Golden Triangle, snakes , Opium and Tea

Fantastic ride today from Mae Salong to Chaing Saen, first a really twisty road with stunning scenery, a wrong turn that took us into a very authentic village and a visit to a tea plantation to sample and buy some tea. After the plantation we were riding along and saw a 3 foot long snake on the road, this was the 3rd we'd seen, the first was a few days ago, dangling my feet off the pegs to get a bit of comfort I spotted it and quickly raised my feet again, the other slithered into the undergrowth when it heard us coming on foot, today's must have felt the vibration of the bikes and raised its head as we approached, we gave it a wide berth and didn't stop to pass the time of day.

We headed to Mae Sai first then over to here via the Opium museum , sobering place and it brings home how much we the Brits were responsible for much of the misery caused by this drug from the poppy, this area was used for cultivation but now the government have got it under control. We are in a posh place tonight, looking from across the balcony (not bad for £36) we can see across the Mekong river to Laos  with Chinese riverboats moored below our hotel window.

Fi admiring scenery just before the snake incident



Outside the Opium museum, a shocking tale of British and French colonial abuse

Working boats from Laos moored in the Meekong river just outside our hotel

Temples and a princess

We started off today with a visit to the impressive temple which sits above Tha Ton , thankfully we rode the bikes up as the road was steep, photo of a cool Budda on the way up , the temple looks squint in the photo, that because it is, don't know why but no way could i get it to look level, stunning views all day and when we rolled into Mae Salong we found out the Princess of Thailand was passing through at 3pm, one of the royal family makes the visit here every year to visit the Temple that sits above the town, we tried to get a picture but her car was empty apart from the driver so she must have switched into one of the multitude of support vehicles for security. After the roads opened again we had a run up to see the place where she had been visiting, gangs of men were already dismantling the stage and paraphernalia that accompany a Royal visit, very efficiently as well. A short trip to the Chinese memorial museum and thats been it, looking forward to a beer now, temple visiting can be hard work

Views like this all day

A happy Budda

At first I thought it was me but the Temple sits at a jaunty angle

In the distance we can see Burma, or Maynamar as its now known

Scenery just like home

Wot, nae princess, cheated!

The princess had just visited here on her annual visit

Stunning views

There is an intricate overlay of mirrors which makes it sparkle

Chinese memorial, Scottish people

Chiang mai to Tha Ton

We left a very busy Chiang Mai this morning and headed for the hills again, once again sunshine and fantastic roads and scenery. Some crazy moments with some mental locals but just like the whole world most people are good and pleasant but 5% are dickheads, no change from the UK. We did have a couple of bits stuck in the mountains behind slow traffic but apart from that great fun riding the bends. A couple of stops for tea and food at pretty authentic places, now we are only about a mile from the Burmese border, some of the people here have more of a Chinese and Burmese influence, many escaped to here years ago to avoid persecution. The nice lady who served us Chinese noodles for lunch was a Chinese Muslim, her grandfather left China years ago to come to a safer more tolerant country .

We are now deep in what would have been bandit country a few years ago, Opium was the main harvest around here, now though it feels safe. Once again the photos have to explain themselves. Tomorrow we head to a tea plantation not far from here.

Tea break time

Burmese border about 2 miles away, many security cameras on this bridge

Fi with her new pal who is also a crazy Elvis fan

Like all very rural communities some chaos is neccessary

Sun going down = mozzies coming out

Mosque, some of the border population are Chinese and Burmese Muslims, persecuted and forced to flee to Thailand

Big seller here!

Back into Chiang Mai

Yesterday we had a great day riding bikes, kayaking down a rive through some huge caves and staying in a jungle lodge, and of course getting attacked by mozzies. Good run today back to Chiang mai to buy waterproofs as insurance against the rain, mission accomplished, we also bought a lead to charge the go pro camera, failed, got the wrong one and the hassle involved isn't worth the effort. A nice night in Chiang mai and another wander through the very busy Saturday market, as always apologies for the poor blog presentation but I really got the electronics wrong this trip.

