Northern Thailand: Chiang Mai's outskirts, Chiang Rai and the Golden Triangle... Oud la-la!

Tranquility filled the air as what I will remember as my favorite celebration in the world came to a reluctant end.  The further north we ventured the longer Songkran kept going!  Isolated villages dot the lush Thai countryside in the north and seem to lack means to contact with the outside world.  Obviously there are cars and motorbikes whizzing about, but most were stuffed with Hawaiian shirt clad tourists snapping their shutters at anything that moved.  Songkran is recognized as a four day festival, yet Caitlin and I had been pruned for at least five days at this point and we would still see the odd pick-up truck prowling the streets, its bed stuffed with joyous Thai seeking another brigade to go to battle with.  I'm convinced the extended Songkran can be attributed to northern Thailand's isolation.

Though Songkran's torrential drenchings eased, my exploration of Thailand persisted.  I had a few more days in Thailand and a tidy list of things I wanted to do.  On that list was explore the mountainous outskirts of Chiang Mai, visit the White Temple, see the Golden Triangle and watch a Muay Thai boxing fight or two.  Caitlin and I made all of these things happen with aplomb in the limited days before my departure.

With three days left we leapt at our opportunity to explore northern Thailand in semi dry attire and arranged a tour that encompassed two sights that we had deemed unmissable.  Our tour would take us to the assiduously built White Temple and the Golden Triangle into a day long tour of the northernmost area of Thailand.  After an early morning departure Caitlin and I found ourselves barreling through oncoming traffic en route to our first stop; a geothermal geyser.  With my heart nearly blocking my airway, I clenched my armrest until my bloodless knuckles cramped and proceeded to mutter a stream of bottom-heavy words under my breath as not to disturb my intrepid tour guide Caitlin who was slept heavily to my left.  Now I usually pride myself on my resilience to flinching in precarious, adrenaline-curdling situations; but the nonchalant nature that our driver, Oud, maintained whilst hurtling into oncoming traffic along the roads of northern Thailand hit a nerve and I found myself holding on for dear life.  After an hour of watching Oud win game after game of chicken we made it to our first stop; a geothermal hotspot.

Wat Rong Khun

Oud pulled his beaten-up white van off of the highway and parked between an identical van and a tour bus.  I pried my fingers from the armrest and thanked my lucky stars for making it there in one piece.  After informing Caitlin of our driver's relentless bravado we started to poke around the horseshoe of shops that bordered the main attractions, a geyser and boiling hot springs.  Poking around the shops was quite a laugh as they were stocked with everything from Angry Birds pajamas to 'gold' plated Dhas (Thai swords).  We perused about, making sure not to miss any hilarious item.  In the end I believe it was the formaldehyde-coated snake which served as a walking cane that stole my heart as the most outrageous good in the area and we moved on.  My stomach growled for some food and that call was heard and immediately answered by the vendors at the site.  For a mere "haaaa baht" (five Thai Baht or about sixteen cents, US) Caitlin and I bought a woven reed basket about the size of a grapefruit containing seven eggs.  We took said basket over to the hot springs and dipped them in to cook our recently acquired breakfast.  After dousing the eggs in some black sodium sauce (akin to sweetened soy sauce) we enjoyed the culinary genius we had exerted while marveling at how quickly the eggs had cooked.  Satisfied, we headed back towards our deathtrap of a van only to notice that the egg vendors had their stock cooking over an open fire about twenty feet away from the spring where numerous tourists posed with their submerged baskets.  Thailand is a funny place.  I mentally prepared myself to meet my maker and hopped back into Oud's van, Wat Rong Khun, the White Temple, our next destination.


The construction of the White Temple began in 1997 and the ornate sacred ground was flagrantly a work in process when we arrived.  The allure of the contemporary temple is found in its intricately detailed buildings that utilize a modern approach to a very traditional style of architecture.  Designed by Chalermchai Kositpipat, the temple maintains Kositpipat's controversial subject matter.  During the 80's  and the beginning of his career, Kositpipat was highly criticized by Thailand's government, monks and other artists as he pioneered the inclusion of western pop icons and traditional Buddhist temple art in billboard ads.  Kositpipat's career took an auspicious turn when he was selected to design a temple in London solidifying his vision as an acceptable form of sacred tribute.

