'A' had previously worked for Travel to Teach as a tour guide for volunteers. He has excellent English and was recommended by Hans. I did not have to pay for his services today - taking me on a road trip through Mae Hong Son. I did pay 125 baht for a full tank of petrol for his bike, it was the least I could offer. I went to the motorbike store and hired myself a cute green scooter for only 200 baht for the day (24hrs). Our first stop was the Pha Sua Waterfall, located about 17 km from town. The waterfall flows from Mae Sa-nga River in Burma. Pha Sua Waterfall has interesting rock formations, and water flows all year round making it a perfect place to visit. Pha Sua Waterfall is approximately 10 meters high and 15 meters wide. In the rainy season, the cliff is overflowed with rains and looks like a mat, therefore, the Water is called 'Pha Sua'. It was so handy to have a local and ex-tour guide with me, he is jam packed with such useful information. The waterfall was beautiful. Bubbling and roaring, uninterrupted, the splashing waters created a steady pattern of endless rhythm. Like a wall trying to block out the sounds of the world behind the water, it roars louder and louder. The waterfall paints the nature scene so perfectly. One true picture perfect moment that I had to capture.
We continued our journey heading towards Ban Rak Thai (a further 20km). The ride was beautiful, meandering through a picturesque valley, up and down crazy steep hills on a very scary windy road - thankfully the road was paved all the way. I had a minor accident going up a very steep S bend - my bike failed on me and didn't make it up the hill, I was lucky enough to have fallen in a patch of grass, coming out of it with the tiniest scratches on my elbow. Phew! We pulled over in front of the tea plantation field. This area was just bursting with green healthy grass. We saw locals in the big field of green picking tea leaves. Ban Rak Thai (literally, the 'Thai loving village') is near the Thai Myanmar border. The village has a population of 800 people, mainly Chinese born or Thai born Chinese. They were Chinese refugees went they settled in Northern Thailand dating back to the 1949 Communist takeover in China, when a considerable number of Kuomintang (Chinese Nationalist Party) adherents fled the mainland.
We finally arrived at the 'Chinese Village'. As we approached, I immediately knew we were here. I saw Chinese writing and traditional red lanterns hanging outside a tea shop. We were on the other side of the lake. The scenery was amazing, with the town set in a valley surrounded by hills which contained the smuggling routes to and and from Myanmar. Where we stood, there was a sign written on a concrete post which translated "you have no reached the border of Thailand and Burma".
There is still a sense of history to the town, echoes of past conflicts that reverberate off peeling mud walls with tea leaves roofs from faded Chinese lettering moving lightly with breeze through the muffling quiet of the surrounding forest. It is definitely strange to get a small taste of China on the Thai-Burma border, but it was well worth the effort to get here. It was so cool standing on the reservoir's edge imaging the town as it once was.
Shop signs and dialogues are all in Chinese - a Chinese dialogue that I do not understand. They speak 4 different languages in this town - Mandarin, Yunnan, Thai and Burmese. There are so many tiny tea shops/restaurants around. We dropped in a little eatery and sampled some awesome Chinese teas - Oolong tea and Ginseng tea. Both were great. The noodles that I had was so delicious and it was nice to have a taste of China. I was also introduced to a yellow tofu salad, which when served; you add your own flavouring to it - so I pretty much added the same as what I did in my soup - sate and some sugar. The Thai people love their foods to be sweet - just like the Cambodians.
Just look at the amazing picturesque scenery. It was such a beautiful day to go cruising. Everything was just perfect. Driving against the wind, hair blowing, sun shining just made the ride a tad more interesting and enjoyable. People are picking tea leaves in the valley of tea plantation - all the villagers get together and all help each other. Thailand has such great family ties and relationships with neighbours. It is really important for them.
This part of the world in Ban Ruam Thai or Pang Ung is known as the 'Switzerland of Thailand' because of its charming panoramic views of the lakes and mountains. A mentioned that the winter months provide a romantic feel when the lake is smothered in an early morning fog and mist a surprisingly discovery which visitors do not expect to find in tropical Thailand. During the warmer months you can camp by the lake. There are guesthouses (A-framed wooden huts) perched on the bank of the lake. All the bungalows have views of calm and peaceful lake. As I was driving through the reservoir, I also noticed horses eating away the beautiful evergreen grass. You can do bamboo rafting here at this lake, the bamboo raft looks awesome. I have never seen anything like this. It was so nice walking through the reservoir by the lake, what was more interesting were the black and white swans swimming peacefully in the beautiful lake. I've been told that these swans are also quite friendly. Sometimes, they will swim close to shore to play with you.
