Gems, Silver, and Silk. Oh My!

On our second and final day in Chiang Mai, our guide Kitti took us on a tour specially requested by the kindergarten teacher from DC. We started at an enormous jewelry factory where we watched an incredibly dated video showing us the process of making jewelry. Then everyone was set loose to buy inexpensive jewelry of all kinds. I went wild and purchased a charm with a Chinese symbol on it. I don't know why its Chinese and I already forgot what it meant but I like the way it looked and I already had enough elephant souvenirs. It cost me about $3 USD. After that the lovely women working in the show room nicely guided me to the coffee shop where I could sit and wait. They didn't want me wandering around the show room if I wasn't going to buy anything. I think they were disappointed because when I originally told them I was from the US they were following me around more than the others. Apparently Americans are fond of their jewelry.

After that stop we went to a silver jewelry shop and then a silk shop. We saw how the silk was made, worms and all. Yum!

At 3:30 our entire group met in the lobby of the hotel so that we could head to the train station. We were all about to spend the night on the overnight train from Chiang Mai to Bangkok. This was the last night of the Northern Thailand tour, which meant it was my last night of the tour with this group.

Chiang Mai

Once we arrived in Chiang Mai our first stop was at Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep where, according to legend, Buddha's shoulder bone is buried. There were lots of bells, and lots of Buddhas, including ones for everyday of the week.

Apparently I'm supposed to know what day of the week I was born on so I know which Buddha to make wishes to.

There was a cable car to the top of the mountain which I opted for instead of the 306 steps to the top. I had made the mistake of taking the stars up to the Golden Triangle look out point and found out what the beginning stages of heat stroke felt like. We had a beautiful view of the city below:

When we arrived at our hotel, we decided that our first activity would be to hit the town. We started by walking after being told that the night bazaar was only about 15 minutes away from our hotel. While that my be true, it would be necessary to find a sidewalk to make that walk. We got about a block before our way was completely obstructed by a group of men handling live wires. We managed to sprint between the traffic Frogger-style to get to the other side only to find out that we would have to cross several busy intersections without crosswalks to get to our final destination. We hailed the first tuk-tuk we could find and told them we wanted to go to the night bazaar. We arrived while the stands were still setting up so we stopped for some dinner. Almost all of the food choices were big western fast food chains so we stopped by "McThai" for some quick food and free Wi-Fi. I skipped the corn and tuna pie and settled for a regular cheeseburger. The one good thing about McDonald's is that the quality is always the same no matter where you are in the world...below average but edible. After that we hit the Bazaar:

I faced the reality of how weak the US dollar had become while we were hunting for deals at the bazaar. I felt like the prices were comparable to a Wal-Mart. I found a stand selling Hello Kitty items but when my tour mate pointed out that we could get the umbrella for the same price in the US the stand owner threw down the umbrella and told us we could go buy it in the US then. The worst part was that it was pretty clear that the items sold in the stands were mass produced and poorly made. Every third stand was selling the same T-shirts or purses or Buddha statues. But miraculously the shop owner "made it themselves!". After tuk-tuking back to the hotel (it was hard to find one who would do it for the same price we paid to get there) I became sick for the second and last time on the trip. I guess that's what you get for eating at "McThai".

The Drive to Chiang Mai

Our group was excited to get to Chiang Mai and requested that we leave extra early so that we have more time there. Good thing I'm not cranky at ALL on early mornings. We were on the road by 7am. We had one stop on our way down at the white temple. It wasn't originally on our itinerary but one of the members of the group had been there before and insisted that we see it. I'm glad she did.

The temple was modern and had incredibly detailed art throughout. You had to enter the "hell" part of the temple and exit through the "heaven" part. There was no going back to hell. If you tried to exit the way you came in, there were men standing at the entrance of "hell" with megaphones yelling "NO GO BACK TO HELL!" It was comforting to know that people were that concerned about the eternal destiny. I think they were also concerned about tourist traffic flow. Either way, the sculptures and details were incredible.

And, according to my guide, this was also the site of the World's Most Beautiful Bathroom. Behold:

The golden bathroom. Apparently the building was made with gold leaf. What was the most beautiful of all was that the toilets were western so that I didn't have to balance precariously over a hole and there was more than a hose to clean yourself with.

Our next pit stop was at the Rubber Triangle. That's right. I'll just post the pictures - they'll explain better than I ever could.

Apparently its for public health and the proceeds from the Cabbage and Condoms Inn and Restaurant go to public health services. I'm not sure why they needed the condom dress. After two more hours of driving we finally arrived at Chiang Mai.

Chang Saen

Our first stop of the day before heading up to the border was a pineapple plantation. I did not know they grew this way. I need to start paying attention to where my food comes from.

Next, we stopped at the Mae Sai Border market which was located at the border between Burma (Myanmar) and Thailand. We had the option of crossing over into Burma and checking out the market over there but the visa requirements were murky and I was envisioning my luggage being thrown over the border to me while I'm trapped there for the rest of the trip. Also, I knew that even if I was allowed to re-enter the country, it would shorten my visa by 15 days, which only gave me a couple days leeway, meaning if I had a flight delay or decided to stay for the Full Moon Party (because that's how I roll), I would be staying illegally. But I took a picture of the border!

Next stop was the Golden Triangle. We saw the river where Laos, Burma, and Thailand meet and located at this lookout point was a friendly reminder from the USA:

This bench reads:

Donated by

United States Drug Enforcement Agency

Royal Thai Police Narcotics Suppression Bureau

Sensitive Investigative Unit Bangkok

WWW.DEA-REWARDS.COM

At the Golden Triangle was a The House of Opium (Museum):

I like how Museum is added as an afterthought. Maybe they saw that bench and wanted to make sure it was clear. Either way, it was an interesting museum that shared how to make Opium, how to make the pipes to smoke it, and even the best position to smoke it in. It also had an exhibit about the local hilltribes.

