In order to finish earlier with this first part of our trip in Thailand (we will come back in a couple of months to travel the south of the country) we decided to catch a local bus, instead of the usual hitch hicking, from Chiang Rai to Chiang Khong, the northern most border crossing between Thailand and Laos.
Thailand is the preferred destination in Southeast Asia by tourists. Most travellers begin their journey of discovery Asian culture in this fabled country, the perfect balance between East and West. Foreign yet familiar, adventurous, accesible and cheap to chill out in, Thailand has the right blend for backpackers. Although if you are looking for tradition, ancient rhythms of life and untouched places this is not the best country, since tourism has been highly exploted in the last years, specially in the south.
Apart of their eternal smile, Thais have another quality. Like other Asian societies, the people of Siam have a natural ability to produce choice cuisine. There aren’t just temples, beautiful beaches, rice paddies and smiling people in Thailand, there’s also the gastronomy and the seasoned traveller will tell you that the fine Thai cuisine is well worth the detour.
After spending a couple of days in Thaton and the surroundings, we headed up north to Mae Salong. As it’s becoming usual lately in our trip, we hitched all the way up to the little town, since transport here (limited to sawngthaew, which is like a van for up to 8 people) is not very regular and a bit more expensive. A winding mountain road leads over 20 km from the foothill to the top through beautiful woodland landscapes.
One of the reasons why we came to Thailand was for its culinary delights. It was not the beaches nor the big cities, although we would like visit them too, it was the food that called our attention more than anything else. So far in our trip in the country we have been meeting different ethnics and tasting many different regional specialities and we love the way Thais have to prepare their food and how good it taste always!
Early in the morning we got up, had breakfast and started our 3 hour long trip down south along the sinuous mountain roads. We all four –Julia, Hector and a couple of kiwi guys- end up feeling motion sickness due to the over 1200 bends of the way. Appart from that, the first day of the trek was perfect. We started with a 4 hour rafting in the Mae Klong river, stoping aside to collect “jungle food” such as bamboo shoots and mushrooms. Then we arrived to a camp on the river side, where we prepared dinner –Thai food of course- and where we spent the night and felt asleep hearing the beautiful jungle sounds.
Thanks to a very friendly Thai family who picked us up from the side of the road after we were waiting for a a bus which was not coming and decided then to try to hitch-hike, we arrived in Mae Sot after a good 4 hours ride under the sun and the rain and against the wind, sitting on the back of their pick up van.
From Bangkok we headed up north for something more than an hour and arrived to Ayuthaya, one of the former capitals of the ancient Thai Kingdom. The city itself has not much to offer, although some good guesthouses, bars and street markets together with the ruins of the old city (not many in quality but widespread) make it a “must” for people staying in Bangkok. We spent one and a half days there and it was our first contact with old Thai architecture, Thai rented bicycles and Thai rainy weather. Yes, it rained quite a lot. So much that we think now that the monsoon season, which should start in Thailand by the end of May or the beginning of June, has gone ahead this year. F**ck!!
Bangkok has been a good surprise for us: it is clean, well organaised and much less noisy than we had expected. It is a very crowded city but everybody seems to be in his given place and we never felt overwhelming as in another cities, such as Delhi or Mumbai in India. We had the impression that Thailand is going to be much easier to travel than India or Nepal, although we really like challenges…
After a one month visit to our roots, our family, our friends and our traditions, we come back to the new, to the unknown, to the surprising things that a trip to south east Asia has to offer.
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