Chiang Mai and the Hippie Trail

[CMHomeboy78]

Chiang Mai was a backwater on the Hippie Trail - truth be told.

In the 1970s it was on the road to nowhere. The border crossings to Burma, Laos, and Cambodia were closed to farangs. Nevertheless, it attracted a considerable number of travellers who, if they weren't total freaks, were less conventional than the Frommer's Guide/Cook's Tour types, and the Lonely Planet backpackers who followed them in later years,

The Hippie Trail - strictly speaking - was the road [formerly caravan routes] from Istanbul to Katmandu; but the term has become loose. There were many byways that led to interesting and unspoiled destinations. Chiang Mai was one of them.

In October 1976 a friend and I set out from Munich riding his BMW 650 for Katmandu. By that time the Hippie Trail was well-travelled, with enclaves in the cities - Sultan Ahmet in Istanbul, Chicken Street in Kabul, Freak Street in Katmandu, etc. - that provided all the wants and needs [both legal and illegal] of the wayfarers. Those places were the beginning of what later became the farang ghettos seen today in cities all over Asia.

It was a life-changing experience for most of us. Similar in one respect, as seeing Europe after WWI was for the young soldiers, "How ya gonna keep 'em down on the farm after they've seen Paree?" After seeing Katmandu in those days you just couldn't go back and sit in front of the firehouse and share a beer with the homeboys. You were a changed person... for better or for worse.

In Isfahan we met guys working for Bell Helicopter who had been in the USAF stationed [mostly] at U-tapao. I kept in touch with one of them and we met up two years later in Bangkok on my next trip. In 1978 I came to Chiang Mai with a film crew to play a small part in a Thai movie being shot on location here. It felt like coming home; in ways that I don't fully understand even to this day.

What got me to thinking about the Hippie Trail was hearing [4 years after the fact] that Eight Finger Eddie had died in Goa, a placethat he and his followers had popularized in the early 1970s. Wikipedia and http://www.wiki.theflowerraj.org/Eight_Finger_Eddie are good sources of information about this fascinating and benevolent character. He was a stark contrast to the serial killer Charles Sobhraj, whose story is told in Richard Neville's excellent book, The Life and Crimes of Charles Sobhraj. London. 1980. This early biography has never been surpassed. It gives a lot of information about his childhood and youth in Vietnam and France where he spent most of his teenage years in prison. Then his exploits on the Hippie Trail, and the years in Bangkok operating out of the Malaysia Hotel with Ajay Chowdury. He had an upscale flat in Kanit House where he entertained the naive young travellers who were unfortunate enough to get involved with him and his minions. Those who only lost their passport and valuables to him were lucky... some paid a higher price. He's still alive, doing time in Katmandu for one of his gruesome murders.

Eight Finger Eddie and Charles Sobhraj were extremes in the spectrum of people travelling overland across Asia. A moveable feast come to life... the whole banquet of humanity, everything from fruit to nuts... an unforgettable experience, you just had to learn how to avoid the more predatory among them. That was part of the education it provided, along with being aware of the sensibilities of the locals. Who knows how they treat folks they don't like. Those were valuable lessons.

The 1978 Iranian Revolution, followed by the 1979 Russian invasion of Afghanistan ended the magical mystery tour suddenly and violently.

It was quite a trip while it lasted.

[SoiBiker]

Longest 'it was better in the old days' post ever.

[harrry]

Not sure about the Iranian Revolution being the stop. I travelled through Iran during that period and there was not one day the border was closed. What was probably more relevant was the closure of the India Packistan border at varying times and the total closure of the Punjab to foreign tourists following the occupation of the Golden Temple.

Edited October 7, 2014 by harrry

[Ulysses G.]

I always remind people of Charles Sobhraj when they claim that Thailand used to be safe and crime free in earlier times. He was pretty much the Charles Manson of Thailand.

Edited October 7, 2014 by Ulysses G.

[harrry]

I always remind people of Charles Sobhraj when they claim that Thailand used to be safe and crime free in earlier times. He was the Charles Manson of Thailand.

Although he obtained his victims near where I stayed (and I am pretty sure I knew one of them) I think it really was a safer place then.

[Ulysses G.]

