Thailand

 

Amazing Thailand with its colorful

country

by Annette Dixon

Many years ago a dear friend who was a world traveler mentioned to me about

the company called SmarTours. She said that the intellectual traveler

usually uses this company. It very reasonable and the owners know how to

outsource for quality guides, hotels and food. I have used this travel agency five times and plan

on using them again in October for a trip to India and Nepal.

My friend also told me she enjoyed the most beautiful country in the world,

Vietnam and I had to differ with her. I thought Thailand was much better in many

ways. I had back to back trips and was traveling for 33 days, first to Thailand,

then Cambodia and Vietnam.

The country of Thailand is where the people were so friendly. There wasn’t a

time no matter who they were or what part of Thailand they were from, they

had the most beautiful smiles and oh so friendly. I do not recall beggars as in

Vietnam, begging for money. Surely, there were Thai people hounding us

with their sovigneers, but that was to be expected on the streets, especially near

the day markets. I cannot speak harshly about anything or anyone in Thailand,

for in that country I felt safe, happy, very healthy, and the desire to

return to this country. Yes there was poverty, much poorer than the slums of

Chicago and New York, but it’s a third world country. Americans are aware that

poverty exists, for the average wage earner earns $200 per month, but a tourist

can eat for $2.00 per day at a market or at street vendor, where the native

spends $0.25 per day on food. Thailand, no doubt, is a country I would want

to visit again.

The most outrageous cost for entertainment was at the Chiang Mai Zoo and

Aquarium in Northern Thailand. For the American, we

wouldn’t think paying $18 dollar for admission was too steep, but natives from

throughout Thailand couldn’t afford to spend this amount. So when they

wanted to visit the zoo and aquarium, about 6 to 8 people would come from the

country in a truck, and each person would give money to the one person who

would be entering the complex. that person would spend the

whole day in the Aquarium and Zoo, also entertainment in the

the zoo, take pictures and return to the family and report on

what was in this zoo and show pictures.

On the better side of this trip, I did get to stay at five star hotels

and yes there is the economic divide of rich and poor. I guess their working on developing

a strong middle class in the years to come for Thailand. According to our guide, Chai

said that “Thai people never throw anything out when they

cook, they use the skin, seeds, roots, etc. and every thing that

grows. They use the heads, eyes, organs, etc from animals fowl, sea food.”

Many times I didn’t know what I was eating unless our

guide was with us. And yes, I did try something which I didn’t

try in China, jumping shrimp. I didn’t try a deep fried grasshopper

because I tried that in China, to crunchy.

A good thing was in this country , we could be on excursions by ourselves and walk

among crowds of people without worrying about our safety. Of course, we were warned

about theft , yes it happens in Bangkok, but injury to the victim doesn’t take place. Now for

the tour. In Bangkok, we were on the Chao Phraya River after a long

days of visiting temples. It was this river where we visited water

market and the market where the train goes through. If you

look on UTube for Thailand Market you will know what I saw. The temples where unique

and elaborate with ornate and colorful designs, precious gems

such as diamonds, emeralds, opals, sapphires and rubies. Wat Trimitr has the 5 ton solid

gold statue of Buddha and Wat Po has the colossal 150 foot

long Reclining Buddha. It was fun to see this along with the

white marble temple representing Thai architecture.

The ancient capital of Thailand is Ayutthaya, I didn’t know this but I surely became

interested because of our guide. In Ayutthaya we saw a huge bronze statue of Wat

Mongkol Borpith and three ancient pagodas at Wat Phra Sri. We then continued to

Lopburi to visit the stone carvings which were awesome. I wasn’t too thrilled with the

Monkey Temple not knowing what the monkeys were up to, but I went along with the tour.

Traveling north to Phitsanulok, which is the gateway to Northern Thailand, we

visited the Bronze Case Factory and viewed more Buddha Images. Sukhothal/Lampang

are the two towns we visited. Sukhothal is where the famous ruins of the 13 century’s

famous capital of Siam. We couldn’t avoid seeing a textile

Museum and unique private collect. I do know several

quilters who would die for this adventure. After visiting an ancient

ceramic kiln which was at least 500 AD, we traveled to Lampang for the overnight

stay at Wiang Lakorn Hotel. Continuing North into the Golden Triangle which includes

the Mekong River and the meeting point of Thailand,

Myanmar (Burma), and Laos. We visited Laos by boat for

those that wanted the experience of being there. Thailand’’s most northern

point is Mae Sai and there we visited the local market and

shopped for handicrafts. By evening we stayed in the

charming town of Chiang Rai. Oh my, what came next

was unbelievable. People, namely immigrants from Burma settled near the Mae

Kok River mostly on high ground and these people were

called the hilltribe. Their village, which was mountainous brought tourist paying to see

their culture. handywork, costumes and how they live and survived in their surroundings.

We even saw the long neck tribe, different the the Hilltribe’ I was quite surprised to see

their village and how gorgeous the young girls were. When a girl is born, the parents

place a coil, brass , copper or gold, depending on the wealth of the family, around her

neck, as she grows and gets older, the coil is sized for her. We were sitting and talking

with a 16 year old and her neck was very long. The longer the neck, the more beautiful she is

considered to be. She let us try this on, I really like it until I realized you have to keep it on

day and night. It’s only removed for hygienic purposes. It stays on until she is married.

After this exciting day, we traveled to Chaing Mai the Rose of the North. Here was where

the elephant camp was and of course the history of the use of the elephants for this area.

Besides the fascinating temple in the mountains, we did get to see the Chaing Mai

Zoo. This was quite a trip.