Thai Language Redux   I mentioned in the last posting some words one cannot avoid learning while here. Just by moving around town you learn thanon/street, soi/sidestreet, saphan/bridge, klong/canal. When visiting the mountainous north, you can’t help learning doi/mountain, since it’s in so many place names. You find that buri, as in Thonburi and Kanchanaburi, is “town”. I gave an easy way to remember farang/foreigner, and you cannot avoid learning wat/temple (as in Angkor Wat), since most of the things to do involve visiting wats.

[I need to interject a personal memory here. My fondly remembered, and I’m sure now, long since departed, third-grade teacher was Mrs Violet Watt, and every time I would mention her name at home, my father would delight in teasing me by asking: What? As that memory came back while visiting numerous wats here, I wondered if Mrs Watt ever visited Thailand, and if so, what wat Watt liked best? (Sorry, Mrs Watt, I couldn’t help it.) I’ve also since learned that that typical Thai hands-together-under-chin greeting recently described is called a wai. Does that mean you’re overly inquisitive if you do a wai in a wat? (Sorry again). Seriously, I’ve also learned that there’s a wai pecking order: a younger person wai-ing an older person bows the head much more. That makes it easier or me!]

But then when visiting all those wats, if you don’t force yourself to learn some of the Buddhist terminology, you’ll be lost, and limited to commenting that something’s attractive (everything is, believe me) without knowing what it is you’re talking about. Imagine visiting a cathedral in Europe without knowing terms like sanctuary, choir stall, pulpit, baptismal font, spire, apse, nave, and so on.

In Thailand, given the climate, so much that constitutes a wat is outdoors, within a compound, and even the main buildings are largely open-air. Here are a few terms I’ve been trying to sort out in my mind. They are all structures found on the grounds of a wat (the illustrations are NOT of the wats mentioned):

To simplify this, just remember this: the first two items are attractive buildings, and otherwise there’s a corncob (prang) and a candy kiss (chedi).

Thonburi   I’d wanted the afternoon of the first of the three full days in Bangkok for a klong (canal) boat ride. Although there are still a few klongs left in Bangkok proper (many have been covered over for streets), it’s in Thonburi across the river where the best ones remain, the ones with people actually living alongside them, notably the Klong Bangkok Yai, Klong Bangkok Noi, and between them, the Klong Mon. Since Wat Arun is such a prominent wat, and is on the Thonburi side, it’s common to include a visit to it with a canal boat ride, which I did. The whole thing took two hours.

By Long-tail on the River The typical way to travel privately on the river and on the klongs is by long-tail boat, a canoe-shaped, canopied craft with an automotive engine set up in the style pictured. Using one is not very expensive. I was sent down to the boatmaster and he hailed one for me. We first went up the Chao Phraya for the river views.

Wat Arun While on the river, we stopped at Wat Arun, the Temple of the Dawn, whose prominent position in the city we saw in this picture earlier in 2010/17. Here’s a closer view of Wat Arun, whose construction started in 1809. If any structure defined the word “prang”, this is it, since the whole building is one, and there are four (three visible) smaller prangs around it. Prangs are typically a feature of Cambodian (Khmer) architecture, so that’s one influence Thai architecture has adopted. The viewing platform is that yellowish strip just above the level of the tree. Note the longtails at the wat’s dock.

Aside from its architecture, there’s two things one remembers about Wat Arun. One is the view of Bangkok from that platform, which Wat Po and the Royal Palace stand out among a lot of other more pedestrian buildings. And the other thing is the white-knuckle staircase climb getting up to that platform.

There are three staircases, all with steps having higher-than-normal risers, so you’re stepping high each time. The lowest one has no bannisters, so you just don’t look down. But then it’s the two upper staircases that take your breath away. The viewing platform surrounds the building at the top of the upper staircase. The lower one is very steep, and you grab the metal bannisters, preferably on both sides, and don’t look down. But it’s that upper one that’s a doosie. I may be exaggerating, but it seems to be to be about 60°. People held on either to a bannister on each side, or with two hands on one side. And then, when you reach the top, most conversation deals with the stairs, rather than the view. I was sure it would be worse going down, and I was prepared to do so backwards, like on a ladder, but it was surprisingly easy to look ahead going down. But what a climb!

