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Official
party at the Elephant & Flower Festival, Lampang
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THAILAND.
Over the
years I have met many Thai people and I have always found
them to be a very kind, gentle and caring people one could
not help but like. Friends like Na, Noi, Thunya, Ant, Meechai,
Puchong, Taksin, Oun, Kenk, Tor and of course all Caroline’s
family in Buriram.
With the effort and success Caroline made with her exchange
in Thailand I told her that I would take her back to Thailand
to see all our friends two years after she returned so in
November 2000, Caroline, Benjamin and myself flew out for
Bangkok. This was Ben’s first overseas holiday so he
was excited to see why his sister loved these people so much.
We arrived in Bangkok around midnight, stayed overnight and
then caught a flight next morning for Chiang Mai.
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Chiang
Mai.
One of my friends, Waraporn (Na) Yawichai who was in Launcestin
in 1996 had arranged for her husband Taksin to meet us in Chiang
Mai. Taksin was the Chief Information& Evaluation Secretary
in the Governor’s Office and naturally knew the best places
to take us to visit such as the Doi Suthep Temple built in 1371,
the Wat Chedi temple built in 1401 and several other ancient
ruins. We also enjoyed the beautiful craftwork at the Hang Dong
village but probably the highlight of our Chiang Mai stay was
the Thai Culture Night. For this we enjoyed a Thai feast, siting
on mats as the Thai’s would, and entertained by the most
beautiful Thai dancers performing traditional Thai dancing which
is becoming a lost art and difficult to see in Thailand today.
Taksin also introduced us to the best places to enjoy Thai food,
which was very tasty and cheap. Chiang Mai was a beautiful city
at a much more relaxed pace than Bangkok and I can recommend
a stay there to anyone.
As it was a Friday Taksin was going home to Lampang some 100
kilometres to the south to his wife and children for the weekend
so he took us with him.
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Beautiful
Thai dancers at the Chiang Mai Thai Cultural Centre
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Na
and Trevor's families at Jae Sorn National Park, Lampang
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Lampang.
We were all excited
about seeing our dear friend Na again and to meet her children.
Na was also excited and had a varied and interesting time
planned for us in her city.
The next day Na had arranged a visit to the Jae Sorn National
Park, which was very beautiful. Na had arranged for about
12 of her English students to be present to learn about us
and to practise their English. They were delightful and polite
young people. The park had boiling springs and some enterprising
Thai’s were selling eggs to cook in the boiling water!
That night we all enjoyed a beautiful meal at Lampang’s
best restaurant.
The next day was one of the highlights of our tour as we made
our way to the Elephant Conservation Centre where the Elephant
and Flower Festival was being staged. What a colourful sight,
dozens of huge elephants with colourful rugs, dozens of beautiful
Thai ladies in spectacular dress and huge arrangements of
bright flowers. The city officials were all decked out in
ancient Thai costumes and the display of dancing by the Thai
ladies was just beautiful and the elephant display awesome.
Next day Na continued to show us around her city with a visit
to the Baan Sao Nak Teak House built in 1895 and one of the
largest in Thailand. Lampang is also famous for it’s
pottery and handcrafts and a visit to a local market saw many
purchases being made.
Next morning it was a sad goodbye to Na, Taksin and children
as we boarded the train for Nakon Sawan.
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Thap
Than
At Nakon Sawan our dear friend Sumarat (Noi) Wiriyapornprapas
and her husband Oun and two boys were there to meet us. Noi
was here in Launceston in 1996 with Na and was also an English
teacher. It was exciting to see her again and she was exactly
as we remembered her.
Once again the Thai hospitality was overwhelming, Noi took us
on a boat cruise on a huge lake, which was a bird sanctuary,
and very pretty at sunset, then it was a floating restaurant
for dinner, which was superb. After the dinner we set off for
Noi’s hometown Thap Than which is a tiny village with
no hotel so we had to stay about 10 kilometres away at Uthai
Thani.
Next day was the beloved Thai Kings birthday – the Thai’s
have the utmost respect and love for their King and his birthday
is celebrated in the very tiniest villages – fairy lights
and signs and photos of the King are everywhere.
