Pai & Mae Hong Son & Mae Sariang

Just arrived back in Chaing Mai after spending 10 days west of Chiang Mai in the province of Mae Hong Son.

This trip started with a 4 hr bus trip from Chaing Mai to Pai. Besides the scenery the bus culture is an experience in itself. This time we had more than a full house starting out. We have learned to arrive early at the bus terminal to get a ticket so that we have assigned seats, otherwise you will be permitted to board the bus but you might not have a seat. So, this day we arrived early, loaded our big knapsacks in the storage area below and put our smaller knapsacks on our assigned seats on the bus. Then we went off to a nearby vendor for rice/noodle soup for breakfast. We arrived back near to departure time only to find people in two of our three seats. We had a small discussion with them and with the bus conductor and ended up with our seats back but it meant that David ended up sitting in the back row of the bus (where his seat was suppose to be) but he was squeezed among 5 monks in their saffron robes. I asked David later if he felt sactified but he denied it, saying that one of them was a smoker (not on the bus, thank goodness) and they were all sucking little mints (the kind you get at restaurants at home). I guess that cancelled the sanctity factor.

As we were getting the seats sorted out, more people were getting on the bus and in the meantime bags of rice had been loaded into the middle aisle. So the new people actually had to climb over the bags of rice to find a place to park themselves. We had several people sitting on the floor - one with a cardboard box in her lap and others standing, plus we picked up more people on the way through to Pai. There seems to be no maximum number of people permitted to board the bus. Each bus has a "conductor", someone to organize things and collect fares and they never deny anyone entry. Today they even stopped the bus at a police station along the way b/c a farang needed to use the bathroom. It probably helped that he was grey haired - I guess they respected his need.

On the bus trip from Pai to Mae Hong Son, another trip of 4 hrs or so, we had three mountain bikes in the aisle! Before the mountain bikes were loaded, David helped unload lumber from the aisle through the window of the bus - big thrill for David! So, the conductor allowed three young fellows (one was a Calgarian) to get on with their mountain bikes. Most buses have racks on top for storing larger things but this one didn't, so the bikes came onboard. Everyone seems very accepting that people have things they need to move from place to place and there is no moaning from the other passengers when they have to accommodate extra baggage, people, bikes, rice, lumber, etc. We haven't yet had live animals unless that was what was in some of the cardboard boxes but if there was they were quiet.

In Pai (pop 3000), we stayed in bamboo huts again. This time we had an electric light in the hut rather than just a candle, but the bathroom and shower were outside and shared. We had a nice little "verandah" with a hammock for lounging which was welcome in the heat of the afternoon. There were at least a dozen other establishments with these bamboo huts for rent all along the river with little bamboo footbridges going to cross the river.

We stayed in Pai for 4 nights. It's quite a place - beautiful river valley surrounded by mountains. It was a "hippie" haven back in the seventies and it still resembles a bit of a utopian atmosphere. Lots of young foreigners are there. My guess is that many stay for a while. There are also lots of young Thais hanging out together with the young foreigners. They all seem to be into health, herbs, reading -much like what we find in our little local cafes, like "b2g" in Antigonish. The other new thing we saw was little cafes showing movies for free - some even having different movies at different times of the day. Of course, you are welcome to buy food and drink while you are viewing the movies. One place was showing Bad Education - a movie directed by Spanish director Pedro Almodovar (sp?). It was in Spanish with English sub-titles. Since there are so many people staying in places with no TV and no movie theatres in this little town, this seems to be a very popular pastime.

There are lots of expats in Pai - long term foreign residents. Many seem to have set up shops and businesses with Thais. This is common everywhere we've been so far in Thailand. Our understanding is that foreigners are not allowed to own businesses or land in Thailand but they often go into business with Thais. So, you will see places listed as Thai owned/German managed, for example. It usually seems like couples - Western male, female Thai. In Pai, these business would be very small - for instance a restaurant might have just 4 or 5 tables or an elephant riding company would have 1 elephant with a baby. But they would still have a little shop front in town to hang out and visit with potential customers. This seemed to be the main occupation of the town - hanging out and visiting.

In Pai, Courtney was very happy to go elephant riding. We had seen the elephants several times before this but hadn't taken the time or initiative to go riding. In Pai, Courtney and David rode an elephant for 1 whole hr.! They rode "bareback" with just a blanket between them and the elephant's back. Courtney even rode up close behind the elephants ears and felt the ears flapping on her legs as they rode along. They went into jungle areas and a river. Courtney says that the elephant always wanted to stop to eat so the mahout had to keep encouraging it to go along. Two British fellows were involved in this little operation and the mahout was Thai. David asked one of the British guys how he ended up in Pai with this elephant riding operation. He said he came initially for the hot springs at the guesthouse close by for his bad back. After a while he decided to check out the elephants next door. He became friends with the family and he now lives in Pai six months of the year. His is a typical story for foreigners in Thailand.

We also rented a motorbike for the first time in Pai since it was such a little place and there weren't many vehicles other than small half-ton trucks, motorbikes and bicycles. It felt quite safe compared to Chaing Mai with regards to traffic.

David took Courtney and I in turns to a park where there were hot springs for bathing. We took the cautious route in going in turns - we have seen Thais riding with as many as 5 people on one bike - granted they were kids but you regularly see two adults and two kids on a motorbike or three adults. We have often seen dogs riding on motorbikes and even a live pig in a sidecar. Anyway, the hot springs were lovely. Lots of Thais using them for bathing - they seemed to reserved the best spot for getting clean. We all got into our bathing suits and tried them out. It felt like a hot tub in a motel, except you were outside in a lovely mountain park.

