"Bangkok To Chiang Mai 08/03/2005"

It was great to be on the road again. We had an early start and hit the road about 8am. In convoy the 4 vehicles headed up the 9 Highway, traffic wasn’t too bad but the smog was thick. The CBs were great for us all to keep in touch, especially when the lead vehicles made a few minor detours (which is to be expected when we were unable to read the double dutch signs). A few times we had no alternative but to go with the flow of the traffic, A quick call on the CB with a nifty "Thai style manuvere" got us back on track again.

Along route we visited the historical City of Ayutthaya which is 76kms North of Bangkok on the 309. Ayutthaya used to be the old capitol of Thailand for 417 years. The city has many ancient ruins with a history dating back to1350AD. The 8 of us hired a tuk tuk which I might add was the size of a stretched mini. We drive around the sites visiting old temples, palaces, monasteries and Buddha’s. The history was amazing but it was very hot standing out in the searing heat 36 degree plus.

We had fun at the elephant kraal. The elephants did some pretty cool party tricks us. One took some money from us with his trunk and thanked us, bowed and then placed the money in a tin! I must say he was a very clever chap and was only a baby.

We followed the Chao Phraya River north on the secondary roads. This river was the same one as we had previously enjoyed our leisurely cruise on the previous week in Bangkok. The air was thick with smoke, lots of burn offs with some fires burning close to the road side. Just north of Nakhon Sawan near the river, we started scouting the landscape looking for a camp site for the night.

Winding around all the small villages, we and the rest of our traveling team attracted a large amount of attention. We finally found a spot in a tiny village called Banmon. We thought we had managed to secure the site for the night. Next thing we knew, Steve Cobb an Englishman living locally got chatting to us and invited us to all back to park on his front lawn. Unbeknown to us there were rumblings behind the scenes by the local folk as to our reasons for being in Banmon. The locals had all thought we were a TV crew arriving, much to their disappointment!. We settled in for the night with Steve and Fon and what a wonderful night we all had. Steve and Fon were lovely hosts.

It was great to get an insight into the Thai lifestyle and Steve answered all our questions that we had stored up throughout our travels through Thailand. We had been wondering about the little houses in everyone’s gardens. Steve informed us that they were called Spirit Houses (Shrines) and the Thai people build them to keep the spirits confined to the spirit houses rather than inside their homes.

We met all of Fons family who all live in houses on the same site. Before we left the following day we visited a local pottery factory across the road. Ohhhhh how I wish Ruefee was able to be loaded up with all these wonderful works of art. I did manage to sneak in a couple of small pots, but given half the chance and the time I would of liked to of modified the top of Ruefee with extra storage to “sneak onboard” many more fantastic pieces! You do realize that over here it is possible to stack your house, your brother’s house and your brother’s father in-laws house on top of one's vehicle?

With hugs and waves from our new friends we were on our way. Steve was kind enough to give us his phone number just in case we had any problems. 21 kms down the road Steve’s phone number became one 24 carat gold piece of paper!! Ruefee decided to throw her 2nd hissy fit of the journey. She just cut out, dead as a doe doe and it appeared to be the same problem as before when we ground to a sudden halt just south of Hat Yai in Southern Thailand. Well this time it turned into a real circus with the locals calling the police, local garage mechanics and fire brigade as well as all their neighbors, it was quite a spectacle.

The other 3 vans all pulled up in a line while we pulled the bonnet on poor old sick Ruefee. We borrowed a telephone and phoned Steve and Fon to assist us with the translation process to the mechanics. They organized a tow to a local Nissan dealer and both insisted they follow us in. We suggested to the others vans that they head on and we would attempt to catch up to them the following day if all went well. The monkey jumped off Lawries back as soon as he sighted the Nissan workshop!. The mechanics were great and found the problem right away. The 12volt part was mistakenly put into a 24 volt electrical system which explains why ruefee broke down twice.

Hopefully now we can put all the mechanical problems behind us and drive with confidence – touch “Coconuts” With help being not to far away on both occasions, we have been very lucky. Lawrie is learning not to stress out and now goes with the flow as over here (and possibly influenced by the Buddha’s) bad things seem to turn out good. As the rest of our travel party was now well on their way, Steve and Fon insisted we stay with them for the night. With the offer of a traditional Thai style meal and a “real” bed to sleep in for the night in their guest house, they didn’t have to ask twice. Fons family were really surprised to see us back and we were welcomed again with lots of warm hugs. Fon cooked a delightful meal of fish, soup, beef, pork and a hot chili patty's served with rice. It was just delightful and we were both made to feel so welcome. After dinner we walked down to the local village to a party where a local family were celebrating their new house. With the whole village attendinging, there was plenty of dancing plenty, food and drinking being done.

We said our goodbyes the next day and headed north to Chiang Mai to catch the rest of the group. To catch them we had a big drive ahead of us deciding to stick to the main highway to Tak, Lampang, Lamphun, then heading on the 106 into Chiang Mai. The drive up was great with lovely scenery. Again lots of rice paddy fields, big burn off’s everywhere. The remaining drive to Chiang Mai had some big hills to drive up for a change. Cruising the 106 Lawrie decided to put out a call on his CB and in a matter of seconds Paul’s voice boomed in loud and clear and informed us that we were right on them. They had parked up in a garage about 3 kms from town.

After we had settled in and caught up with everyone again we all headed for the famous night bazaar in Chiang Mais for a wander around. Some of us came back with bargains so it was bargain show and tell before we headed off to bed.

Today the 10th of March we unfortunately received some bad news that will affect our travel plans. Steve Larson our China agent sent an email notifying us that our entry into China has been delayed for 3 weeks to a month. It will take some reshuffling on our part to reorganize our visas and documents etc, but on the positive note we have 3 weeks to fill in, so the thought of hanging out, kicking back on a nice beach sounds pretty good at this point. As I am sitting here typing my Journal, Jill has just informed me that it is 40 degrees. We must be acclimatizing to the humidity and heat as we aren’t feeling it as much now.

We visited the Old Chiang Mai Cultural Centre for a cultural dose of traditional local dances both classical & hill tribe versions which was quite entertaining. With full bellies and a great night under our belts, John did his usual negotiating for a tuk tuk to deliver us back to our camping spot, that we have now named the PTT Resort. We would tell our drivers that we were staying at the PTT Garage on the 106 and that would completely loose them as they assume we are staying in a hotel or resort. With the Sheraton just down the road from the PTT you can see the confusion and astonishment on their faces when they safely deliver us to our “PTT resort”

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