05-02-09 Day Nine of Thailand Road Trip - Pattaya
We had coffee and toast in our room, packed up and headed for Bangkok through Tak. That is route #105 to Tak and route #1 to Bangkok. We figured we would drive about half-way and stop for the night.
The road from Mae Sot to Tak was two lane and winding through the mountains. When we got onto route #1 the road went to four lanes and we could drive 120 - 140 km an hour. We got to the Bangkok area about 2:00 PM.
We made the decision to go the rest of he way to the party town of Pattaya, total trip 487 km. We got to Pattaya about 5:00 PM and checked into a guest house that we had stayed before, Malibu-Samet Guest House.
Daeng had called and ask about a room. They said they were full. I called and talked with Sally and she booked a room for us and saved a parking
place for the car. After all it was Saturday night in the biggest party town in Thailand, maybe all of Asia. The last 150 km were on six and ten lane super highways. Part of the way from Bangkok to Pattaya was on toll roads.
We are not going to talk to much about Pattaya here. Pattaya is the adult fun capital of Asia. It's a whole city devoted to adults having fun. If you would like more information or see videos of Pattaya just type "Pattaya" on www.Google.com.
We are going to rest here for a day or two and then go onward maybe to Rayong and then the Cambodia Border.
This is a nice place to rest and recuperate, just ask any Vietnam Vet.
04-30-09 - 05-01-09 Day Seven & Eight of Thailand Road Trip - Mae Sot
We got up as usual and packed up. It was before 8:00 AM. We drove 
down route 108, an old two lane road through the jungle. When we arrived at Mae Sariang there was nothing there of interest to us.
We said lets make today's trip the rest of the way to Mae Sot. Well, 212 km on a road that reminded me of old route 17 from Binghamton, N. Y. to New York City. I was a kid, sixty years ago, and the two lane road winded through the Catskill Mountains. In New york State the trees were Maple and Oak. Here they were Teak.
In some areas, in the jungle, the road was over grown to a single lane with BIG pot holes in the payment for at least half the way. We did make 
it and found a nice, quaint, old hotel with teak carvings on the wall. Daeng was a little scared of the carvings.
We spent two nights in this little town of Mae Sot. We visited the Rim 
Moei Market on the Thai side of the river but decided not to go across the bridge to Myanmar (Burma). Daeng did buy a contraption made out of bamboo to use to massage your back by yourself.
Mae Sot is the town that is the farthest west in Thailand.
Tomorrow we are going to drive at least half the way to Bangkok or Pattaya.
One of the nice things about travel in Thailand is they always wash your windows. Yea, full service!
04-29-09 Day Six of Thailand Road Trip - Karen Village
We didn't get up as early as we wanted but we had toast and coffee in room, then went to the little restaurant around the corner on the lake for breakfast. It took over 55 minutes to get breakfast. The little Thai waitress said they were very busy. We counted six people including us. Oh well, this is Thailand. (TIT) 
We got into the car and drove to the boat landing. We parked the car and rented hats for the boat trip as the sun was out. The long tail boat was 600 TB and I had to pay 250 TB for the Karenni National Progressive Party. Daeng did not have to pay anything as she is a native. (Exchange rate 35 TB to USD)
It was a smooth boat trip down the river about 13 km as the water is pretty low this time of year. We did see an elephant along the river eating 
the tall grass. There were a few places that the boat driver had to bring the prop out of the water as it was extremely shallow.
The trip took about 20 minutes to arrive at the Karen village. I was very surprised that the Karen 
women and the kids were all so friendly.
We have included many pictures of the ladies 
weaving and the kids.
Most of the kids could speak some English. I could carry on a
conversation, in English, with two of the girls. 
After we walked up the hill to the school we came back down tthrough the village and purchased some scarfs that the ladies had made.
Now, way out here in the boon-docks they are using solar technology.
Bye for now!
We said good-bye, got back 
in the boat and headed to the boat landing in Mae Hong Son.When we got back to the boat landing we hung out for a little bit. As we were sitting around four girls that we had seen at the Karen village arrived. They all had small back packs and motorcycle helmets. They ask us for a ride as they said they left their motor bikes on the road.
