Thailand- travelogue #2, Chiang Mai, mountain tribe, temple, birdwatching

Travelogue #2

1/2 day guided tour to Mountain Village (Hmong  tribe). We saw the villagers going about their daily tasks- spinning, sewing and embroidering cloth. There was even a man who looked like he was developmentally challenged who walked around with a contraption around his neck. He. blew into some awful sounding horn. I was commenting to no one in particular saying, someone make him stop! Our tour guide leader must have had the same idea as I did but she did something about it- handed him a small amount of money and off he went grinning from ear to ear but no longer blowing that awful horn until a few more tourists drove up. He obviously figured out a way to make a living!

 We also went to visit the school- just saw one class in progress. The kids seemed to be working on a variety of projects- some kids were shouting out their lesson together, others were working on printing from workbooks. It looked like some were discussing things with their teacher. It was a very large school- a compound of bungalows with different grades in each. It looked like there were about 20 children in the class.

Next we went to the royal winter palace vacation home. The gardens are open to the public but the palace (not by our standards) is closed. It was basically an extensive botanical garden with flowers that were huge and beautiful.

Our next stop was the temple at the top of the mountain overlooking Chiang Mai. Legend has it that they (we don’t know who “they” are) were looking for a place to build a temple. They let a white elephant (good luck) wander and thought they would build the temple where the elephant stopped. It wandered to the top of the mountain, collapsed and died. That, was taken as a sign and the temple was built there. Anyway, it certainly is an impressive collection of beautiful temples, buddhas, shrines....

#3

We were awoken at 4:30- not that we really needed to be as we are still jet lagged We were picked up by our driver Mr. Somyut and driven to Doi Inthanon which is a mountain about 1 ½ hours out of Chiang Mai. We were met by our birding guide Boontom and taken to our bungalow. When I saw the room I thought I would be taking the first bus back to Chiang Mai- there were mattresses on the floor- about 6 of them and lumpy at that. Then we were shown our private bathroom steps down into a damp cellar with spiders... don’t ask!. Trust me, not even in my student days would I have stayed there. Anyone who remembers my account of our first day in Botswana will remember my horror at having to sleep on cots in a tent (actually that wasn’t so bad- it was the toilet accommodations that freaked me out, but only for the first day).

In any case I asked our guide if there was anything else available and he said they would try to find something that was better, and they did! Now I feel like we’re at the Ritz by comparison- although very rustic but nice beds with mosquito nets, rattan table and chairs and a very rustic but nice deck.

We had lunch at a restaurant- outdoors of course. I don’t know whether our guide ordered the food or the restaurateurs just brought us whatever was available- all very delicious.  Tonight’s dinner was cooked by our guide’s wife. She could open a restaurant if she wanted to!

At one point during our trekking we stopped at a coffee producing farm. It looked like it belonged to an extended family and they were all working quite hard. There was an extremely primitive set-up a wooden structure without walls and a number of rough benches and tables. There was a campfire going with an enormous metal kettle on top of it and there were a few men sitting on plastic  crates around the fire drinking their morning java and looking at a laptop. Imagine the juxtaposition of the scene!

We were greeted warmly and offered coffee which was ground in an ancient hand grinder. The ground coffee fell into a shallow hand carved wooden dish, also ancient. Then the farmer took a cloth, dumped some coffee grounds into the center, twisted the top and placed it into a tall cylindrical pot. He then poured boiling water over top and let it steep for a while. When we were offered the coffee it was black- no milk to be had (no surprise,. We added a little sugar and wow had the best coffee ever!

In any case this is an organic coffee farm. In the back was a tiny operation where they had a very noisy electric grinder, high tech bags and a bag sealing machine- kind of like I have at home to vacuum seal food. They had coffee for sale but did not even ask if we were interested in buying any. We were told that they had just made a huge sale to a company in Calgary- their first Canadian customer!

Morris here. 

Yesterday was a “take it easy day”.  We had a guide and a driver  for the trip to Doi Suthep, the temple on the mountain that Irene was referring to.  So we did not have to do anything.  Back shortly after lunch time, had a late lunch at a local eatery.  It’s too flattering to call it a restaurant.  Essentially this place was a corner of a building with no exterior walls.  They had an internal kitchen and an external cabinet where they kept some food, mainly fruit, some beans in a sauce, and some noodles.  This was a glass-enclosed cabinet, open at the back, so we could see the beehive in the corner of the cabinet.  That explained why there were so many bees in the cabinet.  Kind of off-putting, but this place was recommended, by our guide, who we found eating there with the driver.  Food was good, and so far we have not gotten sick, so it must be OK. 

By comparison today was the opposite of a “take it easy” day.  We are at our first birding trip.  Before lunch things were not too strenuous, but after lunch we set out to walk, perhaps 5-6 km, on rough mountain paths, across bamboo bridges, narrow mud paths and other potentially hazardous tracks.  However, since I am writing this we have survived, albeit with sore feet and aching muscles.  It was strenuous and tiring, but we did good. 

I have not yet counted up the species, but as you can imagine, everything is new  I don’t think we have a huge total, but boy, some of the birds were spectacular. 



Temple at the top of the mountain overlooking Chiang Mai. Notice we are in stocking feet- a prerequisite when visiting temples.



Mountain tribesman earning a living by making a racket on his horn and being paid to stop (I don't think that was the intention!).

This is what I call Bougainvillea-WOW!

Spinning a type of grass.

More spinning- traditional clothing

More spinning, winding...!



Temple on the mountain-very impressive!



Amazing dragon staircase from the temple.



This is the accomodation we had in the mountains. We were given a padlock to lock the front door. When we got back from our strenuous day of birding we discovered the back door had no lock, and there was no window behind the shutters. Anyone could have come in and taken everything, but nothing was touched!



Entrance to a beautiful national park.

Goes to show you don't need state of the art to cook sublime food. We ate really well but this meal was certainly one of the outstanding ones!

Basic kitchen equipment but laptop, cell phone post-it notes etc.

You don't just look at the birdies when you go bird watching- gorgeous waterfalls behind us.

A welcome break from the heat of the day. Our guide just bent over and took a few sips of water from this mountain stream.

There are terraced rice paddies everywhere. On the right you see cold frames to give crops an early start.

How cute is this!



Outdoor kitchen. These people all have cell phones and laptops.

Talk about fresh coffee. here they ground it, then put the grinds into a cloth which was then dropped into a tall coffee pot to brew. Best coffee ever. Starbucks can go take a hike.





Check out the monk and what he's got in bhis hand.