Andy Chatman’s Thailand Adventure

I beat my alarm and woke up at 4:15, already packed for my early morning flight to Chang Mai, almost as far north as you can get in Thailand (near the Burmese and Laotion borders). A short flight later I found myself looking for my ride to the hotel. I’ve made a bad habit this trip of having too little information when I need it, and in this case I had no idea what hotel I was staying at, or who was picking me up.

Over the last few days, I’ve heard Lek on the phone speaking Thai, and every once in a while I heard my name. I’d ask her what it was about and all she’d say was the she was calling some people she knew in Chang Mai.

After about 20 minutes and several phone calls I finally met up with my ride, and saw the the van was property of the Dusit D2 hotel. So while we drove, I looked it up in my travel guide. It was going to be a very nice hotel stay. It seems that Lek’s old friend owns the hotel. Lek arranged for me to have a room. It’s spectacular.

Unfortunately I only had 45 minutes to enjoy it before meeting my guide, Marut, in the lobby (another piece of Lek’s planning — Marut was an old family friend of Lek’s). The plan was for Marut to spend a couple days with me and show me around Chang Mai. But he told me he couldn’t spend today with me due to work responsibilities, and said instead that he was leaving me with the driver, Mr. T. Normally I would instantly think that such a name was a takeoff on the real star, but in this case it seemed in the realm of possibility that the real Mr. T. was a van driver in Chang Mai. To my momentary dismay I discovered that I was spending my day with Mr. Tee, a gentleman who spoke zero English. 5 minutes with him and we were on the same page. I did have to come up with some interesting hand gestures for items such as “I need to go to the bathroom” but ultimately we got past the language barrier.

Marut had planned out my day, so off I went with Mr. Tee to the Maetaman Elephant Camp, about one hour outside Chang Mai. The plan was to take an elephant ride, then an oxen ride, have lunch, watch a show (elephant tricks) and end with a bamboo raft tour down the river. With the exception of the oxen ride, the day was an absolute blast. Elephants are somehow the ugliest and the cutest of animals both at the same time! These are huge animals, but they have no problem negotiating narrow turns with rocks and ruts peppering steep inclines and declines. At one point my elephant driver pulled over, put me on the neck of the beast, and took photos of me. I’m not quite sure how I felt about the elephant show — an elephant kicking a soccer ball just doesn’t seem natural.

Now I’m not an expert on elephants, but I do know that my elephant was the best elephant that ever was. His name was Be Po, but if you went by the comments of everyone we passed along the route, you’d call him Ferrari. He was incredibly fast. At points we were overtaking a dozen other elephants in incredibly narrow paths within minutes.

The raft ride, with two Thai drivers fore and aft, had a hint of Heart of Darkness. The river cuts right through the jungle. There is animal life everywhere creating “expected” sounds.

After the elephant camp we headed back, but stopped at an umbrella factory. The talent of the ladies and men creating umbrellas, scarves, etc. was impressive. I handed one woman my wallet and she painted a dragon on it within 2 minutes. I gave her 3 dollars for the effort and she was really very happy. I hope the design lasts until I get home.

When we returned to the hotel there was time for a quick workout and shower, then I was off to the Chang Mai Cultural Center for dinner and a display of traditional Thai/Chang Mai dance. To my pleasant surprise Marut showed up, and I enjoyed his company for several hours. He’s a very interesting guy. He looks 33, but in fact is half a year older than me. He is married with 3 girls. When I asked if he would still try for a boy, he replied “every night.” He is the Administrator for a technical school for over 500 people. I didn’t take my camera to the dancing, I just wanted to relax and enjoy it.

This very long day has left me exhausted and ready for bed. I have an early morning — Mr. Tee is taking me to the tallest mountain in Thailand for a climb, and afterwards I will meet up with Marut.

Some of the people my speedy elephant passed!!!

Taming the beast!

Lie down. Play dead.

Ronoldo!

Mr. Tee

The horror! The horror!

The art of umbrella making

OK, so I didn’t climb a mountain today, we drove up. But I did do a fair amount of hiking while I was up there.

We got an early start today for the 90 minute drive to Doi Inthanon National Park. Mr. Tee brought along his nephew Tom, as it turned out for two reasons: first, he could speak a little bit of English (that made my day much easier) and second, he is young and was able to hike to all the scenic spots with me.

The drive is highway until you reach the town of Chom Thong and make the turn toward the park. The only thing notable about this small town is its large Wat (temple). Unless this town is Disneyland and they do it every day, we chanced upon a very large parade which seemed to include just about everyone in town. We watched for about 10 minutes, then continued toward the park.

The park is named for Mount Inthanon, the highest point in Thailand. The park itself is huge, and it took us about 45 minutes from Chom Thong to make our way to and up the mountain. Hill tribes work on Government projects growing strawberries and flowers, and the land is peppered with white shades to protect the crops. We drove directly to the top of the mountain, saving some other scenic stops for the way out.

There’s not too much to the top of the mountain, and in fact the view from up there is blocked. There is a government radar installation, a gift shop, and a “highest point” marker, along with a structure paying tribute to King Inthanon for whom the mountain is named. After walking around, I came across something that will interest my astronomy friends — there is a small domed observatory containing a 14″ scope, which is the highest telescope in Thailand.

