Almost nothing in what follows will be about golf, but I just did some things so incredibly cool that no matter what else happens on this trip, I’m happy.
We were driven this morning from Chiang Mai, in the north of Thailand, about four hours north and east, north of Chiang Rai, another 900-year-old city, up into the Golden Triangle. No longer quite the drug haven it used to be (although there is a Museum of Opium across the street from the magnificent Anantara resort we’re staying at), this is the gateway to Burma, which I can see from my window, and Laos is a little bit of a bend and look, but it’s there, too. This also is where there are a few elephant camps, including one run by the Anantara, to feed, ride, and see elephants and where the population is being tended to and conserved.
After arriving, we went to see the elephants, who were almost done with their workday, bathe in the Mekong River. And there we were, face to trunk with about a half-dozen adult elephants, their maghouts on their backs, being led into the river where they sprayed one another with their snouts, rolled over to wash off the dirt, and squealed. Someone took my picture, which I’ll send along at some point. We then walked over to where the younger and smaller (too small to bathe in the Mekong) elephants are trained and run around, and we fed them bananas and got right up to the little (hah!) guys. Really amazing. Very smart creatures, they understand the language, which is a mix of Thai and some tribal language spoken by the natives who train them. Many of the elephants were “saved” from the cities, especially Bangkok, where they are used to wring money from tourists. This is far more humane and they aren’t as likely to wreck cars and such. At the end of the day they go back into the jungle and are chained to trees with 30-foot chains so they can moved about and mingle, but according to the head guy they have no interest in breaking free. It’s a happy life.
After that, I was driven about 1/2 hour away to the Burmese border. Mae Sai is a market town with a regular flow of people back and forth (through immigration, handing over your passport, the whole works) and street markets. All the usual knock-off junk, very little authentic other than some jewelry and wood or stone carvings, the rest a wide selection of the latest ripped-off DVDs, Lacoste shirts, electronics, etc. Many many stalls, the same stuff one after the next. And that’s the Burmese side. The Thai side is only slightly nicer, and a slightly better class of junk, but not much. And people begging, zipping through on motorbikes, and shopping. Spent about an hour on the Burmese side, and there is nothing “Burmese” to see over there, but now I can say I’ve been and my passport boasts a stamp from Myanmar. A good day.
Tomorrow we’re playing golf. There’s one good course, which we’re playing, about an hour away, not sure which direction or what it will be like. Then Wednesday we fly down to Bangkok, Hua Hin, and Pattaya. That portion will be almost all golf, but I’m going to break away for a day and see Bangkok.
That was my day, which is one that will be hard to top for quite some time.
