Friday, September 22, 2917 – Chiang Rai

Oh what a lovely breakfast buffet! - Thai food, European food, lots of fruit and cheese and meats and yogurt and even an omelet station.  I could so get used to having all my meals prepared and empty plate removed immediately and fresh coffee at my beck and call.  It is interesting, though, that the napkins in the really nice restaurants are all starched within an inch of their lives!  You could cut your self if you wipe your mouth!

After breakfast we hop on the bus for a short ride to the river, where we climb into four long-tail boats for a ride down the Kok River to visit some of the hill tribes.  We are in the northern part of Thailand, called Lanna, which didn’t used to be part of the country.  There are many different hill tribes, each with their own languages ana customs, and foods.  Because they live on the border between Thailand and Laos and Myanmar, there was a lot of trouble with drugs.  King Number Nine decided to extend Thai citizenship to them and bring them some of the modern conveniences that would afford.  They are all required to study Thai in school, so they are mostly bilingual and the young people are adopting modern ways, usually dressing in jeans and t-shirts unless the tourists are coming.

Along the way we notice that there is a lot of farming;  but the crops are planted in rows that run up and down the hillsides, instead of horizontally.  We see a few cows, many of which are brahmas, and the same disparity in housing that we have observed before.

 We arrive at a tiny market and then climb the hill to visit the Karan Tribe.  There is an old lady in traditional dress and there is so much silver on her costume that a tourist in a previous group offered her a staggering amount of Euros for it and she refused.  She will accept 20 baht for posing for pictures!  Her teeth are almost black from eating betel nuts and Rio tells us that the blacker the teeth, the more beautiful the woman!  King Number Nine outlawed the practice because of the deleterious health effects. 

The little pre-schoolers are just embarking on a field trip to visit a sick classmate, and the entire tour group is captivated by their energy and beauty.

Our bus picks us up and drives us to the Imperial Golden Triangle Resort.  Yes, THAT Golden Triangle.  From the terrace we can see Laos and Myanmar, across the Mekong River.  It’s a bit unnerving after growing up listening to the news about the bloodshed around the Mekong Delta.  There is a golden dome, which is in Laos and is a gambling casino, which offers extravagant package deals to entice the Thais to come and spend their money.  There are no casinos in Thailand.   We can also see a red-roofed building which is inMyanmar.  That’s how we can tell the countries apart. 

Lunch is another wonderful buffet with outstanding pad Thai and spring rolls, and many other offerings.  After lunch we all gather on the terrace for group photos and one of our techie guys pulls out his drone for overhead shots of us all.  We pray he doesn’t wander into another country’s airspace!

The bus takes us further into town, to the Opium Museum!  The history of the opium trade is explained and there are exhibits of open pipes and mats and pillows and water pipes.  But there are no samples in the gift shop.

Down the street there is an open-air shrine with an enormous gold Buddha and other statues and photo ops!

We return to our assembly point and have a little shopping time before boarding for our return to our lovely resort.  We will have some free time before dinner at six, and Rio offers some suggestions, in addition to the ever-popular shower and a nap!  There is a spa at the resort that features traditional Thai massage and you can either go to the spa or the girls can come to your room!  Previously Rio had taught us that “traditional Thai” meant an actual massage, where as “full-body massage” meant full contact between your bodies!

After dinner we could go to the Chiang Rai Night Bazaar, either by taxi or tuc-tuc.  It turns out that everyone wants to go to the market, so Rio arranges with our driver to take us and bring us back for an additional 60 bahts.  A taxi or tuc-tuc would have been one hundred bahts one-way!  We’re all in favor of that.  

Rio pursues the massage question and Ginger and I jump on that with both feet!  We opt for a four o’clock appointment in our room, as that should give us time to shower first.  I have never “glowed” so much in my life!  No one should have to be close to me as I am right now!

As we get closer, it appears that we’re a bit behind schedule and Rio calls and changes our appointment of 4:30.  We come screeching in the door at about five or four and are just starting to organize showers when there is a knock and our ladies arrive!!  We apologize and they say it’s all right.  They give us scrubs to slip into and heaven begins!  What a blissful hour.  I flop down on the bed face down and she begins on my feet and starts working up my legs.  When she can no long reach, she climbs on topf of me, with her shins on the back of calves.  She must weigh all of seventy-five pounds!  But oh my goodness what strength in those fingers!  There is a lot of pressure applied to acupressure points and the time just flies by.  Legs, back, shoulders, arms, neck, face – all receive attention.  Ginger and I think that Rio should call ahead to our next hotel and arrange another session when we arrive!!

We have a little time, so we try to catch up our blogs and appear promptly for dinner at six. Rio had moved the time to 6:30 so we go back upstairs to work a bit more.  Dinner is wonderful again, this time there is a suckling pig added to the offerings and our tablemates say we shouldn’t miss it!

At seven-thirty we all board the bus and when we arrive Rio shows us where the bus will meet us and walks us into the market, so we all have a starting place.  It is a “baby’ market, so our 9:30 end time should be perfect.  Ginger finds what she has been looking for, and I get a dangle that will be my Christmas ornament from this trip.  We’ve cruised it twice and decide to sit and watch the dancers.  Some of our group is here and we join them for a bottle of Singha beer.  After the dancers, there is a duo who play beautiful Spanish music, which touches Ginger, of course.  Back to the bus, the room, and bed!!  We have to have our bags out by six-thirty, check them being boarded on the bus at seven, and depart at seven-thirty.  If we want breakfast first, that means getting it together pretty darn early.  I try to export some photos to finish off the blog from the 21^st;  but I can’t keep my eyes open.  We’ll see what tomorrow brings!