By Long-tail on the Klongs The boat then went for quite a distance into Thonburi up the Klong Bangkok Yai, which later intersected with Klong Mon. It was odd to see two canals intersect like that, just like streets, and we just took a right turn. All along the canals were simple houses right on the water, many on stilts. It was odd to see a satellite dish on one. There were white egrets all around, and we saw the ever-present mother and kids bathing in the muddy water off the edge of the house. Of course the smaller kid was naked, just like in National Geographic. None of this was put on, but genuinely authentic. Sometimes people go to floating markets, which nowadays are put on just for tourists, but my driver pointed out as a floating market a long-tail boat filled with goods, and a shopper in a smaller boat alongside. This canal video shows pretty much what I saw.

Chinatown/Historic Bangkok/New Royal City   The afternoon of my second full day, when I would have wandered about in town by myself, I’d instead arranged for a guide and driver, without which, given the distances and heat, it would have been impossible. Actually, we covered exactly what I wanted to see, without my having to ask for any adjustments or additions. And, although my ever-faithful Michelin listed ever more wats to see, one realizes (and moreso, given the heat), that when surrounded by such an embarras de richesses / embarrassment of riches, that one has to be VERY choosy. To paraphrase Will Rogers, I never met a wat I didn’t like. They’re all architecturally gorgeous in they’re own ways, and one has to pick out the best before the head starts to swim. One doesn’t want to get jaded. (Sorry.)

CHINATOWN Coming up from the Old Commercial District, we first entered gritty Chinatown, which also includes a Little India. We stopped at Wat Traimit, whose story is particularly spectacular.

Wat Traimit In the early 1930’s, there was reconstruction going on along the Chao Phraya River in Chinatown which included removing an old abandoned temple. The temple contained a plaster statue of Buddha, and, although it was rather basic, it was decided to preserve it. To keep it in Chinatown, it was moved nearby to Wat Traimit, a pagoda of minor significance. Wat Traimit didn’t have a building large enough to house it, so the Buddha was kept for two decades under a simple tin roof. Finally, in 1955, it was decided to construct a new building and install the plaster Buddha in it. However, on moving the statue, a cable on the crane broke and the statue fell in the mud. On later evaluating the situation, as the mud was removed, the wet plaster started to fall away as well, below which was revealed a Buddha image of solid gold.

The Golden Buddha It was thought that the gold statue had been hidden under plaster to hide it from invading Burmese, a constant threat. Yet it is amazing that, given the importance of such a gold statue, once the principals involved had died off, all recollection of its existence had been forgotten for two centuries. The Golden Buddha is the largest solid gold statue in the world. It is 3 m (9.8 ft) tall and weighs about 5 ½ tons.

HISTORIC BANGKOK Continuing a bit more upriver and driving out of one’s mind all the other wats and monuments around, one comes to (1) the Grand Palace, which notably includes the Royal Chapel, Wat Phra Kaeo, and behind that complex, (2) the monastery area of Wat Po.

Wat Phra Kaeo The Royal Chapel is the tail that wags the dog. You come to the Grand Palace to see this primarily, and then see the few other Grand Palace buildings within the complex that are both open to the public and of interest. Given that there’s so much to see in these special places that it’s hard to conceive while you’re there, I won’t even attempt to discuss anything in detail. First look at a view of Wat Phra Kaeo peeking over the wall of the Grand Palace from the outside. You should recognize a gold chedi (candy kiss) and a prang (corncob). Notable on the building on the right, and some others, are to me one of the most graceful elements of Thai architecture, those little spires at all the pointed ends. They all represent graceful peacock necks and heads. My guess is that peacocks, since they’re known as good “watchdogs” and, when kept in a garden, will squawk at intruders, represent a sort of protection on the buildings.

This is another view of the chedi we just saw, but from the inside, where you can see a lot of smaller chedis around it, as well as part of an indescribable wealth of architecture in the area. Note the statue on the left. It’s one of the two huge demons that guard the nearby entrance.

