Mae Hong Son Town, Thailand

Day 12:

We went on a spontaneous tour around Mae Hong Son today. Three places--boat tour along the river, fish cave and waterfalls. Not too perky after watching Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind for the second time round, so I'll let the photographs speak for themselves.

Mae Hong Son Town, Thailand

I'm trying to make full use of the internet connection while I still have it! I'm currently in Mae Hong Son town now--which is within the province of Mae Hong Son of course. We're living in the nicest guesthouse compared to the other two we've crashed in for the past few days, and Jacintha is snuggled up in bed taking a brief afternoon nap! :D

Dr Carl says we're going to go for a walk later... wonder what's up.

Mae Sariang, Thailand

Day 11:

We're in Mae Sariang--mid-way to Mae Hong Son. Our team stands as 22 students, 3 student helpers, 2 teaching assistants and 1 professor at the moment, and we'll be further split into smaller teams of 3-4 once we reach Mae Hong Son to work on our respective research topics on a particular community.

We took a 5-6 hour song taew ride up North yesterday, and I had to put up with a queasy journey for more than half of it--not a pleasant journey at all. So nothing much happened yesterday except for travelling and dinner at a little eating place which sold pork ball noodles and wanton mee (Thai-style).



Saying our goodbyes to Smile House, and posing for a shot with the lady who took care of us for every single day we were there.


Herman and I among the trees. Pardon the messy hair--it was the long song taew ride!


On the song taew!


Our convoy of red taxis!


Song taew uncle on the song taew helping us with our bags.


Little old lady selling coconut desserts outside 7-eleven for 10baht a pack. We got the one on the left which tasted like agar-agar.


The Thai PM! Haha, missing out all the action from the Thai elections.


The sign says either Welcome to Mae Sariang or Bon Voyage. Apparently, Mae Sariang is a border town, so you need to walk around with a passport because you never know when there'll be a spotcheck.


Our dodgy bedroom with a squeaky ceiling fan, dusty floors and a variety of pesky insects--including an invincible cockroach.


The lobby of our guesthouse (Mitaree). Jacintha and I gave it half-star. Ha.

Chiang Mai, Thailand

At Chiang Mai's most popular temple, Doi Suthep, with the Geographers.


The BBQ-Steamboat venue.


Yuhan, Chengwei and Kitson at the BBQ-Steamboat dinner.


Kickass waffles.

Chiang Mai, Thailand

It’s crazy realizing that today’s already the fifth day (or sixth, officially) I’ve been in Chiang Mai. The work has begun to pile up. We just got split into teams of two to three yesterday to complete one of the many readings about Northern Thailand communities, and were tasked to prepare for a mini presentation on the 20th.

After six days here, I thought I’d dedicate this entry to the one thing I love the most about travelling—the food. We managed to visit the weekend night bazaar along Thapae Gate just yesterday night, and try a few kinds of yummy, exotic stuffs along the way. The sampling began with fried quail eggs, which were shared amongst four of us to minimize the cholesterol intake of course. Ha! Then, we moved on to sushi, for 5-10 baht apiece. It’s amazing that you can find sushi in almost any prominent mall or tourist attraction in Chiang Mai—I never knew that Thailand had such a large pool of Japanese tourists. The sushi wasn’t spectacular though, and tasted nowhere as good as they looked! For one, the rice they used was definitely not Japanese rice, but fluffy, fragrant Thai rice which lacked a touch of rice vinegar. But I’m certainly not complaining about being able to have sushi in Thailand. I love sushi!

I think I got braver along the way, and decided to try some Thai sticky rice pastry with salted bean stuffing. It’s like a miniature version of a rice dumpling, and it was surprisingly slightly spicy when I bit into the filling! Just one baht a piece, so why not. I was left with massively oily fingers after that though. Zzz. We moved on to waffles—obviously thanks to the crazy number of Western tourists visiting Chiang Mai. These waffles were different from Singapore, as the batter was mixed with particular flavours such as banana, corn and coconut before they were placed in the waffle machine to be cooked. The banana waffle, for instance, had fresh pieces of banana added into the waffle batter. Yummy! Plus, the waffle fillings were generously drizzled onto the waffle! Total value for money! We also made our third purchase of mango sticky rice at the night bazaar. Zihui mentioned that we’d probably be thoroughly sick of mango sticky rice by the time we’re back in Singapore… I think I might end up feeling the exact opposite… I’m hooked! Here in Chiang Mai, the portion of mango slices to sticky rice is 6:4 (or even 7:3 sometimes), and the mango slices are really sweet and juicy, and almost melt-in-the-mouth soft.

