Going Home

Sawat Dee Kah!! I have packed my three large suitcases and am ready for the taxi. The long flight back to Mexico begins.

Goodbye until I go again!

Weekend Market Nightmare

Sawat Dee Kah!! Today is my last day in Bangkok and I know I should visit the Chatuchak Weekend Market. This market at last count has 1500 stalls and is listed in all the tour guides as “Not to be Missed.”

Reluctantly, I follow my path of the water taxi to the Sky Train. The train reaches the stop and the throng of people pile out and down the stairs. According to my map the shops I want are naturally on the opposite end of the train stop.

Oh My God, this place is unbelievable. First I am in a row that is selling exotic fish and aquariums, then to thousands of flip flops, next are bonsai trees and birds followed by rattan furniture, to buffalo skulls and snake skins, art supplies, antique Indian doors, dried fish and curried vegetables, amulets, antique Buddhas, cookie cutters, and a Muslim prayer room. I dodge in and try to regain my senses. Oh shit, there are only men in here and in the back of my mind I think I remember that women are not allowed to pray with men. I mumble my apologies and dive back into the chaos.

I come to food stalls and there are rock bands adding to the din of madness, with snake charmers and their cobras, and literally thousands of people milling about. I find the area where the shops I want are located and they are out of the burning sun. In one of the shops I buy three shirts and one pair of pants all of very light cotton. A shop with things from Afghanistan provides me with handmade tassels used for tribal costumes and a beautiful silver and beaded necklace.

At this point I am so hot I head back to the Sky Train. Back through another part of this market presents go go boots, the thieves market, which has cement mixers, guitars, trolleys, then into feather boas, spice market, gemstones, car axles and engines and finally I see the Sky Train.

Back to the hotel by the Sky Train then the water taxi and those red shirts are every where. I arrange for my taxi at 5AM and go to my room to pack and have at least one cold beer.

Out Among Them

Sawat Dee Kah! Today I am up really early, to beat the masses. Water taxi to the Sky Train off at the correct stop and I am in China Town on my way to Old Siam Market Center. The map says it is only a few blocks, but it’s just wrong! After an hour of walking I found it. This is an old shopping mall that has been converted into stalls for vendors selling everything from wedding dresses, to replacement parts for lamps with a foot massage place smack dab in the middle of the first floor.

Here I found I hit the jackpot with several great stores. At one I bought two blouses and the other carried textiles created by hill tribes, but sewn into very high end modern clothes. At this one, I bought two lonjyi skirts, two shirts with intricate silver pieces worked into the design, two necklaces made by hill tribes and two shoulder bags.

At another store I was able to buy two tie dye design dresses, two pairs of pants, and a long skirt.

As I come out of the store, I see red shirts coming my way. I am loaded down and decide on a tuk tuk for a fast escape. My reasoning is that a tuk can weave in and out of traffic easier than a cab, and the Sky Train is at least two miles from where I am.

Of course, it is a mistake, but there was really no good choice. Two hours, and more exhaust fumes than imaginable, I arrive back to the hotel.

April Fool's but this is no joke

Sawat Dee Kah! I have to venture out among the red shirts today to purchase another large suitcase for all my goodies. The newspaper suggests that tourist avoid taxis and tuks in favor of the water taxi and the Sky Train. I catch a water taxi and ride down to the connection with the train. I am going to MBK. I get off at the suggested stop and walk directly into the store. Piece of cake! I realize this is a mall with four levels and it is swarming with people. I buy the largest suitcase I can find and start back to my hotel on the Sky Train. There is a sea of people in red shirts below me. I wait for the water taxi and it is jammed with people. I squeeze in, apologizing as I go for the large damn suitcase.

Have to pull the suitcase to the hotel and there are masses of people in front of me. I pardon my way through the throng until I am to my hotel and decide to stay in for the night. Sheesh!!!

Mandaly to Yangon to Bangkok

Mingalaba! I am sorry to leave Myanmar and the wonderful people I met on the Road to Mandalay. Vow I will come back some day. I arrive in Bangkok and 6PM and am able to get a taxi, only to learn the red shirt protest had increased in numbers as well as ferocity. Traffic is jammed up for miles and my taxi driver is as frustrated as I am. Finally, we reach my hotel and the staff greets me like a lost relative returning home.

