon a gate guarded by some military guy who wouldn’t let us pass. Later that day, we asked someone what that was about and they explained that there is military there that watches the Burma border and discourages people from sneaking across into Thailand. We did hear the sound of gunshots every now and then, and we think this was the ‘discouragement’ we heard about.
Tha Ton is a great little town, the Garden Home Nature Resort is a gem of a place to stay
(cute bungalows right on the river set in an orchard, $15/night, local family runs the place) and we heartily recommend this as a 2-3 day stopover – 3 hours north of Chiang Rai by local minibus.
Unfortunately, we spent most of one day getting to Pai, set in a valley in the northwest quadrant of Thailand. Fortunately, we arrived in this charming little town and found that it is one of the best little towns we’ve visited in Thailand so far. There are more
accommodations that you can imagine, there is a large enough nightly food market to satisfy most everyone, a number of book stores, outstanding local scenery, coffee shops,
and a great mellow atmosphere. In fact, we would say that half the places are accommodations, a quarter are restaurants and the rest rent motorbikes.
In the guide books, they describe this town as a hippie mecca. It’s definitely moved beyond that and is somewhat upscale – Marge says it’s the Luang Prabang of Thailand. There is a backpacker presence here, along with the seedy tattoo parlors that are so
appallingly appealing to these knuckleheads (isn’t it about time this stupid fad came to an end?), and the accommodations range from $2 to $200. If you can’t find something in Pai that satisfies your accommodation appetite, I don’t know where else you could. We rented
a motorcycle for a ridiculously low $4/day (with insurance no less) and toured all the local sites – hot springs, various wats, and small villages – and realized why everyone loves Pai – it’s a totally laid back place set far enough from civilization that one could get lost in it for a very long time.
Yikes, it seems that Pai has squeezed its way unto our already crowded favorite place list – and justifiably so. The place we stayed is 3 months old, it’s called the ‘Baan Suan Rim Pai Resort’, located right downtown at $22/night, wonderful atmosphere, great local owner – we ended up staying 4 nights and could have stayed another week. As we said, many, many places to choose from, all very nice and very cheap.
Next stop Soppong, an hour up the road from Pai, for maybe 2 nights, then on to Mae Hong San, another 2 hours further, for 3-4 nights. This part of Thailand is very appealing, people are friendly, scenery is magnificent, and costs are minimal. All in all, definite good
vibrations. And you never know what will happen when you take the local buses – three
days later my upper thighs were still sore when I got out of bed in the morning...
Like a scene from a Mark Twain novel, our pilot deftly maneuvered around the Mekong shallows while his first mate, using a 30’ bamboo pole, continuously sounded for the bottom by repeatedly plunging this pole into the river. Wouldn’t it be easier, if not less adventuresome, I wondered, to invest in a modern depth finder.
We had hooked up with a VIP 2 day cruise up the Mekong River from Luang Prabang back to the Thailand border on the Luangsay, a specially designed metal hulled ship, rather than take the trip on the sardine packed public boat. Although we spend our money wisely on this trip, now was not the time to be frugal. There were 34 fellow passengers on board, a good mix of international travelers, who, like us, sat back and watched the Mekong
scenery drift by.
Scattered villages with waving children, chilly mornings and bright sunny afternoons, bamboo poles jerry rigged between rocks with nets to ensnare unsuspecting fish, small local boats, loaded with produce and logs and other materials, plying up and down the river, beautiful sandbars and limestone cliffs, groves of teak, fields of rice, plantations of banana, water buffalo, a Buddhist cave with 4500+ statues, the scenery rolled by over the course of 2 days.
Curiously, although one of the longest rivers in the world, the Mekong, which originates in
the Tibetan highlands and flows 2500 miles into the South China Sea, due to turbulence and strong currents, has only two bridges, both in Laos. During our trip, the water level was very low, exposing many dangerous underlying limestone boulders, many with edges rising from the water, ready to slash into any boat not aware of the treacherous channels. We continued to be impressed with the skill of the pilot as boulders embedded in the river, just a few feet below the surface, flowed past on both sides of the boat. How did he ever see that one ?
Upon our arrival at the Thailand border, we gathered our gear, passed through Lao and
Thailand immigration and headed downtown to find accommodations for the night. The town of Chiang Khong sits across the Mekong from Laos, and is the border town used for a northern crossing into Laos. It’s an ok stopover and has potential – we had just gotten in
too late to take the 3 hour bus to Chiang Rai, our next stop on the trip.
It was a wonderful month spent in Laos, so many beautiful sites, charming towns, genuine people, great food, exciting travel options, and cooperative weather. We both enjoyed every minute of our time there and will always have fond memories for this captivating part of the
world. We had crossed the Mekong, but left something behind, and some day we’ll return. Until then, fare thee well…
We’re headed back to Northern Thailand for the next 3 weeks, concentrating on some of the smaller towns around Chiang Mai – hopefully, Chiang Rai, Mae Salong, Tha Ton, Fang, Pai, Soppong, Mae Hon Song. At the end of the month, we’ll cross through Cambodia, stopping at Angkor Wat for 4-5 days, before arriving in Saigon. Then begins our northward trek through the summer to Beijing. Stay tuned...
