Our adventure in Luang Prabang unfortunately came to an end. Of all the places we visited on our trip, we were the most disappointed to leave LP and even extended our stay by two days. After unsuccessfully trying to extend it even further, we gave in to the inevitability that would have to leave and headed to back to Thailand, begrudgingly.
When we decided to trek through SE East Asia for four months, Thailand was our muse. Visions of a beautiful tropical paradise with white sand beaches, friendly people - a notion supported by its nickname, The Land of Smiles - and out of this world food. Our original plan was to spend an entire month (out of four) exploring every inch of Thailand including Bangkok, Chiang Mai, the Gulf of Thailand, Phuket and the Phi Phi Islands. Unfortunately, after our first two weeks in Thailand sampling both city and island life, we had this unwelcome feeling that Thailand wasn't living up to expectations - ML downright hated it. However, every traveler to Thailand raved about Chiang Mai, so we withheld our final judgment til after we had explored Chiang Mai for ourselves.
We again risked life on a Lao airlines flight to Chiang Mai, but this time our nerves were calmed by a combination of knowing we would not be on a Chinese made plane, that the french recently supplied technical assistance and planes to Lao airlines and about 4 Beer Lao Darks each.
Chiang Mai is located in the northern mountain regions of Thailand and known for laid back atmosphere (compared to Bangkok), its cultural and famous night market. It was originally a walled city surrounded by a canal but all most all the wall has been torn down except for a few gates that were saved for posterity. The canal still exists around the city and provides for a great walking excursion.
Inevitably, when looking up the ubiquitous "What to do" section in your guidebook for any SE Asia location, the highlights are always visiting temples and Wats. After nursing our "Temple-itis" in LP, we decided we would hit the five biggest temples in Chiang Mai. Overall, the one that really stood out for us was the Wat Chedi Luang. Built in 1400 it's central element is a large chedi surrounded by a moat and huge elephant statues. An earthquake toppled part of the dome in the 16th century and it was never rebuilt, providing a striking relief against the sky as the dome still looks as if it is crumbling.
It was at one of the temples we visited in Chiang Mai that AB found a very intriguing practice. Unlike all the temples in Bangkok that were immaculately adorned and well cared for, most of the Wat's in Chiang Mai are still in the process of being built. One temple didn't have enough money to gold leaf it's bronze statues so locals and tourists are encouraged to purchase a small sheet of gold leaf and do it themselves. It provides amazing texture and gives the statues a unique touch we hand not experienced anywhere else. Plus, it was interesting to see which statues received more gold-leaf than others.
Also, we found the following two signs at temples we visited, the first speaks for itself and should actually be the unofficial welcome sign for Thailand and the second is a rough guide on appropriate dress for visiting temples.
Finally, here is ML and AB practicing on the ceremonial gong used to announce the start of the temple festivities and a future Thai percussionist.
Beyond taking in the cultural diversions, we spent the majority of our time trying to beat the extreme heat of the city by laying out poolside at our hotel, working on the blog, and trying all the local variations on our favorite Thai dishes like Koh Soi and Pad Thai. In the evenings we had the opportunity to see Eden and Mariclaire again, spend time shopping in the night market and dropping in on the the local college bars to experience Thai nightlife complete with live bands at an outdoor club. In the club, they brought girls-going-to-the-bathroom-together to a whole new level by installing two toilets in each bathroom stall.
Interestingly enough, we also experienced an earthquake in Chiang Mai as a 6.8 magnitude earthquake hit Burma and tremors were felt all over Thailand, even as far south in Bangkok. When we first felt the tremors we were in our hotel and had no idea what was going on, until ML remembered what it felt like when she experienced one in Guam and raced to grab passports, wallets, phones and chargers. For the next hour we sat outside bracing for possible aftershocks with other guests and waiting for hotel employees to give us any sort of report but in true Thai fashion, they pretended nothing happened and just kept smiling. Luckily, there wasn't any damage in the immediate area and we were able to return safely to our room. Below is a photo of ML in her earthquake outfit i.e. anything that she could throw on in case we were stranded. Oh, and of course a beer. When the building your in shakes and the only thought is " I could use a beer", you should probably ask yourself if you have a problem.
Overall, Chiang Mai was OK, but not the over-the-top amazing destination that would give us the shot in the arm we needed to continue exploring Thailand. So, we said "fucket" to Phuket and scrapped our plans to head south and instead added a new destination to our itinerary, Greece.
Naturally one seeks to answer why it was such a let down. Was it us or was it Thailand?
There are a number of factors on each side of the equation. In fairness to the accused we will start. Yes, we probably had unrealistic expectations that had been systematically implanted in our brains by overzealous travel writers pumping up Thailand and her people as the idea of paradise lost. Yes, we had grown weary from spending months on the road and we were suffering from a nearly deadly case of "temple-itis" that comes from being on the road for months. Yes, we had just left two third world countries, Cambodia & Laos, that completely blew away our expectations, over delivered in the hospitality department and left us actively re-arranging schedules not to leave. And yes, we had planned our trip to "Save the best for last" and had pretty much already done every activity Thailand offered, twice.