Last day on the Road to Mandalay

Mingalaba! Today is the last day on the boat and we are doing a cyclo ride through Myin Yu. We get to shore and the cyclos are lined up for our group. Another chance for locals to giggle at the procession of white people being paraded through their town. We stop at a place where local women cut their beautiful hair to sell to China, then to a place that makes replica costumes of the past royalty to be used for celebrations and on to a local market.

The market is not geared to foreigners, but we all make some great purchases. One of my friends on the boat wanted a monk’s robe and he found it there. I bought a monk’s fan and 2 little parasols that are put over little Buddha statues in one’s home. Mr Thet explained through out this trip that the two biggest temptations to a monk are money and women. The monk uses the fan to cover his face when women are around so he is not tempted.

Return to the boat to pack for a 5:30AM departure to Mandaly for our flight to Yangon.

Trip to Monwya Tour

Mingalaba!! Today we are in for a very long day and it is hotter than Hades. The ship has dropped anchor at Myin Mu, where we get off the boat and into the bus. Our first stop is a peanut factory, then lunch, where they fanned us while we ate.

We are on the way to a copper mine, which is a joint venture between the junta government of Myanmar and a company from Canada. As we are driving, we cross a bridge that was paid for by the women of this community, by way of selling their hair to China.

We visit the Peace Pagoda, with 5000 Buddha figures.

The locals do a primitive variety of mining seperate from the large mine. They use tin cans, acid and water from ponds of fetid water. One man sucked on a hose, and when the acid began to come, he then put it over the cans. He then spit, but what a way to make a living. I would think the acid would eventually destroy the tissue in his mouth. One need not worry about teeth in this part of the country, because most people chew and are addicted to the betel nut. When they chew this, the spit looks as if they are spitting blood. It destroys the gums and the teeth fall out. We give the kids in this village the peanuts we had bought earlier in the day, hoping they eat those instead of the betel nut.

We don't get back to the boat until dark and are all exhausted.

Nyaung Oo Market

Mingalaba! We are going shopping this morning, but before we go the ship is going to provide morning meal for the monks. There are over 5,000 monks in Bagan and they are not allowed to cook for themselves, so each morning they must go to the villagers and ask for rice from the cook pot in each house. It is considered an honor to feed the monks who give up all worldly possessions to follow their religion. The kitchen staff has a huge table set up on shore and the monks of all ages file through the line.

We go first to a lacquer work shop and see the procedure of this fine precise art and then to Nyaung-Oo market. We arrive at the market and Mr Thet says we have 40 minutes before we must return to the bus and then the ship. I feel like I am reliving that TV show where people were in a grocery store and had only a few minutes to throw everything into their shopping cart before the bell rang. Bartering is out of the question, I don’t have time. Ready set go! A lacquer tube for paintings, a mother of pearl soap dish, lacquer bracelet, 2 mandarin blouses with matching lonjyis, two silk scarves, two pillowcases, and a puppet.

The puppet vendor is where I find my two friends from San Francisco bartering with the guy for two very large puppets. My watch says it is pumpkin time and as we all run for the bus I see stalls for a million things I would like to pick up, but time is not on my side. We all scramble back on the boat and set sail for Mandalay.

Mount Popa

Mingalaba! Today, we take a bus to Mout Popa, a national park and believed to be the sacred home of powerful “Nats.”(spirit gods) Superstition is rampant in Myanmar, as is the spirit world and astrology readings. We stop at Mount Popa Resort for lunch and the view is spectacular of Mount Popa set a top of a rocky crag with a complex of temples and pagodas for the Nats. The rocky pinnacle is so high the clouds float below it giving it a Shangri-la image.

After lunch we go down to the town at the base of the Mount. There are 777 steps that wind precariously up the side of the mountain to reach the Nat home. In the town below there are monkeys every where and a museum that houses the replicas of the Nat spirits.

