chiangrai 2005 - 13 Mae Salong morning

[141205] in Mae Salong, street lighting = moonlight =)


photo by YK

Mae Salong waking up:





Mae Salong meow:



at 5+AM e morning market just behind Shin Sane Guesthouse was already coming to life, & we headed there for a 豆浆油条 (soya bean milk with dough fritters) breakfast - that is how cheena Mae Salong is =P

photos taken after breakfast & sunrise....

road to morning market from Shin Sane:



outside e morning market:


left photo by YK



e interior is pretty dark, & not much different from Siglap wet market in e early '80s (where Siglap Center now stands). there were tourists taking photos inside e market, but we found it a little too intrusive to poke cameras in people's faces & blind them with e flash.

heading back to Shin Sane Guesthouse, e collection of blue-roofed buildings:


photo by YK

many of e Yunnan Chinese in Mae Salong are Muslim, & right behind Shin Sane is a white mosque with green-tiled roof & minarets. e morning prayer call doubles up as Shin Sane's morning wake-up call service =P

some vegetable(?) hanging out to dry (below left), & e Akha Guesthouse next door to Shin Sane (below right):


photos by YK

e bungalows of Khum Nai Phol resort, surrounded by cherry blossom trees that bloom between late December to January:


photos by YK

sakura & hanami can be enjoyed here (& in Doi Pha Tang) in Thailand too, if you cannot make it to Japan or Korea in spring =)

Akha handicraft stalls sprouting up on e southwest side of Mae Salong that those coming up from Chiang Mai first see:



photos by YK


Chinese-owned souvenir & tea shops that also sell bamboo worms by e kilogramme:



photos by YK

income disparity between e Chinese & Akha is pretty obvious, though we were told that e Akha here can earn an average daily wage of 150 baht (approx SGD6+) working in e Chinese-owned tea plantations. this is higher than e 100 baht average (according to Acha) in other parts of Chiangrai. some of e better-off Akha send their kids to Xinghua School to pick up Chinese, & many of e Mae Salong Akha can speak some Mandarin (like a few of e Ban Apa villagers), which helps them in finding jobs as labourers in Taiwan.

Akha women in their blue work jackets waiting for transport to e fields:



squeezing on - an idea of how e Ban Apa accident could have involved 26 villagers?



this guy with e loudhailer is a Mae Salong icon:



wherever you are in Mae Salong town, chances are you will hear him singing & see him walking up & down wearing his green Kuomintang army beret decorated with a little yellow flower + striped scarf + pink shoelaces....interesting character =)

not far from Khum Nai Phol resort is e Mae Salong school, where we walked straight into e morning assembly:



Wednesday is scout day in schools across Thailand:



though not everyone can afford a separate set of (scout) uniforms & shoes (brown for scout day, black for other days), or even any school uniform &/or shoes at all....some just pair half a uniform (either e shirt or shorts/skirt) with their home clothes, some come in slippers, & in e cold season some wear e uniform over their home clothes for warmth.

many of e kids here carry Akha shoulder bags instead of schoolbags - some have nothing much to bring to school anyway. e cat used to wonder what on earth Thanchanok carried in her schoolbag when she didn't seem to have any stationery or books at all - e only paper e cat could find in e house was an Akha calendar. later on e cat would discover that some carried a plastic bag containing a few handfuls of cooked rice as their lunch.

assembly in front of Buddha:



principal giving his neverending speech - principals around e world are all just as long-winded!



primary students heading to class:


photo by YK

stopping to play gor li (marbles) before e teacher appears:


photo by YK

classroom cleaning duty:


photo by YK

inside a classroom, waiting for e teacher to arrive:


photo by YK

in rural schools, e teacher doesn't always appear. & many leave on e dot to sell things & run shops after school hours, or in cities like Bangkok, to give tuition - just like in Singapore ;)

e Buddha, e kingdom (flag) & e monarchy:


photo by YK

dtor1 dtao3 ('T' for tortoise):


photo by YK

little did we know that we would end up chanting e entire 'kor1 kai3, khor2 khai3' ('K' for chicken, 'Kh' for egg) alphabet song a few hours later....=P

from a Christianised Akha village:



