Klong Prao Area of Koh Chang, Thailand

I guess it's been 4 days now since I was at the other end of the Island around the Bai Lan Bay Area. New Year's Eve was quite a raucous affair in the area and fireworks were being let off starting around 9:00 PM carrying on until 2014 came into being.

My guest house, Lazy Republique got into the party spirit and I was awakened before midnight by Madonna's "Holiday". The music continued loudly until 1:30 AM... it was all good as the owner's musical tastes were right up my alley.

On New Year's Day, on the advice of Laun, my guesthouse owner, I walked about 1.5 miles up and down hills to the infamous "Lonely Beach". You know the saying, "you never get a second chance to make a good first impression". Well my first impression was "What a disgusting dump"!  I had turned in towards the beach at Siam Huts. Perhaps this is how a backpacker hostel is defined? I don't know, but I would definitely classify it as a dump. Had I checked in there, I wouldn't even have gotten out of the taxi. The huts on stilts reminded me of row housing. Very closed together, no privacy and garbage strewn about every place I looked. I was surprised to see what had been a burning mound of garbage right in front of a group of huts. Disgusting. (I've since come to realize that everything here gets burnt eventually, plastic bottles included. Shocking in this day and age coming from a first-world country). I wonder to myself that at one time the owner must've had a vision of the type of property he wanted to create. Was this his vision?

Siam Huts @ Lonely Beach

Laun told me to go to the very far end of the beach. So glad he told me to do this because my first impressions of Lonely Beach were not much better than my impressions of the Siam Huts. I walked as far down the beach as was possible (probably 10-15 minutes), and it was much nicer. The rentals on the beach looked to be "upscale" and for the most part the beach wasn't littered with garbage. 

Lonely Beach

I spent 5 hours or so on Lonely Beach and had lunch at the closest beachside restaurant. 

I could've taken a taxi back to my guesthouse but I was up for the exercise and wanted to stop in the little Lonely Beach enclave to buy some water and go to the Pharmacy to tend to my cold so I walked the 1.5 miles back to my guesthouse.

Lots of wild monkeys in this area. Scared the bajeezus out of me when I first saw one sitting on the road. Scared me so much that I crossed the road hoping all the while that he wouldn't try to jump on me. There were lots of monkeys on this particular part of Koh Chang (Bai Lan Bay area) so by the time I did the full walk I wasn't as fearful of them and stopped to take some photos of them from a safe distance.

There really isn't much happening in the area of my guest house so I order dinner at the guest house (fried fish that was very chewy and very spicy) with the ever-present white rice.

Breakfasts are included in my accommodation here. A hearty breakfast of tasty coffee, orange juice (which I haven't been able to stomach as it is definitely not the type I am used to), muesli with fresh fruit and yogurt and 2 pieces of toasted french bread with jam, and then a plate of pineapple and watermelon. Thailand seems to centre its life around food.

It's time for me to check out now and head to the Klong Prao area of the island. I have no clue which direction any place is on this island. I stand on the side of the road and flag down a songathew. I show him the address and the name of Baan Rim Nam (my next guesthouse). He says he can take me but he will only drop me on the highway. I know it's a 1 mile walk into the guesthouse from the road and I'm not keen on lugging my suitcase a mile on a mule trail. I convince him to bring me all the way into the guesthouse -- he agrees - for a price! 200 BHT but it was money well spent and he delivers me to the door. The road in here from the highway isn't all that bad. It's mostly paved until the last 1/4 mile which is sand, but I still wouldn't want to haul my luggage that far.

Baam Rim Nam is gorgeous.  I can easily see why it is rated in the Top 10 of B&B's in all of Thailand.   

No shoes/flip-flops allowed on the deck.

One of 2 decks at Baan Rim Nam.

Ian, the owner, gives me the lay of the land and a map he has created of the area, the best restaurants etc.  

I decide I'm up for a walk into the village area for lunch and find one of Ian's recommendations of a family-run restaurant. The place was packed and they were turning people away at about 3:00 PM. I order a pineapple shake which was absolutely delicious. Probably the tastiest fruit shake I've ever had. I order my usual stand-by, cashew chicken and decide to try some spring rolls. It was all very good. At the end of the meal they serve complimentary sliced watermelon. The bill was just over $3.00. I stop in at the Pharmacy to buy some pills called NAC 10 that a stranger had recommended to me when they heard me coughing. $9 for them but I'm getting quite fed up being sick by this point so am happy to try anything if it'll work. It's a scorching hot walk back to my guesthouse and I'm now having second thoughts about my bright idea of walking into town and back in the mid-day heat. Lesson learned. I don't do much the rest of the day except enjoy the lovely decks at Baan Rim Nam, and then I find the trail to Klong Prao beach and check it out. The sunset is gorgeous.

