Welcome to Thailand, the Land of Smiles. After our arrival here last November, we gave Active Light a good cleaning and dressed her in her awnings and shade cloth ready for a long stay in Yacht Haven Marina. Nancy went back to the United States for a long visit with her mother and to meet our new grandbaby, Anna Frances. Neil stayed aboard Active Light sanding, painting and rebuilding the head, several times!! The boat was now ready for the arrival of friends Neil had invited for a visit. Yacht Haven Marina is on the north east side of Phuket Island and suffered no damage in the December tsunami, but Nancy and the rest of our families in the States had a few anxious hours before we heard from Neil and knew he was safe.

Our good friends, Jim and Paul, arrived in Phuket on February 3rd, 2005 just in time for some really hot weather! They had come from winter in the northwestern US and needed a few days to acclimate to the hot humid climate of Thailand. The guys rented a car and started driving north toward Chiang Mai. They were learning about Thailand together as Neil had not yet been farther north than Ranong. Also, he was studying the Thai language and was having fun practicing his new skills. This provided discussion material for several interesting moments, especially when ordering food and asking for directions.

Jim and Paul arrive ready to see Thailand.

Loads like this are not unusual on Thai highways.

People say a map of Thailand looks like the head of an elephant, Thailand's most important animal, facing to the west in profile. Phuket lies about halfway down the long trunk peninsula. The Indian Ocean lies on the western shore and the Gulf of Thailand to the east. They drove up the eastern shore and continued more or less straight north to the old capital of Chiang Mai. 

Suki is a "cook your own" sort of meal in a pot of broth.

King Rama VI used this solid teak palace in the hot summers.

Near the beach resort town of Cha-am on the Gulf of Thailand coast is a lovely golden teak summer palace built during the reign of King Rama VI. The group of one- and two-story buildings are made of prime golden teak and are raised above the ground on stilts. The buildings are connected with covered walkways. Ceilings are high under tile roofs and windows have teak shutters to keep out rain. This palace is constructed in a traditional Thai design that maximizes air flow and makes the hot humid summers more pleasant.

One of the marble baths in the teak palace.

The former King's bedroom, restored to original condition.

She is four years old and eats two chickens every day!

Floating market at Dameon Saduak, near Ratchaburi

The three stayed in mostly four-star hotels, the best available, and always ate huge breakfasts at each hotel's "all-you-can-eat" buffet. The roads were pretty good all the way north, four-lane divided highway, about the level of states roads in the USA. Contrary to many warnings, they found Thai drivers not to be suicidal, tail-gating, speed freaks. There does exist in Thailand, however, a sense of personal freedom perhaps greater than that found in the United States. This sometimes finds expression in driving a car or motorbike on public highways. Two lanes can be turned into three or even four; the shoulders of a one-way road frequently will be used for oncoming traffic. The rules are not hard and fast here, perhaps because the Thai people haven't yet experienced decades of lawsuit paranoia.

The present Bridge on the River Kwai, still standing today.

The Allied War Cemetery holding remains of POW's who died in captivity.

All were impressed by the "Bridge on the River Kwai" and surrounding historical sites. The current bridge is one that was reconstructed after World War II had ended. The curved sections are original, but the rest is new. The first bridge, finished in February of 1943, was of wood. In April of the same year, a second steel bridge was completed. The bridge was only a small part of the infamous "Death Railway" constructed as a supply line from the Gulf of Thailand to the Indian Ocean in Burma by the Japanese forces. Approximately 16,000 POW's, mostly Dutch, English, Australian, and Thai nationals, perished as forced laborers during the building of the bridge and the railway. So many died because the Japanese pushed to complete the entire railway in a year and a half.

Anyone want bugs for dinner?

One of the fruit vendors in the night market at Kamphaeng Phet.