On the way back to the boat, we stop at a palm plantation, where they climb up the tree to seek palm oil that is made into candy and a strong alcohol.

Bagan

Mingalaba! This morning the ship arrives in Bagan where 2,000 pagodas and stupas are spread out across a plain beside the river.

We depart the boat and get on Bagan horse carts to visit Ananda Temple, Sulamani Temple and Shwezigon Pagoda. The horse carts allow the driver and one passenger in the front and another person in the back. One of my fellow travelers is allergic to horses and the other to dust, so when we arrive at the holy sites there is much sneezing with runny eyes and noses.

We attract people selling rubies and sapphires for $10, sanskrit pictures, and cherots.

We return to the boat for lunch. In the afternoon, we visit the lacquer centers for which Bagan is famous.

Sailing on the Irawaddy River

Mingalaba! Walking tour of a Shanlay village in the morning and when we return the ship sets sail and we spend the rest of the day observing the local river life from the top deck. On the shore are ox carts with wooden wheels; the boats on the river are dugout canoes. The people wash their clothes on the rocks and life looks hard to me, but the people are lovely with they’re wonderful smiles and joy of life as it is.

The Road to Mandalay always had experts giving lectures on the history of this lovely country, puppet shows, musicians and plays of Myanmar. On this afternoon, a youg woman demonstrated how to apply thanaka to our faces. Thanaka, a gray paste made from tree bark is a fabulous sun screen and a natural face mask. All women and children we saw had this on their faces. She also gave a demonstration on how to wear and tie a lonjyi, which is worn by men, women and children.

Yangon to Mandalay

Mingalaba! Early this morning we transfer to the airport for our flight to Mandalay. Thank God our luggage is checked as a group, because I am already over the 20kg weight limit. Our guide, Mr. Thet leads us all to a bus and we depart for the tour of the city of Mandalay, the center of Burmese culture.

First we visit Mahamuni Pagoda considered to be the holiest of pagodas in Myanmar, and where thousands of people come on pilgrimages. Each presses gold leaf on the Buddha in homage.

Kuthodaw Pagoda, has the entire text of Buddha's scriptures enscribed on marble tablets. Shwenandaw Monastery is made of intricately carved teak with gold .
We then visit the marble carving area where for centuries these families have carved large marble figures. The people are all covered in the fine white marble powder and look like walking ghosts.

The next stop brings us to a place where they make gold leaf paper, which is used by everyone to press on to the Buddha statues. Four men stand with rubber mallets and pound the gold until it is paper thin. As we walk back to the bus we pass shops selling huge snake and tiger skins. Every where you look, you see monks with shaven heads in their robes.

We arrive at our ship, the Road to Mandaly that was caught in Cyclone Nargis which hit Myanmar in 2008. The crew tried to ride out the storm, but when the moorings snapped under the pressure of 200 kilometer winds the fate of the ship was sealed and many thought she would never sail again. After 16 months of extensive restoration she was back on the river by August 26, 2009. The ship has 42 cabins and our three groups total 15 people.

Yangon, Myanmar

Mingalaba! Good morning in Myanmar. The currency in Myanmar is the Ryat, but they really like U.S. dollars. Not just any dollars though. They want new, crisp dollars and will accept nothing less. I am up early and into a taxi to the 70 year old Bogyoke Aung San Market. At this market are 2000 shops with the largest selection of Myanmar Handicraft.

The market is buzzing with activity and I find many great items: lonjyi’s made from a silk and cotton blend with mandarin blouses, Akha hill tribe bags, which are gorgeous with their embroidered cross stitch, shells, silver coins and beads, Akha scarf, and two Chien blankets. This was a great place to see locals, hear their interactions and practice my bartering skills. Other items for sale here were jade, rubies and sapphires, which I did not feel knowledgeable enough to purchase. I have no more hands to carry anything and decide to taxi back to the hotel.

I dump my things in my room and get another taxi to Art & Deco. This is a joint venture between the Ministry of Social Welfare and the Setraco group, which at one time was a dilapidated center for orphaned girls, and now produces the Lord Jim Collection. They all smile and giggle as they create world famous figurines, costume jewelery and lacquer wares. Here I purchased a necklace and earrings, a bracelet.