The Emerald Buddha What makes the Wat Phra Kaeo the most sacred wat in Thailand is that its ubosot houses the Emerald Buddha, which symbolizes Thai nationhood. It was moved from Ayutthaya to Thonburi to Bangkok as the capitals moved. Despite its name, it’s emerald only in color and is made of green jasper (2009/44 “Jade ‘n’ Jasper”), and clothed in gold, which clothes are changed three times a year, by the king. It’s raised quite high, and is quite small, only about 45 cm (18 in) tall, yet is a single piece of jasper. This is a closeup in his summer attire.

The Grand Palace Stepping back into the main part of the Grand Palace there are just a handful of buildings open to the public, including the throne room. Yet outside, I found one architectural element very interesting. There was one nearby building totally in a French style, but even more interesting was a fascinating blend: Chakri Mahaprasad Hall, the largest hall in the Grand Palace, was built in 1882 by British architects who attempted an interesting fusion of Italian Renaissance architecture below with traditional Thai architecture on the roof. The style is called farang sai chadaa, which means “Western in a Thai crown” (and which proves that I was right, that a farang is only a Western foreigner).

Wat Po This is the monastery area directly behind the Grand Palace, and has as many separate buildings and monuments as any other wat, if not more. This map gives barely an idea. Look at the tiny white squares around the ubosot (1). The guide pointed out one of these smallish chedis, of which there are 91 (!!!) encircling the ubosot.

The Reclining Buddha But the primary thing to see here is at (16), which the Wihan of the Reclining Buddha, which portrays the Buddha lying on his right side, reaching nirvana. It’s gilded, and 45 m (148 ft) long (notice the people standing at the feet), and 15 m (49 ft) high. This is the view from the other end.

NEW ROYAL CITY Just upriver from Historic Bangkok is a more open area of newer royal palaces and large royal parks. We drove around a bit and made just one stop, at Wat Benchamabophit of 1899, also known as the Marble Temple, since it’s built of Italian Carrara marble. Driving back to the hotel, we got into such dense late-afternoon rush hour traffic that it added an hour to our 3 ½-hour tour.

Ayutthaya   My third and final full day in Bangkok was the one planned for a tour to Ayutthaya. We were going there by bus, stopping at a palace just before getting there, seeing the Ayutthaya ruins, and then returning by river cruise with buffet lunch down the Chao Phraya.

Bang Pa-In Royal Estate I knew there was a pretty pavilion at Bang Pa-In Royal Estate, which served as a summer palace, but didn’t expect too much else. But even in the oppressive heat, the place was very impressive. The only word that came to mind immediately was the German word Schlosspark, which is the equivalent of Castle Park, but implies much more park and much less castle. The Schlosspark grounds, dating from the 17C, were full of gardens and manicured lawns, with attractive buildings along the pathways, which were shaded by mango trees. This is a picture of the Chinese pavilion, shown primarily to illustrate the openness of the Schlosspark grounds. At one point there was topiary, with a few droll figures, but most amazing was a group of topiary elephants in the middle of a lawn, close to life size, all made of shrubbery.

But the main reason you come to Bang Pa-In is to see the Floating Pavilion (1876), a teahouse, known for its stepped roof and slender spire, all very much in Thai style, located in the middle of a lake.

Ayutthaya Historical Park Ayuththaya is still a city, but one that includes the very large Ayutthaya Historical Park. Here, the park covers the area primarily within the rivers, plus areas on three sides, while to the east over the river is the contemporary city, with the rail line passing through it. The Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and contains impressive ruins of many, many wats. The Grand Palace is entirely gone now. We saw a few ruins, of which we can mention two.

Wat Mahathat These are some of the impressive ruins of Wat Mahathat (14C), which ramble on and on, as so many do, having been so large. The only thing that remains is the underbrick, since all decoration (think of Bangkok) was lost in the destruction. Within Wat Mahathat is probably the most famous single image of Ayutthaya, the Head of Buddha, encircled by the roots of a banyan tree at the foot of a brick wall. Most ruins here are much, much larger--this head near the ground is about life-size--but it does illustrate so well the poignancy of destruction and loss.