Just to the north of the city of Lampang, Paul realized a dream. He rode an elephant! The Thai Elephant Conservation Center was established on March 4, 1992 by HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn. The Center provides medical treatment to sick or injured elephants, conserves and protects elephants and distributes information about these wonderful animals. Because there is now much less demand for working elephants, many are uncared for or are working in cruel conditions. The Center provides care for these animals and also has an active breeding program and  training for elephants and their mahouts. Animals at this facility range in age from babies to 79 years old. The hospital has about 15 elephants in treatment at this time and two permanent residents in care that would break your heart. One has a badly mangled hind foot from an encounter with a land mine and another has lost half of its trunk to a machete. The remaining residents of the Center give rides to visitors and put on a very entertaining show. They demonstrate the work skills that were used in the logging industry and have a large collection of stunts and tricks they perform at a twice-daily show. Several baby and mama elephant teams are available for petting and feeding.

This baby figured out that Paul was an endless source of bananas.

Jim takes a ride on a big "one tusker".

You can buy an elephant painting for only 500 baht ($12.50 US).

A mountain viewpoint on the way to Samoeng, NW of Chiang Mai.

After the elephants, they continued on to Chiang Mai, stayed there three days, then drove on a bit farther north to a quiet rural resort in the mountains at Samoeng, after first visiting a second excellent elephant camp. Then they started back south, revisiting Kamphaneng Phet and Kanchanaburi. After a night in the Had Thong Hotel in Prachuap Kiri Khan, they followed up a reference in the Lonely Planet guidebook to a boatbuilding yard at Bang Nang Lom Bay, just north of town. This is what they found there.

Teak fishing boats under construction.

Traditional heavy carvel planking, cotton caulking, and red lead primer.

These teak boards, almost two feet wide were lying around everywhere.

Thai Navy patrol boat washed up during the tsunami of December 2004.

One more day's drive and they were back in Phuket. Neil accompanied Jim and Paul back to their connecting flight in Bangkok. They had a good time touring wats, gem factories, and huge open air markets in Bangkok before Jim and Paul flew back to cool and rainy Washington State.

The famous Reclining Buddha housed in Wat Pho, the oldest and largest wat in Bangkok.

The Reclining Buddha is 46 meters long and 15 meters high. the figure is built of brick, covered in plaster and finished in gold leaf.

Three weeks later, Nancy returned to Thailand from her four-month visit to the United States. Although it was wonderful to spend time with family and friends, four months was a very long time to be apart. Neil met Nancy's plane in Bangkok and we spent ten days in this wonderful city. Neil had some good ideas of where to start and what to see from his earlier visit. We took a room at the Krit Thai  Mansion across from the National Stadium in the Siam Square district. The room was plain, but clean with air conditioning, cable TV and small refrigerator. Breakfast was included in our daily rate of 800 baht (US$20). The Skytrain ran right by the front of the hotel and taxis and tuk-tuks were easily hailed from the sidewalk. This section of Bangkok has many large air conditioned shopping malls, several cinemas and restaurants serving any kind of food you could think to ask for. Street vendors offer up traditional snack foods, fried dishes and sliced fresh fruits. We especially enjoyed the watermelon and pineapple. The fruit is eaten out of a plastic bag with a wood pick. Delicious!

After a good night's sleep, we began our rounds of the usual tourist attractions. The Lonely Planet Guide and Nancy Chandler's Map of Bangkok were two very helpful sources for choosing and finding what we wanted to see. We started with a visit to Jim Thompson's House, a small museum housing a good representative collection of Thai art including sculpture, furniture, wood carving, pottery, painting and textiles.

The buildings at Wat Pho are faced with glazed tiles, tiny mirrors and gold leaf and paint.

The color and shine of the sun off the roofs and sides of the structures is dazzling.

The wats of Thailand are important to the daily lives of the Thais who are  mainly of the Buddhist faith. Most wats are decorated with intricate tile mosaic work, wood and stone carving, bright paint and gold leaf. Every village has a least one wat and cities and towns have many.

One of the busy shopping malls near our hotel.

Busy Bangkok street with the Skytrain rails above.

