24 hours in Sapa

Dec 17

We arrived around in Lao Cai 7:30 AM and took a van to Sapa, about an hour away. We encountered many scam artists in Lao Cai which seems to exist solely to pray on sleepy eyed tourists. We had been told that we should pay 60,000 dong ($3.00) for the van ride.(21,395 dong to $1. US; The best part is there are no coins in this currency.) We were swarmed as we got off the train by men yelling ' ride to Sapa, $15.00 US per person'. We persisted in searching for those $3 vans but they had colluded  and everyone of them said $15.00. As we walked away  for the fourth time, they said $10 per person.  We managed to get it down to $10 for the two of us, and we agreed. After we got loaded into the van they wanted another $5. It didn’t feel good but we were tired and just wanted to get to Sapa.so we paid it.

Mike, the guide we had met on the train had given us a name of a friend who could arrange a guide and car for the day. We walked to the hotel which was under construction and found Chung easily. It was quite cold in Sapa as it is at 5,000 ft. in elevation. The hotel where we met Chung was unheated. After discussing our plans we went to a restaurant for some breakfast and discovered this hotel/ restaurant was unheated. Dang it was cold. We had each worn a heavy wool sweater, socks and a light jacket. After breakfast we bought some warm polar fleece gloves which really helped.

Our guide Dan showed up and we were off walking through town to get to the Black Hmong village. As we got close there were many roadside stalls selling all manner of souvenirs, some authentic textiles and some cheap textiles from China. Once in the village there was less junk but still some. I stopped at one home where there was a display of some really nice textiles and bought a highly embroidered cloth belt made of indigo cotton. I asked the price and the woman said 700,000 (about $35). I asked if she would take 600,000 (bargaining is expected). She said 700,000 with assertion. I tried a third time and paid her asking price and commended her for her excellent bargaining skills. I found out that her mother had made the piece and asked if we could take her photo with the piece. Her mother was in traditional dress with beautiful silver jewelry. 

In all we walked mostly up for a little over 2 hours. Both of
us got winded and had to rest frequently due to the altitude. The government has provided schools for the children of the minority communities and helps them with economic development. Here, the economic development included a stone walkway throughout the entire path through this village. At one point the walkway was muddy and Dan walked Ron first on the narrow edge of the walkway holding Ron’s hand while Dan walked on the the other edge. He came back and did the same for me.

They also had trained locals in performance arts and they provided a brief show of dance in traditional costumes. One of the dances had them steppng in between pieces of bamboo that were being banged together by others. The villagers had crafted some traditional items that were brilliant ideas for marketing to tourists which were bedspreads made from the traditional textiles, They were quite attractive.

Sapa is a beautiful place located in the mountains with rice terraces everywhere. They have oneVietnam growing season whereas Hanoi has two and Saigon has three. There are 54 ethnic minorities in 

A van met us at the end of the walk and took us back to town where
we had lunch before meeting up with Dan and the van. The sun came out during the walk and helped immensely warming up the temps which had been in the mid 30’s I would guess. The restaurant was unheated however. I guess it is just too costly. There are throngs of street vendors in Sapa town area. Many travel in small groups. Very short women selling trinkets or textiles while wearing traditional dress. They spoke excellent English. I had a great time with fiv of them after lunch. They love to appeal to your guilt by saying 'please buy from me, I haven’t soled anything today'. When you say no they said 'maybe later'. So I say 'how about tomorrow, I won’t be here'. We all laughed. Then we talked about our children and shared a special exchange.. One of the women is from the Red Dao minority. She shaves her head and wears the red headdress which is typical. There seems to be no animosity among the different minorities. Most of the minorities marry quite early and have large families. All of these women except one were 18-34 years old with 1-4 children. One was a grandmother and in her 50’s.

Next Dan took us to the Red Dao village. This was an easier and shorter walk. This village is better off economically because of the land they own and there many ways of earning money: tourism, foraging in the forest for herbal medicines and growing medicinal herbs. They also have good rice farms. However when the tourism board built them a market place where they could sell their wares to tourists in their village they decided not to use it and instead descend on tourists as they alight from the tour buses. We have been warned so we didn’t speak to anyone who approached us and we didn’t make eye contact. Later on the walk I admired some needle work a woman was doing and she got up and started following me and asked where I was from. This is the typical way of engaging tourists. Later she invited us into her home which we always consider a privilege. Her husband was outside near the front of the house washing a motorcycle.