Highlight of the day: I TRIED A FRIED CRICKET! AHAHAHAHAHA. Nothing much though, tastes just like dried shrimp. Severely disappointed. Thought it would totally make me puke. I was half expecting to spit the thing back out… but I survived and swallowed every last leg. Next one to try—fried cockroach! Ya right.

Besides all the street food, it’s been your regular Thai fare. I’ve had numerous portions of fried omelette with rice (really different from the ones you find in Singapore though), and a few samples of Pad Thai from my friends. I’ve found a new love in Thai fish sauce as well, and burnt my tongue several times with those pesky chilli padi pieces hidden in their papaya and mango salads. The tomyum here trumps Singapore’s in terms of the sourness, but so far not the spiciness. I think the shop owners might have been diluting our stuff thinking we tourists probably don’t match up to the Thais. We also went to one of those local BBQ-Steamboat establishments along the street where most of the Thai people go to eat. For 125 baht (about SGD5), you get to have endless helpings of meat (beef, pork, fish, squid etc), cooked food (fried rice, crab stick, meatballs, seafood tofu squares etc), and dessert! The compromise? Living with sand flies feasting on your bare feet at the same time while you’re digging into your meal. I dare say I have more than 35 bites on my body at this very moment—a mixture of both mosquito and sandfly bites. Kill me now…

What a way to end an entry on food.

Chiang Mai, Thailand

The early birds who woke up at 6am today! :D

Chiang Mai, Thailand

Day 1-2:

It's been two days since we first arrived in Chiang Mai. We're an hour behind Singapore, and many more behind the UK and Europe. The weather's cooler than Singapore, and surprisingly much cleaner than Bangkok. However, the place has been pretty much lacklustre in terms of the attractions, sights and sounds. This whole city is basically a town for tourists--an extreme case of touristification. One gets really curious when it comes to discerning what's really authentically Thai, or not. Is it my skewed expectation of difference which has led to my major disappointment with Chiang Mai? If so, I wonder what contributed to such expectations...

The place we're residing at is a guesthouse called Smile House--almost like a 2-star hotel really. It's not that shabby, as there's air-conditioning, 2 clean single beds, and a decent shower area for us. The whole guesthouse also has a very warm, rustic feel to it. There are plants hanging from the ceilings, and artificial ponds outside our rooms. The interior of our rooms are pretty much made of wood too--a little Balinese in fact. The compromise? The place is majorly infested with mosquitoes. Jacintha, my roommate, and I had to go on a crazy rampage killing mozzies last night! The final count? More than 10 big, fat ones. The walls dividing the rooms are also sandpaper thin. We could here each other giggling and chatting away even if they were rooms way from us.

The profs had us split into teams of four, and gave us an assignment--create a photo essay which represents the various "differences" we witness as compared to Singapore. Honestly, after two says of walking around and cutting through a myriad winding, small alleyways, most of us can't tell between "difference" and "similarity" anymore. The best way to put it would be
"same same, but different". It's the same kind of clothes on sale--baggy, drop-crotch pants which backpackers in Southeast Asia are usually seen in, or cheap basics. The same kind of food--phad thai, chicken noodle soup, coconut pastries etc. Milk tea (cha yen) everywhere! Argh.

The plan for today's to visit the Doi Suthep temple later on, at 4pm. Perhaps things may be different then... (i hope).


Our little rustic cabins--two to a room.


That's us surrounded by the many shrubs planted within the compound of the guesthouse. Makes for an excellent breeding ground for big, fat, juicy mozzies.


My first cup of milk tea. Cheap cheap! Only 15 baht! Or maybe we're getting ripped off... I really don't know what's the average price. Still cheap. And uber sweet.


Getting directions from the songdiao uncle (our cab driver, basically) to the Ping River (a.k.a. Chiang Mai's Kallang River).


As touristy as touristy can get. The Hmong Market in the Thapae area.


We got so desperate trying to kill time that we decided to go for a 1-hr Thai massage. Life-changing.


Group mates (:


Outdoor dinner, under the stars, outside one of the shopping malls in Chiang Mai.


We visited this temple, Wat Suan Dok, at 630am in the morning. Pretty serene landscape, but we were expecting massive groups of monks to visit the temple while we were there. Disappointed.



Wet market with the morning's freshest produce!


Soya bean milk, and fried fritters.


Seated right outside the wet market.