We are now in Chiang Mai, which ends our group tour in Thailand. There are more than 300 temples in Chiang Mai. Our morning walking tour only included seven (Pha Bong Temple, Wat Dab Phai, Wat PhrasingH, Wat Pra Singh Voramaharihara, Wat Phantao, Wat Jetlin and Wat Chediluang Worawihan, but that was more than enough. We are now officially “templed out.”

We visited the night bazar on our own, to have dinner and enjoy the cooler evening weather. This market included a vendor selling crocodile meat on a stick (bottom), which became part of our meal.  Does it taste like chicken? Well… yes and no. It is more of a cross between chicken and pork, and a bit chewy.  I rather liked it, and will probably have it again the next time the opportunity arises.

The same vendor also sold scorpion.  They were stuck one per stick into styrofoam (left-center).  The customer would choose one, hand it to the vendor, who would then cut off the stinger on the tail, and proceed to BBQ it.  We watched three different people try them. In each case, their friends would then crowd around them, with cell phone cameras in hand, to catch the first bite reaction — which was universally a grimace showing it was not a taste they wanted to repeat… ☺

As in every other city and village we have visited on this trip, temples with Buddha statues abound, often made of a golden color (gold leaf). However, they come in all shapes and materials.

Though many of the statues here were religious, there were also others in evidence.  The statue of the officer carrying a fallen mother was in front of the police station (lower-right). Some were even whimsical, as with the porcelain dancer (lower-left).

Monks in Chiang Mai were usually found singly or in pairs, going about their every-day life. There was one character often repeated as ceramic statues though — the little smiling boy monk wearing glasses, as seen center-right.

Some monks appeared in absolute stationary meditation poses.  As we moved ever closer to photograph details, we suddenly realized these were actually wax figures, done with such artistry that we saw others also fooled into thinking they were alive!

As we wandered around the streets, we saw many of the sights that had become normal during this trip.  At one temple with a small lake on the grounds, there was a vendor selling food pellets to feed the koi. Steve, from our group, bought a small bag.  He soon found himself swarmed by pigeons that wanted to steal the fish food, right from his hand (lower-right).

As we go our separate ways, we want to again thank Wi (left) and her hard-working All Points East company for putting together this trip, for quickly responding when things did not work out as planned, and for always being cheerful, regardless of what was going on or the stress of getting everyone together at the right time and place.

Sometimes fortune just smiles on you when you travel.  Today was one of those days. We had driven to a small town to pick up a long-tail boat for a ride down the river. As we arrived, we discovered the village was about to start an “elephant feast.”  Once a year the village puts together a long feast table piled high with bananas, watermelons, sugar cane, avocados and other treats and lets their working elephants gorge themselves. They are thanking the elephants for their year of hard work in the fields.

As we arrived, four people were holding bamboo rods in a grid and banging them together, as  villagers tried to dance among the banging rods.  Most tried valiantly, but ended up with mangled feet as they missed a step and fell among the bamboo trap.  Finally, two young women who clearly knew what they were doing, stepped in and danced together elegantly among the chopping bamboo, to the cheers of the watching crowd (upper-left).

Roughly 20 elephants were then led in to stand around the buffet table.  At a command, they all reached for the table of food with their trunks and started to feast.  After a couple minutes, the villagers were allowed to come into the compound and feed the elephants (middle).  Evelyn even got into the act, feeding “her” elephant sugar cane and then a bunch of bananas (lower-right photo by Wi).

After the festivities were over, we boarded two long-tail boats and rode down the river for half an hour.

Chiang Rai has three famous “art temples,” of which we visited two. These are not really religious Wats, but rather temples and museums surrounding an artist’s vision.  The first we visited was the Black Temple. Baan Dam Museum is a collection of 40 wood buildings featuring works by the artist Thawan Duchanee. This art temple is also known as “hell”.  There are skulls of numerous animal species, skins of alligators and others, antique guns on walls, etc.

There was one group of approximately 20 young Chinese women all dressed in red that seemed to be celebrating a university graduation together. Their vivid red dresses provided a nice foreground to the otherwise dark scenes (lower-right).

The next day, we visited the White Temple, known by locals as “heaven”. Another artist from Chiang Rai, Chalermchai Kositpipat (top right), dedicated him self to create art with a different vision and funded the project with his own money. He wanted to create art that people would remember and talk about. He started his project 20 years ago, and, says that he expects the project to take another 50 years to complete.  The artist himself is on site most days, and is very approachable.