Her home was a large wooden structure. To the right of the front door was a concrete structure which was the toilet and bathing rooms. Inside the house was a dirt floor. The first room was large and her family members were sitting around a small fire built directly onto the floor. The front door was open I assume to let in light. There was  no lighting and it was dark so I went slowly waiting for my eyes to adjust. The walls were not insulated and at places you could see daylight. There was a loft where they stored food for animals according to Dan. The next room was divided into two rooms, one was hidden from our view but it was where the family slept. Our host has a couple of her adult married children living with her. There was a loft here as well where they stored rice for the family. Outside this room was a veggie garden. I am amazed at how many gardens we saw today as it is cold here and it is December but obviously they have a growing season during the winter. We went back through the house and she again asked me to buy something. I wanted to support her in some way as she had been very kind to us. She pulled out a sack filled with items she had made and I bought a beautiful little cloth bag that was heavily embroidered in blue threads. We were surprised at the number of satellite dishes in the village. It turns out they are free from the government and you have 20 channels to choose from. If you want 80 channels you pay about $5. a month.

We  dropped Dan off at the main road and he returned to Sapa and we headed down the mountain to Lao Cai to catch our train. Dan works 20-25 days a month then goes to see his wife and kids who live about 100 kilometers from Hanoi. When we got back to Lao Cai our driver was supposed to exchange our voucher for our train tickets and then take us to a hotel restaurant that Dan had recommended. Instead he drove up to a hotel near the station and a man was standing there, took our voucher and led us into his restaurant where we were told to wait. After a while we could see this was a racket. Most people felt trapped and ordered their dinner here. We didn’t like the feel of the bait and switch as it were so asked for our voucher. After a bit Ron retrieved it and we left. We went to the train station only to discover that the train station doesn’t give you tickets here. They said ‘outside’. We looked around outside and saw a window and walked up to it, 'no' we were told. This went on for a while with us trying several options, No one spoke English. We went back inside and asked at the window again. A tourist approached us and said to go outside that there were women with the tickets. At the same moment a uniformed man came over and told us to go with him. He led us around to three different women before we got resolution. I am sure there is a system but have no idea what it is. We grabbed dinner at what we thought was the recommended restaurant but is was very bland and neither of us finished it.

While waiting for the train a man opened an instrument case and proceeded to play some beautiful music on asian stringed instrument. Everyone applauded each time he finished playing a piece. It turned out he was one of our bunk mates but spoke no English. We turned in early and arrived in Hanoi around 5:00 a.m. We took a taxi to our hotel.

Hop-a-long to Halong (Bay)

Dec 15  Halong Bay

We got picked up by Hung who worked for a tour company and rode in a van with seven other people: a Chinese family from Malaysia (Koat, Wen Li and their four year old daughter Joy) and a couple who teach at an international school in Malaysia, Rebecca (British) and Jorge. (Costa Rican) and a couple from Israel. We were off to spend two days and one night on  The Carina, an all wood nine cabin boat in Halong Bay with its beautiful limestone karsts.  Hung told us there are two types of people in Vietnam: the rich and everyone else.  The countryside was beautiful. The road was congested with lots of tour buses going to Halong Bay. It started as four lanes but once out of Hanoi we were down to two lanes making for slow going. The entire four hour trip we saw small farms for  agriculture (rice, bananas, and veggies) cows, water buffalo, and family cemeteries in the fields.

It was chilly and cloudy the entire time but we had a wonderful
experience. rival at the terminal, we had to wait about a half hour before the tender boats took us to our ship.

Upon arrival we checked into our cabins and  then had our first of
the delicious meals.  After lunch on the boat, we got onto a smaller boat that was attached to the side of our boat and were taken to one of the 2,000 islands in the bay.  There is no natural sand in Halong Bay, but the island had a nice sandy beach.  All the sand was brought from some place else.  We climbed a gazillion steps to the top where we got a spectacular view of the bay. Joy, the four year old and I struck up a conversation and latched onto one another. She was pure delight!  

