Way up north

Sorry I haven't got the hang of putting pictures on this blogging thing

1. The view of Thailand from the Burmese border, note border gaurd asking weather he has permission to shoot
2. The view from the Burmese side
3. Yours truly and Eddie (its amazing what you can do with photoshop)
4. The mountains as viewed from Mai Sai
5. Endless paddy fields
6. Decent coffee and homemade tiramasu on the Burmese border
7. The Mekong river
8. Old provintial capital of Chaen Sean in the golden triange
9. My dapper little villa at Luang view

Way up North

I am now staying in very quiet and pleasant ‘resort’ in the village of Mae Chan, the next village 20 K’s up the road is Mae Sai, Mai Sai is on the Burmese ( Myanmar) Border. I can honestly say I am as far north as I’m going to go. I arrived last night after a quick blat from Chiang Mai. Yesterday turned out to be interesting, I met a couple John & Jintang, in the swimming pool doing my early morning swim ( yes there is a theme starting here) his story is remarkable, he is from Maidenhead in Berkshire (UK) and in February decided to take a trip to Bangkok, first time he had been anywhere. His plane developed a problem over the black sea and so had to land a Chiang Mai. He decided to stay there for a couple of days and in that time met Jintang and they got married at the end of July and has decided he doesn’t want to live in Maidenhead anymore. It turns out that Jintang is agent for AIA (Kwan’s old insurance company). As I mentioned to her, I do not as yet have fully comp. insurance for the bike. She said she knew a few people and would make a few phone calls after her swim and we exchanged contact details. I was checking out of the hotel and making get ready to ride to Chiang Rai when I met John and Jingtang again, she said she had a contact on the case of my insurance and they asked if I would join them for lunch, said I would be happy to do so and as she had done me a favour with the insurance it would be my shout. During Lunch Jingtang received a call from one of her contacts that if I went to his office I could get the insurance sorted today, a SUNDAY. It took a bit longer than I anticipated which delayed my departure for Chiang Rai but I’m just wondering how we would even attempt to go about getting insurance on a Sunday in Australia.

It’s about 180 K’s to Chaing Rai and it was about 3:00 PM by the time I left, easily do-able apart from the fact I managed to get lost on the outskirts of Chiang Mai heading off in completely the wrong direction. The road I take is a minor road and I was little unsure of the quality so I wanted to make good headway and get to Chiang Rai before it was dark. Just outside Chiang Mai the roads really hit the mountains and turned very steep and very twisty although the road quality itself wasn’t too bad. A few K’s out of town the difference in the people and places became quite marked, this was hill tribe company the appearance of the people changed having much darker skin more Indian or Mongolian in appearance. The dark skin could be from having an active outdoor lifestyle or different ethnicity or a combination of both. The Western trappings such a billboards and neon signs etc. were still in evidence in the small villages but not as prevalent as the previous places I had travelled through. I did get the feeling I was riding through the back of beyond. A 100 K’s later I dropped out of the hills into the town Ban Sopko and it all reverted to normal again. The heavens’ opened so I stopped at a fuel station and put my waterproofs on.

The rest of the road to Chaing Rai went through a succession of small towns and villages which were quite heavily populated and quite busy, along with the pouring rain it made for slow going. The really good thing was the rain was warm so there was that uncomfortable ‘chilled’ feeling you get from incessant downpours.

I was booked in a small resort called ‘Leuang view’ which has a very peculiar pronunciation, I have a very small villa which is basic but clean and Air-conditioned, for 400 BHT a night (about AUD$ 12) can’t complain.

The following day after the rain had stopped I decided to go and explore I was keen to go look at the Burmese border and have a ride up into the spectacular looking mountains, I was a bit worried about taking photos of the border as you are wary of countries with such a fearsome reputation for security, so I decided to head off into the hills on what I thought was a road which took me in a circular route around the mountains, off course I got this completely wrong when I turned a corner and was faced with two armed border guards. They seemed a bit concerned at first but when I apologised and said I’m lost the lightened up. It was such a spectacular view that I took some photo’s and one of the guards was kind enough to take my photo, they even suggested I cross the barrier to take a photo of the view from the Burmese side of the road, so I can officially say I have been to Burma, all of the first 5 meters. The guards were very friendly and chatty although I was a bit confused by the blindfold and gun bit. Seriously though, this border post was so remote that I was probably the most interesting thing that had ever happened to them.

The following day I too k a trip in the other direction to the old capital of the province and the Lanna dynasty. Chaen Saen and followed the path of the mighty Mekong River bordering Laos. A few years ago I worked with a Laotian who escaped by swimming the Mekong, now I’m not a bad swimmer but I would wonder at the level of desperation you would need to attempt to swim it, not only is it very wide but moves at a hell of a rate and is full of debris such as large branches. Chaen Saen was very touristy not what I was expecting at all, it is a double edged sword, firstly it brings in much needed cash to the local economy considering the trade that the golden triangle used to be famous for (opium) this has to be a step in the right direction. On the downside if it is overdone it can ruin the very same attributes which attracted toursists’ there in the first place and it could be subject to ‘burnout’. It is a fine balancing act I sincerely hope they get right and I really don’t want to sound BBC news pious about it.

First thought for the day:

I must admit I’ve got the bug for this adventure motorcycling malarkey, I’ve been a quite a few places by motorcycle including Norway and Tasmania but there is a buzz about riding alongside the Mekong which is really out there, also the motorcycle is an excellent mode of transport to do it. As Ted Simon (of Jupiter’s travels fame) put it so succinctly as he chatted to Ewan McGregor & Charlie Boreman, in Ulaan Baattar, Mongolia in the ‘Long way round’ series, he explained, on a motorcycle you are part of the environment, unlike a car where the metal box you are sitting in insulates you from your surroundings, however he didn’t explain what he was doing in Mongolia. Also I’m sure that the keen cyclists reading this would have a stronger argument for being the best mode of transport for such an adventure and I would agree but my personal preference is to let a motor do all the hard work for me. I have friends in the UK, Craig, Barbara and Dave French who undertake these quite barmy motorcycle trips on a regular basis, I have got the bug and already started thinking about next year’s trip.

RE: Ted Simon – Jupiters’ travels ( for god sake use Wikapedia)

Second thought for the day:

I am well aware that the Asian’s (and any geopolitical group for that matter) have a different way of thinking. Again I would not like to criticise Asian’s in general or Thai’s in particular but sometimes the logic just leaves me bewildered. I was married to a Thai lady for 4 years and new her for over 8, it was always a constant source of education and surprise to look at the differences in the way we approach life and its issues. Far from being voyeuristic and condescending about it I tried very hard to use it as an education as if I were holding a mirror up to every value or reasoning I have accumulated through life and let it be examined by someone with a different perspective. It is the best way that we can examine our own deeply ingrained values. What does become frustrating, especially if you are trying to work in the western capacity, is what we jokingly, might be call ‘the missing of logic gene’. I understand that the appearance of a furongse tourists is a potential source of income and some of the sales pitches they make are almost instinctive, but please could somebody explain to me if I’m sitting on a motorbike, helmet on, engine running, why would I have need of a taxi?

Third thought for the day:

The combinations of things that should not go together are always fascinating, it is rainy season here and the favoured mode of transport of most of the people is the step through motorbike. To keep yourself dry, the solution is obvious motorcycle throttle in the right hand, umbrella in the left, meaning you have to wedge your mobile phone between your ear and your shoulder otherwise it would be dangerous. I thought I’d have to have a go at this but having a bike with a clutch made changing down difficult and I kept knocking over the ashtray.