The Malaysia Hotel? I used to stay there too.

[harrry]

The Malaysia Hotel? I used to stay there too.

I stayed there for varying periods. Usually for a little while on each return though I did stay there for 6 months or so in 1969/70

[stuurman]

Again an interesting story, thanks.

Btw your link for Eight Finger Eddie isn't working here is the correct one: http://wiki.theflowerraj.org/Eight_Finger_Eddie

[CMHomeboy78]

The Malaysia Hotel? I used to stay there too.

As a bookseller, you may have read Richard Neville's book about Charles Sobhraj. If not, by all means do.

Incidentally, if you can get some used copies, please send me a PM. I'll buy several. The only one I have is falling apart. It is the cheap Pan [1980] reprint of the original Jonathan Cape [1979] edition.

[CMHomeboy78]

Again an interesting story, thanks.

Btw your link for Eight Finger Eddie isn't working here is the correct one: http://wiki.theflowerraj.org/Eight_Finger_Eddie

Thanks for that.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

The 1978 Iranian Revolution, followed by the 1979 Russian invasion of Afghanistan ended the magical mystery tour suddenly and violently.

It was quite a trip while it lasted.

Combined with the emergence of more affordable long distance flights and tourism, I think that was about the time it just shifted to flying into major regional centers like Bangkok and then schlepping it from there across SE Asia, sometimes also including Nepal, Hong Kong, etc. Or as part of an 'Around the World' ticket that airlines did back then.

With "The Book", of course.

(EDIT: Ah.. that turned out to be a BIG image.. but perhaps apt, given how monumental it was in shaping travel in the region. So I'll leave it. )

Edited October 7, 2014 by WinnieTheKhwai

[CMHomeboy78]

The 1978 Iranian Revolution, followed by the 1979 Russian invasion of Afghanistan ended the magical mystery tour suddenly and violently.

It was quite a trip while it lasted.

Combined with the emergence of more affordable long distance flights and tourism, I think that was about the time it just shifted to flying into major regional centers like Bangkok and then schlepping it from there across SE Asia, sometimes also including Nepal, Hong Kong, etc. Or as part of an 'Around the World' ticket that airlines did back then.

With "The Book", of course.

(EDIT: Ah.. that turned out to be a BIG image.. but perhaps apt, given how monumental it was in shaping travel in the region. So I'll leave it. )

Good point Winnie.

That's exactly what I did - flew into Bangkok - two years after doing the overland trip.

[HaleySabai]

Charles Sobhraj was interrogated by Thai policemen in connection with the murders, but released because authorities feared that the negative publicity accompanying a murder trial would harm the country's tourist industry. ( From Wikipedia)

......mmm, same same,but different (Koh Tao)

[Konini]

I always find your posts on the history of the areas so interesting, but this one is outstanding, and not what I was expecting when I clicked on it. I hadn't heard of these characters that you're talking about and it would appear that I'm going to have a very interesting couple of days reading all about it.

A lot of people who are between 10 and 15 years older than us tell magnificent tales of doing that journey, such a shame it's not still accessible. Even some people around my age who rode bikes from Europe when we were slaving away to ensure we would retire early - it wasn't exactly envy that I feel because we wouldn't have retired so early if we'd taken a year or two off to do something like that, but I can only imagine how good it was. One bloke from Cheltenham had rode a big trial bike as far as Cambodia and said the best part of the whole trip was going through the Swat Valley in Pakistan, which at the time was an off-limits war zone that would be another place off the hippy trail map. Another friend our age went to Jordan and Syria, somewhere which must be fascinating being in the cradle of humanity where civilisations in our part of the world first formed into towns and cities. It's such a shame that we'll never be able to go there. Seven years ago, when we first started travelling, we had very loose plans to work our way overland to England, through India and the middle east, only going to safe places, nowhere dangerous, but we never quite got around to doing it and flew there from KL in the end. Perhaps we're just not cut out to be so adventurous as others, but we enjoy everywhere we go to and don't have real regrets about missing out on it. It would have been nice, but what we ended up doing instead wasn't so bad either. I'm going to start surfing the web and looking for the people you have been talking about. I didn't know Chiang Mai was on the hippy trail, I think maybe I was born in the wrong generation.