Back to the ship briefly for a short trip. then onto the smaller boat to
visit the Amazing Cave.  Damn, more steps as the cave was half way up a steep cliff. I hate steps as my back muscles tighten up as I climb. Again Joy and I walked hand and hand. We were fast becoming dear friends. As we left the cave, hanging over the cave exit we noted what looked like petrified legs and boots hang from the cliff side.

Back on the boat she entertained us with two songs she knew. We were amazed at her dramatic abilities. She kept us laughing. Her parents worried that she was a bother but we loved being with this little piece of sunshine.

We had a sunset party on the boat then dinner. We went to bed at 9:30 and slept like babies until 6:00.  Our meals were fabulous with food that was plentiful. For example one meal started with pumpkin soup, banana blossom salad, fried squid, barbeque pork ribs, rice, sweet and sour chicken and burned bananas with chocolate sauce and fresh coconut for dessert.

Dec 16
The water on the bay was quite calm so no motion sickness.

After pho for breakfast we got onto our little boat and headed for the floating village. We transferred to a bamboo boat that was rowed by a local around the village. Incredible. It was made of woven bamboo that had been tarred over on the outside to prevent leakage and had a wood frame around all the upper edges to prevent damage to the bamboo when you went up to another boat or dock. And oar locks?  Forget them.  All you need to do is tie them off to the thole pins (sticks of wood).  Here about 100 people live on small boats or houses that were built on the water. They are all very primitive and fresh water is brought to them on a regular basis. We saw one or two boats going around the village selling fresh produce as there is no land to grow anything. The limestone karsts shoot straight up out of the water.

And finally a parting with our new friends:

And a long Van ride back to Hanoi.

We got back to the hotel around 5:00, took a shower, had dinner around the corner in a little French café reminiscent of old Paris  then headed to the train station around 9:00. We were booked in a compartment with four beds: two up and two down. Unfortunately Ron was up and I was down. But one of our bunk mates was a professional guide heading to Sapa on a job. He was curious about the US and Obama and we talked until bedtime which was early, I think about 9:30. 

Not anoyed with Ha Noi

Dec 13 2014

We spent the night at Leslie’s after taking a private car to BKK. I got a manicure while Ron ran an errand. We had a great meal in the neighborhood with Leslie and then played Scrabble . I won for the second time in my life, I think.

Dec 14 Hanoi

We were up at 4:30 AM to catch a taxi to the airport. Arrived in Hanoi,Vietnam after a 90 minute flight. It was cloudy and chilly so we pulled out our jackets before leaving the airport. We went to the Old Quarter and checked into our hotel, The Hanoi Elite. It is a small hotel with 11 rooms and the BEST customer service ever. They have thought of every detail. The staff all speak excellent English and all are extremely well trained to ensure a pleasant stay. We have stayed in the Four Seasons and Sofitel hotels and never have we experienced anything like this place. We had free snacks and fresh fruit in our room, were given a map with a shopping route marked and a walking tour as well as recommended restaurants and which taxis to use as not all are reliable or honest. They even had a computer in the room for us to use. When we asked about how to buy train tickets to Sapa they took care of it and when it was time to go a staff member accompanied us to exchange the voucher for the tickets and walked us to our train car.

We took the walking tour for 2.5 hours, had the classic pho ( rice
noodle soup with pork, beef or chicken, pronounced “fuh”) for lunch. Today is Sunday and the streets of this area are thronged with people, thousands of motorcycles, bikes and cars, all jockeying for space. Forget sidewalks as shops’ merchandise spills out into the street and the small eateries use the sidewalks for their wee 12 inch high plastic stools and tables that are about 3-4 inches higher. Sometimes in the alleys, the food stall is on one side of the alley and the tables on the opposite side. Every nook and cranny is utilized here. Early mornings the tables are full of people in their winter jackets slurping steaming bowls of pho.

Vendor are in shops, have carts, sell from bicycles, walking along carrying their wares, etc. We met one woman scam artist. Most street vendors are women who either walk or use bicycles to peddle their wares. We learnd that you can carry most anything on a bicycle, if you're creative enough.

