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Travelogue
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Thailand
Thailand page 5
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Thailand
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02/22/05
I
can hardly believe my own extravagance. I blame it on the full moon. Why
else would I splurge on such a luxurious dinner this evening at the best restaurant on
this side of Mae Sai, just for the hell of it? A large, garden-fresh green
salad with a delicious, unidentified dressing, garlic bread, rice, and a huge, delicious, fresh fish of a species
unfamiliar to me, charcoal broiled with herbs, the whole washed down over
a couple of hours with
2 liters of excellent Chang beer. For entertainment the restaurant's
television set was featuring a Harrison Ford action movie with Thai subtitles.
Ah, Thai heaven.
I spent more than I have for a single meal since
leaving New Zealand - ten dollars and change, an exorbitant amount here! -
and then left the flawless waiter a 25% tip just because he was so damned
good. Tipping is not customary in
Thailand, and while he has probably been tipped before by farangs -
this place does attract
many of the Western tourists in town - nevertheless he was so surprised by
my largesse that he stammered trying to thank me. A $13 night out in a country
where a laborer earns $3 or $4 a day. I suppose I should feel guilty, but in
fact I feel as fat & happy as a smiling Buddha.
Actually,
though, while I am generally happy I am not fat. Between the normally
light Thai meals I eat twice a day and the considerable exercise I get
walking as much as I do, plus a 30-minute stretching and calisthenics
routine I follow most mornings after meditating, I am presently in
excellent physical shape, trim and strong.
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Yesterday
I rented a Honda motorbike ($4 for 24 hours!) and toured some of the
region's mountain back
roads. Unfortunately, the ever present smog was even thicker than
usual so I
did not see or photograph the wonderful views my guidebook
promised along my route, eastward across the Mekong Valley to Laos
and westward just a mile or two to the hills of Burma. Still, I did see some
sights closer to the road, including a thousand-year-old Buddhist
temple high in the hills called Doi Tung, where visitors stroll
along a lane lined on both sides with a hundred ancient bronze bells, ringing each with a
stick as they pass it for good luck.
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Remember, you can click on any
photo to enlarge it.
 
That afternoon I drove along a mountain road that
paralleled the restless border with Burma. I had to pass through several
Thai military checkpoints with signage intended to soothe the tourists,
but which merely served to alert me to the fact that I was in rough
country. On this steep, winding rural road I did not see another vehicle
at all for many miles, making me wonder if I alone was naively passing
through troubled territory that others prudently avoided.
Later I drove out of the mountains, across the Mekong
Valley, and on to the
infamous Golden Triangle, which was once an opium smuggling crossroads and
is today a grotesquely tacky tourist trap. I couldn't even bring myself to
take a picture of it, so shamelessly has it been developed. One of the
most successful drug lords of the region, having discovered another
profitable addiction to peddle, has build a huge casino to milk the
tourist hordes. Hotels have sprung up and that stretch of the Mekong River
is lined with souvenir shops and fast food stands. Enormous, double-decker
tour busses roll in and disgorge their flatulent load to shop and snap
each other's photos beneath a gaudy sign that says Golden Triangle. It's so gross. I
couldn't believe I even went there.
On the plus side, along the way I passed some roadside
rice paddies, reminding me that I really am in Southeast Asia.
Finally, back in Mae Sai, I discovered a backyard statue carving
operation along the narrow lane leading to my bungalow on the river. I chuckled
at the convenient "shelf" one workman used for storing a power
tool (last photo).
Continued on Thailand
page 5
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