It is so hot, but I think I have the strength to visit one more shop on my list. I taxi to J’s Irrawaddy Dream in the Strand Hotel. The store is quite famous in Yangon and is known for it’s high quality Myanmar textiles and lacquer. Three lacquer purses round out my shopping day and I return to the hotel and settle my overheated body into the pool with a sizzle.

Bangkok and Red Shirts

Sawat Dee Kah!! Again in the taxi on the way to the airport, and there are red shirts everywhere causing the traffic to be halted. Much honking, hand waving and yelling fills the street around me and I wonder if I will get to the airport in time for my flight.

The driver is persistent and creative in circumventing the blocked roads and soon we are moving again and I get to my flight on time.

The flight from Bangkok to Yangon is an hour and thirty minutes. I already have my Visa for Myanmar and pass through customs with no problems. A driver transfers me to my hotel Governor’s Residence. Yangon reminds me of Cuba, with the ancient cars, buildings that needed paint 20 years earlier and an overall feeling of neglect.

While I am checking in, Mr. Winn informs me he will pick me up at the hotel in the morning to go to visit Schwedagon Pagoda. I politely explain to him that tomorrow, I must shop and think to myself that I have had enough pagodas to last a life time.

I have a little time before shops close, so taxi to Yu’s Lotus Shop in the Summit Parkview Hotel which came as a recommendation from a friend as a great little shop. I found three pairs of black pants lonjyi style.

Saigon

Xin Chao!! We are as close as we can get to Saigon due to low water on the Mekong, so we disembark with luggage to several buses and drive into Saigon. We have lunch upon arriving and then I catch a taxi to the airport for a 4PM flight back to Bangkok.

I clear customs, find a cab and tell him that I want to go to the Aurum Boutique Hotel and he shows me the front page of the newspaper. The picture shows thousands of people in red shirts waving flags.

Oh damn! I read about the political unrest in a Cambodian newspaper, but had heard no news while sequestered on the boat.

The driver explains it is going to cost me to get to my hotel because it is smack in the middle of this uproar. Fine! I am only at the Aurum Hotel for one night to dump my suitcase into one I stored at the hotel and then flying out in the morning to Yangon, Myanmar. The taxi ride costs me about $20 and takes 3 hours.

When I arrive at the Aurum hotel they haul out my big suitcase and arrange a taxi for me in the morning.

Mekong River in Viet Nam

Xin Chao! We are again in Viet Nam and on the river, where hundreds of cranes are dropping their buckets into the river and dredging up sand, which is then dropped on to barges. The sand is going to Singapore for an expansion of their port area. The tour this afternoon is to the tunnels where the North Vietnamese soldiers hid before taking Saigon.

As we cruise, the river becomes more industrialized. Factories belching smoke into the air, and polluting the river with the by-products of the factory. The locals still fish in the river and one wonders what will be the long term effects of these factors.

Sadec, Viet Nam

Today we go to a brick making factory in Sadec, an ancient pagoda, a market and a Fujian temple. I am hoping the market will be a gold mine of treasures. The market turns out to be a food market that offers huge catfish, eels, crabs, snails, red snapper, frogs and rats, all skinned and packaged. I skitter buy this stall quickly. Huge displays of vegetables and fruits distract me from the rats and I spy a great woven reed bag in a store across the street. They are the local shopping bags and I would have loved to buy at least 20, but they will consume my whole suitcase, so buy only two.

Crossing the border from Cambodia to Viet Nam

No tours today, instead we cross the border from Cambodia into Vietnam, which will take hours as I understand. When the officials come aboard, the kitchen staff herds us all up to the upper deck and serves ice cream. Interesting!

Sailing on the Mekong River

No tours today. A day to relax and watch the world go by from the ship.

Phnom Phen

Tours this morning include the Royal Palace and the Cambodian National Museum. Afternoon tours are the Killing Fields and the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum.

