Phra Barom That Chedi in Mae Salong, Chiang Rai

After spending about a week in Chiang Mai, I decided to drive over to Chiang Rai. I had never been there before and so I was quite eager to do a comparison. A lot of people “do” Chiang Rai as a one day trip from Chiang Mai. What they usually only see is Chiang Saen, Mae Sai and the Golden Triangle. A visit to a hilltribe village is also thrown in for good measure. But, that isn’t the real Chiang Rai. They are missing so much. I am not knocking these tourists as I did this very same tour the first month I was in Thailand all those years ago. To really appreciate Chiang Rai as a province you need to rent yourself a car and go to places these tours don’t go. I was only there for four days but would love to go back to explore more. What you can do is fly into Chiang Rai if you like and then rent a car there in order to explore the province. Or, you can do what I did and travel through the mountains from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai.

A caveat to any amateur (or pro) ornithologist reading this blog. This is neither an entry about my search for a new species of aviary mystique in the jungles of Northeast Thailand, nor is it an essay about Warner Brothers' influence on Thai culture. No, the tweety birds to which I am referring were the ones I saw above my melon after being knocked flat on my butt at Wat Phra That Doi Tung. But I'm getting ahead of myself. In April of 2004, I spent two weeks in and around Chiang Rai. I would either drive Pon's father's motorbike (a risky endeavor, I admit), take the bus, or ride with her uncle in his rickety Toyota pickup (he was the only person in the very entended family who had a car). On one of my last days in Chiang Rai, Pon and I, along with about eight of her relatives (I kid you not) loaded up into this old pickup for a ride into the surrounding hills. One does not need to be a member of Mensa to realize that five or six people would be riding in the bed of said truck. I happened to be one of those windblown unfortunates. Suffice to say, at the end of that day, my milky-white skin ended up a beautiful BBQ'd red, not unlike moo daang! This in spite of using sunscreen. April in Thailand? Are you kidding?

 I recently was married (Feb. 14, '05) to a Thai woman. Her name is Sudaporn and she's the love of my life. I met her in Bangkok back in November of 2003. I was fortunate enough to meet her on the second day of my 30-day trip (my third trip to Thailand). We went everywhere together. It made my vacation, as Bill & Ted would say, "most excellent!" Anyways, I made two more trips back to see her and to spend time with her family. Then she came back to live with me. I couldn't believe how smooth it was to get her Fiancee Visa. I heard all sorts of horror stories; but our saga went off without a hitch. She has been here in the States since December '04. We were married 2 1/2 months later. She's now in ESL classes at a nearby technical college.

Drinking a Chang beer with a chang! Nov. '04

Well, it is an honor to finally write a blog on this webpage. I have been reading everyone's postings for about one month now, and I have to say that coming to this site to read blogs has been something that I have looked forward to each and everyday.