The thing that stuck out most in your post however was when you said "It felt like coming home; in ways that I don't fully understand even to this day." We came to Chiang Mai for a couple of months. Five years ago. And I'm about to negotiate a 30 year lease. There really is something about this place, and the odd-ball people that tend to end up being longtimers here, that makes it the most extraordinarily remarkable city that we've ever been to, and we've seen plenty of them. It doesn't even feel like a city. It's a small town, bigger than a village, but definitely not a city. And we seemed to be coming home when we got here.

[northernjohn]

CMHomebody78

As usual a great article with a lot of information that I had never knew about.

I was therein the days when the beatniks morphed into the hippy movement. The problem thenwas I was a close minded red neck. Ah when I read posts like yours I realize how wrong I was and what I missed.

Thank You very much

Edited October 7, 2014 by northernjohn

[CMHomeboy78]

I always find your posts on the history of the areas so interesting, but this one is outstanding, and not what I was expecting when I clicked on it. I hadn't heard of these characters that you're talking about and it would appear that I'm going to have a very interesting couple of days reading all about it.

A lot of people who are between 10 and 15 years older than us tell magnificent tales of doing that journey, such a shame it's not still accessible. Even some people around my age who rode bikes from Europe when we were slaving away to ensure we would retire early - it wasn't exactly envy that I feel because we wouldn't have retired so early if we'd taken a year or two off to do something like that, but I can only imagine how good it was. One bloke from Cheltenham had rode a big trial bike as far as Cambodia and said the best part of the whole trip was going through the Swat Valley in Pakistan, which at the time was an off-limits war zone that would be another place off the hippy trail map. Another friend our age went to Jordan and Syria, somewhere which must be fascinating being in the cradle of humanity where civilisations in our part of the world first formed into towns and cities. It's such a shame that we'll never be able to go there. Seven years ago, when we first started travelling, we had very loose plans to work our way overland to England, through India and the middle east, only going to safe places, nowhere dangerous, but we never quite got around to doing it and flew there from KL in the end. Perhaps we're just not cut out to be so adventurous as others, but we enjoy everywhere we go to and don't have real regrets about missing out on it. It would have been nice, but what we ended up doing instead wasn't so bad either. I'm going to start surfing the web and looking for the people you have been talking about. I didn't know Chiang Mai was on the hippy trail, I think maybe I was born in the wrong generation.

The thing that stuck out most in your post however was when you said "It felt like coming home; in ways that I don't fully understand even to this day." We came to Chiang Mai for a couple of months. Five years ago. And I'm about to negotiate a 30 year lease. There really is something about this place, and the odd-ball people that tend to end up being longtimers here, that makes it the most extraordinarily remarkable city that we've ever been to, and we've seen plenty of them. It doesn't even feel like a city. It's a small town, bigger than a village, but definitely not a city. And we seemed to be coming home when we got here.

Thanks so much for your intelligent and heartwarming reply.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

A lot of people who are between 10 and 15 years older than us tell magnificent tales of doing that journey, such a shame it's not still accessible.

I still sometimes see people manage to get buses and vans to Chiang Mai from Europe. Possibly though Russia, Kazakhstan and China..?

The thing that stuck out most in your post however was when you said "It felt like coming home; in ways that I don't fully understand even to this day." We came to Chiang Mai for a couple of months. Five years ago. And I'm about to negotiate a 30 year lease. There really is something about this place, and the odd-ball people that tend to end up being longtimers here, that makes it the most extraordinarily remarkable city that we've ever been to, and we've seen plenty of them. It doesn't even feel like a city. It's a small town, bigger than a village, but definitely not a city. And we seemed to be coming home when we got here.

Yes.

[CMHomeboy78]

Not sure about the Iranian Revolution being the stop. I travelled through Iran during that period and there was not one day the border was closed. What was probably more relevant was the closure of the India Packistan border at varying times and the total closure of the Punjab to foreign tourists following the occupation of the Golden Temple.

Thanks for the input - good to hear from someone who was in Iran in those days.

I'm not challenging your statement that "...there was not one day that the border was closed."

My point is that the country was in turmoil throughout 1978, although the Shah didn't do a runner until January 1979. The situation effectively ended the Hippie Trail as a continuous east-west route.