Mai Sarang to Chiang Mai

We depart the Riverside Resort promptly at 9:00 AM. Driving out of the town of Mae Sarang you can see every place (school) that the Princess had visited because it's completely decked out in her colour purple and with huge photos of her. Thais sure do spend a lot of money on their Monarchy and by most accounts they love their King. His photo is seen a lot around here.

For miles and miles down the highway the purple flags stuck in the ground provide proof that the Princess had traveled that route.

First stop of the day is Chom Tong Waterfall. Honestly, by this point I've seen so many waterfalls I'm not so sure what makes this one special two days after I saw it.

We stop in a town with a very well known Wat. It's obvious upon stepping inside that it is a very significant Wat. I could've spent 1/2 a day here taking photos but unfortunately we were in and out in about 20 minutes, I would guess. In a back room they have a very special glass vault with iron bars. This back area is only opened to the public for 2 weeks a year around New Years and I was fortunate to be there when it was open to the public.  It is filled with hundreds and hundreds of solid gold Buddhas.  

One of the smaller Wats I visited but one of my favourites. 

Solid gold Buddhas behind plexi-glass, iron bars, & lock & key.  

Normally, this area is closed to the public.

See the cash?  Thai are very giving people.

We enter Doi Inthanon National Park. You can tell it's a very popular place as we are in a traffic jam. Shortly after entering the park we stop for lunch at the only lunch stop place in the vicinity. I would liken it to a mammoth-sized cafeteria except the food is served to you at the table. Sutthi goes up to order our meal and it is brought to us within 5 minutes which is the norm in Thailand. I've never experienced such speedy food service anywhere else I've ever visited. We eat cashew chicken, the tasty Thom Yam Gai (or Thom Sum Gai) soup that has become one of my favourite Thai dishes, and fried rice. Sutthi had also brought along a few pieces of fruit and the lunch place cut it up and presented it beautifully on the plate. We had pomello, star fruit, tangerine, watermelon and pineapple.

Family-style lunch with the fruit that Sutthi had purchased earlier in the day

and the restaurant cut it up for us and displayed it so nicely for us.

Our next stop is to another Karan Tribe: Mae Klang Luang inside Doi Inthanon National Park. This tribe is not long neck. They are coffee farmers among other crops but are known for their coffee. Starbucks used to buy their Arabica beans at one point. The village is traditional bamboo houses, teeny tiny by North American standards. A Karan woman greets us dressed in traditional attire. Married Karan women wear a white head scarf. The scarf kinda look like the way you'd wrap a towel around your head after having washed your hair. We take a look at the white beans drying in the sun. These beans are not yet peeled. Sutthi pours some beans into a manual coffee grinder and the Karan woman makes us filtered coffee the old-fashioned way. She pours hot water into the cloth sack filled with coffee grounds. She lifts the cloth sack high into the air letting the brown water drip out the bottom. Then she takes that container of brown liquid and dumps it through the filter again and again and again. Sutthi and I sit at a long bamboo table and bamboo bench and enjoy or fresh roasted, fresh tasting coffee.

We head up the top of the highest mountain in all of Thailand, 3500 meters above sea level. I go to the viewing point to take some photos but all I could see were the clouds below me. We do a lovely walk through the rain forest on wooden walkways. It was a lovely 15 minute little hike through the dark green aged vegetation. I get to stand on the very highest point in all of Thailand and Sutthi takes my photo.

The tallest point in all of Thailand.

We head back down the mountain and stop at Wachiathan Waterfalls. Wow! The spray from the fall was keeping people far back from the fence. It was a very gorgeous and powerful sight to witness. It was roared like thunder too.

Next stop is Chiang Mai. Sutthi wanted to show me one of the most famous temples in Chiang Mai before we part company. We went to Wat Chedeliem. It was the perfect time of day. The gold and red intricate adornments of the Wat shone in all its glory in the setting sun. Photos don't do it justice in portraying the beauty of it.

