Saturday, 14th January, 2017

Well here we are in the Bangkok Airways Lounge at Chiang Mai airport waiting for our flight to Bangkok and thence to Mandalay. I am not sure I have been invited into a lounge before. This one is pretty basic, but does have free coffee and some very basic sandwiches, which is most welcome at 5.45 in the morning. Our flight will no doubt be called soon, but I will see how far I can get with this post in the meantime. Of course, if I hadn’t written all that waffle about lounges, I would be well on my way. And that last bit doesn’t help!

Ok, our second tour in as many days. Once again, the sun shone and the temperature was like a nice summer’s day in (southern) England. We were picked up by the same tour company at about 0830 and settled down for a longish drive to the National Park. As ever we were a nice international company with French, German, Omani, Danish and Thai. It is a great way to find out more about other cultures and people without actually having to travel to their countries! The star of the show, though, was our guide for the day, Banana – which is what he insisted we call him. As far as I could understand it, everything depends on the way you say a word as there can be 5 different intonations each meaning something different. I am guessing his name was something like gloo-ey, the Thai for banana. Our driver went by the name of Same-Same (I think!).

Today it is another ‘carry on up the jungle’, stopping first at a waterfall…

(We are now ensconced in the Bangkok Airways lounge in transit at Bangkok Airport. Same coffee, slightly better snacks and German footie on the TV. The airport is awash with Leicester City FC due to the Thai King Power connection. Such fame!)

Back to the jungle. The waterfall was a nice break in the journey, but the main attraction was to be the king and queen stupas (stupae?), built to honour the 60th birthdays of King Bhumibol in 1987 and Queen Sirikit in 1992. Great views and nice gardens, though the stupas themselves are rather severe. Mind you, other than covering it in gold, the structure itself is a bit limited as regards variations on the theme. It seems that the varying shapes, such as they are, may represent different things:

The square base represents earth
The hemispherical dome/vase represents water
The conical spire represents fire
The upper lotus parasol and the crescent moon represent air
The sun and the dissolving point represent the element of space

There are 5 types too – relic (has a bit of the Lord Buddha), object (has something belonging to him), commemorative (of events in his and his disciples lives), symbolic (of aspects of Buddhist theology) and votive (to gain spiritual benefit). I hope that clears up any misunderstandings – I could go on…..

Great ornamental cabbages.

From there we were off again to the highest point in Thailand. Lots of the locals like to  be photographed next to the sign that gives the 6.00am temperature, which on our day was 6 degrees. Nice little stupa and I particularly liked the elephants.

Off again, you don’t stand around for long on this tour. Next was a visit to some stalls selling a wide variety of local products from honey to dried fruit, wine and fruit. Again, all part of the Royal Project. Some nice faces (including Val).

And off we go again – another waterfall, lunch and another Hmong village similar to the previous day, though not as developed, but with some stunning fabrics….

And that, as they say, was that, other than the long ride back to the hotel. A good tour.

Sunday we kept holy (sort of) with one last indulgence at our friendly spa, then packed and relaxed. Our lovely spa ladies, Mimi and Noi, kindly posed for a photo. I feel like a giant here!

And that’s it, folks, the end of the Thailand leg of our Asian Vacation. I can’t believe it is over already. Next stop, Mandalay!