The Shan village is just before the reservoir, we stopped by quickly to take a few snaps. But it was such a quiet village, and all the bamboos houses are positioned on a slope surrounded by coffee plants, fruit trees and a stunning view. I didn't manage to capture any people shots. It is a very rural location so there is no running electricity. However, there are plenty of candlelight and home cooked Thai and Shan food. It is primarily a coffee growing centre and Royal Agriculture Project Centre. A tells me that they make the best coffee in here but I didn't feel like stopping in for a taste. Passionate about coffee, Mr Hilary will explain the process of making it, from the picking of beans to the roasting and grinding. I may stop by next time. The Shan people's historical roots are from Yunnan, China. The Shan are of Tai descent and speak a Tai dialect. The language is related to Thai and Lao, with a written script that is less complicated than Thai. The majority of Shan are famers growing rice to eat and variety of crops to sell in the market. Most work on irrigated rice fields and grow garlic, peanuts and soybeans as cash crops.
On our way back to Mae Hong Son, we stopped by 'Phu Klon Club Healthy'. Phu Klon geographically means a mud source and natural mineral spring which is between 60-140 degree celsius. Natural black mud which has skin care and therapeutic benefits has been discovered and the boiling black mud is clean, free from sulfur smell and full of healthy mineral for the skin and blood circulation. They offer services such as facial Phu Klon mud spa, mineral swimming and massages. Alongside this beautiful resort is a golf field. It seems like rather a very relaxing place to chill and get pampered - I'm definitely coming back to try out the mud spa facial. After 7 hours of riding and exploring the surrounding areas which included forest trails, hot springs, caves, waterfalls and hill tribe villages in the surrounding areas, we finally made it back home. It was such a nice day and I am glad that I got to explore Mae Hong Son a little. It's so amazing that this part of Thailand can be so green. I have never driven or ridden in such crazy conditions with so many curvy uphill roads - I was a little petrified at times, especially turning at corners and having a speeding car meet you at the bend. There were so many times that I thought I could of fallen off the bike - it surely got the adrenaline rushing.
When I arrived home, Dawid had been back too. He and his new Dutch friend (Clarice) had just come back from a weekend of trekking. Clarice is from Holland and is travelling through Asia for 6 months. She lived in Japan for 4 months studying the language which is pretty cool. She is staying at the same guesthouse as Dawid and I. Before I got home, A took me for a walk around town showing me the best hot spots for traditional local food. I have been craving for papaya salad for the last week so I finally got my hands on some, along with mince meat cooked with basil leaves and sticky rice. I took Clarice and Dawid to the night food market where they got themselves dinner as well. We sat at the porch with our dinners and beers and talked about our awesome weekend. It was also a more getting-to-know-eachother conversation. Clarice only plans to stay the night as she is planning to travel through Thailand. Dinner was great with my new friends. Since Hans had been gone, it has been rather lonely. It was nice to have people around again to talk to.
We went and browsed around the beautiful temple across the lake - Shan style temples - Wat Jong Kham and Wat Jong Klang. There was a part of the temple that women are forbidden to enter, which is common in Shan-style temples - apparently. These temples featured an interesting collection of carved wooden figures and also a small museum with random things. The most strangest thing happened to Clarice and I. When we first arrived at the temple, we were greeted by a monk who mumbled words. At first, I thought he wanted me to take a photo of him but he was actually suggesting to take a photos with us girls. As we took the photo I felt that monks hand on the side of my breast. I was very shocked and didn't really react to it, as I thought he has just accidentally placed his hand. A while later as he was showing us another section to the temple, he had purposely tricked Clarice into taking a photo of the temple so that he had a good opportunity to grab her breast. This time it was done behind and he got full grasped of it. She quickly came up to us and asked if we wanted to leave, I asked why and she quickly murmured 'he grabbed me'. We left immediately. As we were walking away from the temple, we told Dawid about what had happened to the both of us (Clarice experienced the more worse of it) - the three of us were in total shock and just bursted out laughing. There was no other way to react. We were just touched by a monk - how is this even possible? I think the monk has some mental issues, his speech was not clear and it seemed as though he wasn't all there, nonetheless, it doesn't give him the right to touch girls like that and it's definitely very inappropriate to behave like that in a 'temple'.
Good night world.
XOXO
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