Though we were surprised by the choice to include such sensitive matter into a temple of such immaculate construction, what was more impressive was the high level of success Kositpipat achieved in maintaining traditional Buddhist temple construction.  The massive tiered roof of the ubosot was punctuated with large, proud chofahs that straddle the apex of two intricately detailed gables.  The entrance is guarded by two parallel multi-headed naga, massive in size that and serving as the support system for a footpath that crossed pits of sinewed hands of the damned reaching for salvation.  The bridge led the way into the temple itself and was packed with tourists turning it into a stream of people akin to army ants that have found a food source.  Every time I slowed my pace to document the details of my surroundings I would get shouted at by a 'security' guard in broken english- "Keeep bridge moving" over and over again until Caitlin and I were near tears.

The sheer detail of the temple is what defines it and pulls in the number of tourists that it does.  If you simply look around the area surrounding the White Temple there isn't anything for miles.  The temple was constructed solely as a stop for tourists and immigrants on their way to the Laos border.  Aside from the temple the area was barren in all directions and made it very clear to anyone with half a brain that the temple was built with profit as its sole motivation.  That being said, with the numbers the temple draws already I doubt its construction will be completed in the near future.  After exploring the temple for nearly an hour we headed back to Oud and the impending drive to Laos.

Caitlin and I at the border trifecta; the golden triangle

After another 2 hours in our car we arrived in a third parking lot that was packed with tours, a theme that had installed itself from early on this morning.  Caitlin and I hopped out of the van to be greeted by the stifling heat of the north and a surprisingly arid climate due to its riverside location.  We poked around a bit, decided not to take a boat to Laos, and found ourselves two riverside hammocks and relaxed for a little.  My relaxation was short-lived as I abandoned my hammock rather quickly in favor of wandering the banks of the Mekong River

Across the muddy water rose the countryside of Laos to my right, to my left Myanmar.  I couldn't get over that simple fact.  I was there, in the Northernmost part of Thailand, observing two Asian nations I had read about for years and years, imagining the sights and sounds and smells and there I was.  A mere swim away, standing on a country that had always seemed so foreign to me.  An overwhelming sense of belong took me in that moment and I stood there, vexed in the hazy midday air.  Before I knew it, our time there was finished and we made our way onward.  The end of our trip came in the small city of Mae Chan where travelers that wanted to prolong their stay in Thailand would go to get their passports stamped for 500 Thai Baht.  Caitlin and I wandered about taking every opportunity we could to haggle Thai vendors down from their already cheap prices.  Our day ended and we headed back to Chiang Mai to get a good night's sleep so we could wake up early for our favorite activity, one that Caitlin would intrepidly attempt for her first time the following day; scooter rentals.

A multi-headed naga emerging from the mouth of Makara
protect Wat Phrathat Doi Suthap

Caitlin looking ecstatic in her Thai garb

Wat Phrathat Doi Suthap overlooking Chiang Mai

It was my last day in Thailand and after enjoying a breakfast of fresh fruit and strong Thai coffee Caitlin and I took a 10 minute crash course in driving scooters and were off to explore the mountains around Chiang Rai on our small engined, two wheeled transportation.

Wat Phrathat Doi Suthap's Wihan

Crabs and grubs, hakunamatata

Caitlin figured out the scooters with unbelievable ease and we proceeded to drive about the entire day.  We found waterfalls, bluffs, and cruised along the ridges of Chiang Rai's mountains.  We crashed a Thai picnic where 4 locals sat by a stream drinking Thong and soaking in the cool water.  We stopped at some marvelous teek wood temples and were awed by Chiang Mai's Wat Chedi Luang.

Chicken legs on the grill accompany fried chicken fetuses

The night markets of Chiang Mai are endless and provide perpetual knockoffs

We ate street food (chicken rolls are a no go) and we haggled with vendors.  We filled up our gas tanks with roadside gas stations selling recycled liquor bottles full of gasoline and we laughed at the unbelievably creative ways the Thai incorporated Angry Birds into everything and anything imaginable.