[ filed under: chiangrai_2005 + thewanderingstraycat + thai1 ]

chiangrai 2005 - 12 little horse elder brother

cryptic title of this post is for YK & e cat's reference

[131205] after sunset, YK & e cat headed literally down(slope) e main road in Mae Salong in search of dinner. e shophouses lining e road were shuttered up, & it was almost pitch dark save for e odd light from a home, e harsh fluorescent lighting from e 7-Eleven, & e dim reddish glow from a karaoke place. settled for beef noodle soup (very nice & full of flavour) from a noodle stall run by Chinese Muslims from Yunnan - e only food place that was still open in this corner of town, even though it wasn't even 7.30pm yet.

we sat down to eat at e only table in what could pass off as e lady owner's living room - she called her nephew out to join us at e table, while her mother sat nearby watching karaoke VCDs featuring Teresa Teng concerts, nationalist songs & scenery of China, e country they had left behind over half a century ago. watching such VCDs & singing along as they 怀旧 (reminisce) seems to be a favourite past time of e older generation here. after half a day here, it appeared to us that any elderly person stationed in front of a TV set in Mae Salong would be watching something similar.

they were happy to learn that we could speak Mandarin & recognise Teresa Teng & her songs, & our dinner ended up stretching into a 1.5 hour chat. they share e same surname as e cat's mum, & e nephew spent 2 years working in Kuala Lumpur, during which he heard quite a bit about Singapore, including e infamous chewing gum ban. apart from Cantonese, he also picked up e accent - e cat was really tickled to hear a Muslim ethnic Chinese who grew up as a Thai citizen speaking e Yunnanese dialect & Thai speak Mandarin with a Malaysian accent like its Malaysian Chinese KE7 hostel mates =P

it was close to 8pm when lady owner's son returned home from Xinghua School at e other end of town. e 'double' education system here - 8am to 3pm national school with Thai curriculum, 4.30-7+pm Xinghua School with Chinese curriculum - meant that many Mae Salong Chinese had e option of heading to Taiwan, Malaysia & other places with Chinese communities like Bangkok & Vietnam to work. many Akha in e Mae Salong area can also speak Mandarin, which allows them to find construction jobs in Taiwan, & some of them even send their kids to Xinghua School to pick up Mandarin.

according to lady owner & nephew, most Mae Salong Chinese are pretty well-off, as many in e older generation made their fortunes in e opium trade, & so they could afford to send their kids to Taiwan for college, hire Akhas to work on their tea plantations, & run food stalls, guesthouses & tea shops to pass time.

after we were done with e noodles, they made us try some yellow (soya?) bean mush that they dip 油条 (fried dough fritters) in....felt as if we were visiting relatives rather than having dinner at some noodle stall on a backpacking trip. & then e conversation switched direction as they asked for our surnames & ages, & why we were travelling on our own without our other halves. & then lady owner told her nephew (who was about e same age as us) to take us around Mae Salong on his motorbike, & alarm bells went off in YK's head - she sensed that some 'matchmaking' was in e air....?!

Mae Salong invaded:



this must be one of e closest 7-Elevens to Shan state, since Mae Salong is less than 10km (as e crow flies) from e Burmese border =P in a town without street lighting, people are attracted to it like moths to a flame....e amount of lighting seems almost obscene. immediately to e right of e 7-Eleven is e general provision store that it usurped, where we found stuff like green tea milk (cat addiction) for cheaper prices =P

junk food:


photo by YK

always had some junk food & instant cup porridge/noodles with us as back-up in case we got stuck without food. a lot of green tea stuff ;)

[ filed under: chiangrai_2005 + thewanderingstraycat + thai1 ]