Phu Chi Fah

Phu Chi Fah is a very sleepy mostly Hmong town on the Laos border. It’s claim to fame is the alluring sunrise over Laos above the clouds with mountains peaking through the clouds. The pictures are truly stunning. We really enjoyed our night here in our little bungalow! IT was really peaceful, scenic, and yet again…..the local food was out of this world!!! At 5 am, a local boy that we hired, showed up and guided us up the approx 1 km incline (not bad at all) to the summit of Phu Chi Fah. All of the local boys seem to have discovered this lucrative way to make some extra baht and were guiding others, as well! Heck, there was even coffee being sold at the foot of the path by Hmong villagers! Once at the top, we enjoyed the sunrise and got some awesome pics! Unfortunately for us, the scenery was not quite what it could have been due to the burning process in the local agriculture. Most crops have been harvested and dried and they have recently been burning the areas to clear them for the next crop. This has made most of northern Thailand quite hazy at times. Nevertheless, it was like nothing we’ve seen before!
Afterwards we headed out of there and stopped in the small town of Waeng Kaen and visited Ted’s cousin whom he hasn’t seen since he was 9 years old! It was fun to watch them catch up! We didn’t stay long, however and drove on in to Chiang Rai for the night. Driving through northern Thailand mountains and countryside has been a definite highlight of this trip! If we had to do it all over again, we would make sure it wasn’t the burn season, so our views could be a little clearer but it has still been incredible. The mountains are lined with flowers, banana, mango trees with rivers and rice fields below. Driving along the Mekong on the northern Laos/Thai border was also spectacular! We didn’t come across any more dirt roads, thankfully!

The GPS tried to kill us

After the elephant camp we put in the coordinates for Phu Chi Fah National park and hit the road. It’s about a 3 hour very scenic drive from Chiang Mai. One 20 minute period of this drive was actually one of the scarier moments of our life! We were about 20 kms from our destination when we came to a point in the road that the concrete turned to dirt but there was a huge steel professionally made, painted sign (just like on US highways) saying “↑ Phu Chi Fah ↑ “ . It was very reassuring actually. After talking about it, sitting in our AWD Honda CRV, it lured us in and we decided to proceed. Surely the sign wouldn’t guide us into danger?!!? Right??? WRONG. A short ways onto this dirt road, the downward grade and the narrowness of the road became too much to stop or turn around. Then came an increase in the downward grade and multiple hairpin or winding curves! In addition, the road became one of two consistencies, either dry with 6 inch water furrows in it, or six inches of dry sand like dirt. If we stopped we would get stuck, we couldn’t turn around (too narrow), the bumps were so harsh at times we didn’t know if we’d blow a tire or knock something loose under the hood. Furthermore, we had no idea how long we would be in these conditions. The possibilities were much scarier than what actually happened, thankfully. Breaking down or becoming stuck on a dirt road in Northern Thailand mountains on the Laos border in the late afternoon with no cell phone was not appealing at all!!!! Thankfully, in about 25 minutes it became concrete again without incident but the GPS is not to be trusted again!!!!!!!! This is a picture after we stopped to catch our breath when we hit the sacred paved road again!

Mae Sa Elephant Camp

This morning we got up at the crack of dawn in order to catch the early show at the highly recommended Mae Sa Elephant camp. It was an excellent deal at the equivalent of about 3-4 USD per person. We were apparently the only one’s ambitious enough to attend the early show which was great because we got all the attention! Highly recommended if you ever visit the Chiang Mai area! First off, these elephants appear to be healthy, happy, treated kindly, and well taken care of which is all a must before we pay money to see animals in captivity. They are so healthy and happy in fact that one or two babies seem to pop up every year or so! Here they have elephants of all ages, sexes, and sizes that you can get up close and personal with and watch them do some pretty amazing tricks such as, play soccer, throw darts, dance, paint pictures, and bow after their performance! Here, Roger was entered into a dart throwing contest(by default) against Sedor “the elephant” and was almost beaten! It was a really fun time!!!!

Chiang Mai 2/23...not over yet!!!