This was combined with the equally grave state of affairs in Afghanistan where the Jamiat Islami [among other groups] had initiated armed rebellion in early 1978, and the Taraki government had called on the Russians for troops and assistance in December of that year. The Russian invasion didn't begin until December 1979, but the country was too dangerous to travel in long before that.

My information about Iran two years after my first visit - even though it isn't first-hand like yours - comes from a friend in Bangkok who I was staying with in late 1978. He had until recently worked for Bell Helicopter at the big airbase in Ishfahan. He was in close contact with several others who were still there, and were part of the abrupt and ignominious departure of American forces and their civilian support staff.

Thanks again for your reply.

[Konini]

A lot of people who are between 10 and 15 years older than us tell magnificent tales of doing that journey, such a shame it's not still accessible.

I still sometimes see people manage to get buses and vans to Chiang Mai from Europe. Possibly though Russia, Kazakhstan and China..?

Probably, but my back and I are 7 years older now, and the desire to jump on and off trains and buses and boats has diminished. India is definitely on the list as soon as they stop their ridiculous visa regulations and regulations - going to the lengths of checking with the hotel you put on your application form that you really have a reservation is one I heard of in the last week or so - and we're committed for Vietnam for a 1st birthday party in November and Malaysia for a wedding in December, but Burma is looking very tempting for the early part of next year Everyone we've talked to so far has told us that it's very expensive, but seriously, we're over those $25 a night hotels. We worked for it, we can afford it, so we're not going upper budget class as we have been in the past, we're definitely going mid to high range, so I don't think the prices in that range will be so much different than anywhere else (and anyway they're a lot more comfortable). If that's what it costs, that's what it costs. I don't like paying more than I ought to be paying, but I will quite happily pay the going rate, whatever the going rate might be.

Life is there for living.

Do it.

[Frank James]

CMHomeboy78:

Your post knocks me right over. What a long, strange trip it's been....

My former wife and I started off in Europe in the fall of '76. Quickly discovered that the weather didn't suit our clothes. Went to Israel and worked on a moshav in the West bank, and then to a kibbutz near Acre on the Med. From there flew to Istanbul, (Sultan Ahmet, Hotel Gungor, The Pudding Shop, etc.) and discovered what a lovely, fantastic country is Turkey. Saw a lot of the coast, then Cappadocia, Anatolia, Eastern Tuurkey, across quiet and inky black Lake Van at night. Arrived in Iran without visas. HUGE mistake. They almost took us to jail. It was the last years of the Shah's reign, and there were cops all over the place. We had to spend the bulk of our week in Teheran getting permission to be there,then permission to leave, and then to get visas to Afghanistan.

Herat was a hippie dreamworld. Got local police permission to take local transport along the Northern Route, skirting the border of the USSR. Took three days to Bamian/Maimana, then south to Kabul. Took a quick train trip across Pakistan, which got hairy after I made the horrible mistake of answering truthfully when asked my opinion of the local religion.. SO STUPID! This was after the conductor made my wife go to the womens' car. Those people take their s--t seriously!

Was never so glad to see anyplace as I was to see the Indian border. So hot there! We escaped to Kashmir, one of the most beautiful places on earth. Recovered a while in an ancient houseboat on Lake Dal in Srinigar. Then took a plane to Kathmandu, which was all as you said. Thieving delinquent monkeys at the Monkey Temple, odd specimens of Eastern and Western Humanity in the streets. 4th of July 1977 there was an Open House for all Americans (even the likes of US) at the American Embassy. Free beer and eats. Don't think that is happening anymore.

Flew to Bangkok, stayed in some noisy dump by the train station. Went downtown and saw the daily milking of venomous snakes at the Red Cross. Met some guys who invited us to their rooms at the relatively opulent Malaysia Hotel. Shared some of their smoky hospitality, which I think came by way of the Golden Triangle. Whew!

Took the overnight sleeper to Chiang Mai, and felt like we were in a Somerset Maugham story. This town seemed really exotic and "end of the trail," which of course it was not. After ten months, we were out of money and time, so flew to Hong Kong then Korea then home. It took some months to recover from the effects of dysentery I had acquired in Afghanistan. There was some poor fellow traveler we met in Bangkok who kept being refused a ticket because his eyeballs and face had the telltale yellow of jaundice. He asked me, "Seriously man, do the whites of my eyes look yellow??" They did, poor guy.