Wat Chedeliem

Sutthi drops me at Top Garden guesthouse run by Victor from Montreal and his Thai wife Thanya. Sutthi and I say our goodbyes and I try not to cry as I hug him goodbye. Hiring this man was the best decision ever. Sutthi showed me a Thailand I would not have seen on my own. I enjoyed his company and I promised to send him a memory stick with music on it. The memory stick came about because he was playing a CD of older 70's music and he was asking me about John Denver when the song "Country Roads" came on. Well finally after two days he asked me "is this John Denver singing?" I said "No". Sutthi says "Who is it?" I said, "I have no clue but it's not John Denver, and that wasn't Peter, Paul, and Mary singing Blowing in the Wind either." We had a good laugh at it. He had bought the CD in Laos or Burma and obviously got ripped off.  {confession: I have not sent the memory stick!}

I check into my guest house and head on down the Soi to find my Christmas Eve dinner.

Pai to Mae Hong Son, Thailand

Sutthi picks me up promptly at 9:00 AM. I tell him that my throat is very sore and I hope we can stop at a pharmacy so I can get some ointment or something to rub on it. My throat has been sore since I came to Thailand. It started, of course, with the recycled air on the plane but it has been getting worse every day. There is a constant scent to the air everywhere in Thailand: incense mixed with burning fires that they use to cook over and to keep warm. As well, now is the season where the farmers burn their corn fields to ready the soil for a different crop. Asthma sufferers would find it difficult here, I'm sure. Looking out from a high vantage point you could make a game of counting how many plooms of smoke you spot.

We stopped at Chinatown in Pai. Sutthi told me how the Chinese came to settle in Thailand and why they came here. We enter the "tourist trap" area and are greeted by dozens of cements roosters atop the cement fence. Sutthi says the King of Siam was a fan of cock fighting and thus the homage to the bird. We visited the temple and I got to see locals purchasing baskets of gifts for the Monks. The baskets ranged in price from 200 BHT to 300 BHT ($9.00). The baskets contain items that the Monks would need for the months and year ahead: saffron coloured towels for bathing; soap; personal care items; food items, etc. In any event, I thought we were going to Chinatown to look for an ointment for my throat but it became apparent very quickly that this was another tourist trap, but still interesting. We stopped in at a tea house and tasted a couple varieties of Chinese tea. I asked Sutthi how come we didn't pay for the tea and he said it’s the custom to offer complimentary tea to guests. Mind you, it was just a mere taste. Probably 1-2 oz. at best. 

Baskets for purchase to gift to the Monks

We are heading northwest towards Mae Hong Son today.

First stop of the day is at a lookout some 3500 meters up the curvy mountain. It’s extremely windy up here. We are immediately greeted by a group of little kids dressed in their native village dress asking if you’d like a photo with them (for money, of course). I declined. We had a coffee at the ever present coffee shop that you see in the strangest of places, and here it was on top of this mountain. Sutthi asked if I needed the toilet. Didn't really need it but thought I should take advantage of the opportunity. A woman was collecting 3 BHT to use the facility. I gave her a 20 BHT note and had no clue how to count the coins she gave me in return. Timely that Sutthi appeared. Well wouldn't you know it, she was short changing me. When I asked for toilet paper that was another 2 BHT. I had read how you need to pack your own toilet paper when you're further away from larger towns and I had done that but it was in the car. Imagine my surprise when I enter the room to see a bucket of water and a white porcelain square thing about 10" off the ground. What the heck was I supposed to do? I call out for Sutthi and he has a chuckle at my question. He steps up on the porcelain straddling one foot on each side and he squats. Oh that's how you use it. But what's the water for? Well it's to scoop out some water to throw inside the toilet so everything flushes down the hole! So glad I wasn't on my own the first time I faced that dilemma.

I had no clue how I was supposed to use these facilities!

Next stop is one I had been anticipating for months: Kam Nam Lot Cave. Stalagmites and stalactites that would blow your mind. Thing is, I wasn't prepared to take a raft into the cave. Yikes! We're talking a narrow bamboo raft, not a boat in any way, shape or form. (One of the many things I appreciate here in Thailand is that because I have hired Sutthi and he is guiding me, anything we do is just him and I and a guide from whatever it is we are seeing -- they don't cram a ton of tourists into a van, a taxi, or a boat... it's just Sutthi and I).

