Happy Lantern Festival

A year ago, I was celebrating my very first lantern festival in Northern Thailand. Didn't know the Thai also celebrate Lantern Festival like the Chinese.

Had a lot of good food, made plenty of new Thai friends.

And of course visited plenty of places where not many Malaysian would ever thought of visiting.

Happy Lantern Festival to all my Chinese friends no matter where you are. I am missing Thailand & looking forward to my a week break in November, celebrating Loy Kra Thong.

Final Day in Northern Thailand

What a lovely weather now in Hong Kong. A beautiful Saturday and before continuing on my life here in Hong Kong, I wanna finish up the posting on my recent trip to Northern Thailand. For easier track back, please check out here, here & here.

In brief, Northern Thailand population is mainly made of hill tribes people from Burma who came to Thailand to seek asylum during the civil war there. The Thai government recognized these people as the 2nd class citizen of Thailand which means they will not have the privilege like other Thai citizen to enjoy government subsidized benefits, for example education, etc.

Northern Thailand or the Golden Triangle was once best known for its notorious drugs production & dealing. In the past, those hill tribes who seek asylum in Thailand would grow poppy plants to make a living.

All this however change thanks to the royal presence when the late Princess Mother built the Doi Tung Villa. Thai has very strong passion on its monarchy, that is why it is very important for tourists and foreigners to know this point because unnecessary and unpleasant remarks about the monarchy will land them in hot soup. To stress again, never ever poke fun on Thai's monarchy, the King & the monk.

Ok now on the Doi Tung Villa, a summer palace on the slopes of Doi Tung near Pa Kluay Reservoir, which is now open to the public as a museum. The royal initiative also educated on new agricultural methods to stop slash and burn practices. Opium has now been replaced by crops such as, coffee, teak and various fruits. Thus the life of these hill tribes changed so whenever I asked them about the late Princess Mother, they will passionately described her in many good ways. The rest of the property, including the Mae Fah Luang Garden and Mae Fah Luang Arboretum, is also open to the public. Please note that no photograph is allowed inside the Doi Tung Royal Villa.

At the peak of Doi Tung, 1800m above sea level, Wat Phra That Doi Tung is built around the twin Lanna-style chedi. The chedi were renovated by famous Chiang Mai monk Khruba Siwichai early in the 20th century. What was captivating here to me, the two rows of temple bells, pilgrims bang on the usual row of temple bells to gain merit.

All in all, my this trip there had opened up my eyes in a lot of ways; Thai's culture, its way of living, its food and the home-stay in village had been a great experience for a city boy like me. God willing, I will love to visit it again during the Songkran festival. For those who are seeking advice on this area, do email me, I will try to assist as much as I can :)

As for me now, its my first week here in Hong Kong, the first few days always been exciting when you bump into a new place & new environment, but as time passes, I start to miss friends back home. In Hong Kong, long stay here is not easy, the moment you step out of your house, you start to burn a hole in your pocket so can guess that I most probably home most of the time, or perhaps just go around the neighborhood for a walk. I am currently home alone for a few days here. I am invited for a post mid-autumn celebration party tonight @ the Hong Kong International Airport World Trade Center, was there last night and the view was amazing, will try to snap more pictures & upload it to my Facebook.

Oh ya, not forgetting too, taking this opportunity to wish all my Hindu friends & readers a very happy Diwali, I am so gonna miss the food! Ciao!

Day 4 - Northern Thailand

Continuing from Day 3, quite drunk the night before, woke up about 10AM on Day 4. Washed up, cleaned up, my host brought me to this famous stall that sells "Som Tam" (the popular Thai Salad). We packed quite a bit of this and went again to Pip Uun house again. The day started with brunch, on top of the Som Tam that we bought, there were beef soup, Bah Kut Teh and some real spicy chicken. And again, we drank beer. We finished about 6 bottles of large Leo beer, then Pip Uun planned to bring me to a local waterfall, my wrong for not taking the name down, but the whole journey been something new to me.

