T

hai Countryside by Rental Car

 

July 27 & July 31, 2001







Thai Flag




Our Suzuki rental car
Lampang Wat

In Chiang Mai we twice rented a car. And twice we got very lost. The first time it was just to see how far we could go and the second time because in spite of getting lost the first time we enjoyed the freedom of being able to drive and Gerry wanted to get to the top of the mountain.

This is the little Suzuki Carribian that we rented.  It was a bit like a tin can but it was very reasonably priced and did get us both there and back without any real mechanical problems. Advertized as a 4-wheel drive runabout, we found it just too underpowered to take us over any rough terrain.

This wonderful old Lanna-style wooden temple in Lampang was one of our main goals for our first day's outing. It was unusual by comparison to other Chiang Mai temples we knew in that it is made entirely of wood that is stained rather than painted and its architecture is open-sided giving it an wonderfully airy feel.

When we were there it was beseiged by a large group of Thai schoolchildren, who found us about as amusing and interesting as we did them. There was also a small garden in back and two or three smaller temples in back of the main building. This was one temple definitely worth a detour.

A Piece of Paradise
Ambling toward the barn

This is an example of the glorious scenery we found during our excursion.  We really wanted to be in the mountains you can see there and had hoped to get close to the top of Doi Inthanon, the highest peak around. Alas, our maps were inaccurate and we didn't have our Lonely Planet with us and so although we had great fun, we never really made it to the National Park of which Doi Inthanon is the core.

We never got tired of this kind of southeast Asian landscape with its water-filled rice paddies, lush green vegetation, and imposing high mountain backdrop. We saw more of it in Vietnam and Loas than Thailand, but we have to say that Thailand is no slouch when it comes to scenery.

Here is another taste of rural life in the Chiang Mai countryside.  For all the sophistication of the large cities like Bangkok, the countryside is still quite primitive with lots of work done by hand rather than machine. But as you can see the road here is paved and with paved roads come the inevitable motor bikes and cars that testify to increasing wealth.

What the rural landscape did not have was signage. And what signs it did have were incomprehensible to us being in the Thai alphabet and impossible for us to find on our very inadequate map. But we mostly enjoyed getting lost in small farming villages and on country roads. Wouldn't you in this kind of environment?

Where did the mountain go?
River-rafting and elephant loading station

Here we are off the beaten track, still trying to get to Doi Inthanon for the second time. When we did finally find a track that went in the right direction, it quickly became so steep and it was so muddy and slippery that even in our supposedly 4-wheel drive vehicle, we declined to attempt it.

As we were driving back to town, the road took us along this river which is where many tour groups go rafting and for elephant rides. We saw a group disembarking and vaguely wondered if we should do such a thing.




Updated September 13, 2002