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My trip to Thailand

Ratchaburi

In 1993 I went on a small group tour in Thailand. After meeting in Bangkok, we went west, the first stop was at Ratchaburi were we got to see how sugar is made from palm flowers.

Saduak Floating Market

Not far from there is the floating market at Sadauk, which we travelled to on a canal with a small fast boat with low freeboard.

All of the market wasn't floating, and part of it is geared towards tourists, but it is also a real market with people going there by boat to sell their produce.

Mae Ham Kwae Noi, Floating hotel

That night we spent on the river Mae Ham Kwae Noi, near a place called Sai Yok.

The last part of the way there we went by riverboat. It was a low, long and narrow boat with an outboard motor with the propeller on a long shaft stretching far back, which was also was used to steer the boat with.

This hotel is operated by people belonging to one of the many ethnic minorities in Thailand. Their village was on land, which we also visited as it was quite near the hotel.

Kanchana Buri

The next day, on our way east and north, we stopped by Kanchana Buri, where the bridge over the river Kwai is located.

Thai railway museums

Phra Nakhon Si Ayuttaya

As usual when you bring tourists around, one of the recurring attractions is "looking at old stones".

There's plenty of "old stones" in Thailand, but they aren't always as old as they might look. I think these ruins were only from the 18:th century.

Chiang Mai

Another thing we saw a lot of was temples, old and newer, most of them with lots of Buddha statues, all of them slightly different.

One of the most impressive temples was Wat Phra that Doi Suthep on a hilltop just outside of Chiang Mai.

The location was chosen by letting a white elephant loose, and after it had walked round the hilltop thrice, it was obvious that's the place for the temple.

Mae Hong Son

For a couple of nights we stayed at a village just outside of Mae Hong Son near the Burmese border.

From there, we made short excursions, one of them to a village called Nam Mae Pai which is one of two in the area where the Padong people, originally from Burma, have been given places to live, in exchange for letting tourists visit their villages to see their traditional way of life.

The Padong are famous for the neck, wrist and ankle rings their women wear. This custom is now disappearing, at least in Thailand. Only a very few tens of adult women, mostly old, in these villages wear them, and the girls, when they grow up have them removed.

When you're out in the forest in Thailand, a ride on elephants is customary for tourists. The elephants are also used in forestry. There's no or practically no area in Thailand where the land isn't used for something, be it agriculture or forestry.

Mai Sai

Mai Sai is a town right at the border to Burma in the north. Border traffic is lively, but foreigners can't cross easily.

We visited villages belonging to different people and it was interesting to see how different they were from each other, in spite of being so close geographically.

This photo shows me with The Golden Triangle, where the border rivers between Burma, Laos and Thailand meet, in the background.

Our guide told us that when he started as a guide a dozen years earlier, the area around The Golden Triangle was almost deserted, with just mud tracks instead roads. Now there were fine permanent roads and a five star hotel being built and lots of places which sells souvenirs to the tourists.

Chiang Saen

The oldest building I got to see in Thailand was this temple spire, also in the north east, from the late 13:th century.

The yellow band round its base was in celebration of a religious event.

Nam Khok

This sugar top hill is by the river west of Chiang Rai.

Nam Mae Lao

Another thing tourists must see are things like these hot sulpur springs, this one south of Wiang Pa Pao.

A railway trip by sleeper

Bangkok

My overall impression of Bangkok is positive.

The major drawback is the enormous amount of road traffic. I prefered to walk where I was going.

The Lumbini Park, shown here, was close to where I stayed

The Royal Thai Air Force Museum

Conclusion

I did visit other places than those pictured and mentioned above, like an island resort (which was quite uninteresting compared to the rest), but I didn't take photographs everywhere.

My overall impression of Thailand is positive. Apart from the quite horrible traffic in Bangkok it's a nice place to be a tourist in.

My travels
Last modified 1997 June 14 by Urban Fredriksson

griffon@canit.se