Golden Triangle by motorbike

So Oliver, the young Canadian, hired a bike and I climbed, dubiously, onto the back of Pete's scooter. Pete is half Native Ameriacan and half Canadaian, 60 year old, Vietnam Vet who lives in Thailand with his Japanese wife. We headed off to the Golden Triangle via Mae Chiang and Chiang Saen and then onto Mae Sai about 150kms all up

I do not like being on the back of a motorbike but decided that there are millions of others who do it daily in Asia and survive so I made myself do it. I did, however, leave marks on Pete's thighs where I gripped him tightly every time I was scared, which was quite a lot. His riding was good as he has been here for years and had been a Harley owner etc in his days after Vietnam. So no worries about him - it was just me. So I did my deprogramming stuff and kept looking at the whole families on bikes whizzing past us with the baby on the tank and the 2 year old standing on the back. If they can do it so can I.

I had just begun to settle down slightly when the bike began to clunk and rattle. The b rakes had ceased up but we were only 10meteres from a small bike mechanic who had the parts and fixed it in a matter of 20 minutes. There are millions of these little scooters in Asia, many more than cars and so there are mechanics everywhere.

So we headed off again. My fear levels back up to 10 out of 10 again. The scenery was interesting giving me a good look at rural Thailand. We passed through small villages where the houses were made from cane with thatched roves and there was a stall selling pineapples every 500mteres or so. How many pineapples can be sold in a day, I kept wondering. Pete tells me this area grows the best pineapples in the world and when I tried them I had to agree with him.

So we headed up through Mae Chang and on to Chiang Saen. Then on to Sop Rual which is known as the Golden Triangle which is where Thailand, Laos and Burma meet on the Mekong River and China is in sight as well. So I posed under the Golden triangle sign and we climbed the big elephant and I even burnt some incense for the big gold Buddha. Pete knew all about this as he is now Buddhist.

We had lunch in a nice little cafe. The Thais really know how to make their food look appetizing. It is always lovely and the veggies fresh and crisp. The Portions are rather small but that is what I need as I am putting on weight again.

Then back onto the bikes and off to Mae Sai the border crossing to Myanmar. However we were too late to ask about visas as I had planned. So we wandered the market stalls and had a drink stop before heading the 60 kms home.

About seventeen kms down the road Oliver's bike putted out and we couldn't get it started again. We wanted to ring the company he hired it from but Know-it-all Pete rings the Guest House saying he has better influence. I could tell from the conversation that he had not got the message through but Pete knows best so we headed off leaving Oliver in the 38deg on the side of a highway.

We stopped for coffee at the Uni that Pete has taught at and then got back to town about 5:30 where I insisted Pete ring the bike hire people. And I am glad he did because they hadn't got the message. Eventually poor Oliver turns up home at 8:30 pm which was 4.5 hours after he had broken down. He was quite upset especially as they did not apologise or even drive him back to the guest house.

25 May 2006

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