We got lost, found our way, only to get lost again.  We wove in and out of the whizzing cars of the rabid Thai drivers.  We explored an area of the world that had seemed so far away merely months ago, but we were there, the the moment enjoying every little detail.

It was an amazing end to an amazing trip, to say the least.

Chiang Mai evening

Songkran: Bangkok and Chiang Mai: Sawasdee bing-bong!

Songkran.

Just typing that sacred word makes me all sorts of giddy.

Two syllables, one country, millions of people, what must be billions of gallons of water and five days of unadulterated bliss.  In case you're dull and can't already tell; Songkran was hands down my favorite five days in Thailand.

Though Songkran is a massive celebration,
there is a profoundly spiritual side to
 the festival that can easily overlooked.

Songkran is celebrated as the Thai new year and generally takes place between April 13th and 15th.  These dates are more guidelines than set in stone start and end dates.  In Bangkok the festivities kicked off a day before the traditional start date of the 13th and I had met up with Caitlin the day before to share the enjoyment of Songkran's festivities with my 'local' guide (Caitlin and I attended UMW together and she currently lives in Chon Buri, where she teaches english as a second language.  ขอขอบคุณสำหรับทุกสิ่งทุกอย่าง Caitlin!).  We started in Bangkok on Khao San Road and continued north to Chiang Mai where we found the festival at its absolute high point.  The further north we ventured the longer Songkran stayed in full effect.  I do believe there is some isolated providence somewhere along the Thai/Myanmar border where Songkran's chaotic joy is perpetual.  I'd like to live there someday but fear turning into an oversized albino raisin.
 

April is generally the hottest period of the year and the celebrations that ensue are perfectly timed.  Historically, solely Buddha images both public and private were 'cleansed' by Thais pouring a blessed mixture of water and a fragrant blend of crushed and uncrushed flowers over the sacred statues.  The inundation was and is still believed to bring good luck and prosperity in the new year.  This holy water was sometimes caught as runoff after it ran over the Buddhist and then poured over a stranger to bless them and this idea of soaking the people within your immediate proximity spread like, well, a flood.

9am on the first day of Songkran, Khao San Road

Today, Songkran has evolved into a four to six day (depending on where you are) nationwide festival that doesn't stop until it has run its full course.  When you wake up, the streets are full of people wearing mischievous grins as they fill their water spraying apparatuses and search for their next victim.  The latest I stayed out during Songkran was the first night, I made it until 4 in the morning when I finally felt I had caused enough havoc along Khao San Road and went to turn in.  The streets were still full.  When I say full I mean packed.  This evening luckily found me reunited with a college friend, Caitlin, and we proceeded to drench as many people as humanly possible.  We danced our way through packed streets spraying and being sprayed, bobbing and weaving amongst people of all ages and ethnicities.

It is impossible to walk more than 10 feet outside one's accommodations without getting drenched by beaming Songkraners.  The overwhelming majority of Thai get off from work and proceed to swarm the streets on foot and packed into the bed of pick-ups, tossing water in every direction with buckets and water guns.  Everyone understands the nature of the festival and happily get drenched repeatedly by strangers while doing their best to do the same to those around them.  It is a joyous occasion and those with disgruntled expressions feel the full force of the waterworks.

Khao San Road early on the second day
of Songkran

Back on Khao San Road music poured from bars in every direction inundating the road in bass.  The road itself had disappeared and seemed to become an amorphous strip that throbbed to the steady tempos that drove its convulsions through an auditory remote control.  All around people were dancing and shouting and spraying water all over each other.  Within an hour of my first Songkran experience I came to the conclusion that the festival is a seven year old boy's wildest fantasy; the water fight was larger than anything I could have ever imagined.

