My Trip To Chiang Rai

[bifftastic]

I have just come back to snow and ice and freezing winds in London having spent almost 4 weeks living with my girlfriends family in Ban Sob Kham outside Chiang Saen. There was talk of some kind of 'travelogue' amongst the discussion about improvements or changes to the Chiang Rai forum.

I'm not sure that I can put enough detail here to describe the trip and show all the photos etc. so I'm looking for web-hosting to make a blog/travelogue about my experiences.

I will let you all know when it's done and where it is hosted (within forum rules of course)

suffice it to say that the family are very hard-working and lovely people who took me in as one of their own. Built two rooms under their house for me and my girlfriend and her two children (this was cheaper than the hotels in the area and has left them with an improved house).

I enjoyed trips out in a borrowed old pick up truck with me driving and 11 people in the back, eating home-cooked food with the family every night. Spending time with two lovely children. Boat trips to a chinese casino across Mae Nam Khong in Laos, a visit to the tobacco factory to see the fruits of their labour being weighed. Watching everyone stare at me as I was taken around on the 'tractor' to walk around in the 2 or 3 foot deep Mae Nam Kok where it passes the land the family farm.

Getting heaps and heaps of good luck as the new motorsi was blessed by an apparently very important visiting monk in the local Wat

drinking the local 'brew' with many many sanuk sanuk people and being told 'bpai! bpai gin lao! bpai loei! mai lak leaw! by the missus afterwards (she didn't mean it)

I will resist the temptation to declare that this was 'the real Thailand' as Bangkok, Samui and Phuket (where i visited before) are equally real and have many different things to see/do/offer and a country as large and diverse as Thailand cannot be defined by any one area or experience.

I will say that I thoroughly enjoyed my visit and was struck by the lack of pretence about my new extended family. They didn't wai and smile un-necessarily or make any obvious deviations to their normal routine (up and off to work before sunrise and home after dark 7 days a week)

but at the same time were genuine and warm and welcoming.

There is much talk on this forum of hi-so and lo-so and various class issues so i will make this comment. I am from a working class background and the people I have just stayed with, whilst undeniably different, having grown up in a culture that has evolved entirely separate from the on I grew up in, seem to have a few things in common with the people I share a background with.

They will accept you and assume you are a good person until proven otherwise. No airs and graces, call a spade a spade, smile if they're happy and not if they're not. Work hard and live happy. If they have something and think you might want some they'll share it. If they need something they'll ask.

In short, my kind of people.

hopefully the website will be up sooner rather than later although as yet I haven't found anywhere to host it :-)

and lastly, thank you all for all your advice and help over the last few months, this site has helped me enormously so far and i'm sure the very knowledgeable people herein will continue to do so.

Cheers,

Biff

[bifftastic]

In the meantime I've added a facebook page in my profile so anyone who's interested can see some photos, also made an album here in the gallery but I duplicated some photos and not too sure how to delete them so i think I'll stop adding to that and wait till i can get the website/blog up and running

[Limbo]

My compliments Bifftastic!

Behind every sentence lies a book that eagerly waits to be written.

I hope you will find the time to do so.

Let them come!

Limbo

As weekends in Thailand start Friday morning I wish everybody a nice one!

[villagefarang]

You may like to add your own Google Map to your account of your adventures. We have one here pinned at the top of this page. I have one on my blog as well. By adding pictures and explanations to the locators on the map, you can add a lot to your readers experience. Just an idea.

Glad you had a good time in our neck of the woods. Will you be coming back again?

[sceadugenga]

There's nothing quite like reading about the enthusiasm of someone's new experiences in Thailand.

Many have grown a lot more cynical, and even disillusioned, as time's gone by but I like to think that for most of us, the magic is still there.

[villagefarang]

Blogger.com is the one I use but there are others. Part of Google, if that doesn't bother you. It doesn't cost much for your own dotcom which you can point to your blog page. It isn't necessary, however.

[bifftastic]

You may like to add your own Google Map to your account of your adventures. We have one here pinned at the top of this page. I have one on my blog as well. By adding pictures and explanations to the locators on the map, you can add a lot to your readers experience. Just an idea.

Glad you had a good time in our neck of the woods. Will you be coming back again?