I am visiting the Central Market (Pshar Thmey) where I can find items of statuary, silverwork, silks, kramas, carvings, books, postcards, flowers and clothes, while the back of the market houses butchers, produce and food stalls. I found two blouses, 2 powder blue silk pillowcases embroidered in gold and a silk shoulder bag . Also, found a pair of 100% silk woven lounge pajamas.

The Vietnamese people have such small frames and they are so thin, that most of the clothing I looked at would fit a very young teen in the U.S., certainly not an adult woman.

Sailing on the Mekong

On the river banks, are people going about their daily lives, fishing, watering crops, washing clothes and the water buffalo. Between farm fields, pagodas dot the landscape. In the late afternoon we sail into Phnom Penh.

By bus from Siem Reap to the ship

Today we bus for 6 hours from Siem Reap to Preak Kdam on the Tonle Sap River where our boat the MS La Marguerite is docked. We sail under the Communist flag. There are several stops along the way for the “happy house” (bathrooms) and the last stop is a town that sells deep fried tarantulas, grubs, silk worms, crickets and grasshoppers. Several brave souls try these delicacies as my stomach turns.

Angkor Wat

Still haven’t learned how to say good morning in Khmer. Everyone who works at the hotel speaks English. By 8AM I am on the bus and ready to go. Mr Thinh tells me the company will provide a guide, car and driver for me to visit Angkor Wat in the afternoon free of charge. He is a saint.

This morning we are to visit Bantey Srei and Ta Phrom. Ta Phrom temple has a market next to it and I am ready to search for treasures. The vendors swarm me with their wares repeating like a mantra “you buy from me.” Here I found beautiful light cotton long sleeve shirts, all embroidered at the neckline and silk pillow cases embroidered with the Apsara dancers so famous in this part of the world.

In the afternoon, as promised, my guide and driver show up for my tour of Angkor Wat. I walk out of the hotel, and wilt. The temperature has to be over 100 degrees. I ask my guide if one ever gets accustomed to this heat and he replies “No.” All-righty then, onward into the oven. Angkor Wat is awe-inspiring, but we make it a short tour.

Siem Reap, Cambodia

Sorry, don’t know the greeting in Khmer for good morning. The itinerary states that this morning we are to visit the Angkor Archaeological Park, another UNESCO World Heritage Site. The first site is the South Gate of Angkor Thom, then Bayon, the Terrace of the Leper King and the Elephant Terrace. Then we return to the hotel for lunch and in the afternoon to Angkor Wat.

I am going instead to the Royal Angkor Hospital to see a doctor. The last few days, I had been coughing and I was developing a rattle with each breath. Mr. Thinh said there was no doctor on the ship and this was my last chance to have medical treatment before we sailed into Saigon. I explained that one of my main reasons for this trip was to see Angkor Wat and that I would be fine. He wasn’t buying it, so off we went in a tuk tuk to the hospital.

If any of you have wondered what going to a hospital in a third world country would be like; let me put your mind to rest. The doctor spoke English, was very kind and thorough in his questions and exam. I had bronchitis, for which he prescribed the correct medicine and sent me on my way. Total bill with medicine was $214.oo. We tuk tuked back to the hotel and I was sent promptly to bed.

I had planned to visit the Night Market is Siem Reap, which I had read about, but felt too lousy to get out of bed. Did sneak down to the gift shop in the hotel, to see what type of things Cambodia had to offer, and purchased two gorgeous raw silk shawls, a bamboo back pack and an orange silk purse, before another guide from our group saw me and asked why I wasn’t in my room resting. Busted! I had planned this trip to shop for my business, but was striking out miserably.

Return to Hanoi Airport and fly to Siem Reap, Cambodia

Xin Chao!! After breakfast, we return to shore and board the bus back to Hanoi airport for flight to Siem Reap, Cambodia. Our guide Mr Thinh has the patience of a saint as he checks luggage and hustles us all through customs and immigration. The immigration people were as stoic as before and scrutinized every passport to the point that we almost missed the flight on Vietnam Airlines. Creepy feeling!

We arrive in Siem Reap, gather our luggage and whisk off to Le Meridien Hotel.

