A semester in Southeast Asia: Northern Thailand, The Mekong, and Laos-- Part 1 of 2

After two weeks in the beaches and a busy week in Bangkok, it was time to head north to the mountainous northern region of Thailand and into Laos. I planned the trip with two friends, Matt and Andy, from the US and Germany. In all, it was a memorable experience completely different than any of the other trips I’ve taken. It had its ups and downs (when my camera was stolen), but the most amazing part to me was interacting with the people and noticing the differences in the communities from every region in Thailand and Southeast Asia at large. We left for the trip on November 4 and came back the 15^th, here’s a map of where we traveled and the areas that we stayed in:

We took the overnight bus from Bangkok that arrived in Chiang Rai early Friday morning. As we pulled into the small city, all of the people opening up the morning markets and street stalls were decked out in long pants, winter jackets, winter hats, and gloves. I couldn’t believe the temperature difference between here and Bangkok, we were definitely way up north! The nights and mornings were very cold up here, probably reaching around 50 degrees, whereas in Bangkok and further south it hardly gets below 75. We got off the bus and headed into town to grab some breakfast and find a guesthouse for the night. After dropping off our bags in the room, we decided to walk around Chiang Rai and get a feel for the small city. The first thing that I noticed was the deep cultural ties that the area had with Buddhism and Thailand from the past. There were hundreds of monks all throughout the streets, and everything seemed a bit more quiet and peaceful. When I say city, I don’t mean anything more than a bunch of small roads, markets, Wats, and buildings no higher than 5 stories high. It is just one of the only places way up in the northern region of Thailand that has a lot of people in one area rather than spread out in the countryside. One of the most fascinating places in the town that I saw was Wat Phra Kaeo, where many monks were huddled inside the temple. The story is that about 500 years ago, the temple was struck by lightning and part of it collapsed, revealing the Emerald Buddha. After a few more hours of checking out different wats and places of interest in the city, we decided it was time to venture out into the surrounding areas.

So, we found a local store that rented us motorbikes for $5 a day, and went off in search for the real northern Thailand lifestyle. After about 2 minutes on the motorbikes, I managed to get stuck behind a tuk-tuk driver and got separated from Andy and Matt. Without a cell phone or a plan of where to meet, the next half an hour was spent by us literally driving around the city chasing each other’s places, but never actually running into one- another. I gave up the search, and decided the journey for the day had to go on without them.

I crossed over the Mae Kok River and headed into a more remote region of Thailand. There was a long road that followed the river upstream further and further away from Chiang Rai, and my plan was to take the road up about 20 miles and then cross a bridge and return back to Chiang Rai on the opposite side. It was a really scenic route, with mostly rice paddies and corn fields lined up against the river’s edge and mountains in the background. It was also great to feel chilly enough to put on a sweatshirt and ride through the crisp air- there’s not much of that in Bangkok. About 15 miles into the journey, I found a small dirt road pointing me in the direction to a hill tribe. I parked the bike and started walking up into the mountains, until I was greeted by an old lady and a little boy just outside the hill tribe village.

Now, hill-tribe trekking in Thailand is a very controversial issue. Some people believe that tourism has destroyed the culture and actual lifestyles of the different hill-tribes in the northern region. There are many overnight stays in tribes that you can book through travel agencies in advance, and then go and spend a night with the community. Because the communities are able to make more money from the tourism, they begin to put on fake ceremonies and practices that appeal more to the tourist than the tribe itself. That being said, it is possible to do hill-tribe treks and live in the communities without harming the people. There are lots of reliable agencies, it’s just the ones that pack loads of people on a bus and bring them from village to village to take photos and buy souvenirs that are harming the tribes. The entire history of all the different hill tribes and how they began living in Thailand is really interesting- so if you ever have time, research some of it.