The traditional conical bamboo hat is everywhere as is the shoulder carrier
with 2 baskets hanging low from each end of the stick. This woman approached me, put her hat on my head quickly and then lifted her shoulder carrier onto my shoulder. I was shocked at the weight of it. Ron took my picture; then she asked us to buy her fresh, sliced pineapple ( 2 pieces) which she quickly put into a bag and handed me. She then asked for 50,000 dong, the local currency (about $2.50). We said no, that was too expensive and gave her the pineapple back. She kept passing it back to us and asking for her money. We were persistence and a policeman approached her and she backed off immediately. Apparently there is a tourism police force here and we were grateful. Later in the day I saw the same action from another vendor with another unsuspecting tourist.

Ron did some work in Hanoi three years ago and said there are a lot more cars here now. That is amazing as there is a 200% tax on imported vehicles (cars and motorcycles). That means a $20,000 car would cost $60,000 here. I saw one Mercedes, one Porche on the street and one Rolls Royce in a showroom. OY! There are seven million people in Hanoi and four million motorcycles.

I fell in love with the chaos that is here. Everywhere we went today there were waves of people, a din

of noise (they use their horns all the time; not blasts so much as light warnings), there was an assault on the olfactory senses with all the street food. The scene was pure Asia. We peered into a couple of the large vats and were somewhat put off by what looked like floating scum on top of the broth. Hanoi has seven million residents in a small space and you really feel it in the Old Quarter.

Crossing the street is a learned art: you make eye contact with the drivers and just start threading your way across the street, don’t run or stop as the drivers anticipate your pace. It is amazing how they dart around us and how close they come. It is fun and scary as hell. One area of the Old Quarter is called 36 streets; here each street sold a particular product so there is shoe street, jewelry street, luggage, carved wood, toys, sewing thread/notions, etc. We were approached no fewer than 20 times by men who offer their bicycle rickshaw services for ‘cheap’. We politely declined. Twice men approached Ron and pointed to his athletic shoe and offered to glue a bit of material that was loose. These guys are shoe repair businesses on the move, carrying a small basket with thread, needle, new soles, and glue.

We visited the Ngoc Son Temple on Hoan Kiem Lake near the Old ^th century. We also visited a traditional house that was built in the late 19^th century and restored in 1999 with the financial help of one of the Scandinavian countries which I have since forgotten.
Quarter. We were surprised to see the temple was very Chinese in character. We later discovered that the Chinese dominated Vietnam for 1,000 years (about 1000 years ago). That explains a lot! Like the fact that the Vietnamese eat dogs and cats but not their pets. We also learned that the Vietnamese language is based on Chinese, but they abandoned kanji and adopted roman letters around the beginning of the 20

After dinner we went to a water puppet show which was great fun. The puppets are floating in the water manipulated by artists who stand behind a screen in the water. Some puppets were people in boats, some were water dragons or fish that jumped in and out of water. It was very entertaining. There were live singers and music played on traditional Vietnamese instruments.


We visited an ancient temple that was almost 1000 years old and an
old shop house that had been restored

The architecture here is different from Thailand. Because property taxes are based on frontage the stucco houses are narrow and usually 3-5 stories high. They are a bit more varied and attractive than the traditional shop houses in Thailand. Almost all homes in both countries have a business on the ground floor with multiple generations of one family living above the business.

The king has a birthday, we become tourists, and some hard work

Dec 5 2014

Today is the 87^th birthday of the King of Thailand. He has ruled since 1946 and is the longest ruling living monarch. He is also the wealthiest. The Thai people love the king and revere him. Photos of the king are everywhere: on all government buildings, in shops, in people’s homes and along the roadside. It is against the law to criticize him or anyone in the royal family. Occasionally in the US, we read about a tourist who makes some negative comment and lands in jail. It is a serious offense.

All over the country celebrations are held on this special day. WePair and Timm. It was our first attendance at the kings birthday celebration. Everyone wears yellow shirts on the king’s birthday. We each had shirts from a previous visit. They had been gifts as neither of us ever wear yellow. We ate an early dinner and then went over to Pair’s house. We could walk to the stage area which was only a few blocks away. The stage had a large photo of the king and was draped with yellow bunting. There were presentations of flowers from each of the 17 villages in the province. These were brought to the stage by local officials and placed along the back of the stage on a table.

There were some traditional dancers in costume on the stage. Later, a dignitary gave a short prayer and lit a huge candle. Each attendee had been given a candle in a holder with a protective plastic ‘vase’ shaped like a lotus blossom.  Everyone helped their neighbor light their candle from the one they had lit. There was a prayer and several songs with audience participation.

