Northern Thailand

Friday 5 November 1999 – Friday 19 November 1999

It was raining when we landed in Phuket and it was raining when we left three days later.  So much for a week in the sun, relaxing and recharging the batteries!  High season prices, but not a ray of sun to be seen.  We felt for the holidaymakers who had flown in from Europe for their winter getaway only to find rain clouds and wind, but made the most of our time sightseeing in the rain and touring round in a rented jeep.  Pippa had been to Phuket five or six years previously and found it decidedly more built up and touristy; in fact, although Phuket has long been one of Thailand’s wealthier areas, tourism is now its biggest source of income.  Everything had risen dramatically in cost and we didn’t even feel inclined to check out the reputedly world-class diving.  Instead we decided to spend the next couple of weeks exploring northern and central Thailand.  

Our first stop was Chiang Mai, the vibrant northern capital which boasts over 300 temples.  Nowadays a modern, cosmopolitan city, it has managed to retain much of its  charm and traditional atmosphere.  Indeed, it has many of the cultural advantages of being in Bangkok, but fewer of the disadvantages such as traffic jams and pollution.  The old city is a neat square bounded by moats and partial walls.  Much of it is still in its original form, and  many of Chiang Mai’s important temples are within the moat, with others to the north and west.

Temples, however, were not to be our number one priority.  One thing we had gleaned from the Thailand guidebook was that Chiang Mai was the place to take a Thai cookery course.  Having both fallen for Thai cuisine at our very first meal in Bangkok, we were full of enthusiasm at learning how to prepare some of the dishes we had come to most enjoy.  And so on our very first day in town, we signed up for the best course in town and for the next two days, spent our time chopping chilies and slaving over a hot wok.  With remarkable results!  We have to admit that at the time of writing this episode up, we have yet to try out our newly acquired skills here in the US, but as soon as we find some willing guinea pigs, we will …

Once we’d covered the cuisine angle, we started on the wat spotting … not an insignificant task.  Interspersed with souvenir shopping, we probably ended up accomplishing more of the latter but nonetheless managed to consume a countless number of rolls of film.  Some of Chiang Mai’s most famous temples have been places of pilgrimage for centuries and have also become repositories of some of the county's finest examples of religious art.  We spent enjoyable days learning about the many different architectural styles, complex layouts and images; suffice it to say many of these temples are breathtaking. 

The following day, we hired a car and driver and headed out to see some of the sights on the outskirts of town.  One place we were keen to visit was the Tribal Museum, which houses a large collection of handicrafts, costumes, household utensils, agricultural tools and musical instruments, along with various informative displays concerning the key cultural features and backgrounds of each of the major hill-tribes in Thailand.  It was a fascinating learning experience and one that we would get a lot out of before the end of our trip.  Although some of their culture is being eroded by modernization and foreign tourism, as in Indonesia, many of these tribes still practice their ancient customs, wear traditional dress and live in old-style villages, albeit that, for the most part, they now have access to electricity and road networks.

The landscape surrounding Chiang Mai is a glorious mix of mountains, forests and waterfalls.  Not having been able to take advantage of a sunny interlude in Phuket, we decided to stay on for a few extra days before heading further north to do some trekking and enjoy the peace and serenity of this wonderful countryside. We might not have got further than the city limits, however, when Eric decided to query a phone bill we were presented with on checking out of our hotel.  Confronted by an antagonistic manager who did not seem to want to try resolving the issue, we paid what we believed we owed and left the hotel, only to be arrested by the doorman and hear shouts of “call the police” drifting after us.  We shall forever to indebted to a wonderful Thai lady and her American husband who intervened on our behalf and helped resolve the issue and were grateful to have avoided an incident similar to our  arrest at the Chinese border five months earlier.

Before we left Chiang Mai, however, we spent an evening at a Thai cultural show watching some traditional Thai dancing.  Dinner was served on the ground on a pedestal tray made of bamboo strips and rattan woven together.  The first part of the evening comprised seven classical northern Thai dances, including bizarre renditions of the 'Fingernail Dance' (usually performed when greeting honorable guests or state officials), the 'Sword Dance' (developed from an ancient martial art and described as having ferocious beauty), and the 'Silk-Reeling Dance', among others.  The second half of the evening comprised  a selection of hill-tribe dances performed by local hill-tribes from the villages surrounding Chiang Mai.  This gave us a great opportunity to practice our hill-tribe identification skills developed at the Tribal Museum.

On the way back to the hotel, we spent some time wandering through the night bazaar, a wonderful menagerie of stalls selling everything from hill-tribe souvenirs to designer labels (both fake and licensed) at very low prices.  The streets are taken over completely by these stalls and covered markets, closed by day, become a hive of activity.  Apparently, the night bazaar is the legacy of the original Yunnanese (southern Chinese) trading caravans that stopped over here along the ancient trade route between China and Burma … not that you’d know without the help of a guidebook!