I looked at Daeng and she kind of shrugged her shoulder, like why not, so I said okay. We loaded them in the car after putting their packs and helmets in the back. When we got them in the car, remember it's a Honda Jazz, I ask them were are we going. They said kilometer marker 41 on route 1095.
They just said that they were sorry to trouble us, got their packs and helmets and started walking up the road. I still don't know if they had motor bikes or if we just got used.
We drove back to the guest house, had some dinner and called it a day. We are going to make the trip down route 108 to at least Mae Sariang tomorrow.
04-28-09 Day Five of Thailand Road Trip - Mae Hong Son
Mae Hong Son, Thailand's northern border city, hiding itself in between the towering mountains with densely forested slopes, stretching to the Burmese border. Mae Hong Son is known for its charm of scenery and 
culture. The people of Mae Hong Son consists of the Shans who live in the city and the hill tribe people who live in remote villages on mountain tops where elements of lifestyle have changed little in hundreds of years.
The Shans' ancestors came from Shans region in Burma. The hilltribe people consist of Karen, Lisu, Mhong, Lahu, and Lua. Both the Shans and the hill tribe folks have their own distinctive cultures. They have their own lilting dialect, their own architectural lifestyles, their own customs and traditions, and their own delicious cuisine.
Throughout the year, Mae Hong Son holds many festivals and events. Tourists can observe the distinction cultures from these events. There are different dances, rituals, and ceremonies for different events and festivals. Even the foods are different for each event.
The most remarkable tradition and also the most important event for the Shans is "Poy Sanglong Festival" which is the ordination ceremony for the Shans' boys. The event is held in March and there is one big celebration throughout the city. It is like the events in the stories we wrote about in Mae Sai.
The city is covered with the mist all year long. Mae Hong Son gains its nickname of "the City of Three Mists" from the fact that it has dewy mist in the winter, forest fire mist (smoke) in the summer and rainy mist in the rainy season.
When we arrived we used our GPS system and went to the boat landing on the river to check out how we could get to the Karen village of Hoy Sen Thao. It is a village about 13 km southwest of Mae Hong Son. It can only be reached by a 20 minute boat trip. We arranged to return the next morning to make the trip.
We stopped by several guest houses and hotels but finally came across a small, family owned place on the lake called "Joe's Guest House". They only had a couple of rooms but did have a place to park the car, air conditioned and only 500 TB (about $14.00 USD) a night.
We eat at the street market just around the corner and put our heads on
the pillow.
By the way, probably the most dangerous part of our trip so far was the electrical that hooked up the hot water heater in our bathroom. Yes, those are bear wires and 220 Volts.
04-27-09 Day Four of Thailand Road Trip - Pai
Pai is a little town between Chiang Mai and Mae Hung Son.
It was just a rest point for folks that made the 200 km trip. Halfway between Chiang Mai and Mae Hong Son, the mountain road makes a winding descent into a large green valley carpeted with rice paddies and fruit groves. Mountains rise on all sides and butterflies flit along the streets. Here you'll find a tiny town called Pai, named after the river that runs through the valley.
It was very hot, about 105 degrees so we checked into a little hotel the had air conditioning and a pool. We had a nice long swim.
There are basically three things to do in Pai, other than eating, swimming and resting. The three are visiting hill tribe villages, visiting temples and hanging out in the night time music scene.
Pai has become an attractions for what I call the "old style hippie scene". There are also many people that come to rest for a few weeks and then go back to their lives in other parts of Asia.
Since Daeng is a mountain girl from the Akha Tribe we didn't care about the hill tribe villages. After you have seen a few hundred temples that is not a big interest and since this is the low season, with very few folks in Pai, we decided to go on to Mae Hong Son tomorrow.
and a crematorium.