Noi had arranged for us to attend her school’s celebrations
The stage where the school officials were seated was brightly
decorated and has a huge photo of the King at the rear. Fathers
Day in Thailand is celebrated on the Kings birthday –
at the assembly and part of the celebrations all the Thai fathers
present were required to come to the stage and then their children
had to come up to the stage, present their father with a flower
and pay their respects. When this was over I was seated on the
stage and Ben and Caroline had to come to me and pay their respects,
which was one of the most moving experiences I have ever had.
Some beautiful Thai dancing by the lady students followed this.
Next day Noi had arranged for four of her students to accompany
us to the Huai Kha Khaeng World Heritage Park which is one of
Thailand’s most famous and is a monument to Seub who campaigned
for years to stop the teak logging and preserve the habitat
for tigers, elephants etc that still live in the wild in the
Park.
The following day we visited many beautiful temples and sights
in this beautiful western province of Thailand, places normal
tourists would never see. Next day it was a sad farewell and
off to Bangkok for about an 8-hour stay before catching the
overnight train to Buriram.
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Noi
and family with Ben & Caroline at a beautiful temple
in Uthai Thanee
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Caroline,
Ben & Trevor at Thap Than School
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Buriram.
Another Thai friend Puchong met us at the bus terminal in Bangkok
and took us for a drive around this amazing city. The traffic
was chaotic and people everywhere. Puchong took us to a huge
complex that was totally occupied by computers and peripherals.
Thai men sitting in front of their shops busily assembling computers,
pirate software for a few dollars, it was an amazing scene.
Dinner was at a huge restaurant on the riverbank which was a
favourite with the Thai’s and judging by the beautiful
food I know why.
Puchong then left us at the train station for our 10.00 PM departure
for the journey to Buriram.
Whilst Caroline was not saying too much as we neared Buriram
she must have been quite excited to be returning to see the
people who had nurtured and cared for her for 12 months. |
Suwit
(host pa who spoke no English) and Kenk (host sister who could
speak good English) were there to meet us. Caroline was soon
talking excitedly to Suwit in Thai – it was very strange
to hear my daughter speaking and not being able to understand
a word! It was only a short drive to the house in Thanee Road
and it was an eye opener for me. It was a huge three-storey
building with the major portion of the ground floor taken up
with shop displays. Suwit and his brother were hardware merchants
in a big way. They also made concrete bricks and products for
housing construction.
The first and second floors were taken up with bedrooms and
bathrooms (three) totally different than western bathrooms,
squat toilets, no running water but a bucket of water over the
right shoulder and the same over the left! We soon got used
to the new bathrooms and it was no problem.
It was very frustrating not being able to talk to Suwit, his
mother, brother and sisters and all the children.
As Caroline has stated the North East of Thailand is the poorest
area in Thailand – the economic downturn in 1997 had a
disastrous effect with many empty buildings, half completed
hotels etc.
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Caroline
featured in the parade at a Buriram Festival
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Caroline
with host sister Tor & Av pictured at Khon Kaen
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Suwit
owns a rice farm which he leased out – the rice is still
planted and harvested by hand, very hard work however mobile
mechanical threshing machines now thresh the rice. After the
rice is collected from the field it is taken to a processing
plant where the husks are removed and the rice cleaned. There
were always two large pots of rice ready for consumption at
the house.
Small motorbikes zip around everywhere – I had a tour
of Buriram sitting behind Kenk on her bike! We all noticed the
Thai people staring at us whereever we went, you see Buriram
is not on the tourist map so we were rather rare!
The markets had wonderful supplies of fresh vegetables and fish
– the fish was that fresh it was still kicking! We also
ate fried bamboo grubs, rather a nutty but not unpleasant taste.
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| We also
enjoyed a visit to the Phanom Rung ruins only 10 kilometres
from the Cambodian border. These ruins were 800 years old and
magnificent structures. After 10 days in Buriram it was time
for Ben and myself to return to Australia with Caroline staying
on for another few weeks.
I really
want to return to Thailand to meet up with all these beautiful
people again, the hospitality and welcome we received was
quite overwhelming and something I shall never forget. To
know native Thai people and have them as our guides in all
the places we visited was a unique experience, we saw so much
that “normal” tourists would not see.
Sawadee
my friends.
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Caroline
at the infamous "Golden Triangle"
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