CHIANG MAI - CHIANG RAI 2005 Part 2

Hi, all!! Welcome to my another part. I hope you all like clips inserted in my last part. It takes me some more times to do the research on my visited place but I think that with pictures and video clips, you can be closer to what I want to describe. You can give your comments on video clips I put in my posts to help me do it better.

If you still do not read part 1, you may find it here.

**ONE NIGHT @ DOI MAE SALONG**

(source: TRIPTHAILAND)

Doi (in Thai: ดอย) is a Northern Thai word means "Mountain". So, Doi Mae SaLong means Mt. Mae SaLong. Doi Mae Salong is located in "Mae Fa Luang" District, Northwest of Chiang Rai province. The area is around 950 - 1,200 metres above sea level.

The name Mae Fa Luang was given by Princess Mother Srinagarindra, who was commonly known as "Mae Fa Luang" (lit. Royal Mother from the sky) by the hill tribe people of the area.(source: Wikipedia)

The slogan of the District (in Thai) is "พระตำหนักดอยตุงล้ำค่า สมเด็จย่าเป็นมิ่งขวัญ เผ่าพันธุ์หลากหลาย มากมายชาดี งามสดสีซากุระบาน". I'm so bad at translating these kinds of slogan to English...so...help me if you can.

After the great Wat Rong Khun, I and my family drove to Doi Mae SaLong where we'd planned to spend our night there if our rented car can get to the village. The road was not so bad even though it was still in the rainy season. The weather there is very fresh and the cool wind is breezy. The Santi Khiri village was small and peaceful. Most people in the village are immigrated from China during the Chinese Civil War period. The area around here is very famous in the old day as a great opium field but nowaday, there's none. Thanks to the King's mom and many people that worked so hard in changing villagers' agricultural system. Since 1980s, the Thai government integrated the villagers into Thai society and as part of the process introduced a policy of substituting opium production for growing tea. Currently, the areas around here produce a very well known quality tea, e.g. Oolong tea, Green tea.

Thanks to "ezytrip" to provide beautiful pics since my pics on Doi Mae Salong is lost T.T

In the village, you can buy excellent Tea; Local and Chinese, Tea sets, Chinese candies and fruits. The food in the restaurants is also good, among them I love mushroom with oyster sauce (Thai: เห็ดหอมสดผัดซอยหอยนางรม) the most.

(source: hflight)

The weather was getting cold when dusk came. There I've learnt how to prepare a good tea and how to drink a good tea from a shop owner who was very kind and ready to instruct even you buy nothing from her. The warm tea helped me a lot from the cold weather. It made me warm enough for night-walk but we didn't go too far since it was dark very quickly. So, we desired to go to back to our rooms.

Tomorrow, after exploring the local morning market, we drove to the great "Doi Tung Royal Villa", it's not far from Doi Mae Salong and is still in the Mae Fa Luang District. However, it's very beautiful place where I want to dedicate one whole part for it. So, it's better to stop here...until the next part.

CHIANG MAI - CHIANG RAI 2005 Part 1

Hi all and welcome to this series of mine. It is my pleasure to share with you a trip in my own country. Let's start then...

**GETTING TO KNOW CHIANG MAI AND CHIANG RAI**

FIRST, CHIANGMAI;

source: http://www.chiangmai.go.th/)

Facts about Chiang Mai;
Country: Thailand
Government;
- Type: City municipality
- Mayor: Duaenduangtem Na Chiangmai
Area;
- City 40.216 km² (15.5 sq mi)
- Metro 529 km² (204.2 sq mi)
Population (2006);
- City 150,021
- Density 3,730/km² (9,660.7/sq mi)
- Metro 692,148
- Metro Density 1,308.41/km² (3,388.8/sq mi)
Time zone; Thailand (UTC+7)
(Statistics by WIKIPEDIA)