Wat Phra Sri Sanphet Next to where the Grand Palace used to be is what would have been the royal chapel (as in Bangkok), and that’s the ruins of the 15C Wat Phra Sri Sanphet. Here you see two of the three remaining ruined chedis. Looking at the exposed brick, think of how decorated these must once have been.

We then got out of the heat and back onto the bus for the ride to the riverboat, where we had a lunch buffet down the Chao Phraya. I spoke to a professional couple, who turned out to be newlyweds on a delayed honeymoon, ethnic Pakistanis living in Dubai, about life there and my plans to visit the country shortly, and also, in German, to a young German couple from Kaiserslautern. Believe it or not, we ended up singing as many German folksongs as we could (of which I have a huge repertoire). Coming back into Bangkok we got excellent views of everything, ending up at that River City shopping center, from which I took the Oriental shuttle boat back to the hotel.

For my last day, the hotel had given me the surprisingly late checkout time of 6 PM, so I spent the day writing in my room. It was then easiest to take the hotel limo to the station for my early evening train departure (there was bad traffic, of course). At the station I was approached by a bevy of tittering young teenaged schoolgirls, all in school uniform and bearing writing pads, and one of them decided I was to be her patsy. She was doing a school project, and had to interview an English speaker in English. When I agreed, she was beside herself. Her assigned area was “beliefs”, so her sole question to me was “What are your beliefs?”, which, to a 13- or 14-year-old might seem a reasonable question. I put together a short answer about religions in America, and she was satisfied. Then I told her I was going to interview HER, which really put her over the top. I said I do languages, and would like to know what, besides English, are languages that are popular for study in Thailand. She thought for a moment, and Chinese (Mandarin) came up first, then, with a nod toward me having heard my field, she said also German and French. The interviews over, the bevy of girls almost floated away with uncontainable, ongoing enthusiasm.

I had booked the first-class sleeper to Chiang Mai through an excellent local agency recommended on the Seat61 website, and the tickets had been waiting for me on my arrival at the Oriental. The air-conditioned accommodations were basic, but comfortable, and quite inexpensive, and I was glad to see an outlet/power point so I could get writing done. An attendant came by with a picture menu for a very simple (and very inexpensive) dinner and breakfast, and off I was to Chiang Mai.

Chiang Mai   I hadn’t originally planned on going north, but had noticed that periodically, the E&O did have trips to Chiang Mai, so that’s how I got thinking about it. Then I heard about Chiang Dao from my guide book and from Stuart’s website (2010/14), and got involved in going even further north still.

The train was over three hours late the next morning for the 751 km (467 mi) trip, arriving close to noon, but that was no problem, since I didn’t have too much I wanted to see for my one day in Chiang Mai, where it wasn’t any cooler than Bangkok had been. The main street went from the station to the bridge over the Ping River (a major tributary from the north of the Chao Phraya) through the newer town and straight through the historic town (though Chiang Mai means New City, it dates from 1296). Most things of interest seemed to line up along it. It wasn’t too long a walk (but hot) from the station over the bridge, right to the hotel, the tallest in northern Thailand, but one whose name makes Western visitors smile: the Pornping Tower (I asked, and Pornping means something like “Gift of the Ping”).

I’ve read that there are close to 41,000 wats in Thailand, including almost 34,000 in active use. There are so many, I sometimes get the feeling I must have seen them all, and they all seem so nice! That afternoon in Chiang Mai I walked west down that same long main street stopping at four handsome wats. The perfectly square-shaped old city no longer has its walls, but has pleasantly landscaped moats defining it, plus some remnants of brick walls as well as reconstructed gates. Continuing west on that main street were still a few more wats, until I reached the wat Michelin rates highest, Wat Phra Sing Luang (1345) at the focal point at the end of the road. Quite unusually, on its restored wihan it has elaborate, painted wooden façades that are quite striking. At this point I was so hot and tired I took a tuk-tuk back to the hotel. (I just HAD to say “took a tuk-tuk”.) A tuk-tuk, this one shown waiting at (the main) Thaphae Gate, is an auto rickshaw. This picture shows the Thai version perfectly. However, they are built for people of Thai stature, and I had to scrunch down in the back seat to be able to see out from under the canopy.