In Thai, we can see a lot of pick-ups, so I had the chance to ride on one. 7 of us in a pick-up, along the way we drank and drank and drank. Beer is cheap like I mentioned in my few posts earlier. Reaching there about 3PM, we hang around, we brought food and beer, so it was sort of a picnic for me, I cannot even recall the last time I had picnic, perhaps it was back when I am still in my primary school days. It was fun!

On our journey back at about 6PM, we stopped at a hot-spring, bought eggs meant to be boiled in the hot spring, enjoy the landscape with beer, and I had never drink so much of beer in my life. My friends in Malaysia knowing me, recognize that I am not a beer-man but somehow in Thai, the beer tastes better, most of the beer I drank was quite mild and smooth.

Then came dinner time, we went to my host cousin's place, the guys cooked for us, we had great food and by now we probably had our 3rd dozens of beers. After the dinner, I took my last picture which was the image of the moon but the night was not over as yet. We changed and the plan was to bring me to a local disco.

We went to the one & only BM Disco in Maesai, nothing much to shout about, it is about the same kind of disco we can find in Hatyai or Chiang Mai, DJ dance numbers interval with performances.

It was one great night! We reached home about 3AM that night, fun!

OK, now day 5 coming up!

Before signing off, would like to share this masterpiece song with you all, you need to understand Mandarin & Hokkien to catch the creativeness of the song. Enjoy!

Day 3 - Northern Thailand

So back to my travelogue, day 3 in Northern Thailand.

During my stay in Thailand, I am having a rather healthy body clock. Slept around 11PM and woke up 8ish every day. Unlike my days in Malaysia & Hong Kong. I can't sleep last night until 4AM, crazy. That is the problem when you live in big city where the city never sleeps, filled with entertainments.

OK, let's not sway away from the main agenda here. On day 3, woke up at my usual 8ish. Showered and my host decided to bring me to the "Assistant Head of Village" house. In other words if the head of village is President, then this guy would be the VP. Before that, we went for the Thai laksa again as breakfast, then on her motorbike we traveled to our destination.

Arriving at the house, there were many people there already. The guys would be busy making man-made fireworks while the ladies will do preparation for the prayers in celebration of mid-autumn.

Knowing that I am a no-help to them, I just kaypoh kaypoh look see look see only, ample of food and beer throughout. This continues until about 4PM. Then head back home for a shower and quick rest anticipating for the big night.

Waking up, my host already prepared home-cooked stuff for me. While I am doing my dinner, she was busy decorating the exterior of the house with lanterns, it had been a long long time since I seen lanterns hanging around the house - very warm feeling :)

After dinner, dressed up a bit, we proceeded to the temple. I did not take much pictures there as its weird because it seems that I am the only one snapping pictures. Most of the pictures taken was along my journey to the temple. There was a stage where performances will be held. Girls in their traditional costumes from different tribes performed. My host told me some even sing Burmese songs as most of the people in Northern Thailand are Burmese immigrants escaped to Thailand during the tribe-wars in Burma many years ago. Fireworks & chanting can be heard. Many people also bought the big big lantern, where you make a wish, stick it on the lantern and let it rise to the air (this can be seen in Malaysia as well) but I have never seen so many lanterns being released at a go, the sighting was simply amazing but too bad I was too captivated that I did not take a shot of it. As the crowd grew larger, we decided to leave the place as some kids were tagging along with us.

As we were walking along the stretch to the temple, people are enjoying singing, dancing & boozing regardless of age, size, gender or race (it looked a bit like San Pedro celebration in Melaka). I even danced with aunties and strangers, they will buy you beer even if they do not know you, it was really a warm feeling. There is also a corner where girls with fair complexion will dressed up in traditional costumes, they do allow you to dance with them but with a small fee of 10 Baht. Nice! Imagine the Malaysian girls charging RM1 for a dance in the club, it will never happen, Malaysian girls at times act too high class (majority but not all) :P

We ended the night boozing till wee hours at the VP house. He was really happy as this is the first time a man like me from foreign country goes to his house and celebrate with him. Thanks Pip Uun!