Sample of Chiang Mai by You Tube

From: InterMediaEnglish
Date added: October 15, 2006
Video description: Chiang Mai - March 2005. Thailand's 2nd largest city Chiang Mai is the most famous place to visit for real culture, enjoy elephant riding, bamboo riding, trekking and other sightseeing ares in this video of Chiang Mai, Thailand

NEXT, CHIANG RAI;

source: WIKIPEDIA

Facts about Chiang Rai;
Area: 11,678.4 km² Ranked 12th
Inhabitants: 1,129,701 (2000) Ranked 13th
Pop. density: 97 inh./km² Ranked 46th
Governor: Pricha Kamonlabut(since October 2007)
(Statistics by WIKIPEDIA)

Sample of Chiang Rai by YouTube

From: wsamran
Date added: October 07, 2007
Video description: Trip to Chang Rai

**General things on my Trip**

I went to this trip with my family, mom dad and my younger brother. We travelled north, to Chiang Mai by plane and then we drove to Chiang Rai and spent two nights there. After that we travelled back to Chiang Mai and had some visits before flying back to Bangkok. It was a very nice experience travelling like this, especially when you don't have enough days off. Travel by plane is not too expensive now, thanks to the low cost airlines for entering the market. We firstly decided to spent one night on each province but since we'd ever visited Chiang Mai before, we, then, spent our 2 nights at Chiang Rai. It was a very fruitful trip for me and I'm sure it will be for those who is going to go there, too.

**WAT RONG KHUN: A labor of love and devotion**

Wat Rong Khun (Thai: วัดร่องขุ่น) is a buddhist temple in Chiang Rai, was designed by Chalermchai Kositpipat. Construction began in 1998. Below is the virtual model created by a university student I found from YouTube;

from: vf750
Date added: September 09, 2006
Video description: Senior Project's Chiang Rai 3D Virtual Tour Trailer. Finally, the dean ask me to give him this project as an example for his next 5,000,000฿ CAI project.

“Only death can stop my dream, but cannot stop my project,” says Chalermchai Kositpipat, the creator of Wat Rong Khun whose intention is to create one of the most elegant temples in Chiang Rai, which he believes will give him “immortal life”.
The first 18 million baht and 5 years construction has only allowed 50% of the construction to be completed, but is enough to show anyone who visits Wat Rong Khun about Chalermchai and his followers’ faith in their religion and how much they have thrown themselves into this obligation as faithful Buddhists.
Wat Rong Khun is a white temple; inside it contains murals and paintings of the Buddha image and painted enamel ceramic floor that will take another 5 years to complete. The outside is being created with lime sculpture Thai designs decorated with small pieces of mirror that make the building sparkle and shine under the sunlight.
The impression of this temple is not only in its bright and splendid form but also the atmosphere it has. Even though the temple isn’t very far from the city, it is calm and peaceful even during the day.
It seems that the creator and his followers put all of their energies into creating this imaginative temple. Unlike many temples, Wat Rong Khun refuses to accept donations of more than 10,000 baht and the donors cannot have their names recorded on the buildings.
Chalermchai wants to create this Buddhist art for his beloved homeland and all human beings by donating all of his ability and his life to the Dharma. Nobody knows when he will pass on but he insists that all the money be used to continue the project and his followers are ready to do that.
The second building is a pagoda, which has just been started behind the wat. There are eight buildings in the grand plan including the wat, pagoda, hermitage, temple, crematorium, monastery hall, museum, and pavilion will be created on the temple’s 7 rai area.
Wat Rong Khun’s white color indicates the religious gracefulness that attracts pure hearts of Buddhist people or anyone from other nationalities to touch and feel the aesthetics.
(source: ChiangMaiMail)

Hmm, the story can tell you its history and passion of its builder, Ajarn Chalermchai. Some people believe that he is a greedy man who want to build a temple for his own will, reputation, and money. I'm quite object to this because I believe that a man building up a great temple which can be a landmark in the future deserves some great things back to him. Here are pictures and a clip of the temple at the time of my visit;

RECOMMEND: I believe Wat Rong Khun is 'a must' visit of Chiang Rai now. Don't forget to include this magnificent temple in your Chiang Rai trip.

