A funny thing happens on the way to Laos…..

Mrs. Columbus and I have spent over 4 months in Thailand over the last few years – over that time we have met all sorts of people, locals, expats, travelers, etc.  We have bumped into Russians, Europeans, South Africans, and Australians, but very few Americans, and never another Canadian.  So we walk into the Chiang Mai airport to check in for our flight to Laos and notice someone with a Toronto Blue Jays ball cap, it turns out he and his girlfriend are from Toronto and taking a few weeks to travel before starting in on their post university jobs.  As we are there waiting for the plane, which is a small maybe 60 seat jet, the waiting area fills with about 30 people or so who are all catching the same flight, people start to banter a bit as travelers do, and it turns out that close to half the flight is Canadians all traveling to Laos!!  It seems like some sort of odd irony that we would travel half way around the world to northern Thailand, book flights on a relatively obscure flight to an even smaller place in Laos, and run into that many people from Canada – I guess the world really can be a small place!!!

The flight to Luang Prabang is only an hour and it seems like I have just barely finished my tuna (I hope) sandwich and the plane is starting to land.  As we are the first in the family to have really traveled to Laos, almost as soon as we hop off the plane Mrs. Columbus plants her flag in the ground to claim it for her own!

(we don’t count the small side trip we took here when we went to the Golden Triangle because while we were technically in Laos we did not have to get a visa or produce a passport and so the small island market we stepped on in the Mekong River could really have been anywhere.)

We have only been here for a few hours but the scenery and the feel of the town is something that must be experienced.  We have not really even seen much and already Mrs. Columbus is wondering if perhaps we should not skip Vang Vieng and Vientiane and just stay here until it is time to go home….

I may however have a retirement plan as I hold here im my hands $1,000,000 so who really needs to work anymore!!

Sadly, once you leave here the currency is basically worthless as no other country will exchange it, and even if they did it only amounts to about about $125 US 🙁

Well sadly our time in our beloved Chiang Mai has come to an end 🙁

We packed up our belongings and are getting ready for the trip to Laos.  We will be excited to see something new, but after getting so settled in here it is difficult to think about moving on.

On a positive note we did get the massage issue sorted out!  After trying some different things it still felt to me like something was missing.  I guess after going to the same place for 3 summers in a row, it is hard to reshape old habits.  Well it turns out that all was not as it originally seemed with Sopa.  We were doing some walking around that part of the city and decided we would just go by and have a massage for old time sake – we walked in and were immediately greeted by Wan (Sopa’s right hand person when we were there before)!  It turns out that Sopa did sell the place, but has really worked out some sort of partnership with Wan as she was getting a little older and her hands were starting to bother her.  She now spends most of her time at her home in Lampang but still comes into the shop from time to time – unfortunately we did not see her, but it is good to know things have only changed a little.  Confusion resolved, we went back the next three days in a row to get back into our zen massage place.

We slip in a quick stop at Ginny Cafe to say goodbye to Ian and Tee.  They have been great help to us in discovering new things to do in Chiang Mai, helping us plan for Laos, and just great to visit.  Now hopefully their lives can get back to normal as I am sure that they are all topped up on Roberts time 😉

We had been trying for a few days to set up some time with our friend Riam to go out and spend the day seeing a few sights including a stop at her ‘garden’ (about an acre of fruit trees so not really what we would call a garden).  We had a few temples that are off the normal tourist track that we wanted to see, and she also wanted to take us by her home so we were very honored to be invited to meet her family.  We finally were able to set something up for Sunday, so after our night out for Muu Kata we were ready for another day of good sights and good company.  We met Riam on our very fist trip to Chiang Mai when we came with all the kids and have made a point to met up with here every time we have returned, sometimes just for a visit, but often to hire her for her guide/car services as we explore Chiang Mai and the surrounding area.

Oddly enough on one of the only mornings we actually have a schedule, we actually slept in until just after 8am this morning.  I guess the change of hotel is working out and the somewhat softer beds and the absence of a roster across the road crowing at 5am does wonders for my sleep!!  We get ourselves sorted out and have a quick breakfast before heading out to the street to meet Riam at 9am.

Our first stop takes us out of the city and up towards Mae Rim to see the garden.  The Longan fruit is in season and there are several trees loaded with fresh fruit – it is hard to beat something fresh from the source like this and Riam gives us a bunch of clusters to take with us.  The garden has changed a little bit since we were last here a couple of years ago, they are raising fighting chickens now and have a small building where they keep the birds.  The adult birds are kept in bamboo cages as they need to be separated or of course they will fight with each other.  They have a few prize birds that have done well in previous matches, so now they can breed those birds and sell the offspring.  The sale of a couple of chickens can add up to about a month’s wages so having good birds and lots of male offspring can be quite profitable.

