Chiang Mai

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  Chiang Mai, Thailand
Monday, June 27, 2005

We are in Chiang Mai now. Flew to Bangkok from Phnom Penh via Bangkok Air and went straight to booking office and got a flight on Thai Intl an hour and a half from then. I was surprised that Bangkok Air has better facilities and better food than Thai Intl. These were our first flights within SE Asia for SE Asia destinations and I realize now that we did well to use air toward the end of the trip vs. the beginning. I cannot say that we're doing hard traveling, but still, I'm a little tired. We seem to be a little drained after Cambodia - Vietnam - Cambodia.

Our last stay in Phnom Penh included a visit with David's birth father, Chheng Nuon. That was, how can I say, challenging for all of us and as almost always before, a good visit. Chheng is a missionary in a semi-rural area about an hour from Phnom Penh. He is going for the vision as hard as he can and is accomplishing great things. Truly a hope-bringer

Best pad Thai so far

. He reminds me of the Apostle Paul. It was a good visit and I was happy to see my old friends, An and Ieng whom Leslie and I met in an apartment on Cambodian New Year, 1982. It gives me joy for David to have these good contacts. See photos of area around Chheng's home previous entry.

So anyway, we stayed the first night in Chiang Mai in the Midtown GH, a true budget backpacker place - no AC, no towels, no bidet, no toilet paper (but $5 USD for small twin room with fan). But like Uncle Leo said (put a quaver into my voice), "I'm an old man, I need my facilities." We moved to the Roong Ruang Hotel, where large twin with AC (the best since the Merry V in BK), towels, bidet and toilet paper, fan, chairs, very nice porch, and quiet is $12 USD. We're right outside the moat/old city walls in an area with tons of restaurants, coffee shops, and travelers.

To me, one of the best things about SE Asia now compared to last visit 20 years ago is the backpacker areas like Khao San Road, Pham Ngu Lao in Saigon, pretty much all of Hoi An, and this part of Chiang Mai. These areas have everything: good restaurants ranging from all Thai, Viet, etc. customers to all travelers, internet access on almost every block, mango shakes usually in $.50 USD range, easy transpo - everything you need

Burma Market 1

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The worst part now compared to then? No worst part. Only slightly more expensive, more places to go - it's all good. One picks up on a little anti-Americanism from a very few travelers (usually drinking), but overall, these young people are nice to be around.

A conversation in Hue: A young Vietnamese woman and I were talking about this and that (like school, what she hoped for, etc.). I asked her if she would like to go to America. That Vietnamese politeness slipped away just for a moment and she looked at me as if I were demented and said, "Of course. Why do you ask?" I said I was just interested (the real reason why) and asked her what she would do if there if she were to go. She said, maybe go to school, go to movies, go shopping, get a job. Later I thought it likely that maybe it was unkind of me to ask because maybe, just for a moment, the impossible seemed possible. America! The favorite target of religious fanatics and the privileged (semi)intelligencia - just as we were the favorite target of communists worldwide (or at this point, their tattered remnants) - and the GREAT HOPE of the rest of the world.

I'm reading David Chandler's biography of Pol Pot, Brother Number One

Burma Market 2

. It is eerie and unsettling. Chandler summarizes modern Cambodian history 1940s through Pol Pot/Khmer Rouge era and afterward and gives a detailed account (as much as that is possible) of Pol Pot's life and . I get a sense of the purposefullness and resolve of the international communist movement in general and the Cambodian communists in particular. Clearly communism (totalitarianism) has been a massive failure with millions upon countless millions killed and hideous economic disasters. Yet for awhile they succeeded in most of their goals. Making a leap from communism/totalitarianism to Islamism with its cadres of dedicated revolutionaries, I see clearly for the first time (what I think is) the genesis of neocon passion and resolve to combat these dark forces. Whew, pretty big leap!

Food is a big part of the trip in Chiang Mai. Hey Alison, can you dig papaya salad (som) for $1 USD? Panang for $1.60 or tom kha (coconut chicken soup like Tom used to make at Thai Lanna) for $1.50! Also a lot of sweet coconut sticky rice with papaya around. Rotee with banana, chocolate, & sweetened condensed milk for $.50. Get up. Eat. Come back to hotel to shower. Read. Take a nap. Eat. Read. Take a nap. Walk around. Eat. Walk around. Internet. Read. Sleep. Get up ... Yeah, we're in kind of a non-action time here. Chiang Mai just the place for this - very laid back. My big activity today was walking around photographing gardens - cottage gardens, Thai-style

Garden in Chiang Mai

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Looked at sign-in book at hotel people staying there were (that page) from: Japan, Australia, USA, New Zealand, France, Denmark, Hungary, Holland, Canada, and UK.

Today (Thursday) went to Thai-Burma border. I thought it would be a 2 hour drive, 3-4 hours in Burma, and 2 hours back. The drive on an AC minibus was 4 hours each way through the hills and mountains of northern Thailand/the golden triangle, so not a complete loss. For us Burma was basically just walking around a big border market full of all sorts of contraband. Had some samosas and fried spicy corn balls in the market. When Leslie and I went to Thai-Burma border years ago we rode a people's bus. When it was full they pulled the bottom parts of the seats over a foot or so toward the middle of the center of the bus thus creating more seating space and leaving the people at window seats half on and half off a seat.

Man on the bus today has lived in Chiang Mai for three years. From California, though he has a decided Brritish accent now (not unlike Cleeeburne), he says he just does not want to live in the US anymore because it has changed so much since 9/11. I guess he didn't notice that we went through three police checkpoints/shakedowns between the border and Chiang Rai. Of course we didn't get shook down because we were in the minivan and clearly all farang. Anyone in America been shook down lately (other than at the airport) - I didn't think so. I guess one man's police state is another man's easy-living paradisio. But I didn't point out the police action to him. Good boy, Chas.

We're off to Bangkok tomorrow for a few days, then to Hong Kong for a few more and then home. If not for Leslie, I would be happy to stay on indefinitely. Here I come Beanie! I can't wait. It's that magical edge where you're not at all tired of the trip and really ready to be home.

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Garden in Chiang Mai 1

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