Days 21 through 24 - Heading North

Day 21 and 22
We woke up early this morning and packed our stuff as it was going to be a long bit of travel for us. We decided to head to northern Thailand by taking the train which was going to take a total of 30 hours door to door. We still had a few hours with the scooter so we headed into town and cruised the streets until we found a small café with a good looking breakfast menu. We were right across the street from the ocean looking toward the larger island of Ko Samui while we enjoyed our breakfast fruit plate and pancakes.
We spent the next two hours at the resort taking full advantage of the hammocks before catching our taxi to the ferry at 11:30 am. Once on the ferry Bre and I both read our books while we slowly moved toward Suri Thani. Once on shore a bus took us to the train station that was a little over an hour away. During the ride Bre sat next to a very nice Indian=Australian named Sunjay who was staying on the island to figure out where he should live. A former Chiropractor at 55 years old just sold off all he had and was moving from Australia to Ko Phengan but had to go back to sell his car and send the rest of his stuff. He is going to open up a real coffee shop on the island that will have good coffee’s like espresso’s, mocha’s, latte’s, etc. and will sell cupcakes with a Chiropractic practice above it. I met him at the train station once we were off the bus and asked him about Australia and our upcoming stay there. He recommended that we checkout a bollywood dance studio that his friend owns that Bre promptly wrote down. I had met Miko from Finland who was on his way south by train to Malaysia and had to wait 6 hours before his train would be leaving, ouch!
The 4 of us set to explore the tiny area around the station and stumbled upon a concert. As we drew nearer we could see hundreds of kids with their parents all dancing while a Thai Christian rock band performed. We were lead through the gates by some of the enthusiastic Christians and given a free meal of rice with a fried egg. We enjoyed the concert for a few minutes then continued our tour of the town which was very short lived as everything was closing down at 5:00pm. We grabbed a quick beer and headed for the train station where we finished our drinks and said our goodbye’s.
Bre and I had reserved a sleeper car on the train but had not opted for A/C since it was night time and we were heading to the cooler northern climate. As we began our long trek toward Bangkok the conductor came by checked our tickets then changed our seats to a very cozy bed arrangement. We both had top bunks across from each other so we lay down and enjoyed a few hours of reading before we both caught some shuteye.
We arrived into Bangkok on schedule at 5:30 am so we departed the train in a fairly groggy state and headed to the terminal for our one and a half hour layover. We grabbed some breakfast, pad thai, and waited for our next 12 hour ride to Chiang Mai.
The ride north was full of beautiful scenery that consisted of lush green mountainous terrain, long flat rice farms and the occasional Buddhist Wat. There were only three other stops along the way at small towns that look like they have not changed much since they were first built. They did offer lunch on the train however there was only one choice of chicken over rice so both of us had to decline so we finished off the few snacks we had left. We pulled into the train station one hour after sunset and looked for the driver holding a sign that said Mr. Ryan from the Panda Hotel. Sure enough he was there and helped Bre with her luggage as we walked toward the Van that would take us into the city and to our hotel. We booked this hotel through a travel agent for one night as it was his only choice and could not say if it was nice or not.
When we arrived the driver checked us in and took us up to our room on the 4th floor of a 5 story hotel. It was a basic but we were pleased so we headed down to the first floor to grab some dinner before calling it an early night.
Photo's