Halong Bay

Xin Chao!! Today we leave Hanoi and drive 3 hours to Ha Long Bay, located in northeastern Vietnam, in the Gulf of Tonkin. Ha Long Bay translates to “Descending Dragon” and was named a UNESCO World Heritage sight in 1962. It is composed of 1,960 limestone islets, which according to local myth, were formed by a family of dragons that the Gods had sent from heaven to protect Viet Nam and it’s people. When the dragons descended upon Ha Long Bay they began spitting out jewels and jade, that when hitting the sea turned into islets as a fortress against invaders.

During the Vietnam war many of the channels between the islets were laid with mines by the U.S. Navy.

We sail through a heavy shroud of fog that blankets these green jewels. Large jelly fish drift by in the water below and soon small boats are pulling up to the junk to sell sea shells, cigarettes, liquor and all manner of other items. Nothing I want to buy here.

A fistful of dong

Xin Chao!

This morning prepared with a fistful of dong which equals about $20 we leave the hotel for one of the oldest sights in Hanoi, the Temple of Literature. The most striking thing to me while visiting this site were the number of Communist guards standing around watching our every move.

Next was the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, where our bags had to pass through an x-ray machine to enter the gates. The mausoleum was closed, but we did see the changing of the guards, all dressed in white and high-stepping.

The One Pillar Pagoda is in the park behind the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, but after the many pagodas in Thailand it was ho-hum.

Then we each climbed into a rickshaw (cyclo) and paraded through the Old Quarter for the amusement of the locals.

Last, but not least was the traditional water puppet show, where most of the group promptly fell asleep. I wandered around the Old Quarter and found some scarves and pillowcases embroidered with a lovely lotus flower.

Good Morning Viet Nam

Xin Chao (sin chow) Hello Or, Good Morning Vietnam.

This morning begins with a transfer to the Sofitel Metropole Hotel in the Old Quarter of Hanoi where I join with our tour group, Indochina Sails.

Friends and I venture out of the hotel, only to be stopped dead in our tracks at the street corner. There are thousands of scooters and a few cars all driving as if chased by demons, with no regard for stop lights. We step off the curb when the light turns red, only to find the traffic coming from another direction at a fast clip. Finally, we get behind a local and tail him across the street. Later we are told the way to cross a street is to slowly walk out into traffic with your hand up and the scooters will dodge around you. Don’t run, because the scooter drivers can gauge a slow walking person but if you run, they may hit you. Can this be right???

Fly from Chiang Rai to Bangkok to Hanoi

Sawat Dee Kah!! My flight departs Chiang Rai at 7:45AM to Bangkok with a connection on to Hanoi, Vietnam.

I arrive Hanoi airport at 3:30PM on Vietnam Airlines. Oh, this is different!! The tour operator from Vietnam has already sent me a copy of my visa. I walk to customs and they point me to another office, where officers of the Communist Party scrutinize my passport and the copy of my visa. Gone are the smiling people of Thailand, these people are serious and look at me like I have come as an agent of the CIA. After much whispering and veiled looks they hand me my passport with my visa for Vietnam.

A driver is outside the airport and with little ado, we are off to the Sheraton Hotel. The highway is pure chaos, with scooters, cars, bicycles and water buffalo all vying for the same space. I want to close my eyes, but then I might miss something such as a head on collision with a water buffalo.

There is something major going on at a bridge ahead. Cars and scooters are coming directly at us, with people honking, yelling and waving their hands. The driver explains that there has been a major accident that won’t be remedied for hours, so we too turn around and start driving down a dirt road with rice paddies on both sides of the car and even more water buffalo milling around.

The bright side is that I am seeing the way people live here, the negative is that this narrow dirt road we are on has traffic coming from the other direction and it is next to impossible for two cars to pass each other. My other observation is that spring is in the air with the mating of water buffalo and they are running wildly about, with males in locked horn displays of buffalo maleness, and females running with their tails in the air. We finally reach a paved road and I admire the French architecture of the buildings and the people around me. The Sheraton Hotel is away from the Centro district, but I am ready for quiet time. The young girl who opens the door to the hotel is gorgeous with her long dark hair, clad in a long velvet wine colored tunic, over gold silk pants.

