Bikes, Boats & Elephants

A Tour of Northern Thailand

The "lake" is only a large pond, but it sets the tone for the hotel. It is just far enough from the city and the main road to have the serenity of the countryside; serenity that encourages a process of shifting from 20th Century-hectic to I'm-on-vacation-relaxed.

The resort was built and is owned by an architect. He has combined country Thai thatched roofs on the outside with teak floors and modern bathroom fixtures inside. This is our introduction to the endless series of mixed metaphors of Thailand.

Our tour group gradually assembles. Most have come directly from the U.S., but others have been vacationing in the area for a while. Several share tales of extended taxi rides searching for the hotel. 

Our tour leaders are Jill Johnson and Carolyn Christie. Jill did some of the research for the tour several years ago when she and another lady bicycled through southeast Asia. She was one of the leaders of the tour last year. Carolyn was in northern Thailand in the Peace Corps for two years and speaks Thai. She has led Backroads tours in the U.S. and Europe, but this is her first bicycle tour in Thailand.

 There is a meeting this evening to introduce the tour and give us a chance to meet the people we will be with for the next nine days. There are 25 of us on the tour plus the two U.S. leaders and a Thai driver-Piak. There are six couples, three single men and ten single women. Ages probably range from senior twenties through fifties. Most are from the western U.S., but New Jersey, Dallas, Chicago, Toronto and Tokyo are represented. The reasons for taking the tour range from curiosity about "exotic" Thailand to a chance to ride an elephant.

 Jill and Carolyn give us some information about what we can expect along the way. Each day one of them will ride with Piak in his van. They will take our luggage to the next hotel and then patrol the route offering snacks, water, encouragement and rides. The other leader will ride her bike and "sweep" the route to be sure we all get to dinner on time.

 We are given a set of landmark-by-landmark directions. Each morning there will be a "route talk" to review the day's directions, highlight the critical junctions, recommended places for lunch, point out things worth seeing and suggest optional additions to the route for those seeking a few extra miles.

 Day One-Uphill

 We have lunch at an orchid farm where we are surrounded by flowers. We stop down the road to tour a butterfly farm and watch them gold plate orchids to be used for jewelry. We ride past a snake farm that offers a cobra show. We keep moving away from the city and into the countryside.

 About mid-afternoon the road goes from flat to uphill. From here it is less than eight miles to this evening's hotel, but parts of those eight miles are almost straight up. Jill assured us at the briefing that this is the toughest hill on the entire trip.

 About half way up we pass the Mae Sa Elephant Camp. When we round the next bend an elephant and rider are ahead of us on the other side of the road. We can also see elephants moving through the jungle off to our left.

Pat and I are walking the steepest parts and using the most powerful of our 21 gears to ride the rest. Even some of the strongest riders will later admit to walking a little near the top. We arrive at the Erawan Resort tired but with the confidence that comes with having conquered the worst hill on the trip.

Today was warm, but the temperature is dropping rapidly as the sun sets. Most days the temperature is in the mid to upper 70's; at night it drops into the 50's.

The resort is set in a small valley with natural vegetation all around. There are seven foot tall poinsettias and they are all in red-leafed Christmas spender. 

Dinner tonight is served outside. Afterwards, the staff of the resort treats us to folk music, traditional Thai dancing and then a welcome, warming bonfire. The next morning there are Christmas gifts on the doorstep of our room left by an unseen Santa Claus and his two helpers from Backroads. 

Day Two-Down hill

 The roadside is filled with large tour buses. There are also vans from two Thai banks exchanging foreign currency and cashing travelers' checks. There are stalls selling handicrafts for the tourists to take home and bananas for the tourists to feed to the elephants. We watch the elephants do a few circus tricks and then drag and stack some logs. We pet them and feed them bananas.

Tourism in this part of Thailand is just getting organized. Here and in the Golden Triangle we meet fleets of tour buses, but other than that we see very few tourists. The Thais have adopted Christmas and the western New Year as reasons to take time off from work. This is a local holiday season and most of the tourists are Thais. The few tourists who are not Asians are usually Germans or Swiss. 

The tour buses remind us how nice it is to set our own pace, to stop when we want and never have to worry about stretching our legs.

We are among the first to leave the elephant show, and we use the remaining downhill road to get ahead of the buses. At the bottom of the hill we turn north and tackle the longest ride of the entire trip. Today the basic route is 62 miles. Fortunately, eight are downhill and the rest are mostly flat or gently rolling. And, the van is available if we need a ride.

