Three Weeks in Thailand

[merlin]

[FONT=&quot]A few photos from Bangkok on the first day here[/FONT]

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[merlin]

[FONT=&quot]The second day at the Grand Palace Bangkok[/FONT]



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[merlin]

[FONT=&quot]After a flight from Bangkok we spent our first day in Chiang Mai viewing temples and a very large market, life seems to be 24/7 here, nothing really closes. The temperature in the north is less intense, in the upper 80s during the day and lower 70s at night.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Tomorrow the car rental starts so we will drive out to some of the outlying villages in the mountains here.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Here are a few photos from the day[/FONT]

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[FONT=&quot]Dinner[/FONT]

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[Keesha]

Beautiful pictures
Have fun

 

[Victor]

Beautiful scenes--- I wish I could go see.

Did you go to a massage place?
How were the Thai women?
Where I live there is a large population with many good restaurants

 

[Wren]

Stunning photos, it’s a place I’ve always wanted to visit, thank you merlin, take care and enjoy the rest of your stay

 

[IKE]

Great photos.

I didn't do much if any sightseeing while there but I spent about ten days in Thailand (Bangkok) in early 74'.....friendly people and excellent local food.

 

[RadishRose]

Beautiful place!

 

[merlin]

[FONT=&quot]Good evening from our last night in Phuket we picked up the second rental car today, identical to the first one, though not brand new this time. We drove an hour or so to Phang Nga bay, which is where part of the James Bond movie "The Man With The Golden Gun" was shot, we hired a long tail boat and spent three hours sailing around the islands.
The island now called "James Bond Island" has of course become a big tourist attraction, though it is beautiful in it's own right.[/FONT]

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[FONT=&quot]James Bond Island[/FONT]

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[FONT=&quot]Some ancient cave paintings in the cliffs [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Our boat and boatman[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]The original movie scene

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[FONT=&quot]Our hosts here in Phuket invited us to share dinner with them[/FONT]

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[CeeCee]

Great pictures, Merlin..love the elephant pants.

Enjoy the rest of your trip!

 

[merlin]

[FONT=&quot]Here are the photos of our trip on the Khao Sok National Park lake..[/FONT]

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[FONT=&quot]Arriving at a floating restaurant with bathing huts called "Paradise" the only place where there was no phone network signal, truly paradise

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[FONT=&quot]We had a great lunch and Lisa had a swim before going on the second trip...[/FONT]

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[FONT=&quot]The second boat ride took us to the start of the trek up the hill to the higher lake and the bamboo rafts.[/FONT]

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[FONT=&quot]The raft brought us to the cave entrance...[/FONT]

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[merlin]

The cave with it's beautiful coral formations...

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Then everything in reverse, trekking through the jungle and the boat rides back...

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Our boat ran out of petrol on the way back, but within minutes along comes a mobile gas station and tops us up

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[oldman]

I really enjoyed looking at your pictures. Not my kind of food, but it still looks inviting to try. I spent 14 months in Southeast Asia and really have no reason to go back. I have heard from friends that Thailand is a great place to visit and very affordable when using American or English money. Enjoy!

 

[Linda]

What a beautiful vacation! Thank you so much for sharing it with all of us.

 

[Don M.]

I spent 1967 in Thailand....Takhli AF base...fixing electronics on F105's during that Vietnam war mess. Nearly every weekend, I would hop a ride to Bangkok or somewhere else in that beautiful country. The Buddhist temples were beautiful, and the people were quite friendly. One had to be careful when eating locally, as refrigeration was almost non-existent back then. Outside of the many aircraft that were shot to hell, and the pilots that didn't make it back, 1967 was a very enjoyable year.

 

[Keesha]

Gorgeous photos Merlin. I also like the elephant pants. :laugh:
You two make a beautiful couple. :heart:
You’ve got quite the lifestyle.

 

[merlin]

[FONT=&quot]Filling in a few gaps here is one:
While driving around Mae Sariang a small town by a river on the lower part of the Mae Hon Son Loop which we are driving around, we covered a 4 hour section, plus a detour to a Kayan (Long Neck Village) on the border with Burma (Myanmar), the people have refugee status having fled from Burma during the '80s, and have become self sufficient through tourism, but are not allowed out of the enclave.

We also visited a temple by a lake in the town of Mae Hong Son..

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[FONT=&quot]Some Burmese style temple buildings en route[/FONT]

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The Kayan people are a sub-group of Red Karen (Karenni people), Tibeto-Burman ethnic minority of Myanmar (Burma).
Girls first start to wear rings when they are around 5 years old. Over the years, the coil is replaced by a longer one and more turns are added. The weight of the brass pushes the collar bone down and compresses the rib cage. The neck itself is not lengthened; the appearance of a stretched neck is created by the deformation of the clavicle. Many ideas regarding why the coils are worn have been suggested, often formed by visiting anthropologists, who have hypothesized that the rings protected women from becoming slaves by making them less attractive to other tribes.

It has also been theorised that the coils originate from the desire to look more attractive by exaggerating sexual dimorphism, as women have more slender necks than men. It has also been suggested that the coils give the women resemblance to a dragon, an important figure in Kayan folklore. The coils might be meant to protect from tiger bites, perhaps literally, but probably symbolically.
Kayan women, when asked, acknowledge these ideas, and often say that their purpose for wearing the rings is cultural identity (one associated with beauty).

The coil, once on, is seldom removed, as the coiling and uncoiling is a lengthy procedure. It is usually only removed to be replaced by a new or longer coil. The muscles covered by the coil become weakened. Many women have removed the rings for medical examinations. Most women prefer to wear the rings once their clavicle has been lowered, as the area of the neck and collarbone often becomes bruised and discolored. Additionally, the collar feels like an integral part of the body after ten or more years of continuous wear.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s due to conflict with the military regime in Myanmar, many Kayan tribes fled to the Thai border area. Among the refugee camps set up there was a Long Neck section, which became a tourist site, self-sufficient on tourist revenue and not needing financial assistance.

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Lisa wearing a backless one, the easy way

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Dinner at the hotel here on the river bank, the whole building is made of teak wood

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[RadishRose]

Thank you Merlin for these beautiful images!

 

[JimW]

Awesome pics Merlin, thanks!

 

[DaveA]

Looks like you folks had a wonderful trip. Beautiful array of photos.

 

[SeaBreeze]

Thanks for posting all these wonderful photos Merlin, you and your lovely wife look great too, so happy in your travels together....life is good!