 

After an eventful evening laying siege upon everyone within a three mile radius of our hotel Caitlin and I were coaxed into heading towards Siam Road where we would meet up Caitlin's friends and enjoy a less Western experience.  The moment we left our hotel we knew transportation was going to be difficult.  It was 10 in the morning and the roads were, you guessed it, absolutely packed.  Foam poured from giant fanned machines and makeshift stages had been constructed.  DJs spun and so did the crowds.  Caitlin and I managed to grab a taxi somehow and proceeded to spray every unsuspecting motorist that crossed our crosshairs.  We were dropped off at the head of the road and wandered towards the massive rumble of a street so crowded it made Khao San road seem as spaced out as the outfielders in a baseball game.

Caitlin and I attempt to weave through the dense crowd
on Siam Road

Caitlin's friends were in a Subway refilling their waterpistols when we called them, so into the crowd we ventured.  It took us close to two hours to walk half a block.  It took us about 45 minutes to make it through the last thirty feet.  Siam road was celebrating in full force and we had finally arrived!  Siam Road proved to be quite a bit more authentic as we were close to the only Westerners roaming around the stuffed area.  We proceeded to dance and soak and cheer our way around a small area based around the Subway (free refills; a surprising rarity) until we were borderline hypothermic.  We said our goodbyes and headed back to Khao San Road for an early night as we would be catching an early flight to Chiang Mai to spread our H2O far and wide.

Reunited and it feels so good!

With Bangkok in our rearview mirror, Caitlin and I ventured over four hundred miles north to the largest city in northern Thailand; Chiang Mai.  We landed in Chiang Mai around noon and grabbed a Tuk-Tuk into the city's center.  After driving two blocks in the doorless, windowless oversized motorcycle we realized our flagrant mistake when our Tuk-Tuk had accumulated about three inches of water in it.  We were drenched by beaming Songkraners over and over again during what should have been a fifteen minute drive but turned into a forty-five minute excursion to avoid the standstill traffic of Songkran.  Water flew at us from every direction, it poured down from those standing in the beds of pick-up trucks, it flew in through where the door should have been from people on the street and all of this water came right back at us from below when the Tuk-tuk jolted into and out of motion.  We were soaked, our backpacks were soaked, everything in that drive welcomed us to the complete joy that is Songkran in Chiang Mai.   Finally, we made it to our hotel and were on our way out the door to get right into the swing of Chiang Mai's celebrations.

Traffic was backed up all around the city of Chiang Mai.  

Chiang Mai's old city is effectively Songkran's epicenter as the celebrations are magnified within the city center's well-defined border.  There are people celebrating everywhere around Chiang Mai, but once one comes within a block or two of the road and canal that provide the city center with a definitive border the crowds thicken dramatically.  Roads turned into parking lots equipped with foam guns and loud PA systems set up alongside them.  Good music motivated our pliant trajectory and eventually Caitlin and I found ourselves dancing atop a pronounced median overlooking a crowd of thousands.  Smiling Thais and foreigners sprawled out in front of us in every direction and we marinated in the ecstatic crowd's energy for a few hours before departing in search of some much needed food.

Songkran water warring party gearing up for a loop around Chiang Mai

Caitlin had been to Chiang Mai before so she guided us to the city's outdoor market where we indulged in fresh mangos, seafood pad Thai, various meat skewers and Caitlin's staple: instant noodles.  During this meal we would meet three fellow travelers who we would spend the next couple days with exploring the Chiang Mai's zoo and outskirts.  

Buckets and friends; Songkran
in a nutshell

"Instant noodles are my favorite!"

Bangkok

     Go ahead, curb your anticipation, it is time for Thailand Part 2: Bangkok!  After waking up at five in the morning to catch a ferry to the mainland, I hopped on a bus to the Surat Thani Airport.  I enjoyed a Thai iced coffee (regular iced coffee only with condensed milk as a substitute for both milk and sweetener) and sent an email to my closest informing them that I was alive and well.  At this point I was complacent that I had been so effective in traveling and this sentiment would carry on for the duration of my trip. 

     After a quick flight I found myself in the same spot that just a little more than a week ago had caused me utter panic; organizing a cab into the city of Bangkok.  I knew my destination and luckily, so do most people that live in/have ever been to Bangkok.  One quick interaction landed me in the front seat of a pink mid-2000’s Toyota Corolla, weaving in and out of Phahonyothin Road’s (Bangkok’s super highway) unmarked lanes.  My destination was the famed Khao san Road and I was arriving two days ahead of the commencement of a four-day countrywide water fight celebrating Thailand’s New Year.

