Visa formalities on the Thai side of the river were fairly straightforward, except for a minor glitch requiring that I leave the country on Christmas Day - a full week before my flight back to the States. Oh well, mai pen rai, as the Thais like to say. I'm sure it will all get straightened out long before my expulsion from the Kingdom. At any rate, the border town of Chiang Khon seemed pleasant enough, but as soon as I had my passport stamped I was whisked to the bus station by a motorbike taxi (driven by a woman - not all that unusual in Thailand, but the first I had met in the last three months). With no time to change dollars into baht so early in the morning, I had to convince her to take American - no problem. The local bus driver was harder to convince, but after I agreed to pay a slightly inflated rate for my ride to Chiang Rai (three dollars instead of two - highway robbery!) he let me board. Riding shotgun with my new friend and his ticket-taking sidekick, a cheerful middle-aged woman I took to be his wife, we pulled out of the station on time and arrived in Chiang Rai a couple hours later.Without any sort of Thailand guidebook to refer to (mine is safely holding down a stack of papers on my desk back in Utah) I stepped off the bus feeling a little helpless. I had the name of a guesthouse that someone in Laos had recommended and found a tuk tuk driver who was suprisingly eager to take me there. Turns out the guesthouse was literally two blocks from the bus station, a distance I could have easily walked - crawled, even - if I had known where it was. Oh well, he did do me the courtesy of driving around the block a few times on the way there in order to make it seem like my money was being well spent. The price you pay for arriving in a new town blind, I suppose. I happily paid him the buck I had promised and took a room at the Baan Bua Garden Guesthouse, a very nice place centrally located, I found later that evening, in the Chiang Rai redlight district. Ahhh, Thailand.
After a month in (fairly) sedate and (definitely) modest Laos, Chiang Rai was a bit of shock to the system and it took a day to get back into the "Land of Smiles." One of my favorite countries - and a sort of second home by virtue of my parent's Bangkok residence - Thailand is a little difficult to describe to the uninitiated. Compared to the rest 
of Southeast Asia, it is developed, modern, and "first-world" in many ways (7-11, anyone?). The people are generally outgoing, exceedingly friendly, and for better or worse, completely used to foreigners. In fact, one of the things I like least about being in Thailand is the impression I'm afraid I give by traveling as a single male. I find my introductions to the people I meet on the road inevitably including the information that "I'm going to see my parents in Bangkok for the holidays" - in an unconscious attempt to show that I'm NOT a sex tourist. Yeah, the creepy dudes and their beautiful rent-a-girlfriends are everywhere, as are the go-go bars and massage parlors. My little guesthouse was at the end of a pretty, tree-lined alley "guarded" by a well-placed massage parlor manned (woman-ed?) by a handful of very enthusiastic girls. The first few times I walked by, I was fresh meat and fair game - but after a few "mai ao's" (no thanks) they realized I was just staying down the road and not cruising. From then on, I was magically off-limits and free to say hey, flirt, and joke around with them whenever I went home for the night. That's Thailand.
of Southeast Asia, it is developed, modern, and "first-world" in many ways (7-11, anyone?). The people are generally outgoing, exceedingly friendly, and for better or worse, completely used to foreigners. In fact, one of the things I like least about being in Thailand is the impression I'm afraid I give by traveling as a single male. I find my introductions to the people I meet on the road inevitably including the information that "I'm going to see my parents in Bangkok for the holidays" - in an unconscious attempt to show that I'm NOT a sex tourist. Yeah, the creepy dudes and their beautiful rent-a-girlfriends are everywhere, as are the go-go bars and massage parlors. My little guesthouse was at the end of a pretty, tree-lined alley "guarded" by a well-placed massage parlor manned (woman-ed?) by a handful of very enthusiastic girls. The first few times I walked by, I was fresh meat and fair game - but after a few "mai ao's" (no thanks) they realized I was just staying down the road and not cruising. From then on, I was magically off-limits and free to say hey, flirt, and joke around with them whenever I went home for the night. That's Thailand.
Back to Chiang Rai. It's a nice enough city, mostly quiet with a decent night market that draws hundreds of Thai tourists each night. Really not a whole lot to say about the town, although the highlight seems to be a horribly gaudy clocktower in the center of town (looked like a royal gift to me, but I'm just guessing). The owner of my guesthouse had kept telling me that I MUST go to the clocktower at 8:00pm sharp. One night I walked the few blocks up to the intersection and there were dozens of people gathering on each of the streetcorners surrounding the clocks - all Thais, I was definitely the only foreigner for this show. At exactly 8, the clock started slowly flashing different colors, playing music, and then, from bowels of the golden tower, a strange sort of metallic lotus flower rose and "gave birth" to an egg-like object. The lights kept flashing, the music kept playing, and at 8:05, the whole process the reversed, the lotus swallowed up the egg, and it all sank back into the clock. The Thais loved it and I loved watching the Thais, so I guess we all won. That's Thailand.
In the end, I was able to check Chiang Rai off of my must-see list. A nice city and perfect place to begin weaning myself from the mellowness of Laos, but nothing too exciting. Up next is Chiang Mai and then the big one.....Bangkok.
No comments:
Post a Comment