Wat Phra Kaew, home of the Emerald Buddha.

Gold encrusted entrance to view the Emerald Buddha.

Detail shot of the wall of the Temple of the Emerald Buddha.

Typical Thai eatery. A large meal can be had for 40 baht, about $1.00 US.

Wat Phra Kaew is the home of the much revered Emerald Buddha. The figure is only 75 cm high and sits high above the main floor. The wat was packed with people the day we were there. Some had come to look and marvel and many others had come to pray. The Temple of the Emerald Buddha was beautiful, but there were many other marvels to see. A series of galleries around the main building display an impressive collection of Buddha images and paintings depicting the Ramakian epic from start to finish. Adjoining the wat is the Grand Palace used by the king for certain ceremonial occasions. We enjoyed the gardens and the elaborate architecture. Lunch was often from sidewalk eateries such as the one pictured above.

Vimanmek Teak Mansion is another royal residence in the city. It is now a museum recalling the days of Rama V who lived there for five years from 1900 to 1905. The house is constructed of golden teak and is magnificent. All the furnishings are period and give a view of what the palace must have been like when it was a full time home. We wished we could have taken photos, but none were allowed inside the mansion.

More traditional Thai dances at the Vimanmek Pavillion.

Lucky Nancy with her Thai ruby necklace and earrings!

Longtail boat at Ranong, the river border between Burma and Thailand.

It was nice to be home back aboard Active Light. It took several days to unpack and stow our purchases. Nancy got her first look at the new paint and polishing that Neil had done. We spent our days doing small upkeep jobs aboard and reacquainting ourselves with our surroundings. Nancy met new friends Neil had made from Bahn Koh En, the Muslim village on the hill above the marina. The hot season had started in earnest and temperatures stayed in the 90-98 degree range, sometimes cooling to the high 80's in the early morning hours. We made a one day trip north to Ranong for the required monthly renewal of our visas. A tourist visa is good for thirty days at which time you must leave the country, if only for thirty minutes, and then check back in and be granted another 30 days. There are several border towns in each of the neighboring countries where this can be done. Taking tourists on a "visa" run is a big business here.

In mid-April, Neil started pulling up the teak deck on the port side of Active Light. We had discovered a loose plank and knew we had some repairs to make. One thing led to another and soon we decided to replace the side decks on both port and starboard sides. The teak is 30 years old and getting too thin. We ordered new teak planks from Nai and Toe at the Boat Lagoon Marina. They will mill and dry the new deck boards to the exact measurements of the old ones. It would take a month for the planks to be ready. It seemed the perfect time to go north to escape the heat as well as see a bit of the culture of northern Thailand. We decided to splurge and fly to Chiang Mai rather than take an all night bus trip. On April 26, we arrived in Chiang Mai, Tourist Mecca of the North!

Nancy's first elephant ride at the Thai Elephant Conservation Camp.

The swaying motion atop an elephant is not very comfortable.

Chiang Mai has much to offer in town as well as the surrounding area. It is well set up for visitors with hotels from very fancy with prices to match to tiny guest houses for the more budget minded. We ended up at the Roong Ruang Hotel right in the center of activity near the Thapae Gate. Our hotel was older and a bit shabby, but very clean and had lots of character. The ladies who cleaned and did the laundry adopted Neil. They loved chatting with a Westerner who was learning their language and who joked with them and brought them treats. We enjoyed the Night Bazaar, many restaurants and shops and of course, a few gorgeous wats were nearby. We rented a motor bike and made several trips into the countryside. It was fortunate that Neil has some experience with bikes as the traffic was heavy and the rules of the road weren't always apparent.

This baby liked his banana snacks peeled.

 Play in the water before the daily elephant show.

The bus ride south to the Thai Elephant Conservation Center was easy to do. We took the "regular" bus rather than the large air conditioned tourist bus. We like to ride along with the local people. The bus stopped at every small berg along the way and we got a good look at the towns and surrounding farm areas. Neil had visited this center with our friends the month before and thought it worth another visit.