Pair and her mother Timm

There was a sea of yellow shirts and candles. We estimated that over 500 people attended. We were glad to be invited and experience yet another cultural event in Thailand.





Some time in the late 30’s Siam became Thailand when it became a democracy.  The new name means land of the free. Recently, there was unrest  in Thailand and a military coup occurred earlier this year and the military is still in power awaiting elections.


 Dec 7

Ron’s work clothes are up at the big house being washed so can’t finish his painting project. He is a wee bit bored. So today we decided to be tourists and visit a floating market about an hour from our house. We were proud that we didn’t  miss any of the turns as sometimes signage is lacking.

We went to the Amphara floating market. Floating markets consist of vendors who use their small boats to sell their food and other products along the banks of a canal. There are many in of these inheThailand. At this market most of the food was prepared meals as opposed to fresh fruits or veggies. Seafood dominated.  We weren’t the only attendees. The place was crowded with Thais who come here for their mid day meal. All along the canal are shops selling more food and tourist trinkets, t-shirts, cell phone covers, etc.





We walked most of the length of the canal on both sides. They were hawkers trying to generate interest in boat rides but we passed. Many others took the trip. It is amazing how easily the vendors set up their boat to be able to cook on the boat. Charcoal seemed to be the popular option for barbequing. Ron took lots of photos and we popped into an art gallery and read a bio on one of the artists who had shown his work in Portland OR! Small world indeed. Afterwards we walked into an open garden like area and ate curry with chicken and fried rice for our lunch.

On the way home we explored a large grocery store that is near our town. Lo and behold they had Danish blue cheese and brie! I also found raw almonds which is one of my best snacks. We didn’t buy the brie but did get the blue cheese, some pasta and the almonds. None of these are available in our town and we usually have to get them in BKK or Hua Hin. More discoveries.

Dec 8

We drove to Hua Hin to see Bill and Kay who are there for a few days. We discovered a new restaurant that had been recommended by Kay’s banker friend. Yum! Crab curry, one of my favorite dishes, fried fish with fried garlic (Ron’s fave), green papaya salad (Kay’s fave) and fried squid (Bill’s fave). YUM, yum, yum! We were right on the beach which was dotted with farangs (foreigners) in skimpy bathing suits and large bellies. I would guess they are Europeans. Afterwards Ron and I ran errands and then got massages before coming home. We ate ham sandwiches for dinner after our big lunch. It was a treat to eat light.

We now frequent the Pagoda coffee shop three or four times a week. It is staffed by young Thais (let’s face it-at our age everyone is young unless they are our friends! HA!). One of the young women always calls out as we are leaving ‘I love you’. I blow her a kiss from the doorway. Life is good here in Thailand.

Dec 10

Last night Ron and I were in the family tool storage room up at the big house. There is an out building with four large rooms: a kitchen (kitchens are usually outside or a separate building due to the heat in tropical countries), a room used to hold recyclable materials, the ‘tool’ room, and a room used by Nit on the weekends when he is here overnight from BKK. Ron uses the tool room when he paints. The room has been a total jumble of electrical wires, about 20 empty large and extra large plastic containers, hand tools, garden tools, paint cans…you name it. You could hardly move in there as everything was thrown on some limited shelving in no particular order or on the floor where you could hardly move around the stuff. It had not been organized or cleaned in years if not decades. Ron had been looking at some additional shelving downtown on our walks. I suggested that we make a gift to the family before we left in January.

While we were up at the house, Ron called Tumm over to the room. Tumm and Timm are here almost nightly due to Pa Cha An’s health. Ron suggested using an old door to make another shelf on the existing shelving. Tumm liked the idea and said ‘tomorrow at 4:00’.  

The next day was apparently a holiday today as Hope wasn’t in school and Timm and Tumm weren’t at work and Tui was here from BKK. Around  10:00 we were going to go to town but saw that Tumm was here already working on the tool room, so we walked back to our house and changed into work clothes. Ron and Tumm cut up the old door and used it for the new shelves. They also mounted a cabinet on the wall by adding L brackets; drilling through the concrete to affix it to the walls. Lastly they mounted a board on the wall from which tools could hang. The entire day was spent with Tumm, Ron and me ( and we were later joined by Timm and Noy) to take almost everything out of the room, sort it into piles of alike items such as electrical, plumbing, throw away, etc. We swept out the room and organized the shelves.

