We hired "Marty" a chauffeur and drove over five hundred miles through the back roads of northern Thailand to Chiang Rai. We thought about renting a car or motorcycle, but then decided that given that we are here for a short time it was worth hiring someone who knew their way around and could take us to a hill tribe village and speak their language.
Marty is a friend of a friend of a friend. Or to be exact: Marty is a friend of our friend Celeste's masseuse's husband.
We visited a hill tribe village saw their homes, lifestyle, and spoke with a young couple who have a guest house.
We spent hours in the car admiring the ever changing scenery.
The countryside, vistas, people carrying on with their daily lives…. market places, street side vendors, children swimming in the rivers, cattle crossing the roads….
A photographer's dream. I felt as if I was living in a National Geographic magazine.
I saw rice fields freshly planted by hand, clumps of rooted rice stalk being placed within the mud. Spirit temples set up along the fields for a blessing for a good crop.
Baskets. I doubt I will ever look at a basket in the same way. Baskets are used for everything, note above the two large baskets attached to a motorcycle to transport supplies, rice stalk, animals….
Doi Chiang Dao mountain. The third highest summit in Thailand. It is literally a straight up hike, not one switch back. And no we did not attempt it. Instead we climbed the five hundred stairs to the temple.
Doi Chiang Dao is a national park with enough birds to have its own rock, country, new age, marching, symphony band. Overwhelming sounds.
The cool jasmine breeze caressing our skin, the birdsong lightening our step, the spectacular view… a must see experience.
Guided tours to the top of Doi Chiang Dao are recommended (I had to tie French Husband up in the grass hut in order for him to surrender to his mountainous ways.) To make amends I went hiking in the caves (the extended tour) with him. French Husband laughed, "Sure, you never go caving with me in France!"
I think he forgot that ropes are no involved while caving in the Thai cave we went in. Though there were several tight squeezes through passages that made my white dress a tad impractical.
Clearing of the forest to make way.
Burning fields, chopped trees… naked mountain tops.
Buddas and rice fields.
Handmade fences using bamboo and tree branches.
One scene that has stayed with me: A young boy maybe eight or nine, carrying a load of five or six, handmade twatch roof tops (about four feet by three feet) on his back, going up a hill.
Life's beating drum.
In the back road villages most the people dressed in traditional clothing. I could have sat and listened for days about the how, who, what and where about their costumes and history.
Unfortunately, I only had a taste.
Many trees have large ribbons tied around them. The ribbons are taken to the temple, blessed then wrapped around the trees to protect their spirit and helps them from being cut down.
Arriving to the Golden Triangle : Mekong River was a highlight for Yann. We decided against the tourist attraction speed boat ride, or other boat rides as it seemed point less to race down a river for a few minutes just to say 'I've been on the Mekong, or I have been thirty feet into Laos to their market." It was too much a tourist trap for my liking.
Instead we had lunch on the banks, and talked about the Opium museum, and wished we could jump in the Mekong for a swim.
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