We enter the park area and Sutthi pays for our entrance fee which includes a young guide with a gas lantern. We hike about 10 minutes to the entrance area to the cave where Sutthi and I take our seats on the raft. Our guide sits in the front of the raft and the raft is pushed through the water by an elderly gentleman using a long, long pole. In some areas the water is shallow enough that the old man gets out and pulls our raft through the water. There are thousands and thousands of large fish in this blackened water. I thought they would make for easy catching but because they live in the cave they are considered "holy" fish and you are not allowed to catch them.

Bamboo raft through the cave

Pulling the rafts through the shallow parts.
The ripples in the water are thousands of 'holy' fish. (No fishing allowed!)

We reach our first of two landing points and our guide leads us by lantern up many stairs and through the cave so we come out the other side (still in the dark), and in the meantime our boat has been brought over to the side where we’ve walked to. The trek through the cave to admire the stalagmites and stalactites has been the hi-lite of my trip thus far. Indescribable really. To think of how many tens of thousands of years one rock has been dripping down to make the rock at the bottom grow up to meet it, it simply boggles the mind. We get on our raft and go to our second landing point. This is the area where Sutthi told me that it could smell bad because of bat poop. YES, bat poop! It did smell and the ground was as white as white could be because of the bajillion bat droppings. We ascended some stairs which required holding on to a hand railing.... it looked to be a very long climb up and with my size 10 feet and the fact that Thai people make their stairs very narrow it's been common for me that I need to descend the stairs sideways. Well the thought started to cross my mind that what the hell was I going to hold on to coming down because the railings were coated in bat droppings. We only went up about 30 steps and I called Sutthi over and told him that I did not want to go any further. Not only would I have nothing to hold on to coming down but I am also deathly afraid of bats (I put them in the same category as mice and rats).  Sutthi had earlier assured me we would not see any bats in the daytime hours but still, it's dark in there and I didn't want to take a chance. So Sutthi spoke to our guide and we headed back to the raft. I never got to see what was inside the second cave but honestly I am happy with my choice to turn back. We went to the far end of the cave where it exits out the other side of the mountain. What a spectacular view to see. We rafted back in the direction we had come in. This time the older man took the lead and I could see him jumping off and on the boat. Such hard work for a man that looked to be in his 70's.

This cave is revered as a holy site, thus the string that lead from the very back end of the cave into the village  (we never saw the village as it is a couple of miles away).

We hiked back to the park entrance and this is where we ate lunch. You can tell Sutthi brings many guests to these tourist places as the workers all seem to know who he is and greet him fondly. He ordered our lunch as he always does. Today we are eating Pad Thai and Cashew Chicken. Delicious as always! Sutthi goes and grabs a bunch of bananas and brings them to the table. You just eat what you want, return the rest and are charged for what you eat. We each ate one. Mine was full of seeds though. I had no clue bananas could have seeds in them.

We now head out on the road again towards Mae Hon Son. Well I can attest to the fact that I have NEVER in my life been on roads like this stretch of road. Switchbacks every few feet, up hills, down hills, and more switchbacks. After an hour or two of this I thought that if I didn't close my eyes he would have to pull over so I could throw up. I closed my eyes and just relaxed. What a hairy ride and if I never see a stretch of road like that again it'll be just fine by me.

We come in to Mae Hong Son and as Sutthi has done in every town we are going to overnight in he gives me the lay of the land by driving down the main streets and explaining things before we head to the hotel. We drive through town and in the middle is a lovely little lake. We get out and enjoy the Wat on the lake. Sutthi explains that the evening night market will surround the entire lake and he drives me down the roads it will encompass as well. He points to a Wat on a mountain top and says that will be our next stop today.

Night market around the lake in Mae Hong Son.

Mae Hong Son was my favourite small town that I visited in Thailand.

We drive up another switchback mountainous road on the way to the Wat. Thankfully it's only a couple of miles at most. This was an amazing Wat. Perched high on the mountain top overlooking the town and airport. 

Wat Phra That Doi Kong Mu

We sat for a long while and watched people with their floral center pieces walk around the chedi three times. They purchase these floral pieces from the Monks (who make them). After you circle three times, you place your centre piece at the opening in the cement structure (inside the opening is a deity  which represents the day of the week you were born on. Thursday only had one floral piece but as were chatting and eventually looked towards Thursday, it had about 8 floral center pieces in front of it.

Circling the Chedi & placing a floral arrangement in the opening of the Chedi 

that corresponds to the day of the week you were born on.

Sunset over Mae Hong Son

The layers upon layers of mountains were really something to see.