I will end this part here since it's getting too long...see you in the next part!!!

HANOI 2005 Part 5

Here is the last part of this Vietnam trip of mine. Thank you for keep reading and waiting for it. If you're new to my blog or still don't read the former parts of this trip...they're here: part 1, part 2, part 3 and part 4.

**EXTREME SATURDAY @ HA LONG BAY**

Source: WIKIPEDIA

This picture can tell why I put the headline 'EXTREME'...Ha Long Bay (Vietnamese: Vịnh Hạ Long) is a UNESCO World Heritage site located in Quảng Ninh province, Vietnam. The bay features thousands of limestone karsts and isles in various sizes and shapes. The following is some hi-light information on Ha Long Bay from WIKIPEDIA;

The bay has a 120 kilometre long coastline and is approximately 1,553 square kilometres in size with 1969 isles. The area admitted by UNESCO as world's natural heritage is 434 km² with 775 isles of which the core zone is limited by 3 points: Đầu Gỗ island on the west, Ba Hầm lake on the south and Cống Tây island on the east, the protected area is from Cái Dăm petrol store to Quang Hanh commune, Cẩm Phả town and the hinterland zone around.
The bay is a sea islands in tropical wet with 2 seasons: hot and moist summer, dry and cold winter. Average temperature is from 15°C- 25°C. Annual rainfall is between 2000mm and 2200mm. Halong bay has the typical diurnal tide system (tide amplitude ranges from 3.5-4m). The salinity is from 31 to 34.5MT in dry season and lower in rainy season.
The bay consists of a dense cluster of 1,969 limestone monolithic islands, each topped with thick jungle vegetation, which rise spectacularly from the ocean. Several of the islands are hollow, with enormous caves. Hang Đầu Gỗ (Wooden stakes Cave) is the largest grotto in the Halong area. Its three large chambers contain large numerous stalactites and stalamites.
Some of the islands support floating villages of fishermen, who ply the shallow waters for 200 species of fish and 450 different kinds of mollusks. Many of the islands have acquired their names as a result of interpretation of their unusual shapes: such names include Voi Islet (elephant), Ga Choi Islet (fighting cock), and Mai Nha Islet (roof). 989 of the islands have been given names. Birds and animals including bantams, antelopes, monkeys, and iguanas also live on some of the islands.
The bay was World's Natural Heritage listed by UNESCO at the 18th meeting of the Committee of the World Heritages of UNESCO (in Phuket, Thailand on December 17th, 1994) for its outstanding universal aesthetic value according to the criteria (vii) explained in the Operational Guilined for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention. On December 2nd, 2000 at the 24th meeting of Committee of the World Heritages in Cairns city, Queensland state, Australia, Halong bay was admitted as World's Natural Heritage extensively for its outstanding universal geological and geomorphological value according to the criteria (viii) of that Convention.
Halong bay was introduced to nominate by New Open World Foundation as World's 7 Natural Wonder having result on 08/08/2008.

WOW!! that's amazing, isn't it? (I know, also amazingly long for readers who skipped read it ^_^) Being one of the World's 7 Natural Wonder is very terrific.

INFORMATION: For those who stayed in Hanoi and decided to visit Ha Long Bay as a one-day trip, it is possible to do so but be prepared for more than 10 hour trip start very early in the morning.

It is very kind for me, my colleagues, and for those who joined in this training that the host arranged the whole things for us. I'd like to express again my sincerely thanks to them again here.

My Saturday trip started at about 7 a.m. The kind host arranged 2 vans for bringing us from our hotel to Ha Long, a city located 160 km northeast of Hanoi. After sitting for 3 hours in the van, we reached Ha Long Bay just before 10 o'clock. We're at the harbour where I can't see much of famous long beach. It's windy. The air was fresh and not so hot.