Back then you carried travelers checks, and picked up your eagerly awaited mail from home mail at Post Restante. A call home was crazy expensive. Nobody did that. People traded paperbacks, and had conversations about places and things seen, and there seemed to be a subtle competition about who had been the farthest "off the beaten path" and who had traveled the cheapest. My biggest regret: we never made it to Burma, where the price of admission was a fifth of Johny Walker and a carton of 555 cigs. Others told us how cool it was.

I have a warm spot in my heart for the young backpackers of today. It's fun to sit at the Black Canyon at Thapae Gate and watch the passing parade. I sometimes think it's like they used to say about Times Square. Sit there long enough, and you'll see everybody you ever knew.

Thanks again. That was the best read of the day for me, from any source.

[Dante99]

CMHomeboy78:

I have a warm spot in my heart for the young backpackers of today.

What is a young backpacker today? Do they have $2,000+ of electronics and airline tickets in their bags? Are they really out there on the buses and trains for months of travel? Do they have luggage in addition to a day pack? Do they eat in fast food places?

Seriously, I will appreciate your thoughts.

[harrry]

CMHomeboy78:

I have a warm spot in my heart for the young backpackers of today.

What is a young backpacker today? Do they have $2,000+ of electronics and airline tickets in their bags? Are they really out there on the buses and trains for months of travel? Do they have luggage in addition to a day pack? Do they eat in fast food places?

Seriously, I will appreciate your thoughts.

I think most of them are a different breed. Still good kids on the whole I guess but being here for a good party rather than being here for a good time.

[northernjohn]

A lot of people who are between 10 and 15 years older than us tell magnificent tales of doing that journey, such a shame it's not still accessible.

I still sometimes see people manage to get buses and vans to Chiang Mai from Europe. Possibly though Russia, Kazakhstan and China..?

Probably, but my back and I are 7 years older now, and the desire to jump on and off trains and buses and boats has diminished. India is definitely on the list as soon as they stop their ridiculous visa regulations and regulations - going to the lengths of checking with the hotel you put on your application form that you really have a reservation is one I heard of in the last week or so - and we're committed for Vietnam for a 1st birthday party in November and Malaysia for a wedding in December, but Burma is looking very tempting for the early part of next year Everyone we've talked to so far has told us that it's very expensive, but seriously, we're over those $25 a night hotels. We worked for it, we can afford it, so we're not going upper budget class as we have been in the past, we're definitely going mid to high range, so I don't think the prices in that range will be so much different than anywhere else (and anyway they're a lot more comfortable). If that's what it costs, that's what it costs. I don't like paying more than I ought to be paying, but I will quite happily pay the going rate, whatever the going rate might be.

Life is there for living.

Do it.

I believe starting in November India is loosening up the Visa in order to attract tourists. You will be able to get one on line.

[Konini]

I believe starting in November India is loosening up the Visa in order to attract tourists. You will be able to get one on line.

They've been going to do this for years, just like Vietnam (which should prove interesting when the new regional system starts next year).

We really have heard all about the 'plans to introduce' from both countries several times, often with dates attached. Forgive my skepticism, but I'll believe it when it happens. I'll also be be very happy.

[Konini]

What a magnificent thread.this is turning in to. Please keep the stories rolling in.

I used to think it was just me, but that feeling of coming home seems to be a recurring theme. Maybe it's not me that's being a bit odd, it's a phenomenon, just like the Bermuda Triangle, but being so close to the Golden Triangle with all of those poppies up in them there hills, maybe it's the Opium Triangle.

What is it about Chiang Mai that makes us feel as though we're home when we get here?

[CMHomeboy78]

CMHomeboy78:

Your post knocks me right over. What a long, strange trip it's been....