After wandering around the area a bit and learning about how some of the land is being bought and sold for development of nice houses or resorts, we load back into the van for the short trip to Riam’s home.  As we arrive cold drinks quickly materialize, and Riam’s children come out to greet us.  They live with her husband’s parents and in I think fairly typical Thai fashion this is the same house where he grew up as a child.  The parents do not speak any english, but greet us warmly and Riam is able to translate things back and forth for us, so we quickly feel very welcome in their home.

It feels like a special treat for us to be able to invade a bit on someone’s personal space, and  to meet the members of the family.  Riam gets her daughter to play some music for us on a traditional northern Thai instrument that she has been learning and while I suspect she was a little shy about performing in front of some farang strangers, she takes it in stride and plays 3 or 4 melodies – she was very good – dee maak maak!!

I have brought along my iPad with some of our photos from last year, a few pics of the kids and a handful of photos from back home.  In hindsight I wish I had put some more photos  from home on as I’m sure looking at a bunch of photos of Thailand is not quite as interesting to people from Thailand.  We have a good laugh as Riam struggles a bit with the iPad, but her kids quickly jump in and show her how to use it 🙂  They are mostly interested in pictures of the beach – it is something we take for granted having been there several times, but for locals to travel from the north to south is a long and expensive trip and many wil never see it.  They are also impressed with a couple of pictures of our yard from when we had snow – they of course never get snow here, so it is something they have only heard about and they have a good laugh at our fountain covered in snow and ice.

After a nice visit we say our goodbyes and load into the van for the journey back towards the city and the first of the temple stops we planned.  We have been up the mountain (Doi Suthep) to see the large temple at the top (Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep) a few times, but have only really ever gone straight there and back.  It turns out that there is another temple on the road up that most people are not aware of (turns out that is not a bad thing), called Wat Pa Lad.  It is not well marked aside from a few signs in Thai and it is not as ‘grand’ as Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep so people either do not know it is there, or just bypass it on their way farther up the mountain.  This is all good for us as the temple is mostly empty except for the monks that are meditating on the grounds so the entire place is quite and very peaceful.  The grounds are beautiful and it is easy to see how buddhists that come to a place like this can find such serenity.  In all her years of being a guide Riam has never been here so it is a new experience for all of us – like us she has gone by it many times but never really had a reason to stop.

Our next stop is Wat Umong, often referred to as the forest temple.  The temple is just on the edge of the city not far from the university grounds.  As we are making our way there through the streets we drive by more of the shops and apartments where the students would mostly live and it the whole area is bustling with young people.  It is quite a change from the old city where we stay and feels a little more modern and busy – I guess good if you are a student, but a little more hectic than we are looking for as travelers 🙂

Most of the temples in the city are built on a regular type city lot – they are often surrounded by a wall and might have a few trees, but are generally quite sparse on the landscaping.  Wat Umong is completely built in the forest and we can see why this would be quite a change from the rest of the city temples. The day that we are there they are having a ceremony to induct new monks.  In the Thai buddhist culture there is a point where all young men go to spend some time living and studying with the monks.  The amount of time can vary but is usually at least 3 days and can be as long as a year (or a lifetime if you choose to become a full fledged monk).  The ceremony is attended by all the members of your family, and typically your mother shaves your head and then the older monks help you assemble your robes and then you leave your friends and family and move off into the temple with the rest of the monks.  The ceremony is interesting, but there is more to see and we move off to other parts of the grounds.  Much of Wat Umong is actually built underground, and it is the first temple that I can recall seeing that is built this way.  Historically the tunnels were covered with paintings and are now in the slow process of being restored but they are still quite interesting even in their current state so we are glad we made the journey out to see it.

Our last stop for the day is at Wat Doi Kham, sometimes galled the Temple of the Golden Mountain.  This temple is also outside of the city and not on the regular tourist track.  In fact Riam has also never been to this temple, so two new temples in one day seems like a win for all of us!!  One of the striking features of Wat Doi Kham is the large white buddha statue on the grounds.  From some parts of the city you can see the buddha sitting up on the hill but you have to be looking for it, and it certainly does not get the attention that the more well know Wat Doi Suthep gets.  Once again this is good for us, as we are a few of the less than 2 dozen people here, so it seems like we almost have the place to ourselves.  The temple is built part way up the mountain and there is a big terrace that looks out over the city.  The veiw seems a little more intimate with the city than the view from Wat Doi Suthep  and we are glad we made the trek up here to see it.  It will join the others on our list of recommended places to see, but we may keep that list in low circulation as these spots will be best enjoyed if they are not overrun by tourists – ironic isn’t it.  Another big thanks to Ian who told us about most of these spots – we would not likely have discovered them otherwise.