There is a charming boutique outside the hotel, the Indigo Store which is an organic, free trade, handicraft project that carries traditional clothing that is woven, dyed and sewn by the Hmong women in Northern Viet Nam.

Doi Tung/ Chiang Rai

Sawat Dee Kah!! AJ and driver pick me up at 8:30AM to drive to Doi Tung, located high in the Doi Nang Non Mountain range along the Thai-Myanmar border. This place was where Her Royal Highness the Princess Mother lived until the end of her life. She received recognition by UNESCO on the centenary of her birth as an Outstanding Personality of the Century.

Under her initiative, the hill tribes of this area have revived their lives, ending their earlier slash and burn agricultural practices. They have stoped the planting of poppies and have begun environmentally sustainable farming of temperate fruits, vegetables, flowers, coffee and macadamia nuts. They have revitalized their traditional skills in embroidery, and weaving using native raw materials and local artistry with modern fashion styles.

The Queen Mother established acres of flower gardens reminiscent of England, which employ hundreds of people from the surrounding ethnic communities of the Akha, Lahu, Tai Yai and Chinese immigrants.

Through out Thailand I saw shops with textiles, clothing, paper and coffee all under the Doi Tung name. I found the textiles to be of high quality and design, some of the best available in Thailand. I bought a beautiful black and white shawl at the Doi Tung shop.

Drive From Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai

March 5, 2010 Sawat Dee Kah! We drive from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai climbing higher into the mountains and again the scenery changes to more lush forests. There are stands along side the road selling bitsy pineapples, (very sweet) and bamboo pieces filled with sweet sticky rice. When reaching Chiang Rai we visit Wat Rong Khun, which is a different type of pagoda with quite a different story. This Wat is totally white and was created by artist Chalermchai Kositpipat,who is an artist who grew up in Chiang Rai, attended the monastery, then the University for art. Rich, famous and known as one of the greatest painters in the world of Buddhist Art, he built Wat Rong Khun with his own money. Sharing his wealth with the community of his childhood. It was quite stunning and worth the stop.

Back on the road to the Golden Triangle, where Thailand, Myanmar and Laos borders converge on the Mekong River. This is a beautiful panorama, but beneath lurks a dark side. Much of the world’s opium, and human trafficking pass through these borders and down the Mekong. The Hall of Opium, was established in 1988 by Her Royal Highness the Princess Mother, the late mother of His Majesty the King, to educate the people on the history of opium, in the hope that this would strengthen their commitment against illegal drugs. In the museum, you see how opium is grown and processed, the equipment needed to smoke opium, how morphine and heroin are derived from the opium, and the mental and physical effects of smoking opium. In all, it was very interesting.

Maesa Elephant Camp

Sawat Dee Kah! Today we visit the Maesa Elephant Camp, which is a protected sanctuary for elephants who had been used for logging.

As we walk in, we buy bunches of bananas and sugar cane to feed to our new friends, who are of all ages and sizes.

After making friends, we are able to take a ride on the behemouth.

After our ride, the elephants go for bath time. They behave just like children jumping into a pool.

They roll on their backs with their feet in the air, loll from one side to the other and playfully throw water on each other and their mahout.

After bath time, they are all squeaky clean and ready to perform. First a quick game of soccer, and they can drop kick with the best of them. Next they show their old learned skills of piling and pushing huge logs and finally showing their cultural side, they paint.

There is a gift shop at the camp where theysell all types of paper products made from elephant dung. Here I picked up a Mahout hat from bamboo and fans. All proceeds from the gift shop and the price for the provide funds for these elephants and the mahouts that care for them.

Next on the itinerary was the Umbrella Making Center at Bo Sang. Here we saw the different steps in the production process, from taking the pulp from the tree, soaking, pounding, soaking and scooping up the thin paper in a mesh screen and finally drying for the finished paper product. Then to the women who are cutting thin slats of bamboo for the spokes, to the man who make the handles and glues in the spokes. The next step was putting the paper on the frame, and then the painters who had a wide array of designs that they could paint in minutes on the paper and finally to the finish lacquer. Umbrellas were beautiful.