Our next two nights are at the Chiang Dao Hill Resort. It is set in a forest with cabins nestled in the encircling hills. There is a small lake in the center surrounded by lawns and gardens. 

After dinner tonight a hotel Santa stops by with another round of gifts. Thailand is 97 per cent Buddhist but they have adopted the decorations, music and festivities of Christmas even if the message is foreign. 

Day Three-Take a Hike

A number of us choose the hike. The pre-planned hike doesn't sound very interesting so we work with the leaders and arrange to take the van part way then hike to the three hill-tribe villages. 

The first village has a school for about 60 children from local hill- tribes. About a dozen of the boys and one girl, all about 10 years old, decide to play "hooky" and hike with us. We look at the second village from the road and keep going. The third village is interesting enough to be worth the time for extended exploration. 

Hill-tribes

Most of them now live in established villages in the mountainous parts of northern Thailand. The Thai government is attempting to stop the production of opium. At the same time the government is working to educate them and provide work. 

The women in each of the major tribes have a unique style of dress with bright colors and distinctive head gear. Most of the men are not influenced by tradition and just wear trousers and T-shirts. 

The last of today's three villages is at the end of eight miles of unpaved, narrow road. The villagers have been visited by enough tourists to be camera shy. The children have home-made carts to ride down hills and we play with them and take their picture. Laughter provides a universal language.

 We hike part way back with our young friends from the school and then take the van to the resort. Jill and Carolyn have prepared a Thai picnic on the lawn by the lake. There is bar-be-que chicken, sticky rice served in little baskets, dumplings wrapped in banana leaves and an assortment of fresh fruits. As we finish lunch it starts to rain. It rains all night and is raining the next morning. 

Day Four-Rain 

JJ's bakery in Fang has western style sandwiches that offer a welcome respite from Thai food. Most days we buy lunch at noodle shops along the road. They have menus with English translations so we order by smiling and pointing. 

After lunch several of us take a walking tour of Fang. This is a regional center with a new bank, complete with an automatic teller machine. Both sides of the main street are lined with open-front shops that are full of an amazing mixture of brightly colored merchandise. There are beautiful cakes and pre-wrapped gifts for New Year-the Thais use both the western and Buddhist calendars which gives them at least two opportunities to celebrate. There are candies and cough drops from around the world. There is a delivery truck that has all of its signs in Thai script except "Groton Connecticut, U.S.A." 

The sun has dried the main road so we get on our bikes. In the next small town we pass a coffin maker's shop. The Buddhists cremate their dead. The coffins are covered with elaborately decorated structures then set afire. This shop sells coffins and builds the covering structures complete with gold leaf, silver foil and brightly colored designs. These handicrafts are clearly not for export.

Tonight and tomorrow we stay at the Maekok River Lodge that is owned by an Irishman. In addition to being a hotel for people, it is also a refuge for injured animals. We take time to watch the monkeys play and the bears perform simple tricks for their dinner. 

Day Five-Take a Hike Again

Our guide takes us up a trail on the side of the valley that is about as steep as it can be and still allow us to hike-if the trail were any steeper we would be mountain climbing. We hike up hill for an hour. At the top we have a spectacular view of the river and fields that stretch for miles across the flat floor of the Maekok River valley.

We hike down the far side and approach another village. This one probably represents the best of what the hill-tribes can offer and still be true to their traditions. We are met by a 61 year old village medicine man who welcomes us, seats us and then demonstrates three musical instruments. He plays well and the instruments have a pleasant, rich sound that is more western than Asian. Tea is served, pictures are taken and on our initiative we leave a token of our appreciation. 

This village provides overnight accommodations for "trekkers." There are a couple of shops with handicrafts. We wander about and play with the children and puppies. 

The van takes us back to the hotel just as some of the bikers are arriving on a "long-tailed" boat they hired to bring them home.

We walk a mile or so to the Burma border. The lone Thai soldier on duty is friendly but very insistent that we cannot go beyond his post. There are no guards on the Burma side. Nearby there is a small garrison of Thai soldiers. 

We walk back to the hotel and then across a bridge to the other side of the river. We climb to a massive, white Buddha perched on the crest of a hill. The view is spectacular and the evening setting is noticeably serene. 

We explore the village and watch workmen building bamboo rafts. You can buy a raft, hire a guide and a cook, and take six people on a three-day "float" down-river to Chiang Rai for about $100. The rafts even have "outhouses" built out over the side. 

