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.