Holiday Time In Chiang Mai,Mae Hong Son And Chiang Rai 2012.

[Susana]

What a beautiful story, Billy! Thank you for sharing.

[Marie]

What a beautiful story, Billy!

I agree. Billy makes an excellent storyteller. While his tales are usually about simple things, he can make them spring to life, such that you can almost see, touch, smell, hear and taste everything! Also, his humor makes me smile and the suspense keeps me glued to the screen. But on top of that I savor the way he shows sensitivity to and respect for people and cultural practices.

[billyboy]

I will get back on track soon with my recent trip in April but i have a few more pictures from the past to share. A few years ago i had the privalege to go and see the Bua Tong sunflower fields just outside of Mae Hong Son. These are in full bloom during late november/December when the surrounding hillsides of the north are ablaze with yellow from the sunflowers. This trip would not have been possible for me but for the kindness of friends from Mae Hong Son. My long standing friend Khun Ton who once had a lovely little restaurant, very small but the best food ever organised this for me. Sadly she has now married and moved back to just outside of Chiang Mai somewhere and we have lost contact with each other. Happy that she has married but i am sad to have lost touch with her, maybe one day we might meet again, but she was, and is still a great friend to me.

Khun Ton organised this trip to the sunflower fields for me with one of her many friends,the man who took us was the head man of the Mae Hong Son heavy artillery army! This again turned out into an adventure for me as later when we returned we spent the night in the jungle with the army as he cooked for his troops. I was honoured to be a guest. I think probably the first farang ever to be allowed in. Regarding the sunflower fields it was a fair drive out from Mae Hong Son, one that i would never have been able to do seeings that i can't drive a scooter and i am a little scared of driving the car in Thailand. If anyone is visiting during the months of late november december you realy must go to see this spectacle, i was actualy probably two weeks to early, but nevertheless it was breathtaking scenery.

It is a constant winding uphill drive as you pass by scenery to breathtaking to describe, suddenly the roadside seems to sprout small yellow daisy like flowers. It is not just sunflowers that are in abundance but an array of other numerous flowers also. The mountain sides are a kalaidescope of vibrant colours all around you. Even the soil in which the plants grow is of a reddish colour, It is truly amazing and should not be missed if you ever get a chance to see. Even when you are in one of the small roadside markets on the way a glance upwards to the mountains and you can see like a tappestry of colours, these are the cabbages and vegetables of all kinds all growing in there colourfull glory like a painting.

The small roadside daisy like flowers soon turn into the bigger ones as you progress into the Bua Tong sunflower fields, you actualy are struggling to keep track on the road as it gets denser and denser, the care was driving at a snails pace so to speak because of the ever narrowing roads into the fields.....( photograph 1.) It is not all yellow sunflowers but an abundance of other equaly beautifull coloured flowers. The scent from the flowers was unforgettable as was the colours, sometimes during the day it was a little cloudy othertimes sunny, even when brighter or darker the flowers looked special.

Ohh, my pictures not in order,nevermind.

Billy.

[Betti]

oh thanks for this one! never been able to go, it needs at least 3 days going from Chiang Mai, if you want to do it properly and not just rush there and back, that is. usually the sunflowers are reported to be gone by Christmas / new year, when there would be time. hope to go one day.

[Susana]

I love sunflowers. And spider flowers (cleome), which looks to be what the pink flowers are.

[billyboy]

Here a few random photographs,the one with the young Monks was taken as i sat having a beer at the crossroads bar,the ghecko one was while a sat eating some Khaw Soi for lunch, i spotted him in the tree nearby. The others are a few from the markets. After Mae Hong Son i was to be returning to Chiang Mai for the last manic day there of Songkran. At Mae Hong Son airport i spotted a desk there with Kan Air, they fly with a very small single propeller airplane and i could not resist it, i booked a flight for a couple of days time that will take me from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai.I did a little video of the flight which will be posted later in the thread. I savoured every moment of my time in Mae Hong Son, every time i visit Thailand i always try to find some time to return to here.

Billy.

[billyboy]

Well it was to be my brave one last Songkran day in Chang Mai before my flight to Chiang Rai.I do like Songkran in Chiang Mai but it is a little overwhelming first time,a little less daunting second time but after that i find the need to be drenched for two days only at most, five days or more it starts getting tedious, it is freezing cold, or so i feel after hours of soakings when the sun has gone down, but it is a festival i hope every year i can go and celebrate it, Chiang Mai is so crazy, maybe better watching the festival where it is little more low key elsewhere...hence the reason i went to Mae Hong Son for the begining of it!

Well, it was my last day here in Chiang Mai for Songkran 2012 and a few photographs from that day, no particular order. I nearly forgot,that evening i went to watch the Ladyboy free show in the centre of the night bazare, that was good fun, the beer not to expensive and a real good show. More from there next time, but for now the last day of Songkran in Chiang Mai 2012.

Billy.

[billyboy]

It was a fun couple of hours at the ladyboy show in Chiang Mais night bazare area, the ladyboys advertise the show beforehand at the market and later on screens are placed around the bar/stage area and the show begins. Better to be early for a good seat it soon gets packed, i found it good entertainement and it is free, as you can see from one photograph some audience participation usualy ends the show!! A little difficult for me photographing because i am unsure with nightime stuff, but still it was great fun.

Billy.

[billyboy]

I had booked my Kan Air flight at Mae Hong Son, now it was time for me to leave Chiang Mai for a week and fly to Chiang Rai for my first visit. I know it might sound a little extravagent to fly there but for me it was the thrill of being in a small airplane as i am pasionate about flying, i love it. The cost of the one way flight was roughly 1,500 Baht one way. There where five persons on board including myself so the total cost of the flight for all was 7,500 Baht, approximately one hundred and fifty pounds UK money.This i found a bit unreal, how could an airline....okay small as it is....make money on this taking into consideration ground staff, airport fees and charges plus there time fuel, insurances and....there where two pilots wages to be paid even after taking all the other things into consideration. I must say it was a great experience and if you are a lover of taking to the skys you must give it a try. There was even an inflight meal that was served outflight so to speak, obviously no room in the aircraft for flight attendants so a small meal was served about one hour before departure, this was a carton of juice and piece of cake.

The flight went extremely well with a very short relatively slow take of and we where on our way. I did make sure i had permision to take a few snaps on the flight and turned of the flash just in case. It all looked fairly easy to me which i am sure it is not! But both pilots seemed to press and unpress a few switches, twiddle with a couple of wheels and a couple of radio messages. But the landing was amazing, never a more true saying than the ground rushes up to meet you. In the distance was the runway looming ever so closer, you could see the huge black rubber tyre marks from the big jets that had landed there every day and it got closer and closer. I was convinced we where coming in to fast and braced myself, warning sounds for height where coming over in computerised voices...( i think these where normal as we got closer to ground level)...then the runway with all it's previously deposited rubber from the wheels of many planes appeared in the airplanes cockpit window looking like a sea of molten rubber. But as quickly as it was started the flight was over, about thirty minutes i think. What an experience.

I have a video of the flight to post when i learn the corect way of posting it.

Billy.

[billyboy]

This is the short video i took on board the above mentioned flight, it shows the take of from Chiang Mai and the landing into Chiang Rai, note the black rubber airplane tyre marks on the runway as we approached Chiang Rai airport.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_M-MATxcrhI

Billy.