Thailand
-
Songkran and the war against evil
At 1400 hours Bangkok time, in the Buddhist year of 2559 (AD2016), I unwittingly found myself caught in crossfire during the crusade against calamity. Water was the ammunition of choice. There were skirmishes everywhere. None were spared. Samsen Road was lined with citizens in hand-to-hand combat, many camouflaged by white face paint. H2O ammo was launched wilfully in long spouts […]
-
Mekong Motorcycle Diaries Day 4
Thailand. 14th November, 2012, Chiang Khan. After a night disturbed by revellers, a crying baby and crowing roosters became the wake-up call. In the early morning, a few Thai tourists were out and about in the main street cycling and taking photos, but there were no cafes open yet. “Free,” a woman on a bicycle said, pointing to a bunch […]
-
Mekong Motorcycle Diaries Day 3
Sangkhom to Chiang Khan Thailand. 13th November, 2012 Spectacular riding, off-duty cops and chance encounters. Woke to more primrose skies. …And descended to a deserted reception. Perhaps everyone was sleeping off a hangover. No one emerged, so I left the keys on the counter, loaded the bike and throttled-off into the morning. I didn’t travel far, though – stopped at […]
-
Tak goes with the flow
Loy Krathong, the annual goodbye to bad karma, part religious ceremony/part festival, is held throughout Thailand in November. People in Chiang Mai ‘let go’ Khoom Loy, candle-fuelled wish lanterns, into the night sky; elsewhere, candle and flower arrangements are launched adrift on miniature rafts made from banana leaf; but in Tak the vessel of choice is a coconut shell, released […]
-
Instant Nirvana at Tam Wua
Tam Wua monastery sits at the end of a narrow valley beneath mountainous limestone karsts in far north-west Thailand, near the Myanmar border between Pai and Mae Hon Song on the long and winding road from Chiang Mai. I stepped into Tam Wua for a mindfulness side-trip while touring the Mae Hon Song loop on a Honda step-through scoot. Apparently, […]
-
Spinksy’s Top Five Chiang Mai Tips
Chiang Mai, Thailand’s capital city of the North, offers a vast array of options for travellers. Somewhat ironical title aside, here are a few things I discovered during a recent visit, which was mostly spent at the east side of the old city. Haven’t covered tourist attractions (there’s enough info about them) – in my opinion Chiang Mai’s main appeal […]
-
Climbing Doi Luang Chiang Dao
Doi Luang Chiang Dao (or Doi Luang as locals shorten it to) is Thailand’s third tallest mountain and it’s most spectacular. From a distance it appears as one gigantic looming mass, but is actually, as I discovered, a series of peaks intersected by a valley. Either 2175 or 2225 metres high depending on which map or brochure you’re looking at, […]
-
Mekong Motorcycle Diaries Day 2
Thailand 13th November, 2012 Sangkhom (sunrise, a waterfall and temple views) During the night, dogs could be heard barking intermittently in the distance from the island on the other side of the river in Laos. At this time of year the temperature cools enough overnight, so there was no need to bring the fan in from the veranda. Despite the […]
-
Khon Kaen Silk Festival
Khon Kaen, a transport hub in the far north east of Thailand, was never a trading stop on the famous Silk Road. Unsurprising really, given the road was a network rather than a route: but Khon Kaen, as far as I know, wasn’t part of that either. Silk, however, plays an important role in Khon Kaen’s current trading and tourist […]
-
Ho Chi Minh House
It’s a little known fact that Ho Chi Minh spent part of his life as a farmer in the village of Na Jok five kilometres from the Mekong River city of Nakhon Phanom in Thailand. Though, how long he stayed there is open to conjecture, further confused by alternate use of Gregorian and Buddhist calendars; and Ho Chi Minh was […]
To use the subscribe form, please fill in your Feedburner ID in WPZOOM Theme Options.