Creepin' on ze crepes.

     On a normal night the sun sets on Bangkok and Khao san road becomes inundated Westerners as vendors of every good imaginable call out to attract costumers.  After a week of lazily enjoying my heliotherapy on Haad Sadet’s isolated beach I was shocked at how packed Khao san road was.  The moment I set foot on Khao san road’s dusty crumbling pavement I was engulfed in the loud banter of people whom seemed to be competing for who the honors of loudest conversationalist.  My senses were attacked from every angle; streamers flapped just a few feet over my head while the rising aroma of frying pad Thai attacked my nostrils from below.  Throngs of all nationalities hustled around me and in that moment I knew I had arrived back to the chaos that is Bangkok. 

     With none of the Gulf of Thailand’s surf to cool down with I meandered through the open-air market with my pack on my back, sweat dripping down to, then off of, my extremities.  I was bombarded by propositions from locals peddling their low-priced wares.  The Rikka Inn was my destination, but I had no idea what the hotel looked like so I wandered down the street looking about like a young boy frantically scrambling through his first copy of SI’s swimsuit edition.  The sights and sounds and smells were urging me to take a load off and look around, but I denied my urge to become immersed in anything except finding my hotel.  My long day of traveling was wearing on me and I wanted to put my stuff away and explore the road thoroughly. 

     By the time I had checked into my hotel my stomach felt like had begun to eat itself so I ventured back into the chaotic market of Khao san road for seafood and Chang.

     I had two days of exploring Bangkok before Songkran's outbreak of celebratory madness and I made the most out of both of them.  The first day I took a foot tour of the city’s famed attractions, the majority of which were Buddhist temples (Wats) and shrines.  I found myself thinking often about the Thai and their obvious dedication to Buddhism.  Everywhere I went, aside from the full moon party, there were monks.  I also noticed that everywhere I went there was a promiscuous air, oozing sexuality. 

      Once the sun set upon Bangkok, women of the night called to passers from barstools openly and often.  Ladyboys squeaked at each other in high heels and dresses short enough to make the Spice Girls (I grew up in the 90's, what do you expect?) look like nuns.   The monks never paid any heed to the glaringly obvious lechery that surrounded them and yet these deeply contrasting lifestyles offer two of Thai culture’s most recognizable characteristics; widespread Buddhism and the sexual freedom that the country offers. 

     I found it vexing that Buddhism, a scrupulous religion to say the least, could thrive in such a sexually liberal country.  Now, I know I am talking about extreme examples here and it goes without saying that Thailand isn’t only known for these two aspects, but I found myself being reminded of this gap everywhere I looked as I wandered Bangkok.  It seemed to me that Bangkok has two sides to it catering to two very, very different crowds.

     In the daytime the streets bustle with restrained action as Hawaiian-shirt clad tourists from all over the world roam the streets, their maps upside down, their pockets growing skinnier with every footstep.  When these zinc-crusted foreigners have finished their tours and the clock strikes 9 the city capitulates to the utter chaos of the evening.  I'm close to positive I never saw a monk out past the stroke of 9 in my entire trip.  There is much indifference between these different lifestyles, yet they coexist in such close proximity.

Phol drove me all around Bangkok for less than 1 dollar.  He then dropped
 me off in a suit shop and wouldn't let me leave until I heard the full pitch.

     I suppose that in the eye of tourists, acceptance is one of the prevalent allures of the nation.  Thailand is the land of smiles for that very reason, the culture welcomes any and all.  Freak or conservative, anarchist or weekend warrior, in Thailand you are who you are and you will be greeted with a warm smile regardless.  No matter who you are or what your values are, there is something for you in Thailand. 

     I had previously mentioned grouping my posts by location, but I’m going to reorganize this structure due to the drenched memories of Songkran inundating my brain at the moment.  That being said, get excited; up next is Songkran, the world’s largest water fight.

The flowing robes, grace, bald... Striking.  Really.

Giant Buddha

A shrine to Thailand's king; Rama XI