Chiang Saen, Thailand
Today is a day of updating my Blog and staying touch with the ‘real world’. (As I write with a big grin…). I am fortunate in having found the cheapest Internet shop I have ever found anywhere and at 20 Baht an hour, I wonder how this young man can make a living out of this business. Having a couple of hours of editing and uploading photos, I shut down my computer and head back to my guesthouse where my bags are already packed as checkout is noon. After grabbing my things, I stroll back to the café taking a detour along a street where I had noticed another Chedi temple and took some photos before returning to the café where I was to meet Sureeluck at 11:30.
Photo Gallery One
Photo Gallery Two
At noon she had not arrived or called so I rang her up with my Thai mobile and after a couple of minutes of conversation it was obvious I was unable to tell her where I was. I handed the phone to the young Thai running the shop and after nearly another 10 minutes of directions, he handed the phone back to me.
Now this is a town with one street going along side the Mekong and one street running perpendicular to it where all businesses are located, including this one which also happens to be right next to a huge sign advertising the local Honda dealership. It seems however, like most Thais, if it isn’t something they use, do or go to daily, they are oblivious to it. She did however finally arrive a little after noon and we soon got started on her Internet and email education I had promised her from the day before.
Making an effort to show here how to use the Google Mail account I had established for her from the day before turned out to be quite interesting because at 58, it was quickly apparent she had never touched a computer or mouse, at least one that didn’t squeak. In showing here how to click on the items on the screen, she kept wanting to pick up the mouse from the desk and aim it at the screen like a remote control and then try to left click on it at that point. I guess her only frame of reference in using technology had been a remote controlled TV at some point and that is how she thought this thing should work as well.
The lesson continued for over an hour or so and when I felt she could handle the basics, I changed the language of the account into Thai and we finished up with her talking to the young man about using his shop and taking lessons. After packing up my Toshiba, I threw my bags into her jeep and she took me to the waterfront to catch the local pickup truck to Chiang Klong. Once again, she had no idea really where the trucks were and I had to show her where they were sitting after only having been in town a day.
After saying our goodbyes, I was left standing across from the local wat, watching several barges being loaded with Thai goods for a journey upstream which I thought was a bit odd as I was under the impression that goods came downstream from China into Thailand and not the other way around.
I discovered however the goods were bound for Burma and that the men and boys loading the boats with their bulky and heavy loads were somehow paid by the number of trips each took as each time before they lifted the massively bulky sacks or heavy tins, each took a stick from a can, acting as a counter for the number of loads they had carried.
After I tired of watching the ants, I focused my attention on the task at hand, that being getting to the border town of Chiang Klong.
Chiang Saen to Chiang Klong via Hard Bai
From the sign that was posted where we sitting in front of the 3 Song Taews (pickup trucks), there seemed to be rules to costs and times of departure. But like so many things in life, going straight from point A to point B is not an option in the afternoon as you must go to the village of ‘Hard Bai’ first where you change trucks and pay another 30 Baht for the remaining journey to Chiang Klong. Seemed reasonable enough and as I had no other option for that direction, except for hiring a truck for myself at 700 Baht, I figured 60 Baht and a little time made more sense.
As it turned out, this process was not as easy as it sounded as after a pleasant enough ride through the farmlands of the Mekong, the truck stopped in front of a school where chickens were running about everywhere and it was communicated that this is where I should get out. Throwing my bags to the ground and after paying my 30 Baht, the truck roared away and I was left to the silence of my thoughts and the cackling of chickens. As I scanned my surroundings, from around doors and windows, I could see eyes peering at the foreigner who had just been dumped in their village. Well, I thought, another bus is suppose to be along at 4PM so that shouldn’t be too bad a wait.
After being there a few minutes a man on a motorcycle pulls up and tells me he is a taxi driver and will take me the rest of the distance for 300 Baht. Once again this is 10 times more than the advertised price for the truck and as it was only 15:10, I felt I could wait another 50 minutes. After drinking a bit of water I had on me, another entrepreneur arrived to offer me transportation but this time in the form of a ‘lady’ and her boyfriend in a darkened cab pickup.