Wat Phra That Doi Suthep The next day was the day I’d arranged with Stuart at Chiang Dao for a taxi pickup in Chiang Mai, but I’d planned on taking care of some unfinished business before leaving, and he’d arranged for the taxi driver to work with me. After leaving Chiang Mai, I wanted to first go 15 km (9 mi) west up Doi Suthep (doi=mountain), which towers above Chiang Mai at 1676 m (5499 ft), and is a National Park, to visit the wat on the mountainside there at the 1000 m (3281 ft) level, Wat Phra That Doi Suthep. Although the wat itself was a little in the clouds, we had nice views down to Chiang Mai driving up and back.

From the parking lot level, there is a magnificent staircase leading up to the wat itself. Like so often is the case, both sides of the staircase had nagas running up the balustrades. A naga is a serpent with an odd number of heads (these magnificent specimens have seven, three on each side of the main one), that symbolizes the connection from earth up the staircase to heaven. However, one could avoid the 306 steps by taking the nearby short funicular, which, surprisingly, was totally enclosed, with no view.

The wat grounds had numerous buildings, and gongs and rows of bells that people would regularly ring by swinging the clapper underneath, which was often leather-covered to give a muted, mellow sound. Quite spectacular at 20 m (66 ft) high was the chedi. Walking around, I was a bit startled to find not one, but two different Thai guides leading groups in Italian: Ed allora, queste qua sono . . . / And now, these here are . . .

Chiang Dao   The taxi then went back to the edge of Chiang Mai to take me 77 km (48 mi) north to Chiang Dao (“Star City”), which lies at the foot of the looming limestone mass of Doi Chiang Dao (2190 m [7185 ft]), where the Ping River starts. Near the mountain is where Stuart Cavaliero, from the UK, and his Thai wife, Wicha, run the Chiang Dao Nest, which they describe as a mountain resort, but I would describe as a rustic mountain inn. Within a garden area are a number of wooden and rattan bungalows with forest and mountain views, with a central open lounge structure and open restaurant structure. Wicha is a gourmet cook, and has been cited in the Thai press. Although there is no air-conditioning, there are wall fans in the bungalows. As is apparently typical of northern Thailand, the bungalows go for 645 baht or about US$20 per night, without meals. They have a free wifi hookup, and I relaxed the rest of that first day writing. As an example of the cuisine, I had that evening a “fresh vanilla pod crème brulée”. Where else will you get fresh vanilla pod? I was also amused to note that their Thai menu notations, in addition to “not spicy” and “mildly spicy”, ended with “farang spicy” or “Thai spicy”, so either you’ve learned what a farang is or not.

Wat Rong Khun I had had Stuart arrange my first full day at Chiang Dao for a very long, 13-hour trip to the Golden Triangle in the north. We had a comfortable, air-conditioned limo with driver, guide, and two staff members from the resort that I’d consented to have come along, for training purposes. It was a three-hour haul just to get there, then three back at night. Our first stop was Wat Rong Khun (1997) in Chiang Rai. You can see why it’s named the White Temple and why I wanted to see it. It was unusual in many ways, not the least being that the work-in-progress mural inside included a Manhattan scene with the burning Twin Towers, plus Spiderman on a nearby building and Superman flying to the rescue.

Golden Triangle We discussed the area of the Golden Triangle in the introduction to Thailand in 2010/17. I find no good videos or pictures of the area, so I’ll reproduce again this map of Thailand to remind how Myanmar/Burma on the left and Laos on the right face Thailand at a tripoint. Burma and Thailand are separated by a small tributary, the Ruak, which then flows into the Mekong, which comes down between Burma and Laos and turns right, to then separate Laos and Thailand. The actual tripoint is where the rivers come together. The standard trip plans made by Stuart involve setting foot on all three tripoint countries. We first stopped at a riverside restaurant on the Mekong for lunch, then went down steps to a dock to an open long-tail boat as seen here in the foreground. [I estimate this picture shows the Ruak, and from Thailand we see a spit of Burma, and then beyond the Mekong, Laos.] We passed where the tripoint would be at the confluence, then crossed over to Laos. Although you need a visa for Laos, where you stop is a large island in and along the river called Done Sao, with a big Welcome to Laos sign, and where a visa is not necessary. The area is taken over by market stalls, since commerce is the whole point of not requiring the visa here.