Day 21 & 22

Day 23 – Chiang Mai
I was forced away this morning by some really early noise that was coming from outside our window that sounded like someone changing tires. As I looked out I could see there was a tire repair shop just across the small river that was already doing tire changes at 6:00 am. I would have thought the guy was training to be a NASCAR pit crew chief at the speed at which he was doing tire changes. He was going so fast that the pneumatic impact drill was running almost non-stop. There was no way we were going to stay another day at this place so we did some reading in the lonely planet guide and marked some places on the map and started walking toward the city. We crossed over the river and made a small left as we came upon a moat that surrounded the ancient capital. There was an old brick piling that made a distinct corner just across the moat with several lookout posts that were slightly caving in. As we walked along the moat we could see that traffic on the outside of the moat was moving clockwise and the traffic on the inside was moving counter clockwise and that the street were very narrow. We followed the map to a few places that had opening but were either too expensive or didn’t look nice. We were about to give up and head back so we headed up an alley way and saw another place called The White House with a vacancy sign. Bre went up and asked how much the rooms were and they said they had two available one with a full size bed and one with two twins for 250 baht a night (just over $8 US). After a quick look at the room we booked two nights; this place was better than some of the motels we have stayed at in the US.
After breakfast we found a scooter rental place and drove back to our old hotel to pack up and move to our new digs. I had read about a couple of places that were some distance away so we hopped on the scooter and headed for the mountains. We pulled up to Wat Su Dep after an hour of driving up the hill and were immediately blown away by its location on the side of the mountain. With just over 600 steps lined by two dragon statues the top was hard to make out through all of the visitors headed in both directions.
Once at the top we paid our entrance fee and spent the next hour seeing the temples, the monks, shrines, bells, bookshops, and expansive views of the city in the distance. It was really interesting to see all of the intricate statues of Buddha and all of the different positions that he can be found in all with their own meaning. The monks that roamed around did not interact with any of the tourists in complete silence as it seemed like they hardly knew we were even there. After asking several people we made sure that it was polite to take some photos of the buildings and once confirmed by a tour guide we had him snap a shot of us in front of a giant poster of the King.
We had lunch at the bottom of the steps of the temple which Bre found to be very exciting, Persimmons. Though not as good as the ones we get from her parents farm we enjoyed them nonetheless as we thought about home a bit and the cold weather we were happy to be missing. We made our way up the mountain on the scooter to the next attraction, the Phuphing Palace (we laughed at the name every time we saw a sign for it). The people of Chiang Mai built the palace specifically for the King after his first visit to the province so he and his family would have a place to stay. Though the King rarely visits Chiang Mai the palace is kept in immaculate shape and is open to the public for guided tours. We were bummed to find that it closes daily at 3:30 but we could see from the outside that it was a beautiful place with extensive flower gardens and a tree lined terrace that block some of the view of the house from the street.
We made the best of our trip up by seeing some of the shops that were located on top of the mountain and I was able to find a handmade shirt for 120 baht that had long sleeves. We found while we were at the temple earlier that long attire is required at some of the temples within the walled city of Chiang Mai so this was a good start. We headed down the hill slowly stopping often to look at the view and see some of the older buildings along the road. The pictures we took did not do the view justice because of the dense cloud of smog hanging over the valley below. The smog is something I had read and hear about but seeing first had really showed me how bad it was. Though not as bad as Bangkok the cloud lingering over the city was eye opening how pollution is affecting not only the view but the health of the people who live here.
As it grew dark we drove the scooter across town to the famous Night Bazzar, an open air market full of just about anything a tourist or local Thai would want. Rows and rows of small cart stands selling food, shirts, trinkets, CD’s, artwork, you name it they had it; a lot of the stuff was knockoff but it was all really cheap. After walking around for an hour we stopped for dinner and a beer in the center of the action and watched all of the different people from all corners of the earth scour each both. Some would make deals, some would pay asking price and some would just walk on by. Bre and I talked about how different it was here in Thailand with prices. Nothing is fixed, everything is negotiable, even if it’s posted on a sign which I figured it was a benefit of a cash only society.
We headed over to a vendor I had spotted earlier and grabbed a Roti filled with bananas for desert while Bre got some candy from across the aisle. I found some Thai pants I liked and made a deal with the lady for 120 baht and I now have a complete Thai outfit that I paid just under $6 for that would be acceptable at the Wats. Since Bre had some long pants and a long sleeve shirt she decided she wanted a small elephant keychain that could put on her backpack and wanted to wait until tomorrow to find an outfit. After a long day we headed back to the hotel to do some reading and relaxing. I read up in our guide about the city and planned a tentative day on the scooter while Bre enjoyed a book on Buddhism.
Day 23 Photo's

Day 23

Day 24 – The City of Chiang Mai
We woke up this morning and grabbed breakfast to go, Bre’s favorite Mango over sticky rice with coconut milk, and headed up the hill to a lookout we spotted yesterday. We enjoyed breakfast and each other while we looked at the view and talked about the rest of our trip. Bre decided that she wanted to check out a jungle trek with an elephant ride to make sure the elephants were as well cared for as we had been hearing. I had our day planned out to see the whole city by scooter stopping at temples, Wats, famous statues, and wanted to see the city art and cultural center to learn about the history of Chiang Mai.
After breakfast we drove back down the hill and found a jungle trekking outfit and stopped to ask some questions. Once we were satisfied Bre picked the three day two night echo trek that the owner told us only young people could do and we would be in a group of not more than 13 people our age. He ran through the list of things we needed of which we would only need to get a sweatshirt for the night time as the mountains can get quite cold, a mission for tonight’s Night Bazzar.
We spend the rest of the morning on the scooter driving the streets, stopping at shops and book stores. We read a bit about the city and learned that it was built in 1256 by three separate Kings. Since all of the roads had been established so long ago they were very narrow and only allowed for one way traffic with today’s modes of transportation. Most of the locals didn’t seem to abide by these rules but we tried to stick to them whenever possible. We had lunch along the moat that surrounded the city then headed back to the hotel for a quick change of clothing so we could go to the temples.
Our first temple was the first one built in this city in 1256 and is basically the center of the city. Still a working monastery today, the ancient temple was an awe inspiring brickwork building that contained a bit of the history in the Thai language we couldn’t read but would later learn about at the cultural center. One of the buildings on site contained a large statue of Buddha that was made of sapphire and locked behind a bullet proof glass and bars. The walls were covered with a mural that seemed to tell the story of how Buddha came to be the “Enlightened One” and how we went on to teach people and grow the spirituality of Buddhism.
We went down the street to the cultural center and spent the next two hours learning everything about the city from the prehistoric era, to the creation of Thai province and its importance to the trade routs between China, Laos, Cambodia, and Burma. We found out that the city had been taken over by the Burmese during the 14th century and they would continue to rule it for nearly 200 years. We learned how Chiang Mai was changed by its own gold rush and the introduction of western religions brought modern hospitals and doctors to the area. We would also discover that Chiang Mai was to be an example of a modern city until greed and corruption cancelled plans for an elaborate public transportation system. The city as it sits today is home to over 250,000 Thai and is the largest city north of Bangkok. There is a lot of heavy traffic pollution but most of the buildings within the moat are hundreds of years old and have been modified for common everyday things like pluming and electricity which are evident by pipes wires running every way totally exposed. We really had a fun day learning about the city and the people that call it home.
We spent a few hours back at the hotel writing about the day, reading and relaxing before heading out for dinner. We had an excellent Mexican dinner at a restaurant just outside the moat looking back toward the city that included all-you-can-eat chips and salsa, a true taste of home. We took the scooter to the Bazzar and spent a couple hours window shopping until we found the perfect sweatshirts for our overnight trek the next day. We ended up back at the hotel somewhat late but stayed up to separate the things we would be taking with us and the stuff we would leave behind.
Day 24 Photo's

Day 24