Awesome day! We arose early to make the short but winding trip up to the local Wat Phra Doi Suthep, on top of Doi Suthep mountain. It is the highest peak in this area and gives beatiful views of the city of Chiang Mai from the top. Unfortunately for us, it was a little hazy at the bottom(pollution?) today and the view was not as clear as we would have liked. Beautiful, nevertheless. Roger managed to figure out the GPS and navigate us around perfectly, all day which is quite a feat considering these crazy ass no rules drivers around here...and don't forget driving on the left side of the road with the steering wheel on the right! We really like the new CRV we are driving and might look at one when we get back! We will have this vehicle for the next 5 days or so.

After driving to the temple and then climbing the 306 steps to the top, we were in for a treat! This temple, along with the vegetation around it and the views is spectacular. Definitely the hightlight of the Wats in this area. Even visiting monks had cameras! Afterwards we had a traditional Chiang Mai meal of Khao Soi (a chicken, curry, noodles dish) and then visited the summer home of the King and Queen, Bhuping Palace. Unfortunately, this is another country with a completely useless King and Queen that has nothing to do with government, however, this was entertaining and very pleasing to the eye. The grounds were immaculate and structures very ornate! This afternoon was reserved for shopping etc, which if we haven't mentioned already is fantastic here. Even Roger and Ted acknowledge this fact and they HATE shopping! Tonight, after dinner we are looking forward to a Muay Thai boxing match that we have tickets for!!!!! Should be fun! Tomorrow we head to the Chiang Rai and Phu Chi Fah areas. 2-3 days in Chiang Mai is not near enough!!! Would recommend 7 or 8 but we're thankful for what we have!

Sorry if these posts are becoming unorganized and brief but with so much to do, we don't want to spend but a brief period on the computer. Cya soon.

Roger and Seng

Chiang Mai, Thailand 2.22.09

Well, we made it out of Laos in one piece! On our way out we stopped at yet, another village on the Mekong in Laos to search out a long lost buddy of Ted’s whom he hasn’t been in touch with at all in 30 years. I’ll be damned if he didn’t find him!! It was fun to watch the surprise and recognition in the man’s face !

After crossing at Vang Tao, Laos to Chong Mek, Thailand we paid a driver to get us to the airport at Ubon Ratchathani, Thailand and successfully completed another smooth round of flying. It was uncanny how the moment we crossed the border, you could just sense a higher level of sophistication everywhere. Less trash around, healthier vegetation, paved roads (mostly), less poverty (although still widespread) etc. It just goes to show how much of a piece of crap the communist system is except for those individuals ruling the country. Look at North Korea. Look at Cuba. It hasn’t been too long since North Koreans were eating dirt to survive.

Today we got up and did a walking tour of the walled portion of Chiang Mai. The “original” and older portion of this city is in a complete square maybe 3 or 4 km across and is bounded by the remains old walls and moats on 4 sides. It’s a Great Wall of China type idea, but not in great shape. The modern city, however, does extend beyond these walls. The city has over 300 Wats (or Buddhist temples). Today we saw about 7 or 8 of the “wats not to miss” lol, most of which were very impressive but some of which looked gaudy and similar. The older one’s dating from hundreds and even thousands of years ago are our favorites. In the afternoon we did a boat tour of the Mae Ping river and then we topped off the day going to the Chiang Mai night bazaar which is really nuts. It is literally hundreds and thousands of feet of street vendors selling anything and everything. Lots of haggling and bargaining going on and delicious food and good live music everywhere. This “night bazaar” goes on nightly and is definitely a highlight of this town!! Great day but WAY different than Laos!

Pakse and Wat Phu Champasak

Today we arose after a restful night’s sleep at the Seng Aroun hotel in Pakse. The next time you’re in Pakse (ha ha), we would recommend that you stay here. For the USD $23, you get the equivalent of about $100 room in the US. It’s great! We’ve also decided that between the “big cities” of Pakse and Vientienne, Pakse is the nicest. Less pollution, less traffic, more water in the Mekong, downtown is a little less junky, widespread internet cafes, good coffee, etc. Also there is plenty to do in just a very short drive. Our one day was not nearly enough. So for those of you who have looked at your retirement account lately and are thinking about moving to Laos to live like a billionaire on virtually nothing, Pakse is a good choice.