After waiting for some minutes, our dear hosts led us to a boat. The pricing in 2005 was 120.000 VND per person (fare+lunch). The boat brought us straight to the core zone of this UNESCO World Heritage site.

After a while on the boat, we arrived at Hang Đầu Gỗ (Wooden stakes Cave) which is the largest cave in the Halong area. Its three large chambers contain large numerous stalactites and stalagmites.

stalactites = a column of rock that hangs from the roof of a cave and which is formed over a very long period of time by drops of water containing lime falling from the roof of the cave (in Thai: หินย้อย).
stalagmites = a column of rock which rises from the floor of a cave which is formed over a very long period of time by drops of water containing lime falling from the roof of the cave (in Thai: หินงอก).
(source: Cambridge Dictionary Online)

It's quite hard to stay long in the cave, even it's very big, because of breathe difficulty. I and my Thai colleagues finished the inside-the-cave walk 30 minutes before the promised time with the rest of the team. We, then, walked to another cave. There, I and Mr. Suteep walked quickly through that big cave...my stamina depleted (The last picture above is me running in the 'another' cave).

From the cave, our boat started again. This time it brought us around the core zone, let us looked at terrific scenes of Ha Long Bay. We also had our lunch, a yummy sea food lunch, in the boat.

Our trip ended where we started at almost 3 p.m. I was exhausted and slept all over my trip back to Hanoi. One good thing was that my flight was on Sunday so I didn't need to be hurried...

+++++++++++++++++++

YES!!! I've completed another series!!! If you ever wrote something and can finally ended it, you might know my feeling...If not, try one yourself now and post your link as comment here. I'll be your reader for sure ^_^

The next trip I'll write about is in my hometown, THAILAND!!! YAH!!!

Bye you all... 'Till next trip...

HANOI 2005 Part 4

Sorry for the delay of this part. I'm having a bad cold right now. However, welcome to the PART 4 (You might also read part 1, part 2, and part 3)

**THURSDAY, @ LAST, @ THE TEMPLE OF LITERATURE**

As I mentioned in the first part of this series that the LOGO of Hanoi is the temple of literature (or Văn Miếu in Vietnamese) it can reflect how important this place is...

Since we didn't reached the Temple of Literature on Wednesday, we jumped off the hotel instantly when the training was finished and jumped off the bus at the same stop as of yesterday. This time we headed our heads directly to the temple of literature. After walked for 15 minutes, we reached the entrance...

This place is called Temple of Literature because in 1076, Vietnam's first university, was established within the temple to educate Vietnam's bureacrats, royalty and other members of the elite. The university functioned for more than 700 years, from 1076 to 1779. During that time 2,313 doctors graduated. In 1484 emperor Lê Thánh Tông started the tradition of carving the names of the laureates of the university on stone steles, which were placed on top of stone turtles. Of the 116 steles corresponding to the examinations held between 1142 and 1778, only 82 remain. (Credit: Wikipedia)

The temple was built, in my opinion, in the same style as of Chinese Palaces due to several courtyards and the architecture. The building was old but looked very good for a 1000 years old because of good renovation/restoration. Insides, there're many buildings and Steles with names of those successful at the imperial exams. There is a traditional music show inside which I and my colleagues enjoyed to sat, listening and resting our legs. The last hall contains a beautiful buddism architectures and on the left side of the last hall, located a huge drum. To get out of the temple, we need to return to the front gate :(

RECOMMENDED - Spend some of your time to the Temple of Literature when you're in Hanoi. It's one of the grand place to visit, very beautiful and historical. Be careful that the temple is closed at 6 p.m.

The next and last part of this series will be about the great 'Ha Long' Bay...see you soon...

HANOI 2005 Part 3

Hi, everyone!! There're a lot of things in this Hanoi trip. I'm trying to describe them as much as I can. Also, there're funny things along the trip as well...In this part, it's the combination of my Tuesday and Wednesday...

