Pai

Thailand is far removed from my familiar stomping grounds of Oregon in just about every sense of the term. Everything from the climate and the flora and fauna to the food, the language and the culture is so very different from what I'm accustomed to. This was of course my expectation going into this trip, but there's no way to fully prepare for it. There are plenty of things I like about being here and plenty I don't, and in spite of the excitement of exploring and experiencing new things I do find myself missing home. There is a particular energy (or call it a vibe) that I experience in Eugene that is very comforting to me. It's not an easy thing to put my finger on, but it's tangible nonetheless. The closest thing to that friendly, new-agey, artistic vibe I love so much about Eugene that I've encountered here in Thailand is a little town in the forested hills of the Northwest called Pai.

Pai is only about 150 kilometers from Chiang Mai, but it takes about 3 hours to get there because the road between them is preposterously windy (as in full of curves, not gusts). In fact there are numerous souvenirs to be found in Pai that boast of its 762 curves. If you are prone to suffer from motion sickness it is advisable to take some medicine before getting in one of the vans that shuttles passengers between the two cities. In spite of the edge-of-your-seat nature of the ride, the scenery is quite beautiful.

The town itself is a haven for backpackers and casual sightseers alike, and walking around the main streets we saw nearly as many farangs (white people) as we did Thais. During the day the center of town houses a rather large farmers market, and at night the artists and artisans come out and display their wares on the side of the street. Our first night in Pai happened to fall on a Saturday, which is a particularly vibrant night for the walking markets, and our first stroll down the street after dark was surreal. It felt like walking through a festival not so unlike OCF except situated on city streets instead of in the woods. But the paintings and leather belts and hand-dyed clothing would have fit in perfectly at a West Coast hippie festival. It felt very nostalgic walking through those streets, and I found a beautiful little canvas backpack that's perfect for holding books and other essentials for carrying around a city.

Pai is the sort of town that is clearly geared toward tourists and yet would also be a lovely place to live, at least for a few months out of the year. There is a whole nieghborhood populated almost exclusively by lovely little hotels and guest houses, cute cafes and restaurants, motorbike and bicycle rentals and tiny headquarters for guided tours. The latter is something Lindsay and I are both generally predisposed against. In general we'd both rather explore ourselves than have someone hold our hand through it and have to share the experience with other randomly assorted tourists, but we had a positive experience with the guided tour through the Elephant Nature Park so we figured we'd give it another shot in Pai. I'm glad we did, because the attractions around Pai are somewhat far-flung and the roads are steep, narrow and eternally winding--which would have made for a very tense series of motorbike rides.

The tour we went on occupied most of our second day in Pai, and covered a delightful range of activities. We started out visiting a waterfall a little ways outside of town, although this time of year (during the hot season) it's little more than a trickle. The upside to this is that we were able to climb up onto the smooth rock that would otherwise be submerged in rushing water and get a view down from the top of the falls. There was a pool that formed about halfway down from the highest point of the falls that was deep enough to dive into, but there was a whole flock of farangs making use of it when our little tour group arrived so we abstained from that particular passtime.

Next we drove farther and entered a national park where we stopped at a hotspring. It was more of a warm-spring, really, as the hot water was mixed with the cool water from a stream, but considering the heat of the day I wouldn't have wanted the water any hotter. It was like a large naturally occuring bathtub, and it contained deposits of smooth clay that a few local children collected and waded around offering to the numerous visitors. Most of us ended up wearing natural clay face masks for a while, and it did feel nice to cleanse the sweat of the day from my skin. Once we had had a nice long soak it was back in the truck for another long drive.

This last stop was the main reason we had chosen this tour in particular. In the woods there was a large cave that we spent about an hour and a half navigating our way through with only the lamplight of our guides. Through part of it we boarded long bamboo rafts that locals guided through the water with bamboo poles, and we saw hundreds of bats hanging from the ceiling of the cave. As we neared the end of the cave on these little boats the air before us was thick with birds flying in a cacophanous pattern of semi-ordered chaos, feasting on bugs and miraculously not colliding with one another in spite of their tumultous flight patterns. It was quite a sight to behold. The cave itself was a veritable forest of stalactites and stalagmites, sometimes looking like great reefs of coral and sometimes looking like how I imagine the surface of the moon.

