A TRIP UP NORTH

This past weekend Noni's brother & his wife took us up north of Chiang Mai to MaeHongSon and Pai (rhymes with sky) two very interesting towns in the mountain country. The roads are narrow and winding with hairpin curves that seem to almost overlap themselves, no shoulders to speak of and steep drop-offs on one side or the other. The landscape is amazingly rugged and beautiful and the Thais seem to love putting parks or building a Wat (temple) at the highest points. As the weather starts to heat up in the south, the Thais head north to cool off. It did get cool too and I wore long pants, shoes & socks and a jacket at night for the first time since arriving in Thailand.

In the city and on straight highways Ake, Noni's brother seemed to be a competent driver. On these curving mountain roads he was far less so. He, like many other drivers I noticed tended to hug the inside curve of the road, even when that happened to be the wrong side and facing any oncoming traffic. It was a little nerve wracking at first and, were I a religious person, would have set me praying. Being a fatalist, however, I whistled a lot of my favourite tunes and curled my toes. I should note that the professional drivers, those driving the small 8 - 10 passenger mini van busses drove more responsibly. 

At each view point or park area the tourists and their cameras snapped and clicked. I find it quite amusing to watch people posing for shots with these vast panoramas as backgrounds. One of the funniest sights is watching someone with a new iPad with camera capability taking a shot. Apple should have put a tripod socket on these and supplied a black cloth to throw over the head of the photographer. They are clumsy to use and the big screen has too much glare to  see what you're getting anyway. 

MaeHongSon  and Pai were both attractive towns and the north, in general seemed to be more affluent and the towns maintained better than in the south. Both towns sprouted the ubiquitous street markets each evening. In Pai the main downtown area was devoted to the Saturday night market with all the foods and products indigenous to the area.

Pai street market vendor

Kids sleeping on mom's & dad's wares

He boogies as he cooks

Story teller

View from a mountain top Wat

We're safely back in Chiang Mai now and enjoyed a very comfortable nights sleep in our own bed. The hotels we stayed at on the trip were fine, one with a big room and a tiny bathroom. You had to take the toilet paper out of the room before you showered or it would get soaked. The other was a very new and modern little boutique hotel, all clean straight lines in natural concrete with teak wood detailing. Good beds in both. Tonight Noni and I will treat ourselves to a meal at an Italian restaurant. Ake and Jeet have gone to stay with Noni's other sister in the suburbs east of the city.

Nice to have visitors - nice to be alone.