Since this area is infamous for opium trafficking, there is an Opium Museum, where we stopped. It actually shows more than I was interested in, even not counting the heat. Interesting was a display on how the opium poppy grows, though.

Finally, we drove west to Mae Sae, the northernmost town in Thailand. To cross the bridge over the Ruak to Burma, a visa is required, but I felt it was worth it. It wasn’t too bad, just 300 baht (US$3) on the Thai side for the departure tax and $10 in US cash for a day pass to Burma to shop (they hold your passport until you cross back). The guide (Thais cross with no trouble, it’s the farangs who pay) and I walked about three blocks north in that Burmese town of Tachileik, again through market stalls, to a traffic circle. I had therefore come overland from Singapore all the way north to this point. The only noticeable changes were that Burma is a half-hour earlier than Thailand, and Burma is the only right-hand side drive country I’d been in since the US and until Dubai. It was then three hours back to Chiang Dao.

But that’s the sanitized version of the trip to Laos. Now, after having seen a doctor in Sydney and all is well again, I’ll give the illness overlay of that day. After feeling absolutely 100% right through lunch that day, right after lunch diarrhea struck with a vengeance. That, everyone has happen to them on occasion, but walking down to the boat I felt weak and dizzy. I thought, but doubted, it was the heat and sun blasting down in the uncovered boat (the Sydney doctor confirmed my suspicion that that had nothing to do with the dizziness). I was unsteady on the Laos side and sat down under a tree on a bench. And then, for the first time in my life, I fainted.

I’d been talking to the guide sitting opposite, and apparently just keeled back the length of the bench I was sitting on. He jumped up and caught my head, and I awoke right away, just like in the movies, looking up at the trees with about four people fanning me. Someone produced a pillow, and two kinds of smelling salts. Later, someone had a bottle of Burmese herbal smelling salts, where were mostly pungent cloves. Once I sat up, I found that the fainting was like hitting reset, and there was no more dizziness, just lethargy. We ended up staying in Laos about an hour until I was ready. Over the next days, I ate Immodium like candy, and became suspicious that it was more than just simple diarrhea and could be a Giardia infection. The hotel doctor in Sydney thought something like that might be true, and thought the fainting was also related. The pills he brought along he described, with wonderful Aussie directness, as a “gut cleaner”, and it all ended on the spot.

Elephants, Karens, Rafting For my last day we had arranged four local things around Chiang Dao that would fill about half a day.

Elephant Camp Without a doubt most fun was visiting the elephant camp, of which there are fourteen around Chiang Dao. (On the road it was fun seeing a yellow diamond warning sign containing nothing but the silhouette of an elephant.) The quote I’d read was that the domesticated Asian elephant is one of Thailand’s “greatest treasures”, so I was wondering what I’d see at the Chiang Dao Elephant Training Centre.

My first adventure was on entering the camp. There was a cable bridge across the Ping River, since the bulk of the camp was on the other side. It was made of steel cables forming sides and a floor, but the floor was wooden slats, and the bridge danced considerably as you walked across. I just stopped whenever it got to be too much.

On the other side, about a half-dozen elephants with their mahouts sitting on their necks were being fed by the public either small bunches of mini-bananas or sections of sugar cane. Then the elephants went into the Ping, and on command, lay on their side to get their bath. After a while we all moved into a viewing area, and the elephants came marching in, with one of them tugging at a rope to raise a flag with the name of the camp. They dragged logs using chains, and pushed logs backwards with a swift shove of their foot. Three elephants working together would push a log onto a log pile. The mahouts would all together throw their straw hats in front and the elephants would pick them up and hand them back. On command, the elephants would raise a front knee to act as a step down for the mahout, who would then walk behind, give another command, and a rear leg would raise back to form a step up.

