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!
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!
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