My former wife and I started off in Europe in the fall of '76. Quickly discovered that the weather didn't suit our clothes. Went to Israel and worked on a moshav in the West bank, and then to a kibbutz near Acre on the Med. From there flew to Istanbul, (Sultan Ahmet, Hotel Gungor, The Pudding Shop, etc.) and discovered what a lovely, fantastic country is Turkey. Saw a lot of the coast, then Cappadocia, Anatolia, Eastern Tuurkey, across quiet and inky black Lake Van at night. Arrived in Iran without visas. HUGE mistake. They almost took us to jail. It was the last years of the Shah's reign, and there were cops all over the place. We had to spend the bulk of our week in Teheran getting permission to be there,then permission to leave, and then to get visas to Afghanistan.

Herat was a hippie dreamworld. Got local police permission to take local transport along the Northern Route, skirting the border of the USSR. Took three days to Bamian/Maimana, then south to Kabul. Took a quick train trip across Pakistan, which got hairy after I made the horrible mistake of answering truthfully when asked my opinion of the local religion.. SO STUPID! This was after the conductor made my wife go to the womens' car. Those people take their s--t seriously!

Was never so glad to see anyplace as I was to see the Indian border. So hot there! We escaped to Kashmir, one of the most beautiful places on earth. Recovered a while in an ancient houseboat on Lake Dal in Srinigar. Then took a plane to Kathmandu, which was all as you said. Thieving delinquent monkeys at the Monkey Temple, odd specimens of Eastern and Western Humanity in the streets. 4th of July 1977 there was an Open House for all Americans (even the likes of US) at the American Embassy. Free beer and eats. Don't think that is happening anymore.

Flew to Bangkok, stayed in some noisy dump by the train station. Went downtown and saw the daily milking of venomous snakes at the Red Cross. Met some guys who invited us to their rooms at the relatively opulent Malaysia Hotel. Shared some of their smoky hospitality, which I think came by way of the Golden Triangle. Whew!

Took the overnight sleeper to Chiang Mai, and felt like we were in a Somerset Maugham story. This town seemed really exotic and "end of the trail," which of course it was not. After ten months, we were out of money and time, so flew to Hong Kong then Korea then home. It took some months to recover from the effects of dysentery I had acquired in Afghanistan. There was some poor fellow traveler we met in Bangkok who kept being refused a ticket because his eyeballs and face had the telltale yellow of jaundice. He asked me, "Seriously man, do the whites of my eyes look yellow??" They did, poor guy.

Back then you carried travelers checks, and picked up your eagerly awaited mail from home mail at Post Restante. A call home was crazy expensive. Nobody did that. People traded paperbacks, and had conversations about places and things seen, and there seemed to be a subtle competition about who had been the farthest "off the beaten path" and who had traveled the cheapest. My biggest regret: we never made it to Burma, where the price of admission was a fifth of Johny Walker and a carton of 555 cigs. Others told us how cool it was.

I have a warm spot in my heart for the young backpackers of today. It's fun to sit at the Black Canyon at Thapae Gate and watch the passing parade. I sometimes think it's like they used to say about Times Square. Sit there long enough, and you'll see everybody you ever knew.

Thanks again. That was the best read of the day for me, from any source.

Fantastic reply. I'll try to address some of the points you raise when I have more time.

For starters, was the "...noisy dump by the train station." in Bangkok the Yee Peng? I remember that and a very similar one next to it. The old Nanking Hotel off Yaowarat was cleaner, and a hotbed of vice... we loved it! The rooms were big, and on the first floor you could score whatever you wanted in the way of mood-elevators. The second floor was devoted to various types of Chinese gambling that we steered clear of for fear of being ripped-off. The third floor was Heaven - that's where the girls were. I had never seen a place like that in my life and I won't forget it until the day I die.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

I still sometimes see people manage to get buses and vans to Chiang Mai from Europe. Possibly though Russia, Kazakhstan and China..?

Probably, but my back and I are 7 years older now, and the desire to jump on and off trains and buses and boats has diminished. India is definitely on the list as soon as they stop their ridiculous visa regulations and regulations - going to the lengths of checking with the hotel you put on your application form that you really have a reservation is one I heard of in the last week or so - and we're committed for Vietnam for a 1st birthday party in November and Malaysia for a wedding in December, but Burma is looking very tempting for the early part of next year Everyone we've talked to so far has told us that it's very expensive, but seriously, we're over those $25 a night hotels. We worked for it, we can afford it, so we're not going upper budget class as we have been in the past, we're definitely going mid to high range, so I don't think the prices in that range will be so much different than anywhere else (and anyway they're a lot more comfortable). If that's what it costs, that's what it costs. I don't like paying more than I ought to be paying, but I will quite happily pay the going rate, whatever the going rate might be.