Now for the accused. Thailand, in our experience, ended up being a confused and beautiful place filled with people who are equally confused and (somewhat) beautiful. Similar to the movie Beaches, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, it is full of dirty hippies, only there is no beautiful beach to make it all melt away into the background. The drug, alcohol, and prostitution scene is never-ending, pervasive, and constantly in your face. The locals do smile, but mostly while trying to get you to buy something. The beaches were once beautiful but are dirty and over-run with tourists. In a short, Thailand, her people and their culture have been exploited.
As far as closing arguments go, it seems we were both complacent parties. Sure, Bangkok was unlike any other place we have ever been, at times we did receive a warm welcome and friendly smile, and we enjoyed meals and diving we will probably never replicate. But as you often learn too late in life, expectations can get the the best of us, and unfortunately the Thailand we expected was already used up.
When we decided to trek through SE East Asia for four months, Thailand was our muse. Visions of a beautiful tropical paradise with white sand beaches, friendly people - a notion supported by its nickname, The Land of Smiles - and out of this world food. Our original plan was to spend an entire month (out of four) exploring every inch of Thailand including Bangkok, Chiang Mai, the Gulf of Thailand, Phuket and the Phi Phi Islands. Unfortunately, after our first two weeks in Thailand sampling both city and island life, we had this unwelcome feeling that Thailand wasn't living up to expectations - ML downright hated it. However, every traveler to Thailand raved about Chiang Mai, so we withheld our final judgment til after we had explored Chiang Mai for ourselves.
We again risked life on a Lao airlines flight to Chiang Mai, but this time our nerves were calmed by a combination of knowing we would not be on a Chinese made plane, that the french recently supplied technical assistance and planes to Lao airlines and about 4 Beer Lao Darks each.
Chiang Mai is located in the northern mountain regions of Thailand and known for laid back atmosphere (compared to Bangkok), its cultural and famous night market. It was originally a walled city surrounded by a canal but all most all the wall has been torn down except for a few gates that were saved for posterity. The canal still exists around the city and provides for a great walking excursion.
Finally, here is ML and AB practicing on the ceremonial gong used to announce the start of the temple festivities and a future Thai percussionist.
Beyond taking in the cultural diversions, we spent the majority of our time trying to beat the extreme heat of the city by laying out poolside at our hotel, working on the blog, and trying all the local variations on our favorite Thai dishes like Koh Soi and Pad Thai. In the evenings we had the opportunity to see Eden and Mariclaire again, spend time shopping in the night market and dropping in on the the local college bars to experience Thai nightlife complete with live bands at an outdoor club. In the club, they brought girls-going-to-the-bathroom-together to a whole new level by installing two toilets in each bathroom stall.
Interestingly enough, we also experienced an earthquake in Chiang Mai as a 6.8 magnitude earthquake hit Burma and tremors were felt all over Thailand, even as far south in Bangkok. When we first felt the tremors we were in our hotel and had no idea what was going on, until ML remembered what it felt like when she experienced one in Guam and raced to grab passports, wallets, phones and chargers. For the next hour we sat outside bracing for possible aftershocks with other guests and waiting for hotel employees to give us any sort of report but in true Thai fashion, they pretended nothing happened and just kept smiling. Luckily, there wasn't any damage in the immediate area and we were able to return safely to our room. Below is a photo of ML in her earthquake outfit i.e. anything that she could throw on in case we were stranded. Oh, and of course a beer. When the building your in shakes and the only thought is " I could use a beer", you should probably ask yourself if you have a problem.
Overall, Chiang Mai was OK, but not the over-the-top amazing destination that would give us the shot in the arm we needed to continue exploring Thailand. So, we said "fucket" to Phuket and scrapped our plans to head south and instead added a new destination to our itinerary, Greece.
Naturally one seeks to answer why it was such a let down. Was it us or was it Thailand?
There are a number of factors on each side of the equation. In fairness to the accused we will start. Yes, we probably had unrealistic expectations that had been systematically implanted in our brains by overzealous travel writers pumping up Thailand and her people as the idea of paradise lost. Yes, we had grown weary from spending months on the road and we were suffering from a nearly deadly case of "temple-itis" that comes from being on the road for months. Yes, we had just left two third world countries, Cambodia & Laos, that completely blew away our expectations, over delivered in the hospitality department and left us actively re-arranging schedules not to leave. And yes, we had planned our trip to "Save the best for last" and had pretty much already done every activity Thailand offered, twice.
Now for the accused. Thailand, in our experience, ended up being a confused and beautiful place filled with people who are equally confused and (somewhat) beautiful. Similar to the movie Beaches, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, it is full of dirty hippies, only there is no beautiful beach to make it all melt away into the background. The drug, alcohol, and prostitution scene is never-ending, pervasive, and constantly in your face. The locals do smile, but mostly while trying to get you to buy something. The beaches were once beautiful but are dirty and over-run with tourists. In a short, Thailand, her people and their culture have been exploited.
As far as closing arguments go, it seems we were both complacent parties. Sure, Bangkok was unlike any other place we have ever been, at times we did receive a warm welcome and friendly smile, and we enjoyed meals and diving we will probably never replicate. But as you often learn too late in life, expectations can get the the best of us, and unfortunately the Thailand we expected was already used up.
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