The highlight of our day today was touring the ruins of Wat Phu Champasak, named a World Heritage Sight in 2001. This is an ancient, 3 level religious complex that stretches from ground level on up a mountain range to 1400m. The steps were ridiculously steep and original ( not level at all) so we got our cardio in today, for sure. Inscriptions in the ruins apparently verify that worshipping has been occurring here since at least the 5th century! This is sort of the Angor Wat of Laos although not as big. This complex is surprisingly well preserved for how unprotected it is. Also, the scenery from bottom to top and top to bottom is absolutely stunning and the symmetry is amazing! Awesome time and highly recommend this outing! We were sorry that we didn’t have time to tour the Bolavan Plateau while we were here but we’ll be sure to bring back what is supposed to be some of the best coffee in the world that is grown there!

Afterwards we did some driving around to find significant landmarks from Seng’s family’s past such as the re-education camp that Ted was held prisoner in and also the bamboo hut Seng was born in. Both spots were found, however, semi anticlimactic for all as nothing was left in either spot but trees and grass, or a rice paddie!!!! We later spent a bit watching the sunset over the Mekong and then had dinner at Seng’s uncle Vong’s house. Couldn’t help thinking while we were watching the sunset that the same sun that is disappearing on the horizon before our eyes is appearing before yours back in the eastern US! Weird, huh?

Well, this our last night in Laos. Tomorrow, we will cross the border at Chong Mek, Thailand…move on to the city of Ubon Ratchathani, and catch a flight to Chiang Mai, Thailand!!! We’ll try to keep you posted! Oh yeah….enjoy the picture of the cooked cecadas on a stick! Lol.
Roger and Seng

Salavan Hospital/ OR tour and Tat Lo 2/19/09

Sorry for the double photos in the last post. Cant figure out how to erase them.

On the 18th, we left Kon Sai village for Salavan after our Baasii via an uncles work van with chauffer (and with AC). It was a 3 hour bus ride down a super dusty and bumpy dirt road. Paved roads when we got there, thankfully! He is a professor in the town of Salavan and many people know him there. For those following this blog for the purpose of travel, we stayed at the Chindavon hotel for 80,000 kip (US $9) per night and it was worth every penny for the hot water and AC, good location, safety, etc. We didn’t do much that night but walk around the town and sleep like never before!

Uncle Somchitt’s wife is a nurse at the local hospital and knowing that we were in the field, she offered a tour and we jumped on it. As you might guess, it was quite primitive. While we were standing right there, a child passed from some unknown illness while he was being “bagged” with room air. There are no HIPPA rules here!lol! They were touring us right into areas with patients etc and wanting to take pictures with us, etc right in front of them, sometimes including them! The best part of the hospital tour, however, was when we were able to weasel our way into scrubs and into the OR with our camera! You will see in the pictures that everyone, including us, were wearing flip flops in the OR! You will also notice Roger’s scrubs are halfway up his shins! In here was a boy getting an open appendectomy under spinal. His total incision was about the size of a half dollar coin. If you can do that, why do 5 holes the size of a quarter? The anesthesiologist was very accommodating and showed us his equipment. He did have pulse ox and ekg but still manual cuff. Also, the draeger “machine” had no power functions and did not automatically ventilate. It was either spont breathing or hand bagging. The circuits are re –used and was crusty and cracked, undoubtedly with leaks and the “green” bag was brown from all of the hands touching it. ET tubes are also hard to come by and are cleaned and re used. Also, Halothane is the only option here. We took a few anesthesia records for souvenirs! We had a great time here! The director of the OR who gave us the tour was Seng’s 3rd cousin (we found out later)! The 2 new OR will be done in the next few months. It was an incredible experience today.

Afterwards we went to a town about 40 minutes from Salavan called Tat lo. It is right on the edge of the coffee making area of the Bolavan Plateau. Here there are many beautiful mountains, lush vegetation, and 3 significant waterfalls to see. Unfortunately, Tat Suong, the largest of the three waterfalls is dry at the moment d/t a reservoir built nearby. It is unclear if the dry waterfall is permanent. We would highly recommend anyone who would just happen to be swinging through, Salavan Laos, to stay in Tat Lo for a day or two to get away and relax. The scenery is stunning and the accommodations are plentiful and cheap, but nice. There are also some elephants to ride!

Tonight, we went by VIP bus to Pakse. Guess what? IT broke down and we had to wait on them to change a belt!!!!! We are finally here and will visit another uncle and do some touring tomorrow. Talk to you soon!!!!
Roger & Seng.