The whole day was a wonderful adventure and our little tour group ended up being pleasant company. I still stand by the general principle of exploring without the confines of a guided tour, but sometimes it's more convenient and potentially even more fun to have a group and a guide to share the experience with. Overall, Pai is definitely worth the dizzying drive from Chiang Mai, and I would happily go back.

Elephant Nature Park

One of the highlights of our trip to the Northwest was our day trip to the Elephant Nature Park. Elephants play an important role in Thai culture, and especially in the Thai tourism industry--particularly in the Northwest. After all, Chang (alternately spelled Chiang) is the Thai word for elephant, which is also the name of one of the leading brands of Thai beer (another matter I'll get into at a later time) and is in the names of multiple cities in the Northwest including Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai, both of which we visited. Unfortunately, the treatment of elephants in Thailand does not match the cultural adoration for them across the board.

The Elephant Nature Park is a large outdoor sanctuary for rescued elephants, buffaloes, dogs and cats--all of which live in harmony along with their human caretakers. The Sanctuary is about an hours drive from Chiang Mai in the beautiful sweeping hills. We were picked up from our hotel and taken there along with our tour group of eight or so travelers. On the way we were shown a video which explained the history and mission of the Elephant Nature Park along with the history of the treatment of elephants in Thailand more broadly speaking. It was a sad story.

It told of how elephants have been used in Thailand for generations in the logging industry and the entertainment/tourism industry, each of which involve the same process of breaking the elephants' spirit in order to "domesticate" them. I won't go into the gory details but the gist is that anytime you see an elephant doing something it wouldn't naturally do, such as painting a picture or giving people rides or performing tricks it is because the mighty beast has been essentially tortured into submission. The elephant trainers (called Mahouts) carry sticks with a sharp metal hook at the end that they use to ensure the elephants behave. This is the dark side of the elephant industry in Thailand, but it's not the whole story. There are tourist destinations for elephant enthusiasts that are ethical, such as the sanctuary we visited.

As we approached our destination we drove past a few other elephant parks, and we saw groups of tourists riding elephants through the woods. This is among the more common elephant attractions in the region, but having just watched the video all of us in the van felt tangibly judgmental of the uninformed or uncaring tourists contributing to what had essentially been portrayed to us as elephant slavery. Of course there is always pleasure to be taken in asserting moral superiority, and the Nature Park definitely isn't shy in selling itself on that. When one amoung our tour group asked our guide how the endeavor was funded she was clear in answering that it was tourists like us who provided them their funding. This felt good to know, but the greatest joy of the experience was of course in spending time with the elephants.

The Nature Park is home to around 70 elephants, most of them female and all but the few that were born there resued from other industries. Some of them have been donated but most of them were bought by the Park. Many of them had to recover from psychological distress and some from serious physical injury. We met one elephant who had stepped on a landmine while working for a logging company in Cambodia, and it was missing a big chunk of a hind foot. In spite of all that, the elephants seemed to my untrained eye to be genuinely happy, and they enjoyed quite a bit of freedom.

At first we hung out in the dining area (for humans) which was covered but open on the sides, encircled by rails, and we got to feed an elephant big slices of watermelon and whole cucumbers. It was fascinating to witness the dexterity and control with which an elephant manipulates its trunk. An elephant's trunk is basically an omnidextrous arm with two opposable "thumbs" (for lack of a better word) at the end that it can use to grab things and bring them to its mouth, if it so chooses.

After feeding time we were guided on a walk through a section of the park and we simply stopped at each place where an elephant or a family of elephants happened to be at the time and our guide gave us some history about each one we encountered. I was amazed by how open everthing was. No fences or barricades aside from those surrounding certain buildings. The elephants and other animals were truly free to go as they pleased around the considerably large grounds. We were told that each family or herd had preferred places they were usually to be found, but this was of their own choosing.

