Doi Mae Salong

On Feb 13th we took a little bus from Tha Ton a couple of hours northeast to Doi Mae Salong. It was settled by retreating Chiang Kai-shek solders, so its population is largely Chinese. The town has been well discovered by tourists, and there were many locals hawking souvenirs.

Our bus.

We stayed at this "guest horse."

Motorbiking around among the ethnic villages and tea plantations set on steep hillsides.

Roosters are a strong symbol here (I wish I could tell you more about that).  This may be the largest of the many rooster statues we saw.

The town, as seen from the hilltop temple.  It is spread out along a  ridge-line road.

Another hilltop village, viewed from the temple.

Children dressed to the nines to sell bracelets to tourists.

It was Chinese New Year, and most houses were decorated with red lettered scrolls around the doorways, bright red lanterns hanging from overhead, and these strange dried-out evergreen branches in front--some mounted in a hollow bamboo stalk--with golden origami boats.  We were in many places for the two-week lunar new year, but only people of Chinese ancestry seemed to mark the occasion.  When I tried to say Gung Hay Fat Choy, no one understood.

Soldier at a  roadside stop on the way back. Note the monkey image on his device.

Tha Ton - By the River

We arrived, by a great river boat ride, in Siem Reap yesterday, but will continue to post photos of our trip in N. Thailand for now.  We were in Tha Ton on the 11, 12, and 14 of Feb.

Minibuses at the bus station in Chiang Mai, waiting for the bus to Tha Ton.

We couldn't get enough of watching the Mae Kok river flow by.

From the restaurant of our first hotel, as the sun went down and the lights of the bridge and temple came on.

A wonderful day riding around the countryside on a motorbike.

Old gasoline pumps!

A flock of chickens takes over a table at H's favorite river-viewing spot.

Valentine's Day!

The "Spirit House"at our hotel (bungalows set in a garden).  Every property has one of these (homes, stores, office buildings, hotels, etc.) - a home for the spirit of the place to live while you occupy the land.

Elephants!

February 9:  Our day trip to a sustainable elephant rescue center....the Elephant Nature Park.  It is a social enterprise non-profit that came with personal recommendations, about an hour north of Chiang Mai in a beautiful valley.  They picked us up in town, gave us an ample vegetarian buffet lunch, and dropped us back at our hotel in the late afternoon.  The place turned out to be more of an SPCA than an environmental model.  It also rescued water buffalo, and even dogs and cats (there were about 300 each of those, many from the Bangkok floods of two years ago).  Our day was mostly about opportunities to be photographed with the elephants.

Chatting with Ten, while the elephants are eating half-pumpkins, chunks of watermelon, bunches of bananas, stalks of sugar cane, etc.

Feeding the elephant a pumpkin.

Yet another photo op.  We were supposed to be bathing the elephants, but really took turns throwing buckets of water on them while they ate.

Ten doubled as a photographer...

Some of the elephants bathed by themselves - without our "help."

The baby is nursing.

At the end of the afternoon, the herd of water buffalo bathed in the river, then trudged on toward a field on the opposite bank.

Chiang Mai Part Two

We have just finished a wonderful 2.5 weeks in Northern Thailand.  They went by so fast!  Riverside towns, motorbikes, green rice paddies, elephants, great food...Today we flew to Bangkok and plan to bus to Cambodia tomorrow. This entry focuses on our second swing through Chiang Mai (Feb. 7 - 10), but includes couple of photos from our first.

On the bus back to Chiang Mai from Mae Hong Son, as seen through the bus driver's rear view mirror.  We are sitting two rows behind the monk (camera in front of C's face).

Jamie took us to a magical monastery on the hillside above Chiang Mai (Wat Palaad), complete with a waterfall.

With Jamie at one of the many fabulous restaurants he took us to.

Several groups of kids stopped Haney on the street for their English assignments.  They asked him several questions, while a friend videotaped the encounter.

We loved the back alleyways of Chiang Mai's old walled city. On our favorite "soi" (lane), Soi 5, where we spent a couple of nights.  We spent a total of six nights in CM and had to change hotels each night -- it was Chinese New Year and the hotels were full.  One place charged about $8.

Visiting an amazing luxury hotel and spa outside of town:  Panviman.

Watermelon shake at Panviman.

Panviman's indoor/outdoor lobby, with pool and various buildings down the hill.

This is the Four Seasons, built in a horseshoe shape around a garden that is a  functioning rice paddy.  For the picturesque effect, they use water buffalo to work the field.

Parade for Chiang Mai's Flower Festival, as viewed from the 3rd floor balcony of Starbucks.  The group in white is a marching band with cowboy hats.  The onlookers were swarming the parade for photo ops.

More Flower Festival - amazing display of orchids and other flowers.

One of many beauty queens at the Flower Festival (the one on the left, that is,,,).

Ana with C on her bike.  Jamie took H.  Off to another great restaurant.

Mae Hong Son

A smaller city in NE Thailand is a 6 to 9 hour bus ride away.  Gorgeous.

At a rest stop on the way.

Wat lights reflected in the little lake at the center of town.

A monk helps C send aloft a paper lantern - along with a wish.

We explored the countryside on a manual motorbike with a pedal-operated gear shift - Haney's first ride.

Discovered a national park and a series of waterfalls.

And lots of beautiful rice paddies and fields.

The town (and lake) as seen from the hilltop temple.