Another day we rented three bicycles to go outside Pai. That was another crazy experience. David took a mountain bike but Courtney and I felt more comfortable with the Raleigh Sport type bike - no gears. We got a block down the road when mine seized up - the fender seemed to be preventing the tire from rotating. We brought it back for a replacement. That one had a piece falling off but the fellow fixed that before I left the lot. Off we went - getting a kilometre or so out of town when my chain came off. We messed around with that long enough that a nice women who was pumping gas nearby came over to see if she could help. She knew just what to do to get the chain back on. We thanked her profusely (kwap-koon-ka) and decided to take a chance that the chain would remain in place and kept on going. We had a great ride along a country road passing through several little villages. We started back, planning to stop at a little place on the road to have a bite to eat. Along the way I took my hand off one of the handles to put my hat back on and lost control of the bike. I was heading for the shoulder where there was a residence with a nice little row of potted plants. I was sure I was going to crash into the plants and was thinking - great, out in the middle of nowhere, can't speak the language and I cause a disaster with the plants, breaking the earthenware pots. Luckily I just miss hitting the plants landing in the sand right in front of them. Two ladies are sitting fixing food, see me coming and try to stop me. We all end up in giggles! They get a big charge out of me landing practically in their laps. As it turns out they are running a little roadside restaurant, so we stop for noodle soup and end up "talking" with the proprietor lady. We are using our Thai phrasebook and sign language. Great fun.

Next stop on the loop is Mae Hong Son (pop 7400). Again, we go by local bus for this four hour trip to go 110 kms with few stops. The reason it takes so long is that there are 1085 hairpin turns between Chaing Mai and Mae Hong Son and many of them are through this stretch. It was another amazing experience - all mountains and trees with some agriculture on the relatively flat spots in the very narrow river valleys. The forests are predominantly teak. At this time the leaves are dry and brown, falling like big pizza pans, ankle deep in some places. They make a big noise when you walk through them compared to our puny leaves.

This is the capital town of Mae Hong Son province. It is quite prosperous. According to our Lonely Plant book, the prime business is supplying the Burmese drug lords with rice and consumer goods. There was a lovely wat at the top of the mountains overlooking the town. David drove us up (another motorbike rental - $4-$7/day) and Courtney and I walked down (900') - we were already up 3000' in the town itself. We also went up early in the morning to see another "sea of fog" which envelopes the surrounding mountains. Our timing was good and the mist totally obscured the town and completely cleared off in the next 45 minutes. Watched the young monks chopping wood in their robes and flip-flops. One of them was using a machete to chop 2" diameter branches. They were having a great time doing this and chasing chickens around at the same time.

Another interesting experience in this town was a local Red Cross fair. It was similar to our fall fair in Antigonish except there were no animals and only a couple rides for young kids. There was a bumper car disco or "dodgers" as one of the British backpackers we met there was calling it. The cars were in a caged in area. The Thai teenagers surrounded the people riding the cars, jumping up and down everytime the music and cars started. It was a bit like a rock concert and the riders would try to hit the dancers rather than the other bumper cars. The teens loved it!

There were several live acts going on as well. Some kind of bawdy "play" with a midget making obsence gestures holding a rubber penis. There was a sideshow with a poor alligator in a small cage as we heard it and also a "human head" on a table with was done with mirrors and was freaking people out, particularly people from the rural areas. We saw the infamous Karen Patong girls. This is a small group orinally from Burma. They have a tradition of wearing brass rings around their necks which pushes their chests down giving the illusion of a "long-neck". People pay $$ to go see these girls and take their pictures. The same British fellows said they spent all day in the mountains surrounding Mae Hong Son looking for this tribe and low and behold they were just part of the crowd at the fair. Another night there was a stage with a chorus of young Thai girls with knee-high 8" platform boots accompanying various singers. Overall the noise was deafening but people were having a great time. Again, there was loads of food, lots to drink, lots to buy.

There was a lovely lake in the middle of the town which the balcony of our teak guesthouse overlooked. Lakes are a rare occurrance in this area of Thailand - loads of rivers but few lakes. This one was just small, not much bigger than the Cameron Lake. The guesthouse had beautifully sanded and polished teak floors and woven bamboo walls and ceilings with teak mouldings. We could have breakfast (banana oatmeal porridge was a favourite of ours) sitting on the teak floor on cushions at a little low teak table overlooking the lake and temples.

Next town was Mae Sariang (pop 7800) - this really wasn't a tourist destination type town but we enjoyed a couple of nights there. Had a guesthouse with a balcony on the river with view of the surrounding mountain. From here we watched water buffalo swimming in the river along with a group of kids. The buffalo crossed back and forth each morning and evening. There were lots of birds to be seen here as well, in particular a blue heron type bird which was completely white.

The final portion of the trip back to Chaing Mai went through an area with a huge gorge (think petite Grand Canyon) and a large river running through it. Most of the forests on this section were leafless. It looked very much like our hardwood forests in winter. It was very dry through here with the only greenery around the river. This was unusual for what we have seen so far. Also, most of the underbrush had been burnt leaving almost bare ground.

We are off to Bangkok today by train. We will head from there to Ranong in the south of Thailand. We expect to send our next message from somewhere in this area - not quite sure where yet but we plan to see some beaches. We have booked our flight to New Zealand for February 26.