Nice idea the Google map. I think I've got the hosting sorted today as well, went for a meeting with my mate's web designer to brush my skills up and help with his new company and she's given me dreamweaver and associated software, also arranging hosting too :-)

Yes I will definitely be coming back. Short term plan (next 6 months or so) is to buy a house (fully aware of the fact that it can't be in my name and the usufruct will be in place) then add to it over the following 6 months/year whilst still working in London. Move mum up from Korat so she can be with her three daughters that have moved to Chiang Saen (the eldest married into a local family, next one down was taken in by that family when husband deserted her, next one down is my g/f) whilst exploring possibilities of various modest income streams to sustain a permanent move once all major purchases have been made (house, car, bike, computer, TV etc.) making sure that everything is all bought and paid for

I've read about and heard first hand of scams and heartache and bitterness and betrayal. Those things can happen anywhere, have happened to me on this side of the world, I suppose people tend not to write about honesty and happiness and integrity. Anyway my eyes are open to possible pitfalls.

Hey, it's a dream at the moment but what's life without dreams?

I suppose people all have their different reasons for wanting to move to Thailand, and the country has so many different realities for different people and I don't know if mine will materialise in the way I hope. But the one thing that struck me and really helped me to make my mind up was....

I forgot what day it was and what time it was.

Maybe those of you who have been fortunate enough to experience that phenomenon for a long time have had it's worth devalued a little but, here in London, I ALWAYS know what time it is and what day it is. It's a race, to get to work, to get the money, to get home, to get the dinner on, to get the week over with, to get the shopping, to get the latest gadget/car/phone etc. to get down the pub, to get wasted. Mai sanuk

When I visited the tobacco farm that Pi Sao goes to every single day of the week and works till she can hardly stay awake after dinner, she saw me looking at the mountains in the distance and smiled 'Suay mai?' Sanuk sanuk

Limbo, I may well write that book!

Sceadugenga, glad the magic is still there for you.

Cheers,

Biff

[Kaoboi Bebobp]

There's nothing quite like reading about the enthusiasm of someone's new experiences in Thailand.

Many have grown a lot more cynical, and even disillusioned, as time's gone by but I like to think that for most of us, the magic is still there.

Amen, sceadugenga! I find it hard to visit here some days because I know I'm invariably going to step into a very negative atmosphere. Then today I read Bifftastic's warm, delightful tales and, well, his obvious happiness has rubbed off on me. In fact, his post transported me from icy Canada to the Land of Smiles. A positive finish to a brutal week.

Bifftastic, as Villagefarang pointed out, there are numerous blogging platforms that are really easy to use. You can start off simply, add more and more tricks or go all the way to a full custom web design. If you're in a hurry, which you seem to be ;-), you can make your first blog post in minutes. Hope everything goes well upcountry. Your GF's kids look absolutely adorable.

Edited February 13, 2010 by Kaoboi Bebobp

[bifftastic]

A positive finish to a brutal week.

Bifftastic, as Villagefarang pointed out, there are numerous blogging platforms that are really easy to use. You can start off simply, add more and more tricks or go all the way to a full custom web design. If you're in a hurry, which you seem to be ;-), you can make your first blog post in minutes.

Thanks, I think I'll do just that

Hope everything goes well upcountry. Your GF's kids look absolutely adorable.

Thanks again, yes they are adorable

[bifftastic]

ok i got the first page up using blogger.com, took me a bit longer than i thought but i reckon it looks ok, link is on my profile ( i think! ) please let me know if it works :-)

Cheers,

Biff

[bifftastic]

whoops, double post, sorry

Edited February 14, 2010 by bifftastic

[villagefarang]

You can make that a clickable link on your profile page. Then people won't have to copy and paste. People here can be pretty lazy so you have to make it as easy as possible for them.

Getting a blog read, can be a challenge at first, but if you keep at it you may develop an interesting group of loyal readers.

Have a look at some other Thailand Blogs to get ideas. No use reinventing the wheel. Feel free to take a look around my blog as well.

Edited February 14, 2010 by villagefarang

[bifftastic]

Thanks VF, I've got a few pages/entries in there now. I do like the Google Map, that will be my next challenge.

As far as getting readers, I have to say I'm not all that fussed. If people want to read it then good, but it will be somewhere where I can post my photos and write how I want to write, like a reference point for me and somewhere I can point people to when they ask me about my visits to Thailand.

Thanks for your advice mate, much appreciated.

Biff