Click here to read part 1 and part 2 of this trip.

**TUESDAY ON THE BUS**

After a fruitful 2 days with Hanoi's Taxi, I and my colleagues found that Taxi fare in Hanoi is vary by the Taxi's company and size of car. At that time we found that small cars of the company named 'VIC' had the cheapest rate. However, finding a VIC taxi wasn't that easy because less than 1 in 100 Taxis are VIC's. Therefore, we all agreed to find the alternative way to travel in Hanoi. Since Hanoi have no Underground/ sky train/ tram, we'd to do the unusual thing...using the bus....Fortunately, our Hanoi map had bus numbers near the Roads' name. We, then, crossed the busy road and found a bus stop. Oh YES! There was a larger Hanoi map there with detailed bus numbers. We're looking for a bus that we can catch to the Hang Kai market (I's not sure with this name. it's the name we called it because of my colleague called it) located near the Hoan Kiem Lake. We checked the map and discussed many things but we couldn't find a bus that took us directly to the lake. So, we selected a bus that went to the Red River's side; the backside of the market.

++I've checked the market name, thanks to TravelWIKI, it's called 'the Old Quarter'. Hang Kai is the name of a Street in that area.++

We waited for approx. 30 minutes for the bus we need because it was just passed us when we're discussing. It's an air-conditioned bus and the fare was 3000 VND per one person (Cheap, right!?).

The bus brought us through the centre of Hanoi. We can see the Temple of Literature and the Flag Tower, including Thai Embassy. I sat patiently until I saw the Red River, then, I knew that it's near our destination.

The bus stopped at a big station and many people went on and off the bus. I's so sure that we'd to goo off now!!

'I think it's this station we need to get off the bus', I said. No one response (- -") 'Err...' I's about to start again. 'If we don't get off now, this bus will bring us to the other side the river and we can't get to the market'

'Don't worry lad, we can take this bus back...we've just got our seat. It's better to rest our legs a while', said Mr. Sombat and the other two nodded his head.

'OH MY GOSH!! Why they agreed with that so easily!! We're going to the market not the other side of the river, aren't we?', I thought. 'But there's useless to argue, let's go wherever you all want!'

As I thought, that station was the last stop on this river side. The bus then climbed up the bridge and crossed the Red River (What's Red River?...see my part 1 here). I sat, trying to be impatiently and at last, the bus stopped at a parking lot in front of a train station. It was some minutes past 6 when we reached the desert station, there were only few people there. We got into the station and saw nothing that interest me. After a minute or two, we decided suddenly to get back to the same bus we caught because we didn't know when the new bus will come.

I and my colleagues reached the Fortuna Hotel around 8 o'clock. I slept with a little disappointment because I thought we didn't reached the target we firstly intended.

**WEDNESDAY, @ THE FINE ART MUSEUM**

The yesterday experiment paid its result on the next day. Understanding the public transportation system means we depended less on Taxi. We firstly planned to take the same bus as of yesterday to the famous Temple of Literature.

++ OH, did I show you the picture of FORTUNA hotel? ++

We jumped off the bus when we saw the temple. But I firstly saw an interesting place, located next to the temple. There's only one phrase in English we could find, 'the fine art museum'.

Since I and my colleagues had A LOT OF passion in art, we decided the get in a bit and took some pictures before went southward to the Temple of Literature (WHAT A GREAT PASSION!!! ^_^)

After some pictures were taken, Mr. Sombat went to the guard at the post to see how much for the entrance fee and he found out that there's a board showing the rate; 30.000 VND for 1 person, 100.000 for 1 camera...It's not cheap, I never pay 130.000 for a museum entrance in Hanoi, I thought. At that time, the guard said to Mr. Sombat in an unrecognisable English language;

'!@#$% &*^_+', He said. ++Oh my gosh, I can't catch even one word++ Mr. Sombat hurried back and brought Mr. Aphichai with him. I was behind with Mr. Suteep, cheering. After a while, they came back and dragged us in.... (T_T)

'!@#$% &*^_+', He said. I still couldn't catch a word but I thought that he might ask us to pay the fee if we're about to get in. So, the cut out my annoying and to proved, I picked up my wallet and opened it, looking for the money...