Anyways, I’m not sure if this was a popular visited hill tribe or not, but I got the vibe that a lot of the people had not seen a foreigner for a while. There was a group of five or six at the edge of the village looking down the road towards me. They didn’t seem mad I was there, just kind of surprised to see a white person walking down the road into the village. I started to slow down the walk and decided that maybe I wasn’t welcome, but an old lady and little boy started walking towards me from their small straw hut. There were about 20 of the huts in all- all perched up on a hill about a mile away from the riverside. It was all dirt roads and gravel around the huts, and then turned into green plants and grasses as the hillside began to slope downwards. The old lady approached me and began talking, and I could understand absolutely nothing. Many of the hill tribes have their own dialects of Thai, some even have a completely different language. I tried my best to use my body language and ask if I could walk around or if it was okay that I was here, and I took the smile as a possible yes. The little boy kept poking his head out from behind the lady, studying me, but every time I turned to look down at him, he would shy away and return behind her.

I started looking around at the huts and taking a few pictures of the village, and the lady then approached me again and directed me towards her hut, opening the door for me to peek inside. It was a one room area, with dirt floors, two mattresses and quilts, and a small Buddha shrine in the corner of the room lit with candles. She kept speaking in her language, pointing around the room with a smile, and I kept wishing I knew what she was saying. Although I’ll probably never be able to figure out anything she was telling me, I think I’ll always have the memory of her and the little boy as my first trek into a hill tribe. After looking around a bit more, I hiked back down the hill and continued the motorbike ride upriver. After another 5 miles or so, the road became much tougher and I was deep in the countryside. I kept passing men and women walking down the street who were walking back from the rice paddies and agricultural fields after a long day of work. One even managed to give a wave and shout “hello”, laughing with uncertainty about how well he pronounced it. I had gone about another 5 miles, this time veering off the river and further into the mountains, and started thinking that maybe I missed the bridge. Luckily, I ran into a Thai man passing the other way on motorbike, and I waved him down and made the hand gesture for a bridge. With a smile, he gave a wave and had me follow him back a few miles to a turn where I found the bridge: a swinging, dangling, 3 foot wide handmade wooden bridge. Luckily there were some railings, and I took the ride slow and crossed to the other side. I made it back to Chiang Rai by night time, and finally met up again with Matt and Andy in the guesthouse before dinner.

We spent the night walking around the town and went to the famous night bazaar for dinner. A lot of the local hill tribes sell their products in the markets, so it was nice to walk around and see some of the different things that each vendor was selling. We got to bed early for another long day of motor biking in the mountains ahead of us.

The next day we went about 100 miles total into a few different small towns and into the Golden Triangle of Thailand. The first part of the trip was through tons of pineapple fields, and along the roads were stall after stall of people selling the fresh pineapples. We had to stop and try some, and it was the sweetest pineapple I’ve ever eaten. After getting off the main road, we headed into Doi Mae Salong, an area of Thailand known for its tea plantations. The motorbike ride was incredible- going up and down these curvy roads in the mountains, and the views were spectacular. It looked like an entire different country. Finally we reached the town, which was just one main road perched high up in the mountains. We stopped for lunch at a small restaurant perched up on a hill with a great view of the tea plantations and countryside, and got to try some of the local teas that were grown right there. After lunch, we continued on through the mountains until reaching Doi Tung which is where the Royal Villa is located. The Royal mother of the King lived here for a few years a while back when she was performing a massive project to improve the lives of the villages in the area and help eliminate the opium trade in the golden triangle. We got to take a tour of the Royal Villa, the flower garden, and a museum about the family of the King and what they have done for the country of Thailand. Thailand has the longest standing monarchy in the world, and after going to the museum and reading about how much the family has done for its people, I can understand why the royal family is loved so much by the country.

We took a 5 AM bus the next morning from Chiang Rai to the border town of Chiang Khong, which was about 2 hours east and on the border of Thailand and Laos. After going through customs, we crossed the Mekong River by longtail boat and entered Laos for the first time.

Since my camera was stolen on one of the last days of the trip, I don't have any of my pictures, but I took some from my friends and also found a few online just to help give an idea of where I was traveling..