I’ve been in Thailand for 3 days now, since crossing over the border from Laos. That time has been spent cycling to, and hanging around Chiang Mai. Here are some things that I’ve noticed since being here:
1 – The border crossing is stupid! (at least for cyclists). The border crossing from Huay Xai is in the form of a “friendship bridge” over the Mekong river. For some unknown reason when building this bridge, it’s designers decided to make it too narrow to safely overtake, and without any form of cycle lane, shoulder, or pavement. The result of this is that cyclists, as well as pedestrians, are not allowed to go over the bridge alone, and have to wait to be shuttled accros by bus. Humph! I objected to having to sit around and wait for a bus when every minute that passed was a minute of cool morning great-for-cycling time, while the day was only getting hotter.
2- They drive on the left here! (I assume this was due to British influence while we were in neighbouring Burma.) After so many days of continuous cycling on the right, I keep having to remind myself of this when setting off!
3-They have Tesco’s here! (More British influence?) I haven’t been inside one yet, so I don’t know if they also sell British products, but I was quite surprised when I first spotted one!
4-There are SO many temples here! Like seriously, I thought there were a lot in Laos and Cambodia (I would pass them fairly frequently whilst cycling down the road through villages and towns,) but Thailand has taken it to a whole nother level!
5-The ethnic minority hill tribes that I learned about and encountered in Laos and Vietnam also have settlements here. Whilst in Chiang Rai I’ve on a tour around some of the villages in the nearby countryside and also went to a Museum about it. What I’m learning is that it is an oversimplification to think of the inhabitants of the countries in SE Asia simply as ‘Thai people’, ‘Laos people’, etc. Instead the populations are generally made up a range of communities with differing heritages and traditions, historically drawn from different parts of asia, though unfortunately the ethnic minorities continue to face significant social disadvantages compared with the ethnic majority population.
First impressions aside, I will be continuing my journey through Thailand tomorrow, setting of towards Chiang Mai. It should take me 3 days. After this, my route will differ slightly from the one I had originally planned – I’ve been doing a bit of replanning over the last few days. It will now involve some trains to take me to the Southern peninsula of Thailand, and some more cycling through Southern Thailand and Northern Malaysia. The adventure continues!
Dancing in the Dawn 