'NO....NO....', said the guard. Oh my Gosh, it's his first word I recognised so far...he crossed his arm when he's talking.

'NO?... Is it already closed?' I replied. 'NO....NO....FREE....FREE....'

That was strange. The word 'FREE' didn't make us feel good, I's starting to aware of the dangers. We looked at each others suspiciously. 'Why is it free?' I continued asking but couldn't caught any of his explanation until he point out his finger to the canvas hanged above our head. Then we understand why...

++It's the museum 30 year ANNIVERSARY. Only on that day at the time after 5 p.m., visitors can enter the museum FREE OF CHARGE!!++

'What a luck!!', I said to my colleagues. We, then, agreed instantly that we should get in first ^0^. The museum was okay. There're many fine arts inside but it wasn't organised well. Many items have no label and many of labels are not in English. By the way, it's worth for a free trip ^o^.

We tried to find the significant interesting art but we found only a few...as I firstly said...it's free...so, GOOD to see those things. We spent too much time inside the museum so we didn't have enough time left for the Temple of Literature visit... So, I and my colleagues decided to postponed it to the next day.

Sorry that this part has not much picture because I couldn't find them...See you in the NEXT PART!!

HANOI 2005 Part 2

Welcome to the another part of my Hanoi 2005 trip. You can also find part 1 here.

**MONDAY WAS FOR WATER PUPPET**

As I firstly told you in my last part, this trip of mine was for training. So, I had free time only after each day's training session. This picture shows the participants, instructor, and kind organisers from Vietnam.

Right after we finished that day's session, we caught a taxi to the Hoan Kiem Lake again but today we jumped off the taxi right at the 'WATER PUPPET THEATRE'. We just need to cross the road. The worse thing is the road is like this all the time....and no one stop for us. We need to hop forward-backward...and pray (+..+")

++NOOO...OH...OOPS...Lemme go PLEASEEEE!!!!++

PHEW....Fortunately, we're all safe in front of the water puppet theatre. We, then, booked 4 first class tickets for the fastest show which will begins in no more than 1 hour. Again, because we didn't wanna waste our time waiting outside the theatre, we started walking around. Took a few pictures.

'I think I must sit here, A, take a photo for me!' it's Mr. Aphichai's.

'Why this place interests you?' I asked, disagreed with him.

'Oh, this spot shows the real Vietnamese life. Here's where they find and how they eat seafood, don't they?' He reassured. I still amazed...but just 'do it for him' is better, I thought. 'OK, OK, you sit there...1...2...3' (-*-)

Let's look at the picture, he was almost laugh but the Vietnameses were laughing and everyone, even a Westerners, was looking to us (-*-).

After that, I and my colleagues went back to the theatre. It was just before the show. I forgot to tell you that the price was 100,000VND per 1 person and please buy the first class ticket because it was not too expensive and the second class seats were too far away. The show was good, both music and puppets at their best performance. This show is the 'CAN'T BE MISSED' for your Hanoi trip!!!

Err...The last picture was the puppeteers. They had to stay in the water during the show and that's about 1 hour, 2-3 rounds a day...they're really tough.

After the show, we're starved to death and decided to eat something local. We directed to a street restaurant we found before the show which we think that the food was clean. It was a very nice experience eating like the locals and the taste was not so different than in Thailand (not spicy at all but still very okay). See it in pictures below, we paid only about 30,000VND for this meal!!!

RECOMMENDED - Many street restaurants in Hanoi serve a lot of good food with cheap price. However, local Vietnamese prefers to sit in a small chair but I don't like it. If you're like me, choose a restaurant with taller chairs, if possible.

I would like to stop this part here...ei ei...see you in part 3.