Matt Fong’s Blog

My TEFL course finished last week and I made my way, with a few classmates, up to Northern Thailand, seeing both Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai. The purpose of the trip was to trek in the hills around Chiang Rai and to spend a few nights with the minority villagers. I had great fun mostly because of the companions I was with but I was disappointed with the overall authenticity of the cultural villages. Despite opting for the ?less touristy? home stay it failed in comparison to trekking around Sapa?s minority villages.

In Sapa villagers still walk around in their traditional dress and speak their native languages. In the hills of Chiang Rai villagers wear western cloths and speak Thai. Instead of walking to the market lugging sticks of bamboo, Chiang Rai?s hill population drives motos and pickups to and from local markets. Lets hope the minority villages of Sapa don?t head the Chiang Rai route.

Chiang Mai was a vibrant city with ancient architecture and a laid back atmosphere. I only spent a day there but we rented push bikes and road around the city and its outskirts. Weaving through cars creates quite the adrenaline rush as the traffic during rush hour is almost as bad as Bangkok. The day ended with a tuk-tuk ride to the departure terminal of Chiang Mai International Airport.

I?ve been hanging out in Ban Phe the past few weeks and I?ve got to know the town and its community pretty well. Ban Phe is a little known transit town for most tourist, who only use it as a transfer point to the popular island of Ko Samet on Thailand?s eastern seaboard. It however has a small expat population and a constant flow of TEFL International students flowing in every month.

In early December they have a pleasant week long seafood festival with some really good food. They also have a few carnival rides and games for small children and some really loud music. If you are spending time in Ban Phe, come during the festival when this small city lights up with excitement.

One night when walking home I saw this pickup truck catch fire?I mean Hollywood style with huge flames. I?ve never seen anything like it?I wish I had pictures but the Thai fire truck came and everything. Now that?s real excitement J. (Oh yah, nobody was in the truck?thank god)

I hopped on an overnight train from Shanghai to Wuhan in the hopes of catching a boat up the Yangzi River. The most common boat trips for backpackers? starts in Chongqing and heads downriver towards Yichang and even onto Shanghai however I was going the reverse direction. After a 4 hour bus ride from Wuhan to Yichang, catching a 3-day river cruise boat was a snap. The cruises depart daily and there are several varieties to choose from.

The river itself and the Three River Georges have recently been at the front of much controversy. The Chinese government is currently building and expects to finish in 2009 the world?s largest damn which will effectively put much of the land (including the Three River Georges) upriver underwater. Environmentalists are going crazy but for the traveler its important see this world wonder before it becomes submerged.

I joined a traditional Chinese tour group mostly because I had few options. It was weird, not only because of the silly identical hats, flag waving, and mandarin-only tour guide but because its extremely unusual to see Chinese traveling solo (as I was at the time). I?m pretty certain I was the ONLY foreigner on this boat of like 300 people. I disliked the set tourist routine (which had us waking up at 5am in the morning!) but overall really enjoyed attempting to communicate with my shipmates and the gorgeous Three River Georges .

I was only in Zhuhai and Macau for a night to catch a flight back to Bangkok. Nothing was really spectacular about the town but I did have the BEST SEAFOOD of my life in Zhuhai. I think the Hong Kong area in general is really known for its fresh food.

I couldn?t find a craps table in Macau, otherwise I would have gambled a bit. I did however almost miss my flight because it took FOREEVER to hail a taxi in front of the Lisboa Casino.