Timm arrived around noon and had lunch for all of us: khao mon gai and bbq chicken wings. It was delicious. After lunch we had Tui call the man who makes shelving whom we had met downtown on our walks. We asked for a quote and Tumm got so excited he asked for a quote for shelving in the recycle room which is filled to the gunnels with every manner of material: glass, tin, plastic, paper and who knows what else. We gave the shelf maker a 50% deposit and ordered the shelving. The family will pay for the recycle room and we paid for the tool room. Tui was so touched. Her father had some wonderful old wood working tools that have been stored in the room. Her dream was to have the room organized. Ron said the woodworking tools are valuable because they don’t make them like that anymore and they are wonderfully preserved. All of us were excited about the progress and how the room will function once the shelving arrives in 4-7 days. We went back to the house and Ron took his third shower of the day: one after painting this morning, one after lunch when he was covered in saw dust from cutting the door up and another one at the end of the day around 6:00. We went into the bedroom and turned on the AC while we checked our email. We had nothing to eat in the house so planned to go to town and get some take away pad Thai. When I left the bedroom I spied dinner on our table. Ae had gone to pick up two great noodles dishes and soup that Tui had paid for in appreciation for what we had initiated and had done for the family. We were thrilled with the delicious meal and that we didn’t have  to go out. It was a good day here in Thailand.

Simple Pleasures, an Anniversary and Camping in a National Park

Nov 30 2014 - Simple Pleasures

Today is our 29^th anniversary. I don’t know how many anniversaries have been celebrated in foreign countries but there have been a number of them. How lucky we are!

Today was filled with simple pleasures. After running an errand this morning to resolve a cell phone issue, we picked up some fresh fruit at our fruit stand then came home. This afternoon we went up to the big house to visit with Pa Cha An, the matriarch who is still bedridden from her fall and subsequent broken leg. She is 90 and her recovery seems to be going very slowly. Ron helped Timm and Tui, two of her daughters, to move her to an upright position to the side of the bed then to a standing position using a walker so she could put some weight on her legs. I could tell the whole process was painful for her. Then we rolled her hospital bed outside to the breezeway which is usually the coolest spot on the property but it was so hot today that after about 10 minutes she wanted to go back inside to her bedroom with the AC. Pa Cha An is blind now so when Ron holds her hand she always feels around for the hair on his arm. Ron is quite hairy and Thais have very little if any body hair. So it is always a joke when she does it with Ron saying “King Kong!”

Afterwards, Hope came to our house. He is seven and Pa Cha An;s great-grandson. He and Ron have become good friends. Our latest activity is we are helping Hope to expand on the English he is learning in school (and we are learning more Thai). He is a very bright kid. Ron taught Hope to play gin (the card game) today. I helped Hope but he didn’t fully understand the rules. Still he won as many games if not more than Ron. Ron says it's beginner's luck.

Being our anniversary, we decided to try a new restaurant. I think I mentioned we got a brochure that features various restaurants in town. Most have been in business for at least two generations. The restaurants in Phetchaburi and much of Thailand for that matter are quite different from ours. Most are open air with simple furnishings: wooden or plastic tables and chairs, plastic tablecloths if there are any, silverware or chopsticks on the table in a container of some sort. Tonight was no exception. We sat down at a table and it took awhile before we were able to identify the staff. No one ever came to the table to take an order. After about 10 minutes two bowls of food were delivered. We clarified that we wanted one of each of the two dishes served at this restaurant so they took one back. I had phat Thai as it is called here (Phad Thai). The serving was about 1/3 of the size served in the US. It included pork, fried pork rinds and tiny dried shrimp. The cost of our two meals was… $2.00 by far the least expensive anniversary meal to date but typical for meals in these type of restaurants!

I think people sometimes imagine our lives abroad as being very exotic but today was a good example of how simple pleasures can fill the day just like at home.