Life is there for living.

Do it.

I believe starting in November India is loosening up the Visa in order to attract tourists. You will be able to get one on line.

^ Also on the bright side, there is an Indian consulate in Chiang Mai, making it relatively easy. I did it a couple years ago, not too much of a problem getting the visa. I liked the place a lot more than I thought I would.

[zippydedodah]

What a magnificent thread.this is turning in to. Please keep the stories rolling in.

I used to think it was just me, but that feeling of coming home seems to be a recurring theme. Maybe it's not me that's being a bit odd, it's a phenomenon, just like the Bermuda Triangle, but being so close to the Golden Triangle with all of those poppies up in them there hills, maybe it's the Opium Triangle.

What is it about Chiang Mai that makes us feel as though we're home when we get here?

Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors?

[Frank James]

CMHomeboy78:

I have a warm spot in my heart for the young backpackers of today.

What is a young backpacker today? Do they have $2,000+ of electronics and airline tickets in their bags? Are they really out there on the buses and trains for months of travel? Do they have luggage in addition to a day pack? Do they eat in fast food places?

Seriously, I will appreciate your thoughts.

I suppose I see them as our descendants, our children and grandchildren, out to encounter the world in their own style, fitting with the times we live in. We are yesterday. They are today, tomorrow and the day after. I'm sure they all have different stories, different motivations for their traveling, as well as varying budgets. Carrying all of the electronics makes things SO much easier. If that stuff had been available 40 or 50 years ago, we would have all gladly carried it. Who could even imagine such things then? We wasted a lot of time trudging around to find information that's now a click away. I notice that many of them, including the girls (excuse me, grrrllls!) carry a huge backpack, a sizable front pack, and a bag for their DSLR and other battery-dependent gear. These young people are generally much more physically fit than we were. When my wife and I were on our "pilgrimage" I was already 32 years old, smoked a pack a day, and was down to skin and bone by the time we got out this way.

Even all those years ago, I thought we were a few years too late, that it would have been more "fulfilling" and "authentic" to have seen all of these places, say, right after WW2, as in the movie The Sheltering Sky. (One of my personal favorites.) I guess I had seen too many movies in glorious black and white, set in the days of the Raj. ("Where is that damned tea wallah!") As for fast food, I was absolutely STOKED when we got to Hong Kong, home of some of the world's greatest cuisine, to eat a BIG MAC again, at McDonalds! Yes, another American Philistine. My wife adapted to conditions and local food better than I did. In Afghanistan, all I can remember eating was pilau, basically a mutton stew. It seemed that was all that was available. The food here in Chiang Mai (we ate on the street and at cheap restaurants, as I mostly do now) seemed REALLY HOT to me, unlike the "Thai food" that we enjoyed in America. I don't remember seeing any type of American franchise eateries here then. I do remember a lot of dirt streets.

But that was then, and this is now. These young people you see on our streets, passing through, are the future leaders of our world, the world we have all had a hand in messing up. It can't hurt that they have seen the world outside of Europe, the States, and yes, Russia and China. They're grooving at the Full Moon Party, flying through the jungle on the zip line, and having a great time. The more serious, idealistic types are over here volunteering for "good works." The spiritually inclined come to meditate and learn about Eastern religion. What a shock when they discover that there is just as much hypocrisy in that line here, as there is where they came from. Had to learn that sometime.

Like the song says, The Kids are All Right!

[anonymouse]

An interesting thread I just finished reading a book about the subject called Magic Bus on the Hippie trail from Istanbul to India by Rory Maclean. There is a chapter on Charles Sobhraj, certainly a very immoral but interesting character and I am surprised that there isn't a more recent updated biography about him.

Certainly traveling is a completely different experience than it was in the sixties and seventies, it was even a different experience when I first came here in the mid-nineties pre-Internet and Mobile Devices that have now shaped traveling into something fairly pedestrian.