MARI'S TRAVELS WITH HER CAMERA

Category: South East Asia

Thailand, Cambodia

  • Buddhas and Beaches

    Buddhas and Beaches

    Hua Hin – a Village a short drive from Bangkok

    Fifty years ago only a few intrepid travellers were aware of the wonders of Thailand.  Last year over twelve million visitors came to enjoy this amazing country.  With people who actually do smile all the time, and mean it, beaches that are sandy and often powdery white,  waters that range from turquoise to a limpid blue, a mean average temperature of 280 , and one of the finest cuisines in the world, it is easy to understand the attraction.  Nor should the safety factor be overlooked, either.  With a population that is 98% Buddhist,  religious conflict is virtually nil in this country of gentle, courteous people.

    Thai Orchids

    Bangkok is Noisy but the Chao Phraya River is Tranquil    

    The Modern Face of Bangkok

    No one would call present day Bangkok a paradise, but this modern metropolis was once known as the Venice of the East, a city built on canals which meandered through the capital and out into the countryside.  Most of these have now been filled in, but the magnificent Chao Praya River with its traffic of tugs, rice barges, and house-boats, still runs through its centre, lined by stunning hotels like the Oriental, Peninsula, Sheraton Towers, Shangri-La and a host of others.

    Big Buddha in Pattaya – a famous landmark

    Hire a boat and a boatman from your hotel’s landing stage for a visit to the temples and palaces which are on the river, and you need never step into Bangkok’s noisy streets.  It’s a relaxing way to see the City of Angels (a name by which Bangkok’s was once known) and sunrise over the Temple of Dawn, viewed from the boat, is an incredible sight.

    Beaches and Islands – Where to find the best   

    Horse riding on the beach, early morning

    If its beaches you’re after, there’s the peace and tranquillity of the resorts on the Andaman Sea at Krabi,where you can cruise around the extraordinary 40-odd limestone karsts thrusting out of the sea in a totally surreal landscape (recognisable from The Man with the Golden Gun which was filmed here), picnic on a sandbank or deserted island, or head off into the Marine National Park for some of the finest diving in the world.   If you choose to stay in a hotel, the most exclusive, The Rayavadee, has not one, but three beaches surrounding it as well as an infinity pool.

    Koh Samui

    The best known of Thailand’s islands is Phuket, whose coastline hides bays with the sort of shimmering sands lapped by turquoise seas you see in publicity pictures – Karon, Kata, Nai Harn, Pansea, Bang Tao and the National Park beach of Mai Khao.  Pick any one of these and you’ll find exclusive, world class hotels to cosset and pamper you.  If you want brash and noisy, then head for Patong Bay, easy to reach for an evening’s entertainment.

    Phuket is subject to monsoons but when it is raining there the weather is usually fine in Ko Samuii (and vice versa) an island fast moving from backpackers hideaway to an upmarket resort with a laid-back atmosphere.

    On the mainland, the resorts of Hua-Hin, where the Thai royal family have their summer palace, and Cha’am, attract the more mature travellers for great shopping and good restaurants.  And don’t dismiss Pattaya, known mostly for its girlie-bars, nightclubs, and massage parlours: it  has one of the world’s great hotels right on the edge of town which many people check into and leave without once setting foot outside it, their entire vacation having been spent luxuriating in one of the Royal Suites.

    Go North and visit the Hill Tribes        

    The writer with a Padaung Hill Tribe Woman, one of the ‘Long Necks’

    Even great beaches can bore after days of perfect weather, offering a good excuse to visit the hill tribes and enjoy the northern culture of Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai and Mae Hong Son.  Home to some of the most colourful tribal people in the world, the Akha, Meo, Leo, Hmong, Karen, Lisu and the long-necked Padaung, the velvety green mountains hiding rare orchids and other flora, is a startling contrast to the south of the country.  There are opportunities to join elephant rides into the jungle or to trek to remote villages to meet the hill tribe people.  For a more hands-on activity you can hire a 4WD (with or without driver) so that you can navigate the steep mountain roads and tracks, drift up the Pai River from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai on a bamboo raft, visit the border town of Mai Sai and cross into Myanmar for a few hours, then visit the strange town of Theod Thai to talk with the remnants of Chiang Kai Shek’s Nationalist Army that settled here after escaping from China.