Dec 2

There is a popular breakfast item here called khao mon gai (pronounced almost as cow mon  guy). It translates as rice (khao) with chicken (gai). It is a favorite of ours. Every time we leave the property we pass by a hard scrabble farm that has cows and chickens. The road is quite narrow, barely one car width. Almost every time we go by, there are chickens in the road and on the side of the road. They are tall and skinny with little meat on their bones. Today as we were leaving one of the chickens was slow to get out of our way. Ron, who loves a good pun, said  ‘car mon gai’  not as though he would run over the chicken.

Dec 4

Yesterday we left around 1:00 to go ‘cabin camping’ in the Kaeng Krachan National Park, about three hours from here. Tumm drove and Pair, his college age daughter joined us as she speaks excellent English. Along the way we were joined by a coworker of Tumm’s and two women. We passed many rice farms and were surprised to see heavy equipment harvesting rice. In the north we had witnessed rice being harvested by hand. Almost the entire time we saw a beautiful mountain range on the horizon which was where we were headed. The mountains separate Thailand from Myanmar (Burma) in this narrow part of Thailand. We passed the Kaeng Krachan reservoir which was built to control flooding and provide irrigation water for farmers. It is huge! Upon entering the park we forded three small streams. The road had been paved at some point but now only fragments of the pavement remain.  It was rough going. We climbed the whole way. I don’t know what our altitude was but it was considerably cooler in the park.

We rented a cabin with three bedrooms and no furniture. Each
bedroom had three very hard mattresses on the floor, the hardest I have ever slept on as a matter of fact. There were two bathrooms and ours was in our room which was great. Our bathroom consisted of a toilet, and a very large water reservoir (like a plastic trash can) which you used to dip out pans of water in order to flush the commode. No sink and no shower. There was a floor drain which there always is so we could wash our hands but it was a little awkward since we needed to dip out a pan of water, wet our hands, soap up… …you get the picture. But hey, that’s why it is called camping!

After unloading the trucks, we drove to a nearby scenic spot where we got great views of the park. Thousands of acres of jungle/forest which contain wild elephants, monkeys, tapir, guar, and thousands of birds. Ron captured a photo of a Ratchet Tailed Treepie bird. It was cool and overcast when we arrived.

After taking photos and relaxing in the view area we headed back to the cabin. Tumm’s friends had Pair was quiet as well but the mood was upbeat and friendly. One of the women brought out a big bag of snacks at the end of the meal which made us all laugh. It contained peanuts in the shell, some of nuts were not familiar to us (we didn’t eat any of the snacks since we had just eaten dinner), a potato snack (not quite chips) and I didn’t see the fourth one.
bought dinner for all seven of us. We spread out a tarp in front of the cabin and all of us sat on the tarp along with a wonderful spread: Thai style beef and pork jerky, slightly sweet and not as dry as ours usually is, fish curry, sticky rice and regular rice along with two sauces. Some drank bottled Thai wine coolers and the rest of us had water. Lively conversation happened throughout the meal and afterward, although Ron and I understood nothing. 

We had no electricity, but we had brought flashlights, Tumm provided us with a small battery powered lantern for our room and others had brought candles for outside. We ate early and as we were finishing dinner it was growing dark. It gets dark between 6:00-6:30 here. The bugs/insects started their chorus in the jungle and it was unbelievably loud and there were so many different sounds. But Ron and I also started getting bitten by unseen bugs so retired to the cabin. Since there was no furniture we read in our room until bedtime which ended up being around 9:00.

We woke up at 5:00 and were ready to go at 6:00 as we had agreed the night before. We drove to a nearby scenic spot which was spectacular with the morning mist layered between the mountain ridges. We all took photos until the fog rolled in and totally obliterated our view of the scene.

We drove over to the concession that was serving breakfast. Coffee was instant so we passed on it but the omelet with pork and rice was delicious. It was drizzling out but we were able to get one end of a table under the awning. We were surprised how many people were there although the majority were men.

We went back to the cabin and loaded up the truck. We discovered we couldn’t leave until 9:00 because the road is narrow and only one car will fit. So cars entering the park had the road from 8-9 and those leaving from 9-10. We sat in a shelter as the rain was really coming down and waited for 40 minutes. We had retrieved our luggage back the back of the truck and kept it with us so it didn’t get wet. The ride home was without incident and in good time of three hours. We unpacked, showered and ate leftover spaghetti before heading out for a much needed Americano.  Life is tough here, we know!