Be sure get here early in the morning before the tourists show up. When first entering the grounds,  you pass over a small bridge and look down into what is obviously a depiction of Dante’s Inferno (center).  As you wander the grounds, the buildings are all extremely elaborate and ornate, harking back to the level of detail normally associated with the Middle Ages.

Walk around the grounds and look closely at the various statues, including those emerging from the walls, and you begin to wonder if you have tripped into Universal Studios.  You will see statues of the Teenage Mutant Turtles, the alien coming out of a stomach, Marvel Comic heroes, the Terminator (with half his face missing, from the final scene in the movie when he was chasing the hero through the machine shop), and dozens of others.

At night, we went to another market.  As the temperatures cool, this is a good place to spend time watching people, nibbling snacks, and simply enjoying the weather. We found one vendor tonight who was selling barbecued cockroaches (lower-right) and grubs (lower-left).  Alas, we had already eaten dinner, so had to pass on these delicacies… ☺

We started this morning by visiting a tea plantation (Tea 101), where the tea was actively being harvested.  We were allowed to wander into the fields to see and photograph the workers up close.  We saw the women (no men) either using scissors or simply tearing the new top leaves off the plants. Afterwards, we had a tea tasting, which is similar to wine tasting, in that we were given a progression of tea types, and told how to smell the aroma before sipping, etc. We sampled their green, red, jasmine, and a ginseng teas. I never did learn how to properly flip the tea cup upside down without spilling or burning my fingers.

We then walked around the ruins of the old 12th century city of Chiang Saen, Wat Pa Sak, one of the oldest temples in Thailand.

This is a relatively small and seldom visited temple, compared to many of the others we have seen on this trip.  We did learn the difference between a Wat and a Pagoda though — a Pagoda is solid and cannot be entered, while a Wat is intended to be entered and worshiped while inside.

We made a side trip to a traditional hill-tribe village, to see them in their native environment.  Many of the inhabitants had small handicrafts they made for sale, but these people clearly lived here, rather than just being set up for tourists.

Nikki, from our group, bought a small handwoven item from one woman. When Nikki then asked if she could be photographed with the woman, the woman’s husband came over all smiles and wanted to have his photograph taken too.  The result is the center image above.

The next stop was a small opium museum, where we learned about the origins of the long neck Karen women and saw a model of an 8-foot long catfish from the nearby river.  While the internal scenes in the museum were not photographically very interesting, the statues outside going down to the museum were beautiful.

Our last stop of the day was at the Mae Fah Luang Botanical Gardens.  It was meticulously maintained and colorful.  I found the greenhouse, where they were preparing the next season of plants, the most interesting (bottom-left and bottom-center).

Wi was our Thai guide throughout, and one of the owners of All Points East, our tour operator.  On the right image, you see her attempting to demonstrate a wooden mechanical ferris wheel.  Unfortunately, it required people sitting in each of the four positions to work, and nobody else in the group wanted to try this death-defying contraption! ☺

We were all supposed to leave the hotel this morning at 5:00AM, so we could hike to the top of a local peak for what was promised to be an unsurpassed sunrise experience. The forecast was for more polluted air, so personally I  decided a couple extra hours sleep sounded better. Evelyn and the rest of the group did the hike… ☺ 

Later, we walked along the Mekong river.  There was a market here, but with a twist.  Beyond the few vendors selling food for immediate consumption, the bulk of the people were hauling their food, furniture and goods down a boat ramp, and loading it all on various boats.  These people were buyers from Laos, across the river. Each person had to first visit the Customs and Immigration office, before being allowed to load or depart.

Wandering around town tonight, we found yet another night market. There were unique mechanical devices simulating fans for keeping the flies away.  Even though we are technically still in the Winter here in March, it is pretty darn hot every day — reaching into the mid 90’s F each day.  The night markets have sprung up to allow people to do their shopping in the evening, when the weather is much more pleasant.

The cuisine has changed to Chinese food in this area, since the local people migrated from Yunnan province in China.  The hotels here are very basic, and not as nice as others we have experienced on this trip.

Every morning  at 7:00AM, the monks go to the temple in Pha Tang to receive food and alms from the local people. The head monk offers daily blessings in return.  We got up early to see the people prepare the food and watched the procession, as shown above.

Along the way, we came across some farm workers in a field harvesting scallions. We were told that the scallions are generally larger, but that the meager rains this year have stunted the crop.

The Nam Tok Phu Saung national park is a popular place for families to enjoy the day, while the children play in the pool under a gentle hot waterfall, allowing everyone to escape the heat of the day. There was a school field trip the day we visited.