She hopped out of the truck and immediately tried to sell me passage to Chiang Klong with her and her friend and kept insisting that noone would be going that way until 8PM. I briefly considered hoping in the truck with them for a couple hundred Baht but after giving her the once over, starting with her feet, I opted to stay put and let this opportunity slide by.
You might ask why I say ‘feet’ and with that statement comes many stories but one in particular is locked in my memory but let me first tell you about this particular ‘lady’ as she had some very interesting feet and toes poking through her sandals. Her toenails were filed to pointed ends and they were painted black. Her fingernails were also painted but they were not real and were long, fake nails. Maybe something you might come across in New York or London, but a rural farming community on the Mekong in Thailand??!! That set off the warning bells from past experiences.
The one in particular I mention happened in Bangkok many years ago on a hot afternoon when I was standing in the 40 degree plus heat at the Asok intersection where it crosses Sukhumvit. On that particular sweat filled day, a car stopped and out of the back seat leaped a ‘girl’ who was all smiles and asked me if they could help me and take me to my hotel. At first, overcome with frustration and heat, I almost said yes but even back then, I looked down at her feet and they just didn’t look like the feet of a Thai girl. I then took a more careful look at the ‘girl’ driving and although both were very attractive, both had the feet of boys that were use to rice fields instead of pumps. I opted to say no on that particular encounter and they eventually drive off.
Two days later in the Bangkok Post I read a small article about two lady boys who had been caught after robbing foreigners of their belongings after temping them into their car’s front seat where the kateoy (ladyboy) in the back would strangle the farang and after pushing him out of the car, speed off with their belongings. Seems both fait and luck had dealth me their cards, and like in Bangkok on that brutally hot day, I opted not to take the offer with what I suspected was not what it appeared to me in more ways then one.
Settling back down into the shade and after anther hit of water, I noticed a pickup coming down one of the lanes of the village with what was obviously two farm boys. They eyed me and immediately stopped as well and once again, for the 3rd time in less than 30 minutes, I was being asked if I needed a lift to Chiang Klong.
Now this time was a bit different and as I knew there would be not ride to Chiang Klong if their were no passengers and from the looks of how dead things were around me, I looked at these boys hard and after a bit of haggling, starting with the 300 Baht of the 1st ‘taxi driver’, we got it down to 100 Baht. Once again, I threw my bags in the back and politely turned down the offer to sit in front. For one thing, I felt safer in the back alone and secondly, I wanted to have the freedom to take photos of the rest of the trip along the Mekong. I chose wisely….
The rest of the trip was radically different than the first part as soon we were winding our way up and down along the Mekong with spectacular scenery around every turn. These boys were in a hurry and I was being flung about in the back like a rag doll as I was making an effort to find the best vantage point to take a photo of the every changing landscape unfolding before me.
Eventually we did stop at what was obviously designed to be a scenic overlook of this stretch of the Mekong where I gave the boys my name card. I felt making an effort at familiarity might be a good thing and increase my life expectancy by at least a few more hours. After smiles, the proverbially required photos of me and my new friends, I leaped back into the back of the truck where once again we were roaring around the mountains to our destination of Chaing Klong. As I watched them in front I noticed they were making efforts to find and put on their safety belts which I suspected we coming up upon some checkpoint or were getting near our destination. As it turned out, the destination was the correct choice and we were soon plunging down the last mountain into what was obviously a river town with two cities on opposite shores of the Mekong.
As we roared into town, I was making an effort to scan the shops and signs and as one blew by indicating a guesthouse at 80-150 Baht per night, I started pounding on the top of the cab and they eventually stopped. Having my 100 Baht (2 Euro) ready as I threw my gear out of the bed onto the ground, I noticed a pained expression on the lad who took my money. Sensing it wasn’t because we were long lost friends departing once again, I quickly concluded he and his mate had intentions of dropping me off at a guesthouse of their friend where they could have been assured of getting a healthy commission from my stay.
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