It was Nancy's first visit to Asian elephants. Neil decided one elephant ride was enough, so Nancy had a ride by herself. The swaying motion takes a little getting used to. It was good fun for a half hour, but longer than that might be too much. Feeding the elephants was novel experience. Their trunks are very flexible and strong. They feel around until they locate the food, take a firm hold and pop it into their huge  mouths.

The elephant show was very entertaining. There seemed to be a special relationship between each mahout and his elephant. The animals were well treated and appeared to enjoy the audience. The audience was mainly Thais with a few farang visitors that day. It was fun to watch the families enjoy the show, moms and dads explaining and kids squealing with delight, while Grandma beamed. After the show, the mahouts brought the elephants up to the fence for their rewards of sugar cane and bananas. The elephant in the photo at the left seemed to be saving up a few canes for later.

Kids watch the elephants "take a nap".

Demonstration of logging skills.

We resumed our tours of Buddhist wats in Chiang Mai. The beautiful, very intricate and colorful detail work on these temples is incredible to behold.

A motor bike ride took us out the Maesa Valley to a number of tourist activities, little mountain villages and gorgeous scenery. The road winds through the Maesa Valley and climbs up the ridge to the Sameong Valley. Our first day out was to visit the Maesa Elephant Camp. The setting here is very tropical with lots of bright green vegetation. A small stream runs beside the road and through the elephant camp. The activities here are similar to those at the other camp. Nancy convinced Neil to try another ride. This elephant was a more comfortable ride than the last. The mahout got off part way through the ride and took our picture.

Our mahout got off to snap our picture.

Lunch of grilled chicken and fish with greens was eaten over the river.

Yum !

We used a rented motorbike for three days of touring the countryside.

An elephant parade begins the show. These elephants seemed younger, darker, and friskier than those at the Thai Elephant Conservation Center.

This elephant placed the mahout's hat on Nancy's head. You can see a video of the elephant show if you click on the elephant's head.

Have you ever been grabbed by an elephant?

These stalks of orchids had hundreds of tiny flowers.

On our second day in the valley, we visited an orchid farm. The flowers were stunning, so many colors, shapes and sizes. The day was warm to begin with. We were sweltering under the shade clothes used to keep the humidity and light within the requirements for optimum growth. The gardens with their fountains, fish ponds and sculpted bushes were restful and cooler. After seeing the orchids, we rode up to the top of the ridge and viewed the Sameong Valley. the little towns and villages along the way gave us a glimpse of rural Thailand.

Remains of the old city wall and moat around Chiang Mai City.

Another view of the Chiang Mai city wall and moat.

We decided one evening over dinner to try to walk all around the moat and fortified walls that form a box enclosure around the old city. We started next morning at the Thapae Gate in the center of the eastern wall and walked clockwise around the bottom inside the moat. The walls are crumbling in most places, but a few sections have been restored. The four corners, especially, were still intact.

By the time we were half way around the old city walls, it began to get hot and we were pretty tired of walking. But before we beat a hasty retreat to the air conditioned comfort of a nearby shopping mall, we spied this common Thai city sight, a coffin-makers shop right in the middle of the commercial shopping area. We will probably never understand Thai culture, but isn't it wonderful the differences?.

After a week in Chiang Mai, we boarded a VIP bus with air conditioning and big comfortable seats for a two and a half hour ride north over the mountains to Chiang Rai. The countryside between is forest, small towns and farms. The houses are built of wood on stilts in the traditional Thai style. Much field work was being done with hand tools. We even saw a few elephants with loads being walked down the streets by their mahouts. We arrived in Chiang Rai in a rain and took a room in the Krung Thong Hotel, very popular with Thais. We were the only farangs there.

Student monks stroll the temple grounds.

Young monks having "telephone fun" at the Wat  Phra Kaew.

Wat Phra Kaew, the former home of the Emerald Buddha.

Canadian jade Buddha commissioned in 1990 for Wat Phra Kaew.