We end the afternoon by saying our goodbyes to Riam as we will not likely see her again before we go (she has customers for the next few days, so during the low season that is good for her).  She refuses to let us pay her anything for her time or gas money or anything so that is now an extra special treat for us.  We all have a laugh and say she can overcharge us next time 🙂

Back to Ginny Cafe as usual for dinner and then it is off to the Sunday market to do some more wandering / shopping.  I last for about the first hour and then leave Mrs. Columbus on her own to get her fill of  the market.

Thus ends another great day in paradise…..

We had planned to go out for Mu Kratha (Thai BBQ) the other night but in keeping with our fluid schedule it just never came to fruition.  It turns out though that fiddling with the schedule worked out in our favor and the net result was a great night out!

The night we had intended to go out we were a little sluggish in our wandering around, and Tee and Ian were busy at the restaurant anyway so we just wandered down to the cafe to have dinner there.  Another friend of Ian’s had also shown up and we are introduced to Rich who is originally from the UK, but has been travelling around a bunch of places for several years and now lives and works in Chiang Mai.  We join our tables together and spend the next few hours exchanging stories over some great food and a few Thai beers!  At any rate as the night breaks up we make plans for now the 5 of us to meet up the next day to go for Muu Kratha.

We have heard and read a bit about how Muu Kratha works, but as we arrive the reality is nowhere near what we had expected!  In my mind I had sort of visualized a spot with maybe a couple of dozen tables and the customers being 90% or more locals – I guess the 2nd part was right as the crowd here is easily 90%+ locals, but the unexpected part is the size of the place.  The ‘restaurant’ has 2 permanent walls and a roof, the rest is open to the air, and there are hundreds and hundres of people here!  It is a block or 2 off the main street in behind some other buildings and apartments, so unless you knew where you were going this is clearly not a place that some tourists would just stumble into.

The BBQ is basically a pot with some very hot charcoal that burns in the bottom and then they put sort of a domed cover over the top.  You season the dome with some pork fat so that your foods do not stick, and then cook your meat, seafood, etc. on the top of the dome.  At the bottom of the dome is a rim that creates sort of a moat  that you fill with water and that allows you to cook noodles, vegetables and such in the hot water that has been seasoned with the drippings from the stuff on the top of the dome.

The dinner is 200 Baht (around $6.50US) and is all buffet style.  Arranged in the center of the vast floor space are rows of tables with all sorts of meats (chicken, pork, tofu), seafoods (shrimp, squid, fish), vegetables, noodles, desserts, drinks, and some traditional cooked Thai dishes.  It is a bit overwhelming just to look at the array of choices, and fortunately we are with some people who have done this before because Mrs. Columbus and I have no idea what a lot of the things are, and left on our own might have just ended up with french fries and Phad Thai.

After filling a bunch of trays and plates with what seems like enough food for 10 we head back to our table to settle in for some cooking and chatting.  Tee explains to us that for the Thai people a dinner like this is just as much about the visiting as it is about the food, so there is no rush to get through the meal and we are able to just enjoy the food and the company.  A few Thai beers and some cold drinks and things are shaping up to be a good night.  I’m sure that the pictures wil not do it justice, but it was a great experience and one we will both remember (and recommend to others).

After we are done at the BBQ we jump into a Songthaew and head back to Ginny Cafe for a beer or two to round out the night.  Special thanks to Tee, Ian and Rich for a great night out!!

One of the things we take for granted back in the west is that things like airlines run on a fixed recurring schedule.   We decided to get our plane tickets to Laos today and well let’s just say that the Germans don’t run the schedule there…..

We originally looked online for what our flight options were, and saw that at least on paper there was a daily flight direct from Chiang Mai to Luang Prabang in Laos – perfect, we wanted to go on Monday and the 3pm flight would fit our plans nicely.  However, when we clicked the link to see the final price there was now no Monday flight available.  Well no worries, perhaps it was full, and it looks like we can get one on Tuesday and since we are not on a fixed schedule that will work out fine. We don’t actually click the buy button because we have some unanswered questions still and our friend Tee runs a travel shop so we can have her book them.

Off we go this morning to buy the tickets, after having roughed out a plan for how we will make our way through a few stops in northern Laos.  All ready to book for the Tuesday, Tee looks the flights up on her computer and tells us that no, she cannot get us a flight on Tuesday there is no flight that day, but she can get us one on Monday!?!  Well no big deal, as that was when we originally wanted to go, so we decide to book it.  Now follows an actual call to book the ticket, and once again there is a change – now there is no flight on Monday or Tuesday, but we are able to book tickets for Wednesday!

We now have an actual booking and in theory should be leaving on Wednesday, but that could be subject to change without notice.  I guess worst case I am still on vacation, so I suppose we will know for certain as we get on an actual plane 🙂