After leaving the summit, we stopped to see the twin Chedis, specially constructed towers paying tribute to the King and Queen. These structures are modern, and amazing in scope. They are religious sites so no photographs can be taken inside. The view from here is amazing, and even though it was somewhat cloudy and humid, we could still see the higher peaks in  neighboring Burma.

From the Chedis, we went to the magnificent Sirithan Falls, did some more hiking and took more photos.

On the way out of the park we bought some of the homegrown strawberries, not as sweet as what I’m used to but a good snack. Mr. Tee and Tom took me back to Chang Mai, where we had a quick lunch, then I met Marut who had arranged for me to have a 2 hour massage. It was of course amazing, and a great way to end the afternoon. I’m meeting Marut for dinner, then we’re hitting the town. Tomorrow I leave for the Flight of the Gibbon zip line tour early, and tomorrow night I head back to Bangkok.

Parade in Chom Thong

I made some friends on Doi Inthanon

Oficially on top of Thailand

The highest telescope in Thailand

Chedi commemorating the Queen

Like all religious structures in Thailand, even the outsides are ornately detailed

The mountains of Burma

The obligatory waterfall shot -- Sirithan Falls

I’ve been looking forward to this day for months! I wasn’t let down at all.

Flight of the Gibbon Tours picked me up at the hotel at 8:15am after I had just finished breakfast trying to get rid of a red wine hangover. We made two more stops, first picking up Annika and her daughter Petra, Swedish but living in Thailand for 3 years while Annika’s husband works for the Swedish Embassy, and next Stacy and Paul from Manchester, England who are on vacation. 50 minutes later after a very bumpy ride (not good for the hangover) we arrived at the facility in the middle of the jungle. Driving through the jungle is quite an experience, narrow and very curvy roads, huts all over the place, and animals crossing the road wherever they want.

Flight of the Gibbon is a very safe operation. The harnesses we used were checked and double checked, helmets were fitted, and we were on our way. There are 18 platforms at varying levels built into the trees, and lines strung between. There were a couple of bridges, and 3 straight down drops to platforms underneath. Safety on the platforms was always the first thought, and there was never a moment that both my main clip and backup clip weren’t connected to something. The highest platform was 120 meters from the jungle floor, and the longest zip line was 100 meters long.

We had 2 guides: Serious Sam and North. One would zip to the next platform to catch us, and the other would stay and send us off. They were also happy to take photos of us mid flight. These are very funny guys, they kept us laughing while never sacrificing safety.

A few of the zips required us to use a bamboo v-shaped brake to slow our approach to the next platform. We were encouraged to fly free form, arms spread. They had me take the final descent straight down head first — that was a trip.

We heard gibbons and a lot of birds, but didn’t see any. The jungle is an incredible environment, and photos cannot do justice to the depth. Under the tree canopy the temperature was very comfortable. It was definitely a good idea to wear jeans and to spray my arms to keep the mosquitos away.

After the zip lines, we had lunch and then were taken for a short hike up a waterfall. Good exercise and very beautiful there.

At the last minute I decided not to take my regular camera, instead taking my digital elph. That turned out to be a good idea, I don’t know that I would have been able to manage with the larger one. The tradeoff is photo quality, but that’s ok.

I’m back at the hotel, and although I had to check out earlier I’m hanging out in the lobby for a few hours until I leave for the airport. Back to Bangkok tonight, then on to the next adventure tomorrow!!

VIDEO — Zip lining at 120 meters!

Racing North -- I have good position

11 year old Petra, a real cutie

Stacy and Paul

I found this photo of Sam on my camera. This is a Seinfeld moment -- it's what happened to George Costanza at the photo store.

This gives you some idea of height, but doesn't do it justice

Front: Sam, Petra, North. Back: Stacy, Paul, Annika, Me

We got back to Bangkok this afternoon and I spent time in Mike’s shop while they were working on the plane. We came up and had a nice quiet dinner with Lek — more great and interesting food! Lek’s mother showed up in time for dessert. Lek brought in a gift that was left here for me this weekend from Claire and Jeep Chatikavanij. I spent several evenings with them during my stay, they are close friends of Lek and Mike, and they are wonderfully nice and interesting people. Earlier in my stay I had told them of my upcoming adventure in Chang Mai, and in fact they were also going to be in Chang Mai just before me. The gift is a beautiful painting from Claire’s gallery by a Chang Mai artist, and it depicts the spirit of Chang Mai wonderfully. Those who visit my home will be able to see this work of art. I’m humbled by their generosity.

I made plans for my personal tour guide Princess Holly to take me with her to a talk by a famous Buddhist monk/author originally from England, ordained in Thailand and now living in Australia. I hope it’s not in Thai, but if it is, I’ll manage. Holly has read some of his books and apparently he is quite famous in this part of the world. After that, not sure what we’ll do, we’ll play it by ear.

So after dinner I decided to do some packing in case I’m out most of the day tomorrow. Just as I started, the lights went out, not just in our building but in our entire section of the grid. Turns out there was a fire not too far away, and the power was turned off to prevent a short circuit with all the water required. Power is back on now after about an hour.

Mike and Lek leave for Bahrain in the morning so I’ll get up early to say goodbye. I’m not sure how I’ll be able to thank them for their hospitality and generosity the last few weeks.