    Phuket Sunset
    The Elephant is the National Symbol o Thailand

    Thailand is not just another country, it’s another way of life, guaranteed to de-stress even the most overworked executive.  After all, a country that has only one word for both work and pleasure, sanuk, has to be something special.

    Reflections in a Pool – Hotel in Bangkok

  • The Akha Hill Tribes of Northern Thailand

    The Akha Hill Tribes of Northern Thailand

    The Akha are a relatively poor but a culturally unique people living in the high mountains of Northern Thailand, formerly involved solely in opium cultivation but now virtuous fruit farmers – or mostly so.  Rumour has it that some still harvest the poppy but “for their own use” as it eases the back-breaking work of being a hill farmer.  More than 55,000 of the Akha are now engaged in cultivating cash crops like maize, soya, coffee, tea and fruits.

    Hailing originally from Tibet, migrating by way of Yunnan and Burma, the Akha arrived in Thailand in the late 19th century, speaking a form of Tibetan-Burmese which is still their main language.

    Thatched house in a village
    Children play in the street around the houses

    Although the men dress quite simply in longhis and shirts, or shorts and shirts, the women’s costumes are exotic and the headgear astonishing. Of the many hill tribes, the Akha women’s dress is easily the most elaborate. On the head they wear a helmet-like piece made up of silver coins, beads and feathers the body covering being a long-sleeved jacket over a short cotton skirt decorated with embroidery and shells and ending just above the knees. Silver is the dominant metal for the Akha and they wear huge pendant earrings and broad, thick bands of silver around the neck.

    Padaung girl with Mari
    Akha Children in Village

    Despite their shyness, they accept tourists in one of their villages, Huay Kee Lek, and visitors are welcome to spend a few days there learning about their culture and traditions. Huay Kee Lek is not new: it has been in existence for more than 50 years and includes what to the Akha is the most important feature of the compound, the ornately carved gate in which the guardian spirits of the village live. As Animists they believe in a world of spirits, both dangerous and benevolent, spirits who must be kept appeased lest they interfere with the life of the tribe and bring death, plagues and evil upon them.

    Elephants Hauling Teak, Northern Thailand
    Akha Children at Play

    Akha Children

    There is a surprising number of Christian and Buddhist Akha, but even these give a nod in the direction of animism and involve themselves in protecting the sites set apart for the spirits, including the gate.  This mirrors Thai society itself for although the population of the country is 95% Buddhist, the number of spirit houses on the forecourts of big business houses and residential properties, testify to a strong belief in animism in the country at large.

    Tourists stay in a genuine stilt house with Akha families and can join the villagers as they journey to the fields after dawn, to observe how they work. Visitors will also be invited to explore the surrounding forests with one of the Akha guides on hand to explain the concept of sustainable forestry as it affects them. It took the government a long time to persuade the Akha from their traditional slash and burn system of farming (a system still in operation in some places) but population pressure and the loss of the forests seems to have convinced most of them to adopt sustainable farming in its place.

    Akha Child inside Smokey Cooking Tent

    The “home-stays” money provided by tourists is used to help local conservation projects and to keep alive Akha culture,  their traditional music and performance arts, all of which is an encouragement to the tribe to take pride in their traditions.

    Huay Kee Lek is high up in the hills but it is relatively easy to reach on a good road from Mae Suai to the valley settlement and for anyone wishing to understand the life of the hill tribes, a few days spent in the village is all that is needed.

  • Bangkok – City of Angels

    Bangkok – City of Angels

    KONICA MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERA
    Orchids on display in  one of Bangkok’s markets

    The City of Angels is one translation of the name Bangkok, but the reputation it has in the world today has more to do with sinners methinks.  Do not let this deter anyone from visiting this fabulous city, chock full of amazing sites from the red lacquer and gold leafed temples to the famed River of Kings, the Chao Phraya, that meanders through the city.

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    Add to those the Grand Palace, actually a complex of beautiful buildings, temples, wall murals, and temples:  Wat Arun the famous Temple of Dawn; Chinatown alive with noise and bustle day and night, the best shopping in Asia without a doubt, and great food, roof top bars with the Wow! factor, and the Skytrain to get you from one place to the other in comfort, and you can understand why Thailand is a top destination today.