04-26-09 Day Three of Thailand Road Trip - Chiang Mai
We got up around 7:30, had a little to eat at hotel, packed car and drove
to Chiang Mai. Chiang Mai is the second biggest city in Thailand, second only to Bangkok. Now, greater Bangkok has about fifteen (15) million people and Chiang Mai has only about one (1) million. Chiang Mai also has a more relaxed atmosphere than the Metropolitan atmosphere of Bangkok.
It was raining which made it a little harder to drive but it keep the temperature down. I want to be loving but Thai drivers drive very aggressively. That means that everyone has to be careful watching out for the other guy. Thai drivers think nothing about passing on a solid line. And if a car is coming they just figure, I guess, that you will move over so they can get between you and the other car even thought it is only a two lane road. We saw this several times on this trip.
The policeman says who's fault an accident is and you make a settlement
on the spot so everyone tries to avoid the other person when driving. The trip took about four hours and we checked into a hotel on the sixth floor. It was a nice room overlooking the city. We when out and eat. We decided to travel to the little town of Pai tomorrow.
04-25-09 Day Two of Thailand Road Trip - Chiang Rai
We got up about 7:30, had coffee and toast at hotel. I had arranged for Jeff Clair with Lanna Reality to show us the Chaing Rai area from a realtor's stand point. He met us at hotel at a few minutes before 9:00 AM.
Jeff has been in Thailand for about ten years and comes from Rochester, New York. Since I'm from a little town in upstate New York we got along extreamly well. He took us to about ten developments from Mae Fah University, about 30 km north of Ch
iang Rai to as far south at the White Temple about 25 km south of town. The White Buddhist
Temple is beautiful but we didn't find anything in houses that we liked. One house was beautiful but not
in an area we wanted to live. We came back to the hotel and dropped of Daeng and Jeff and I went to look at a "shop house" that the bank owned and was very modivated to sell. That Saturday night was a street fair, they close the street and venders sell things and food. That ment we had to park and walk to the shop house.
When we did I noticed that the place next to it, a corner unit, was vacant. Because it was a corn unit it was huge. Jeff said he would find out who owned it and make an offer.
He dropped me off at room and then Daeng and I walked to eat at the "street fair" where the building was. I showed the building to Daeng but she did not seem to interested. It is hard to see someone else's dream.
We walked back to room, showered as it had been about 100 plus degrees. We turned in for the night.
04-24-09 Day One of Thailand Road Trip - Chiang Rai
We loaded up our little Honda Jazz with everything we had packed for storage and what we packed for trip. We checked out of the hotel.
As we were checking out I saw the Mae Sai plumber working, so I took his picture.
suitcases until we returned. After we unloaded and stored them upstairs in his place we waited for Hloog, Daeng's sister-in-law. She had taken the bus up from Chiang Rai to the market early in the morning to buy rice, peanuts and potatoes to sell in Chiang Rai. We are going to take her and the supplies to Chiang Rai with us.
She bought 100 kilograms of rice, 50 kg of peanuts, 25 kg of potatoes along with some other items. We loaded everything up in the car. We had a load with three people and all our stuff.
The trip was good and the GPS system also worked well. I do have to keep thinking "Left Side, Left Side" as in Thailand you drive on the left side. I do good except I tend to drift onto the right side when I make a right turn.
We unloaded everything at Hloog's place in Chiang Rai and we, along with "Git", Hlong's son, went to check into Jansom Guest house. We had stayed there before and it is clean and reasonable. (450 TB or about $13 USD a night)
We then traveled over the the "Big C" Shopping Center and bought a cooler, ice chest, for trip. We paid 600 TB for cooler and then stopped for ice cream at 'Swensens'. Now the price of name brand ice cream here is about the same as in the USA. The total for three ice cream sundae was 330 TB or about $9.50 USD.
We dropped off "Git" and called it a day as we have a big day tomorrow.
Can you guess which girl she is? 
Hey Terry,
ReplyDeleteLove the layout, looks like everything is working out fine for you in Tialand. I'm here with Perry W. at SaRecycling in Anaheim, Ca. Well hope to hear from you soon. take care big fella. Anthony R. C.D. 04-27-96