Enjoying the sun and the roads

Cave

Entrance to another cave which I gave a miss, Fi went for it though

View from the resturant / Bar area

Food stop

enjoying the local food, not sure what it was

Music at night

Sunday night market in Chiang Mai

Karen hill tribes, longnecks and Elephants

A day without the bikes, we took a trip with a man in a van to the hills near the Burma border to see the Karen people, they were persecuted by the Burmese so make their home here as refugees. Because of that they can't work here so they rely on tourists paying them and buying their trinkets. On the way we passed some Elephants which was cool but they aren't free which isn't so good, they appear to be well treated and fed though, the one Fiona fed was 40 years old and seemed happy enough. The long necks have metal hoops put around their necks to make them longer, it doesn't actually make their necks longer but compresses their collar bones making the neck look longer. Some pics which I hope you'll enjoy include the elephants and the long necks plus some Karen men bringing rice to the village Last night we were at the Loi Krathong festival which involves floating candles in the river , ours went out, and setting off lanterns in the sky, ours almost hit 3 girls and then got stuck on the temple gate, oops div class="mobile-photo">

The view over the lake

Thai Boxing, not my thing

Fi with her new pal, amazing animals, I was concerned about the chains, these animals should be totally free

At the Karen Hill tribe village, a guard elephant

This girl explained the customs, she spoke good enough English, well better than mine anyway

The men carrying rice, hard work!

Into Mae Hong Son

It was  still raining this morning when we got up so we tried to stay another night but the town was booked up leaving us with no choice but to head for the hills again. Our stuff was still soaking this morning but after yesterday we needed to get some rain protection, after breakfast we wandered along to local market and bought a couple of ponchos , we looked a bit silly but who cares. The run to Mae Hong Son was actually quite good, despite the rain we could marvel at the scenery and when the rain stopped for about 15 miles we had a great time through the bends.

We're staying here for 2 days to do tourist stuff, stay tuned!

First days in Asia

We left on Saturday on a Qatar airways flight from Edinburgh, the first leg into Doha in Qatar was ok, plenty legroom and a few drams to keep me happy, even the food was ok. One thing that did worry me briefly was the route of the plane, it skirted by the Ukraine, Syria and only briefly passed Iraq, it was strange to see the plane passing areas who's names have become synonymous with horror and war, it does make you realise how much strife is going on literally on our doorstep.
After the change in Doha the plane was busier and the cabin crew although small and petite seemed to have the grace of an elephant and the voice of a sergeant major hence no sleep, we were also near one of the toilets so the area behind my seat became a place for people to chat throughout the night, luckily because i have great diplomatic skills i was able to let one particular Arab gentleman that I was displeased with his talking whilst I was trying in vain to sleep, it was quieter after that.
So after no sleep we then had a speed walk for around 2 km around Bangkok   International airport to get our third and final flight into Chiang Mai. Its no wonder I prefer to ride my bike across continents rather than fly.
A taxi from the Airport into our Guest house where we were greeted and shown our room, we immediately crashed out for 3 hours before freshening up and going for a wander. The streets were buzzing, Sunday night being market night, a invasion on our senses a step to far after the previous 24 hours and the step change from life back in blighty. We found a bar restaurant and were amazed at the prices, my Green Thai curry and rice was 100 Baht the equivalent of 2 pounds, Fionas meal was a similar price, the resultant bill of almost 30 quid tells its story, as I always say when asked about travel costs it depends on how much you drink, story told.
Today we've been getting acclimatised to the heat and I've also been a mobile bloodbank for the mozzies, so far their winning. We've  been down to Tony's big bikes to say hello and gleaned lots of useful for our tour
We pick the bikes up Wednesday morning then the fun really begins.

Apologise for the picture size and the text at the bottom but its proving a right pain using the ipad to Blog

Our B&B for a couple of days

 

Bamboo scaffolding

Very colourful

bought a cheap mobile for emergencies and translation was problem 1, Fi fixed it

Night market, Chiang Mai

Free entertainment