Amat victoria curam!

At the Orchid Farm it was very interesting to see how orchids are grown. We saw all different kinds in all different colors. We bought some samples to try to grow them back home - let's see whether they survive.

We went up north to the golden triangle. It used to be the place where opium was smuggled across the borders of Laos, Burma and Thailand. After that it was heroin and now it seems it is pills. This border is also not far away from China so a lot of things happen here.

We visited hill tribes in the North. They still have their own culture, language and habits. None of them is Thai. They are not recognized as such and used to live cross borders.  The Karen tribe has a cruel and tradition of putting rings around girls necks. They are also called Long Neck people. We saw a couple of other tribes as well.

With our guide Oni and driver Can we went discovering the immediate surroundings of Chiang Mai. We first visited the King. Unfortunately he wasn't home, but we could walk through his nice gardens and such.
After that we saw the Phra That Doi Suthel temple, one of Thailand's holiest shrine. There Eddie and I did some worshiping, pulled some bells and took a lucky number. It turned out that I will be very lucky indeed and (Marijn: this is for you!) wil win a lawsuit...Chiang Mai has millions of scooters or so it seems. Everyone is driving them. No Gileras though, and no helmets either.

Chiang Mai is a lovely place. A small town in a valley full with history.  (and tourists). We are staying at the D2 hotel , a brand new boutique hotel with lounge music and hi design. It is great!
As everywhere in Thailand the food is excellent and ridiculously cheap . My Diet Coke costs 25 cents and a plate fried rice with chicken 50 cents. Taxi's, clothing everything is one Euro or less. And yet: people don't look poor. The town is cheerful, clean and looking prosperous.We did a walking tour and saw the temples of the ancient regimes. On the way back we took our first tuktuk - and last because you don't see alot from it. :-)

For a lousy €12 (including beverages and hot lunch) we  made a 12 hour trip from Bangkok to Chiang Mai. The train (a south Korean Daewoo) and the tracks were in good condition so we had a smooth ride.
However nice the landscape (endless rice fields and forests) is, it was a very (to) long trip. So on our way back we will take the airplane from Thai airways. That will cost us twice as much: € 24... :-)

We made a bicycle trip through Bangkok and its surroundings. This is organized by a dutch guy who obviously cannot stop bicycling... We were with one other Dutch Couple (who are planning to bicycle some more - from Bangkok to Vietnam to be accurate... :-) )
The town was busy and everywhere we found people preparing food on the street. We had some lovely coconut pancakes, some pineapple and some fried sweet potatoes.  We a boat we crossed the river and came in a completely different world: a sort of jungle where there were small paths where we could bike trough.
Although the temperature was high, a light breeze made everything quite comfortable.
We stopped in the middle of nowhere to have lunch (fried rice - what else) and I must say: it tasted very good. :-)
After 6 hours we returned and had dinner again in our Hotel (only this time on the teras at the 51st floor)
We have to sleep early because tomorrow we have to catch the first train to Chang Mai.