We were advised not to approach the elephants unless otherwise told, and many of them we observed from a comfortable distance of 20 to 50 feet, but others we were allowed to approach. Generally they would have a caretaker there feeding the elephant to keep it occupied while we took turns approaching, and if we so chose, touching the elephant on its side. Their skin is very rough and leathery, and surprisingly bristly, but it felt good to touch such magnificent and powerful creatures, especially since they didn't seem at all bothered by the attention. The only method of coercion used on the elephants there was bribery with food, which they seemed perfectly pleased with. These elephants eat well, too. Melons and cucumbers and other good fresh food were plentifully provided by local farms.

Aside from feeding and walking with the elephants the other main guided activity was washing the elephants. We watched a number of them mud themselves up which was quite entertaining, then they were guided down to the river with buckets of fruit and we stood around them with buckets throwing water on them and just generally being highly amused. Of course in doing so we undid all their hard work of coating themselves with mud, so inevitably a few of the freshly washed elephants walked back to the mud pile afterwards and gave themselves a fresh coat to ward off the bugs and temper the heat of the sun.

Elephants are very intelligent animals, and apparently have an emotional life not so different from humans. They form strong bonds with family and others that they allow to join their herds, and they stick together. We met a young elephant and we were warned to never get between it and it's "godmother", who was known to be quite protective of her charge. The young one was very playful and delightful to watch but we had to keep our distance.

It was a very rewarding experience and not for a moment did I wish that I could ride one or watch it perform tricks for me. It was much more satisfying to witness these beautiful beasts in an environment in which they were comfortable and allowed to simply be themselves. I highly recommend it to anyone visiting Chiang Mai.

Chiang Mai

After two weeks or so of settling in and getting aquainted with Khon Kaen, Lindsay and I went on our first trip together around the Northwest of Thailand. Khon Kaen is one of the larger cities in the Northeast, and until a few weeks ago I mistakenly thought it was only a few hours drive away from Chiang Mai (which is the epicenter of tourism in northern Thailand), but in fact it's over 10 hours away by bus. We opted to fly, however, and we were only in the air for an hour and a half. The flight went smoothly but Lindsay abhors flying and upon landing I conceded that we could ride the bus back in spite of it taking so much longer. And yes, it was a long and tedious journey back to Khon Kaen--but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Chiang Mai is a beautiful city. The Northwest is vibrant with tropical forest and sweeping hills. The full scope of this is not immediately apparent from within the city but as soon as you drive out beyond the hustle and bustle of it the woods take over--a living, breathing blanket across the land. The city itself spreads wide but in the center lies the Old City around which the ruins of an ancient wall remain only in small sections like shrines to a distant past. The Old City is where many of the magnificent temples are housed, and by contrast is also where a great many tourists are to be found. Chiang Mai is a very welcoming and charming city, easy to navigate as an English speaker. On the one hand this is really nice. Nearly every menu I looked at had English on it and it's easy to find all sorts of different foods--not just Thai food and American fast food, like in much of Khon Kaen. On the other hand, a certain feeling of authenticity does get lost when everything is so clearly geared toward tourists. One example of this is the night markets.

Khon Kaen has a few night markets and you can find all sorts of things there. Food, clothing, sunglasses, smartphone cases--you name it. The clothes that they sell are mostly the sort of clothes that Thai people wear, which is to say regular old western clothes. The night markets in Chiang Mai offer many of the same sort of goods, but most of the clothing vendors sell the sort of semi-traditional Thai clothes that the locals don't actually wear. Along with this you can find all sorts of memorabilia that is clearly of no use to anyone who actually lives in Thailand. It strikes me with a certain irony that what might appear as more "authentically" Thai exists merely for the consumption of tourists whereas what the Thai people themselves purchase by way of clothing and accessories is no more exotic to us Farangs (the Thai word for white people) than what you'd find at Target.

Another observation I've made regarding authenticity in Thailand is that in touristy areas Pad Thai is available at nearly every restaurant and in every streetmarket but in Khon Kaen it's not an easy dish to find. Maybe this is as much a matter of regional differences in Thai cuisine as it is of catering to the wants of tourists, but I suspect it has more to do with the latter. Of course I'm not complaining, cause I do love me some Pad Thai.

Chiang Mai is a wonderful city to visit with so much to see and so much to do, from the 3D art museum and the insect museum to the zoo, the many ornate temples, delightful eateries and so much more. I definitely recommend it to anyone making the trip to Thailand.