"Chiang Mai To Maetaeng" 26/03/2005

We are now in Maetaeng a small village about 30kms from Chiang Mai and are being hosted by Udi and Ya of Udiya Tours. We are staying with them till the weekend when the 4 of us will be heading south of Bangkok to the Rayong area which is the stepping stone to Ko Samet Island. The others from our group are still up in the hills enjoying the cooler temperatures and plan to head south later in the week to catch up with us. Ya has found the most amazing local restaurants for us to dine at. She has had us sampling a real mixed variety of Thai food. We are getting quite game with our choices too and don’t seem to be saying as much “mai pet” (not hot or spicy) when we order. With a few Thai words under our hats, ordering dishes had become allot easier. For instance: kau puut is plain fried rice, add the word “moo” for pork, “groong” for prawn and “guy” for chicken makes a nice variety.

We had a real challenge sorting our car insurance as no one spoke English. After much pointing and sign language we finally had ourselves understood! For NZ$35.00 we are fully covered for 1 year which is great. We have already been through several road blocks where they have focused on checking everyone’s insurance stickers validness. Thailand has a strong Police presence particularly as you drive near their borders, and it is not uncommon to encounter many road block check points.

We are having a lot of fun with the Thai language. Depending on how you pronounce the pitch of each word – different pitches of the same word can mean two entirely different things. We spent an hour and a half being pampered with a foot massage in Chaing Mai at the Thai Massage Conservation Club which was lovely. All the masseuse’s were visually impaired. The royal family is involved in many projects for the underprivileged people in Thailand and this was one of HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn projects.

We went for a drive around the hills of Maetaeng. We stopped on a bridge to admire a majestic crystal clear river, when a Ute came screaming to a sudden halt beside us totally blocking the bridge. A young guy jumped out of the Ute excitedly waving and pointing at the back of our vehicle and then pointing at his vehicle. He then rushed around to his passenger door and his wife got out smiling and pointing too, and had both Laurie and I scratching our heads as to what the attraction was. We then figured out what the commotion was all about, It was our tow ball! Apparently he had just had one fitted and was so excited to see our vehicle with one on too. We have since made a mental note to see how many vehicles have a tow ball in Thailand and since that incident we have noted not many at all, unlike New Zealand where just about every vehicle has one.

The drive south to Rayong was going to take about 10 hours so we broke up the journey with a one night stay in Sing Buri. The central area of Thailand is in the midst of a severe draught and it’s been too dry for the locals to replant crops. Driving along the roads here is like watching a comedy skit and never ceases to amuse us. Apart from the overloaded trucks, cars and motorbikes carrying anything and “Everyone” there is just stall after stall selling exactly the same produce. Around one corner we will pass 30+ stalls selling strawberries then further down the road another 30+ stalls selling watermelons – you can only stop, purchase and eat some many strawberries and watermelons in one day! It’s quite unreal. A Ute has just passed us piled high with mattresses and someone is asleep spread eagled on the top mattress, and we also just witnessed another Ute carrying furniture with guys sound asleep inside the furniture cabinets! It’s never a dull moment.

We found accommodation at Mae Rumphung Beach and are staying at the Rayong Beach Condotel which is 3 hours south east of Bangkok. A great spot right opposite the beach - what an idyllic lifestyle location we have chosen for a break from traveling. Mornings see us reclining in deck chairs sheltering under shady tree’s & umbrellas, dipping in and out of the ocean and watching the endless procession of people selling everything from a nail files, candy floss, cane baskets & local food food trolleys. We are even able to buy cucumbers to feed the elephant’s that comes trotting past with their owners. Behind us is small food stall run by a local family, which we can order meals and drinks from 6am in the morning till the last customer leaves around midnight.

Poor old Ruefee experienced another little miss-hap. The hotel that we were staying in was having its lawns grounds mowed and a stone flicked up from the mower and smashed the rear passenger window. Initially we thought it was going to be a real problem to get it fixed and had visions of having to ship a new window to Thailand from NZ, as we have only seen 3 Nissan Safaris on our travels to date. But after speaking with the hotel manager about the problem, in typical Thai fashion he said “No Problem” and personally escorted us to a local Auto glass repair shop. The repair shop simply found a piece of glass, shaped it to fit our window, (which I believe is no mean feat when using safety glass) and 1 ½ hour later Ruefee had a new window and the manager happily paid for it, totally amazing.

Lawrie's birthday was on the 30th of April. We spent the day in Rayong, hitting some balls at the local driving range and lunching at a little restaurant in the shopping mall. With an afternoon dip in the hotel pool, the evening saw us sitting on the beach in our usual deck chairs watching the sun go down. The horizon was dotted with squid boats, they look liked a town in the dark as there was so many of them. Later that evening the hotel staff had prepared a surprise for Lawrie. They had all gathered at the reggae garden bar within the hotel complex, and as we walked in the band proceeded to play happy birthday and a few minutes later the staff carried in a lovely birthday cake with they had iced saying “Happy Birthday Lawrie”

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