Tha Ton
Thailand, February 2014
2014 was a special year: I started it with taking my first solo trip outside of Europe! Thailand seemed to offer the perfect combination of nature, culture and the opportunity of meeting a lot of other solo traveller. I didn't exactly have to take a return date into account, so I decided to go to Thailand for a total of 3 months.
View of the river Kok, Tha Ton, Thailand
Whereas other backpackers would stop over in Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and maybe even Malaysia in 3 months, I consciously took the decision to spend the entire time in just one country. I say 'stop over', because in my opinion, people can never claim that they travelled through a country, while they have actually only visited the one or two main cities.
I came to realize this when I travelled by train through 9 different European countries in about 5 weeks in 2013 (my first solo trip by the way...). I had planned the complete trip before I left. All hostels, train tickets, etc. were already booked. It turned out that in each city, I met a lot of nice fellow travellers with whom I wanted to spend more time. Since I had booked everything upfront, every time I had to go on to the next country. Although this travel was a great new experience and I got to see a lot, I realized that travelling a bit slower would be a nice idea :-) .
Another advantage of travelling slower (and for a longer time) is that we don't have to plan everything ahead and in practice, that gives a lot more space to spontaneous plans... I actually travelled to Tha Ton because of a recommendation of an American guy whom I had met in a hostel in Chang Mai. He had volunteered in a village nearby and highly recommended going to Tha Ton, because it wasn't yet discovered by 'the big crowd'.
The bumpy road to Tha Ton road was full of curves and magnificent views. It was, relatively spoken, the cheapest bus ride I took in Thailand. The journey of almost 6 hours was only about 100 Bath (2,20 Euro)… We were driving through the jungle and mountains. I’m speaking of we, because I was travelling together with a fellow traveller from Austria. She stayed at the same hostel from where I took off to Tha Ton. As soon as she heard about my plans to go there, she asked me if she could join. It turned out to be a great idea to share this special journey.
Bus to Tha Ton
We stayed in a twin room in the Sapaya guest house on the banks of the river Kok. Our ‘hostel mom and dad’ knew everything about Tha Ton and its environment and shared inside information about some very special events going on around the village.
Our ‘hostel dad’ took us to the local hill tribe market. Here, members of different nearby hill tribes, sell and buy their products. I loved this experience, because the market was an authentic agricultural market. In fact, many markets in Thailand are especially set up for tourists. Vendors mostly sell street food and souvenirs. At this market, we sometimes even had the feeling that the locals were looking at us, rather than the other way around.
Here, we -the tourists- were the minority!
Chicken slaughtered on top of their cage
Proud father with daughter
Local products
Local beauty ideal for women: by chewing certain herbs, her teeth turned brown
Member of the Aka hill tribe with beautiful decorations
Longneck (rings around the neck)
After a deserved rest at the guest house, we went to the ‘Tha Ton temple on the hill’.
A steep path on one of the highest hills around Tha Ton, leads through nine stages, each with its own impressive sculpture, to the ultimate stage: the temple on the hill. We named one of the stages the ‘Elvis-Buddha stage’. The golden Buddha that formed the centre piece of this stage was covered in beehives, in a way that he looked like Elvis! The beehives covered the Buddha’s cheeks, looking exactly like sideburns. Even the chin and armpits of the massive sculpture was covered in beehives.
The eighth stage was incredible; a nice view of the whole area, an exposition of Buddhist statues in different styles from all over the world and a pagoda with a relic of Buddha in it... Our hostel mum had told us that if we would reach the ninth stage, it would be possible to walk down and back to the hostel on the other side of the mountain through the jungle, and so we did. We reached a certain kind of beach near the river where we sat down for a while to enjoy the silence. Then we actually called our hostel mum, because we didn’t know how to get out of there. The hint she gave us was: ‘follow the blue pipe’… and; so we did. Through the untouched nature and alongside the river, it was an incredible experience. At a certain point we lost track of the blue pipe, so we got lost in the high grass. Eventually we found the track back and reached the guest house safely. Another adventurous day in Thailand.
'Elvis Buddha'
The temple on the hill
The next day it was time for some relaxation while my friend did a visa run to the boarder of Myanmar, because the next day we were going to do some trekking! We were picked by Anan, a member of one of the local hill tribes. He showed us his house, family, dog and bird (the bird could speak Thai!). Then he took us to another village by foot, where another guide joined us. So, it was just the two of us and the two guides. They provided interesting ‘one on one information’ about the hill tribe’s traditions, the environment and the agricultural traditions.
The highlight of this hike was the lunch in the jungle. We had to carve our own chopsticks and cups out of bamboo with a big machete, and we boiled eggs and sticky rice in bamboo on a fire. The views of the hilly landscape were just breath taking. The farmers in this environment cultivate a big variety of crops, which make the landscape very diverse. Corn, pumpkins, rice, potatoes, burned down areas (to make the soil more fertile before the rain season started), ...
We saw a lot of people working on the fields. One of them had shot a squirrel for dinner. Even though we were exhausted after this long walk, it was a very rewarding and well spent day.
Lunch and discovering the environment with Anan
Boiling eggs and rice in bamboo
Thai people who work in agriculture often cover their skin completely.
They do this to protect themselves from the sun, but also from tanning.
A tanned face shows you're working outside and that often means you've got a lower social status.
Well, look at this beautiful face.
Squirrel for dinner
Boys and their puppies
The next day would maybe even top this one, because we were part of a rare local Buddhist occasion. Apparently, this day was something like the Buddhist new year, and a public holiday in Thailand. The rarity was that one of the villages near Tha Ton had built a new pagoda (or ‘chedi’) and on this day it was about to be inaugurated.
All the locals joined in for this joyful event. Everyone dressed up in their traditional clothes. As a matter of celebration, each neighbourhood built a smaller version of the pagoda and carried it, in a procession along with the mini pagodas from the other neighbourhoods, towards the new pagoda. Once they reached the new pagoda, everyone danced three rounds around it, still carrying the mini pagoda’s on their shoulders.
After the procession, it was time for food! Every neighbourhood had made their own specialities to share with each other. The people also started to offer us food for free, they were all very welcoming. At last they dragged a big golden bird, filled with money to the top of the pagoda. Monks, who were standing on the pagoda, threw some confetti down, mixed with small coins (1 Bath). It was said that if you would catch one, it would bring you luck.
We were so lucky to be present at this event. This only happens every once in a while, and it happened exactly at the time that we were visiting Tha Ton and surroundings.
Inauguration of the pagoda
Women dressed up in traditional clothing
Young and old join the festivities
People carrying their 'mini pagoda' on their shoulders
The day after was 'already' our last day in Tha Ton. We had an incredible time with great experiences, but the time had come to leave Tha Ton and to explore a different taste of culture in Chang Rai. We took a ‘long tail boat’ from Tha Ton to Chiang Rai, all the way over the river Kok. The water in the river was so low, that our luggage had to be brought to Chiang Rai by car. The boat scraped the bottom of the river a few times,… but it was such a pleasant way to travel from one town to another; sitting in the sun for four hours, eating our lunch from our handmade bamboo cup and with our handmade bamboo chopsticks, witnessing people fishing, buffaloes bathing and children playing in the river…
What I have taken away from my experiences in Tha Ton is that it's always nice to follow the advice of fellow travellers. I would never have gone to there if that American guy wouldn't have told me about it! Besides, travelling slow and without plans, made me take the opportunity to go to this ‘off the beaten path’ village. Hope you enjoyed the pics!
Time to leave Tha Ton...
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