Anything plastic can be found in this plastics shop in Chiang Rai.

The gate to Wat Ming Meuang.

Most of the wats we visited in the north had a dragon figure on both sides of the staircase leading up to the door of the building housing the main Buddha. This one at Wat Ming Meuang in Chiang Rai had a second dragon emerging from the mouth of the first. Some we saw had multiple heads on one dragon body. The wats in the north seemed to us to have a Chinese influence that was not present in the wats we saw in Bangkok.

Chiang Rai was a very pleasant town with few tourists. We chose to stay in a hotel away from the usual tourist areas. Chiang Rai has a small night bazaar that we enjoyed because it was small. It was easier to see what was available and the vendors were much less aggressive than the ones on Bangkok or Chiang Mai. The bazaar had an excellent food court and two stages that had nightly entertainment. We stayed out of the chain restaurants in the tourist section and ate most of our meals at the eating places frequented by locals.

Our visas were about up so it was time to head north to the border town of Mae Sai to get another 30 days. We hopped a local bus that was very crowded and were on our way. Each of these buses has a ticket seller/passenger shuffler who is in charge of making sure everyone pays and telling the driver when and where to stop for passengers. Most we saw were ladies and you do what they say.

A special Muslim beef curing in the open air at the sidewalk.

Looking back at the Thailand gate from the border crossing at Tachileik.

Animal parts for sale on the Myanmar side of the border.

Both sides of the border between Thailand and Myanmar had mega-markets selling everything from gems, real and fake, to deer antlers. The vendors are very aggressive and will follow you down the street in hopes of a sale. Goods come from all over this part of the world, China, Russia and southeast Asian countries. The people seem quite poor in comparison to other places we had been. Beggars were everywhere. We exhausted our supply of small money quickly and wished we could buy a meal for them all. Perhaps we were a "soft touch", but these people all looked as if they needed help. We renewed our visas, bought a few things in the market and started back to Chiang Rai in two days.
We decided one evening to walk up to a wat perched on a hill right in the middle of the town.  There were a lot of stairs to the top. We think we recall a local man telling us there are 114 stairs. We were puffing when we got there. The views across the valley and into Myanmar (Burma) were magnificent.

There were 114 stairs to the hilltop wat overlooking the valley.

A view of Myanmar from the hill above Mae Sai.

Myanmar view.

Colorful blanket stall at the Mae Sai Market.

The border between Thailand and Myanmar is marked by the Mekong River. At this spot, the river is not very wide. A few miles downstream several other rivers flow into the Mekong and it becomes a large river with much boat traffic. The border is a busy place with easy passage of locals from both sides. Many people from Myanmar come into Thailand daily to work. We stayed only two days and were ready to start back to Chiang Rai.
Back in our favorite place in the north, Chiang Rai, we planned some side trips to close by attractions. A motor bike ride to the west took us to Wat Prathart Doi Prabaat on a hilltop out of town. We got off on a wrong road and were lost. We finally saw a road sign in English pointing to a different waterfall than the one we had planned. This one was on our map and we decided one was as good as another. It is good to know where you are!!

View over Chiang Rai from Wat Prathart Doi Prabaat.

The Buddha at Wat Prathart Doi Prabaat.

The chedi at Wat Chiang Man in Chiang Mai is surrounded with life-sized elephants.

After nearly a month in northern Thailand, it was time to return to Phuket and Active Light. This part of Thailand is very different from the south and we have had a great time getting to know the people and places. The universal question here after greetings are given is, " Bpai nai?" (Where you go?) This always started a conversation. Neil can speak enough Thai  to make a chat interesting to the local people. They were happy to give directions and answer our questions. We ate some marvelous food, some  very different than the southern dishes. The countryside is beautiful, the cities and towns interesting, and the people a delight. Thank you, Thailand for a wonderful time.

This man had a large collection of Thai musical instruments for sale. We bought the one he is playing, called a caen. Left-click on the caen to hear him play it.