THE LUNGS OF THAILAND
Greetings friends! We have now been hanging out in Chiang Mai, Thailand for a week as the “Golden Triangle” spit us out earlier than we expected and our first-class sleeper train to Bangkok is on Friday night. By the way, I must elaborate on my distinction between “travelling” and “hanging out”. People who are “hanging out” do not fret at missing some of the standard tourist sights in lieu of say…..Bowling!
COSMIC BOWLING IN CHIANG MAI – OH YEAH
Sure, many people on Holiday or travelling think they are doing what they want to do, but the obligation to see “important things” on a short trip often pulls people into museums, tours, and to bizarre rock formations that really are not that interesting. We have seen about 50 Wats (Budhist temples) to date in Thailand and Laos and don’t really feel the need to see another of the 120 in Chiang Mai, although we have still managed to see dozens while cycling and couldn’t resist looking at some of the artwork in one of the more famous Wats in the city from the 15th Century. One thing we share is an interest in the history of the people, and this information is often missing from many of the tourist sites other than a few of the good ethnographic or cultural museums around. And we all know by now that finding things on your own is 10 times more rewarding than being told what to look at or interpret.
Some of this relaxed state is definitely a bit of travel burnout, but in our case, it has manifested itself as attempt to return to our “normal” lives back home by making some of our meals (we have a fridge and hot pot in our room), cycling a lot, reading, seeing movies, and even shopping at the insanely extensive night markets here. (We are going to ship some things home from Bangkok!). We have even discovered the wonderful world of SE Asian malls, complete with karaoke rooms, bowling alleys, movie theaters, and really good food courts (15 stations of various home made Thai and other Asian foods!)
LOVE THE MALL FOOD COURT
Believe it or not, we went to 3 Hollywood movies in 5 days at the nearby mall , but now have exhausted the supply of even marginally decent Hollywood fare being shown in English. This is a record for us by the way. I have even been thinking a lot about my return to the workforce again, which was inspired by a few recent career related email correspondences. Strange.
We ended up getting out of the “Golden Triangle” near Burma a bit early due to boredom and a lack of good outdoor activities. We loved the hilly countryside around Chiang Rai (not Mai), but the mountain town of Mae Salong was past its charming prime and the day trekking we found was somewhat unpleasant and unrewarding on foot, although we did pass through some very interesting old villages. Lonely Planet is amazing how they can write 3 pages on a place (Mae Salong) and never really tell you that it is really a dull, spread out cultural mish-mash laid out on a single road in the mountains that is terrible to walk and way too hilly to cycle. I am over Lonely Planet, by the way. (I have said this 10 times so far on our trip…but this time I mean it! Really.)
SO TRUE…..SO VERY TRUE
Chiang Mai is one of the big tourist destinations in Northern Thailand (Hah!, so we are following the masses after all) and the second largest city, although way, way behind Bangkok at a mere 200,000 people or so. My first impression of Chiang Mai was that it is a bit overrun with both tourists and traffic as the booming Thai economy is clearly starting to diminish the quality of life in many places in Thailand. The air in downtown is filled with the fumes of tuk-tuks, scooters, and the now thousands of LARGE cars that ply the streets of the historic city. The wealthier Thais seemed to have graduated from the scooter directly to full-size pick-up trucks and SUVS. No need to have the small sensible sedan in between. There is almost NO public transit except the thousands of pick-up truck mini-buses that clog every nook and cranny of the city belching noxious diesel clouds while plying for passengers on somewhat random movements somewhere between a bus and a taxi.
We have found nice new city tire and light equipped Trek mountain bikes to rent (Cacti bikes) and have had some pleasant riding in the disappearing countryside surrounding the city. The core city itself is one of the worst places I have ever tried to ride a bike with the nuevo-motorized masses of the city filling just about every inch of roadway. Don’t get me wrong…any adventure on bikes is great, included vaulting through rush hour ring road traffic, but “pleasant” it is not. But it beats dealing with the tuk-tuks, and taxi mafia whom have apparently managed to kill most attempts at public transit here.
To escape the flat city, I naively set out last Saturday morning at 7 am to ride up the 3000+-ft mountain just west of the city called Doi Suthep, which also contains a huge temple and a bunch of inappropriate development in a large national park. I believe this was only second to my famous “jogging in the Atacama Desert” attempt of 1995 in the archives of permanent damage I may have done to my body in the name of “exercise”. But as always, I rode on.
What I didn’t realize (or read) is that it seems that going to the temple at Doi Suthep/Doi Pui is the #1 activity for the locals on the weekends (not sure about the weekdays) and that they get an early start. (One web site said don’t ride up the mountain after 8, but didn’t go into details!?) So I started up the mountain road around 7:30 and soon found myself being passed by mini-bus after mini-bus loaded with people heading up the mountain. Now you have to understand that the old Toyota diesel mini-bus/pick-ups lumber on the flats with 10 people, but up a 8-15% grade? Forget about it. Imagine the worst old out-of-tune Mercedes diesel that you’ve ever seen and you have a rough idea what these trucks were each spewing. The completely still air did not move the smog an inch and I could see the thick clouds of diesel particulates glistening in the low morning sunlight like a thick mist above the asphalt.
So I’m thinking “Wow, there’s a lot of people heading up the mountain at 7:30?, but I’m sure this is just a special group and will soon end.” Wrong. They mini-buses got thicker and thicker and about half-way up the mountain I seriously thought about turning around. The traffic was also getting so heavy that I was losing the battle to “take the lane” in the shoulderless left lane that had been my buffer. I really was feeling sick from inhaling so much exhaust and thought I might hurl at one point. So did I stop? No way, that would be giving in to their lousy transportation system and besides I had already gone more than half way and permanetely reduced my lung capacity.
A QUIET BREAK IN THE MINI-BUS TRAFFIC UP DOI SUTHEP
However, the cheering encouragement and smiles from the back of every loaded mini-bus just made me want to press on even more. That’s how the Thais get you, with their endless enthusiam and smiles. Sure, their one road up into a national “park” has no pedestrian or bike accomodation and the smog is so thick you can cry, but they are so nice and happy, you just can’t stay mad or be bitter. As I always remember, I am a visitor to this strange land where no one walks or cycles anymore. (O.K. most of America is like this too, but not the Bay Area and not in my previous urban life)
By the way, I did see 4 teenage Thai boys riding slowly up the mountain on their bikes and we all exchanged hearty “Sawadees!” I hope their lungs are stronger than mine. They were the only ones, besides two Farangs that were descending the mountain at 7:30 (they knew better).
So I did make it to the top and was stunned at the thousands of people there already at 9 am! (Duh, they all passed you) At the top, I took a moment to take in the supposed views of Chiang Mai completely obscured by smog.
THIS REALLY WAS THE VIEW LOOKING DOWN AT THE CITY 3000 FEET
The ride down only took 15 minutes and was very fun as I could actually pass many of the mini-buses (to their amazement) and cars on the windey road. They are actually very cautious and somewhat considerate drivers here and I was feeling good with my sense of accomplishment. My lungs, not so much.
-R
Tags: Chiang Mai, SE Asia, Thailand, Travel, Tag Index
rich.coffin