Remove the engine from your automobile, strap it on the deck of a boat, shoehorn 30 passengers shoulder to shoulder, knee to knee, on hard wooden planks, then speed downriver, avoiding protruding rocks and stopping at occasional local villages to cram even more bodies and material into non-existent space – this is river travel in Laos. Those in the front get wet, those in the back go deaf, and those middle souls get a little of both.
We had returned from Muong Ngoi, scalloped from the surrounding mountains and located at a fortuitous bend in the river Nam Ou, one hour north of Nong Khiaw by boat only. The
further north one goes in Laos, the more dramatic the scenery becomes. Here, in this humble village, there is no electricity (except from 7-10 PM daily), no phone service, no banks, no internet, no motorized vehicles, and no medical services. Instead, there is a smattering of guesthouses that range in price from $2 - $10, that allow you to live amongst the people of a Lao village. For the more adventuresome, you can continue north for another 8 hours to really get off the beaten track, and in fact, can travel all the way to China if you have the time.
I loved this little village the moment I stepped off the boat and walked up the 6 block dusty
strip that is the main street. Here locals sat on their stoops watching life go by, chickens pecked for their daily sustenance, and dogs snoozed in the dusty shadows.
In our haste to secure accommodations, we paid $8 for a room we liked, then walked next door and found a room we liked even better for $10. Sheepishly, we moved our gear while I explained as best I could to the owner, that she could keep the money, but we were moving.
Because there’s no electricity, locals go to bed at sunset and rise at sunrise. Since accommodations are embedded in the village proper, it’s unlikely you’ll sleep late due to all the roosters and early morning activities. One day we passed a bungalow that was crowded with kids, including many looking in from the outside. Curiously, I poked my head in to see what the commotion was, and realized this person had the only TV in town.
From here you can undertake 2-3 day treks to indigenous hill tribes, kayak down the river, explore local caves, or simply close your eyes, breathe slowly and appreciate the sounds
of Laos. Many people come here for a day and stay for a week – it’s just so peaceful and dramatic.
In the evening the power comes on at 7:00 PM using a village generator, and travelers and locals congregate on decks overlooking the river. Kao, a local kid, spoke pretty decent English, so we were able to expand our Lao vocabulary. Curiously, he hadn’t heard of U2, yet loved music, so I offered to burn a CD for him when I returned home. Unfortunately, the concept of post office was foreign to him, despite our attempts to explain how mail is sent.
One day we hiked an hour into the interior to visit the small village of Ban An and drop off some books for the local school. We continue to be shocked by the number of small children living in these villages. We also took a boat upriver to a village where they make textiles and ended up buying quite a few which we’ll send home.
The weather has turned chilly since coming up to the mountains, and in a day or two, we’ll go back down the river to Nong Khiaw, where we left some bags at our previous guesthouse.
Sitting on the deck and watching boats come and go, bamboo being unloaded, the locals
building a boat, the sun setting behind the purple hills, we realize this little slice of the world is stuck in a moment, a moment we’re thankful we had the opportunity to sample. A simple life that has always been this way and fortunately always will be. Muong Ngoi is a definite contender, for me at least, of favorite places on this trip.
Four hours north of Luang Prabang lays the delicious little hamlet of Nong Khiaw astride the beautiful Nam Ou River. On the recommendation of a fellow traveler, we headed north from Luang Prabang on 4 hour minibus journey, a kaleidoscope of stunning scenery passing by our windows as we weaved our way along the river, not knowing what to expect when we arrived.
Exceeding our expectations, the Nong Khiaw River Resort, with its ‘Heavenly beds’, picturesque setting, and total serenity, provided a perfect retreat for a few days. Across
from our room was a massive limestone rock face at least 2000’ in height, rising straight out of the river, with no obvious paths to the summit, and I wondered if any rock climbers had ever attempted this ascent.
Nong Khiaw is somewhat off the tourist track, with most people sticking to the well trodden Vientiane – Vang Viang – Luang Prabang circuit, yet here you have the opportunity to trek to authentic Lao villages or do nothing but sit on the deck and watch river time pass
beneath.
We had intended to make a loop through northern Lao, but
found this area so beautiful and so compelling that we decided to stay here
rather than spend time on local buses. There’s yet another village, one hour
north by boat only, that we’ll also travel to, but for now, we’re appreciating
some of the finest mountainous vistas one could ever see.
One day we walked about an hour and a half to a small
village on the banks of the river. Again, all the kids ran out to greet us, so
charming and so genuine. One local guy, who had a bit too much Lao Lao whiskey,
kept trying to talk us into boat trip –
I’m not sure
where –but we judiciously declined his kind offer. We continue to
be amazed at the
joyousness and total innocence of the kids in the villages. They do not beg, although if you take their picture, they do know the word ‘money’, and we give them 1000-5000 kip (10 cents – 50 cents).
Another day we walked to the local cave and waterfall –
seems every village has their own cave and waterfall – passing thru 2 other
local villages. Marge and I have both become accustomed to the many chickens
and pigs and dogs roaming everywhere, yet are still amazed that each village
always has more than one satellite dish. Curiously, we observed a group of kids beating a long bamboo pole in the tree, then screaming and running all
around. When we asked what they were doing, one of the kids showed a handful of
This blog will have extra pictures, since we can’t begin to
describe how beautiful it is here – this is truly an unchanged part of Lao, one certainly going out of your way to visit.