    P1030873I returned from Bangkok just a few weeks ago laden with trinkets, silks and wood carvings as usual.  My regular visits do not mean that I don’t shop as avidly as I always did.  If anything, the growth of the fashion industry in Thailand and the increase in skilled staff in the carving and gem departments, makes it more difficult to resist.

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    I still visit the Grand Palace to wonder at the magnificence, and Chinatown at night for fun eating and bargains as well as other favourite haunts.  And I always stroll through the infamous Patpong just to see how it expands and still welcomes families as well as single males and females.  It’s not generally known but all visitors are welcome there, and safe.  Watch this space for an article on the streets known as Patpong I and Patpong II, and the other area where the sex trade is practised openly, Soi Cowboy.

    Bangkok-skyline
    Bangkok Skyline, Lumpini Park in Foreground

  • Hua Hin – Thailand’s Royal Town

    Hua Hin – Thailand’s Royal Town

    People often ask what is my favourite town or city in Thailand.  The answer is easy, it is Hua Hin, a once quiet fishing village on the Gulf of Siam, two hours drive from Bangkok, and a world away from the bustle and noise of the capital city.  Mind you, Bangkok is up there with the favourites as well, but it is the capital city after all, and all capital cities are deserving of their popularity.

    I have been visiting Hua Hin for about 25 years now, stopping off on every holiday to recharge my batteries in the peace and tranquillity of one of the hotels just outside the town.  For the last twenty years, that hotel has been the Dusit Thani Hua Hin, a 5-star establishment that attracts guests from far and wide, but it also pleases the Thai people because come the week-end, they flock to it for the great food (especially the Saturday night barbecue), the delightful seaside setting, and the chance to go horse-riding at dawn on the beach (the only hotel at which this is available).

    Today’s Hua Hin owes much of its popularity to the fact that many people discovered it only after the tsunami that devastated the southern beaches of Phi Phi, Phuket, Kao Lak etc.  Before the tsunami it could be said that the fishing village atmosphere was very evident, but today, the little fishing harbour is being crowded by the shops, restaurants, and tailors that line the roads leading to the sea.

    Most of the major hotel chains have a presence here – Hyatt, Hilton, Marriott, Aleena, Sofitel, and of course, the already mentioned, Dusit Thani.  I choose The Dusit Thani because it is a purely Thai owned hotel with service and attention to detail that reflects the Thai ideal of hospitality.  All these hotels have excellent restaurants but Hua Hin itself must be one of the best towns in which to find food from every nation.  As well as Thai restaurants, of which there are many, there are Chinese, French, German, Indian, Italian, Korean, Swiss, Japanese, Vietnamese, American and European/Mediterranean fusion.

    With the growth of a well-heeled retirement colony in the town, bakeries have sprung up as well as cheese and meat importers.  Fresh vegetables can be purchased daily at the local market, or there is a Tesco/Lotus supermarket for those who feel the need for packaged veggies and air-conditioned stores.

    Hua Hin is one of the most popular spots to which people want to retire as the climate is never too hot or too humid, unlike say Phuket or the islands in the south.  It is also within easy reach of Bangkok, there is a good transport network, and, there are six championship golf courses in the area.

  • Asian Travels – Mari Nicholson

    I have decided to split my travel blogging into two separate areas, one for my forays into East Asia, an area of the world in which I travel extensively, and one for Europe.  I hope it will be easy for the readers to navigate between the two, and I hope I manage to leave links where necessary.

    I have decided to call this one Asian travels, and the one for my European excursions I propose calling, surprise surprise, European Travels.

    This year I have spent quite a bit of time in Thailand, my all-time favourite country, during which I managed to visit Koh Samui – just avoiding the flooding which hit the island shortly after I left – and I spent some time in Hua Hin, the Thai Royals’ favourite resort on the Gulf.  I also spent time in Khao Sok National Park and in Khao Yai National Park, two quite different areas of forest land, one to the North of Bangkok and one way down South, near Krabi, Phuket, and Surat Thani.

    I hope you’ll check in occasionally to read my articles, maybe to ask me some questions, or leave a comment.  This is just ‘Hello’ for today.  First blog coming up soon.