Finally, there was the elephant painting. An easel was set up, and an elephant was handed a brush with brown paint, at which point he drew a tree trunk, then branches. The next brush was green, and he slapped grass below the tree. With the red brush he slapped bright red leaves on the tree. The pictures are sold to raise money for the camp. It was all very enjoyable.

This YouTube video shows the Chiang Dao Camp. Note the cable bridge at 0:16, bathing at 0:30, flag raising at 1.31, and log work at 2:56. The beginning (only) of this video shows an elephant painting exactly the picture I described. For other examples, check “elephant painting” on YouTube.

Long-Necked Karen Women There are many non-Thai mountain tribes in this area, and one thing people do is visit groups of them on tours. I don’t like doing that as being intrusive (I’d felt that way when we did one in Fiji [2009/7]), but I had to make a single exception because of morbid curiosity, and that was visiting the long-necked Karen (ka.REN) women. From childhood they add more and more rings around the neck (actually, it’s just one single spiral) until the desired affect is achieved. The guide told me the maximum number of rings is 32, and he handed me a large spiral to see how very heavy it was. To some extent it’s less neck stretching than having the weight of the spiral push down the shoulders, adding to the illusion of greater length. We walked into a very charming village along a path next to a cascade of waterfalls, and found the market area where women were working at weaving. We stopped at the first three. This is pretty much what we saw of the long-necked Karen women.

Elephant Ride I’d been looking forward to riding an elephant. The good news is that I can check it off my to-do list. The bad news is that I wouldn’t wish the experience on my worst enemy. Scheduled was a full hour’s trek through the forest, and am I glad I shortened that. Given the heat and ongoing condition of my stomach, I just wanted a few minutes, so we went directly to a Palong village (bumpy, the driver needed to engage the four-wheel drive) where they do this. Some one whistled, and a teen-age kid came riding up behind an elephant’s ears. There was a wooden ladder and platform, and both the guide and I struggled onto the seat. They have several layers of burlap wrapped around the elephant, and a seat is fastened to that. Don’t picture anything romantic or fancy. It was a wooden seat with a metal railing around it that dug deeply into the passenger’s back. It was awkward finding a place to rest your feet on the curved back of the elephant, and I was afraid I was going to lose a sandal. The guide sat next to me with an umbrella over my head, and I was picturing a fictitious headline in some Thai paper: “Farang Plays Maharajah”. An elephant’s walk is in some ways graceful, but also lumbering, and with each step, the rail dug into my back. We just went for a few minutes around the village, and that was more than enough for me. There are videos that show a lot longer rides, but this short clip reminds me best of mine (you can pause it right at the start to see better). Note the umbrella on the previous elephant and the guy’s sandals on the elephant’s back.

Bamboo Raft on the Ping I must have been out of my mind when I agreed to do this, but the sound of bamboo rafting on the Ping sounded so quaint. However, I pictured a much more substantial raft. It was good I cut this down in advance from an hour to about 15 minutes. You sit on a piece of bamboo set crosswise in the raft that cuts into you, and the surface of the raft gets entirely flooded, including my sandals. Asian men often look petite, and the teenager guiding the raft I was on with the guide seemed to be about five. But what these two loopy women did is what I did, bamboo rafting on the Ping. Just note the water coming through the bamboo raft, to say nothing of waves coming over it.

Rising at dawn the last day, the taxi took me to Chiang Mai airport for my flight to Bangkok, where I had a layover of over six hours. I was able to nap lying on a pair of seats. That evening, four-star (based on Skytrax) Qantas took me to Sydney. Fortunately, I was able to arrange for a section of plane with just two seats across, and the other seat remained unoccupied, adding considerably to the night’s rest. It took just nine hours, the shortest overnight flight on this RTW trip, and is just below the ten-hour cutoff I’ve set to add a flight to my list of long flights.

TCC Update   The Travelers Century Club, which lists destinations (political divisions and major islands, not countries), in June added South Korea’s Jeju Island, bringing the TCC’s world total up to 320. Thus after my visits last November to Japan and Taiwan, my updated total through Southeast Asia is now: Singapore 125, (Peninsular) Malaysia 126, Thailand 127, Laos 128, Myanmar/Burma 129.