To be continue - Day 4.

ps: I spotted a brand new factory outlet at the mall near the place I am staying in Hong Kong, check it out here.

Day 2 - Northen Thailand

Continuing from my earlier 2 post, this trip to Doi Tung had been an eye opener for me in a lot of ways.

On the 2nd October 2009, I reached the Doi Tung point at around 8PM where my host came & picked me up to her house. The place that I stayed is very comfortable, cooling & peaceful. Dinner was prepared and since it had been a long long traveling day for me, I opted for a good rest instead of going anywhere.

Next morning, woke up at around 9AM, went to my host's sister house. Had my breakfast which is similar to our Malaysian laksa, just that it is spicier served with minced pork & pig's blood cubes. It is really yummy!

Then we went visiting around the village, I am really touch with the warm reception of these villagers. Each & every house we went, there were food & drinks. It is like a whole day long feasting session. And not to mention plenty of beers. Beers are dirt cheap. A dozen of big bottles of "Leo" beers cost me about 500baht.

Practically my second day, I eat, eat & eat... drink, drink & drink... in short, I am drunk.

My 3rd day in Doi Tung, this is somehow the most important day for the people here. Then only I realized that they actually considered mid-autumn as their new year celebration. There are plenty of new years in this part of Thailand actually. In October they celebrated the mid-autumn in a big way, then in November, they celebrate "Loy Kae Thong" which to welcome the winter, then the Thai too celebrate the common new year celebrated worldwide on every 31st December and somewhere in April they will celebrate Songkran.

I shall continue the 3rd day on a separate day, gotta take an early rest because I am heading to Hong Kong early tomorrow, my flight will be 7AM.

While I am away, the best medium to keep touch with me

songm@hotmail.com (Facebook & MSN)
mikemmery (Twitter & Skype)

Do add me ya!

Backpacking Travelogy to Northern Thailand

I had just got back from my trip to the few part of northern Thailand. Will try to share my experience with those interested to visit the place. In fact, it was my second trip there. The very first time was part of the incentive trip with some dealers. Back then, it was pure tour guided trip and visited some major tourist attractions.

This time around, I am doing a backpacking. My destination is actually Doi Tung under the Mae Fah Luang province, about 20km from Mae Sai. The most ideal way to get to the place is of course flying to Chiang Rai which means you either fly direct to Bangkok from KL before taking domestic flight from Bangkok to Chiang Rai.

However, due to budget constraint, I took the direct flight from KL to Chiang Mai instead. Thanks to AirAsia, my one-way ticket to Chiang Mai was about RM150. Getting to LCCT had always been a headache but thanks to the new service by the KLIA transit, I took the option of traveling with KLIA transit train from KL Sentral to Salak Tinggi then commute the free bus ride to LCCT, all in total only cost me about RM12.50 per trip.

Reached Chiang Mai @ noon, 1PM to be exact. From the international airport, I opted for a taxi ride to the Chiang Mai Arcade Bus Station. The fixed rate for my ride to the bus station cost me only about 150Baht. Upon reaching the Arcade Bus Station, I felt like a total stranger as it was crowded only with local, many gave a strange stare but very fortunately I manage to find someone who can speak an "OK" English. She guided me to counter No. 5, I bought the ticket for Chiang Mai en route to Maesai. The ticket cost me 212Baht. To make it easier for me, the ticket teller remarked on my ticket that I will stop at a place called Doi Tung. Since my bus will only be taking off at 3PM, I managed to bump into an internet cafe that serves some really bad food. After that particular session with the cyberworld, I am totally lost touch with it for about a week and I realized I am ok to be apart from Internet actually :)

The bus trip is good though long. It took me 3 hours to reach Doi Tung. Upon reaching there, it was already about 8PM. My host came and pick me up.

I will share more about the rest of my trip tomorrow :)

Stay tune!

PS: Today I also want to wish my very special brother a very happy birthday! Hey Ah Rim, Happy Birthday to you ya!