Phayao is our next stop on the hidden Northern Thailand tour. On our way there, we started with an early morning hike to the top of one of the neighboring mountains, to see the truly spectacular Wat Chalerm Phrakiat, perched atop a jagged limestone outcrop. This is difficult to reach, as you first drive up a winding steep road, then hire a pickup truck taxi with a crazy driver to jarringly take you about 1 Km further, then finally get out and walk.  After 300 meter (1000 ft) or so of mostly level road, you come to a metal walkway that looks rather imposing.

You then start the real climb — 400 meter (1500 ft) to the temple, at a roughly 30 degree slope.  Just as you are sure you can’t go any further (several Chinese tourists we saw on our way down needed a bit of encouragement — “just around the corner. You can do it!”), you pop out on top.

The view would be spectacular on a clear day.  As is, the air was so thick with smoke that we could not really see very far, and the reward for the climb was seeing the small Wat with its complex of shrines and pagodas, where we could beat the gong and hear the resonating sound from it (see and hear video at end of this post).

Yet another night market was probably our favorite part of this town. People are friendly, food smells and tastes great, and often watching the preparation of the treats is a treat unto itself.

We had just had dinner elsewhere, which we mumbled and grumbled about as we explored more of the the market. We really wanted to stop and taste everything, but were too full for more than a nibble.

Lampang is the third largest city in Northern Thailand, but is seldom visited by tourists. Since we are specifically targeting rarely seen areas of Thailand on this trip, this colonial city is a perfect stop for us. In the 19th century, Lampang was prominent in the teak industry, and beautiful colonial Thai-style wood villas and historic Buddhist temples prevail.

We have seen several cities around the world, including our home of Cuenca, Ecuador, where murals are scattered around the town in an effort to add art and reduce graffiti.  Lampang does that, with some truly beautiful murals.  The one shown center above, has evidence of being freshly painted, as some leaves hanging from an overhead tree still had fresh paint splattered on them.

Wat Phra Kaeo Don Tao was built between 1782 and 1809, and dominates the old town area. It is maintained meticulously, and there is evidence of some continuing minor construction.

Throughout Thailand, the market is a focus of community activity, with many residents shopping daily for the ingredients for their lunch and dinner at home.  The food looks so good that we periodically gave in for quick snacks, despite taking most of our meals with the tour group in various restaurants specializing in the cuisine for each area. The vendors are always friendly, greeting us with smiles and welcoming our cameras.

People around old town are always fun to watch.  One thing we noted is that the traffic is fairly sparse in these remote cities.  Unfortunately, they still have very bad pollution due to their practice of burning the fields before planting season.  The weather app I use on my iPhone listed the air quality as “this is one of those days your doctor warned you about.  Don’t go outside!” ☹

We could easily have enjoyed spending more time in this charming city.

Other scenes from around town.  Statues are everywhere. The power distribution wiring is a rat’s nest (lower-left), as we find in many parts of Thailand.  As the sun began to set, some gorgeous reflections of the more elaborate colonial buildings began to glow along the calm river.

Just before the sun dropped below the horizon, the sky lit up briefly into fiery reds and yellows.

Now that we have left Bangkok, we will be spending the next two weeks exploring some off-the-beaten tracks of Northern Thailand. Places where few tourists travel, and where English is often not spoken — which is why we like having a bilingual guide with us to navigate the hotels, restaurants, markets and general interaction with the locals.

Our first stop is in Sukhothai, a rural city north of Bangkok. There was a morning market a couple blocks away from our hotel, so we headed there at 6:30AM to check it out. One of the scenes we saw repeated were Buddhist monks traveling from their temples to the markets at dawn, where they were offered food and alms by the local people.  Many vendors would put some of their food  in the monk’s pot, which would then be followed by the monk offering blessings in exchange.

This was primarily a food market, where locals would come and buy food to cook for meals that day. Fresh seafood, frogs, beef, pork, chicken and many types of fruits and vegetables were all available in abundance.

We particularly enjoy watching and interacting with the vendors at markets such as this. A quick smile and perhaps a pantomime action or two is usually all the communication needed.

The Sukhothai Historic Park was designated a UNESCO site in 2003. It contains ruins from the 13th and 14th centuries and consists of 193 ruins over an area of 70 square kilometers (28 square miles).

There are Buddhas at every turn, and in every size from 1 foot to 50 feet tall. We went here early in the morning and again for sunset, looking for some great light.

Each collection of Buddhas is actually a separate Wat (or temple) from the 13th and 14th centuries.  Wat Is Chum was built in the late 14th century, and includes a massive Buddha statue with peculiarly elongated fingers.  This statue stands 15 meters high (50 feet) and 11 meters wide (35 feet).