Our last stop of the day is the silk factory. The first step for the making of silk brings us to a woman who has a boiling pot of silk worms, whose cocoons rise to the top of the pot from which she delicately pulls thread by thread out of the pot and on to a tray. Then the silk is washed, dyed and spun onto a spindle where it is used in the looms to make the beautiful Thai silk. The show room has hundreds of bolts of the silk in every color imaginable. I purchased silk shawls, glasses cases, coin purses, toothpick boxes and scrunchies.

On The Road From Sukhothai to Chiang Mai

Today we travel by car from Sukhothai to Chiang Mai, the second largest city in Thailand, and fondly called "The Rose of The North." Before we reach Chiang Mai, our guide stops at a market and I am excited to find new treasures for my suitcase. Live frogs, fish, mushrooms, crickets, grubs are not what I had in mind as treasures.

Our first stop in Chiang Mai is Wat Doi Sutep Temple. As we pile out of the van we are swarmed by vendors selling temple bell replicas, paintings and all manner of tchotskis. The entrance to the temple is a 290 step stairway straight up the mountain with a nasty looking dragon balustrade.

The center of the temple is a spire pagoda which contains relics of the Buddha. As I understand, when Buddha died, he was cremated and his bones and pieces of hair were taken to pagodas all over Asia.

The complex is large and filled with the sound of bells and chanting.

As we enter one of the temples, a monk is seated giving blessings to those kneeling before him. We kneel with the others. My joints are not working well, so I am not able to bend as low as others. The monk is putting a brush in sacred water and flicking it over all before him. I feel a few drops of the water and it is refreshing in this 98% humidity with temps running in the high 90's.

I look up and the monk is staring right at me. He lets loose with a full brush of water and I get a faceful. What?? Does he know I am not a Buddhist? Does he think I am being disrespectful for not bending lower?

I try to make amends for whatever I did to deserve the faceful of water by putting a handful of bahts in the donation box and crawl out of the temple.

The last stop for the day is the Chiang Mai Night Market, shoppers paradise selling everything one can imagine. There is luggage, silk everything, clothes, jewelery, furniture, lamps puppets,plants, wood carvings, astrologers doing their readings and food courts. This melee takes place every night from 6-1PM. After three hours I feel like a whirling dervish and decide to take a tuk tuk back to the hotel. This is an experience in itself. The road is congested with tuks, cars, bicycles and masses of people all moving in a helter- skelter motion.

Sukhothai

Sawat Dee Kah! This morning we have a early flight to Sukhothai.

This 1,000 year old, World Heritage site, has the literal translation "Dawn of Happiness."

It is the first capitol of the Sukhothai Kingdom, but ended after 200 years. The site is 70 square kilometers and has lakes, moats, islands and of course many Buddha images.

The temples remind me more of Borobudhur, the 9th century Mahayana Buddhist monument in Central Java.

The inverted bells shapes, with lattice work in clay, tell of a much different time, than other Thai temples.

Highlights of Bangkok City Tour

Sawat Dee Kah! Our guide arrives at 8AM for our trip to Wat Benchamabophit, or the Marble Temple, to hear the monks chant. We arrive to a sea of saffron robes, shaved heads and the melodious sound of chanting. The Marble Temple, has floors of marble and is crowned in gold. AJ, our guide shows us the correct way to pay respect to Buddha. Kneeling, with hands in the prayer position and bending my forehead to the floor three times.

Wat Pho, the oldest and largest Wat in Bangkok was built in the 16th century and houses the largest reclining Buddha statue in Thailand. It is also the center for teaching traditional Thai medicine and massage. After kneeling on marble floors, I think a Thai massage sounds heavenly, but that wish is denied because we are off to the Grand Palace.

The Grand Palace is awe inspiring and touts more gold than Fort Knox.

The men who sell gold leaf paper do a booming business throughout Thailand. People buy the gold leaf paper and put it on the Buddha images. I imagine it feels like touching God.