On our last evening in Chang Saen, everyone was really excited to eat some local food. Unfortunately, there wasn't much to be had. Most of the group was tired of eating at the hotel so Kitti took us out to the local market to see what they had to offer. Here were some of our options.

We ended up eating at the hotel.

That night there was a gecko in the room. This had happened before but not with a gecko who was so vocal. Let me clarify the sound a gecko makes. The first time I heard it I thought it was the screech of a bat. These geckos are 3 inches long at best but the sound that comes from them is so unholy it will chill you to the bone. There is no sleeping through it. So once every hour or two I was woken up to the frantic scream of a gecko from somewhere in the room, moving every time I heard it. Luckily we had a long drive the next day so I could catch up on my sleep.

Elephant Conservation Center

On our second day in Lampang, we visited the Elephant Conservation Center. So cute! We watched a group of elephants take a bath, put on a show for us and then took a ride on their back. This post will be photo heavy because I think that best describes this part of the trip:

Miss Banana Leaf who is two years old!

The elephants even made paintings (with some assistance from their handlers):

We also checked out how paper was made from elephant dung. Some of the group even made their own paper. Kitti made sure that we knew it didn't smell by shoving the cleaned elephant poo into our faces. It really didn't smell. Once it had been washed off with a mixture of chemicals, it just became a giant white ball of fiber.

Our last stop at the Elephant Conservation Center was the only elephant hospital in Thailand. One of them had a pretty messed up foot. It was sad to see but I'm glad that there is a place for elephants like that to go instead of being killed or mistreated.

That night we headed up to the Chiang Rai province, to the town of Chiang Saen. One of the most beautiful drives I've ever been on. The landscape is gorgeous.

Chiang Saen felt very remote when we got there. There was no city, just a hut across the street from our little purple hotel. We got in late so we ate at the hotel and went to bed in preparation for our trip to the Golden Triangle the next day.

Lampang

The next morning we began our trip to Lampang. It was a four hour bus ride from Sukhothai in another "charter" public bus. It was slow and there was no Thai movie to keep us occupied. Luckily I did not need to use the restroom on our pit stop this time. I made sure to remain dehydrated until we got to our stop. When we arrived in Lampang, we had the option of riding around the town in a horse and cart, but everyone was too tired and hot so we had two hours to kill before our traditional Thai massage. Somehow, by the grace of God, during this brief window of time was when my stomach finally failed me. I don't know what caused it but I was just glad that didn't happen while I was on the bus or while I was getting my two hour massage. At least if I'm going to be sick, I have great timing.

Our Thai massage began at 4pm. They met us in our room. My roommate was excited because she had had a few fantastic massages in the south before our tour started. I was looking forward to it, although I couldn't imagine how you could get a massage for 2 hours. Apparently there was a miscommunication regarding the difference between a traditional Thai massage and a traditional Spa massage. I was anything but relaxed. My limbs were tossed around like a contortionist and I'm pretty sure there were bruises all over my body. The woman was standing on my bed yanking on my leg, stepping on my thigh, and flinging my arms and legs in directions they are not supposed to go. Having your inner thigh stepped on is not comfortable. The women kept making phone calls and answering phone calls as well. Upon further investigation we found out that all of the women were doing this in the other rooms as well so we determined they were talking about the reactions of everyone while they were massaging them. I managed to keep it together most of the time, but it sounded like the other groupmates had a harder time, yelling and crying out seemed to be common. We are pretty sure that someone just let a group of random women into our hotel to beat us up for two hours and then get paid for it.

That evening we went to the Riverside Pub which I recommend to anyone visiting Lampang. Gorgeous view of the river, and great food, both Thai and American. There was also a live band that took requests, as long as you requested an American 70s soft rock anthem.

One of my group mates requested "Party in the USA" by Miley Cyrus but it didn't happen. Lots of cheap drinks and lots of singing took place before we headed back to the hotel that night.

Sukhothai Historical Park

The second half of our Sukhothai tour was on bikes. I had not rode a bike in 10 years. I guess it is true that you never forget how to ride a bike. But you do become clumsy and awkward when you try it again for the first time in a decade. I chose a lovely pink bike. So did our guide, Kitti. From the bike shop we had about a mile and a half ride to get to the park. Part of this trip was on a busy road. God help us. We saw many temples, Buddha statues, and hot, sweaty, grumpy tourists. Many of the structures were around 700 years old because Sukhothai was the capital of Thailand during the 13th and 14th centuries.

Amazingly, everyone survived our bike trip in 95 degree heat and we headed back to the hotel. As we rolled in it looked like we just made it because the afternoon storm clouds were starting to roll in. Once again Kitti threatened to not take us to dinner because of rain. People were not happy about eating at a hotel again so we made the trip anyway. It was pouring. We stopped at a very local outdoor place where I fought a losing battle against mosquitos and flies all night. I lost both in terms of bites and inability to eat my fly ridden food. Stray dogs were everywhere hoping to get a bite of food. One of the cooks at our restaurant suddenly grabbed a whip and whipped the dog so hard it let out a scream that made our whole group jump. If the flies in my food and the bites all over my body weren't enough, that really killed my appetite.

Luckily, we stopped at a fruit market and tasted some delicious fruits on our way back. My favorite is the very common Rambutan. We also tried some Dragon fruit, and one that tasted like pomegranate.