Day Six-Bikes, Boats & Elephants

 There is a set of stairs leading to a large platform with an opening the size of an elephant's head cut in one side. An elephant walks up to the platform so that its head is in the opening. Two of us step from the platform onto the elephant's neck and then sit on something that is a cross between a small bench and a saddle. The bench part is a board covered with a two-inch thick foam-rubber pad upholstered with slick plastic. The pad is surrounded by a four inch frame that provides the only available hand-holds. Under the board is a saddle with an inverted "V" frame that is contoured to go over the elephant's substantial backbone. Its backbone acts like a rail to stabilize the saddle. There is a chain under the elephant's body, but it doesn't appear to be very tight. There is chain under its neck to keep us from slipping backward when we go up-hill; there is rope under its tail to keep us from slipping forward when we go down-hill.

On the level road out of town, we sway forward and back, left and right in an uncoordinated series of jerks. We move along a well-worn path through heavy brush that towers above us and then across open areas. We ride up and over a ridge almost as steep as the one we hiked yesterday. On the steep parts, I hold my camera with my knees and hang on with both hands. Up-hill is work and scary at times. Down- hill is even more exciting!

 The ride ends two hours later in another hill-tribe village. A pick-up truck has taken a different route and brought our bikes from the boats We ride to Chiang Rai and gain a new appreciation of how comfortable a stable bicycle with a contoured seat can be.

Tonight we have the least interesting accommodations but one of the best restaurants. Breakfasts and dinners at the hotels are included in the tour and are generally very good. Dinner usually offers a combination of dishes ranging from bland to spicy enough to bring sweat to your forehead. In a country that is almost totally Buddhist, one of our members has a difficult time getting vegetarian meals; almost every dish has some meat in it. Chiang Rai is a city of about 40,000 people, large enough to have interesting shops including an ice cream parlor. 

Day Seven-The Golden Triangle

 The last six miles we ride along the Mekong River to the junction with the Sai River. At the junction of the two rivers, Burma, Laos and Thailand meet in the Golden Triangle. (This is the same Mekong River that flows thorough Vietnam.) For years this was a major Asian marketplace for the opium trade. During the Vietnam war it flourished and gained access to markets beyond South East Asia. Now it is a tourist area. 

The road into town is a narrow two lanes and jammed with traffic. There are stalls along the side of the road hawking handicrafts, souvenirs and T-shirts. There is a group of girls aged about 5 to 10 dressed in hill-tribe costumes who will let us take a picture for 10 baht (U.S. 50¢). Pat and Rona have just bought brightly colored hill-tribe hats so they join the girls for the photo session. 

We ride a short distance beyond the stalls to the hotel. It is by far the most luxurious on the trip. It is new, modern and centrally air conditioned. But, that means closed windows and a musty smell that seems to go with "modern" in southeast Asia.

 The hotel offers free boat rides. The Thailand side of the river is a beehive of activity with a modern hotel, bustling shops, tour buses and people everywhere. On the Burma side of the river there is a small construction camp and the framework for a casino. We are told that the casino is being built by Thai businessmen for Thai tourists. On the Laos side of the river, there are a few people doing their laundry and washing their water buffalo. The economic rewards of the freedom in Thailand are obvious. 

Day Eight-Bus

There is a lunch stop near a hot spring. Thai tourists don't soak in hot springs; they put eggs in little baskets and hard boil them. A bit further downstream the water has cooled a bit and the local villagers use it to wash their clothes. 

After lunch there is a shopping option in Baw Sang that is known for hand-painted paper umbrellas and handicrafts. The non-shoppers stay on the bus and go directly to the hotel. The shoppers stop awhile and take Paik's van. The serious shoppers are given cards with the name and address of the hotel with directions in Thai script so they can take a taxi without risk of getting lost.

This evening is a special Thai meal at the hotel. In addition to being the end of the trip, it is also New Year's eve. 

Day Nine-The End

The basic route covered 210 miles in five days on our bikes. A bit of quick math translates that to an average of 42 miles a day, plus the boat and the elephant rides. Two days provided a choice of hiking or adding 46 miles of dirt-road biking.

Thailand - The Golden Triangle
8 day inn trip
1995: 12/11, 12/25
1996: 1/8, 1/22 (singles), 2/5, 11/30 (singles), 12/21
1997: 1/11, 2/1
Trip price: $1.798 (includes most meals)
Rental bike: $149

Asian Pacific Adventures offers a 15 day bicycle tour of northern Thailand. For additional information or a copy of their brochure on Asian and Pacific tours, contact them at (213) 935-3156 

REI Adventures offers 16 day trekking and kayaking tours of southern Thailand. For additional information or a copy of their brochure, contact them at (800) 644-2236.

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