When you arrive in Laos, you receive a 30 day Tourist visa
on arrival. You can then go to the
Tourist police at the end of 30 days and then 60 days and renew that visa. (colloquially called buying days) After 3 months you need to leave the country
and then come back. That is what's called a visa run. I have friends who
come to Laos for 4-6 months each year and choose different exotic
places to go each time for their visa run.
What about China maybe Kunming, Hanoi, Hoi An or Phuket. Siem Reip and Angkhor Wat would be pretty amazing. Or there is always Bangkok and Chiang Mai.
Chiang Mai was my destination of choice. It was a cheaper option and I’d been there
once before and quite enjoyed it. Also a
friend had shown me some of the beautiful fabrics she had bought there and I was
determined to find these.
So I booked a flight. $40 US discount thanks to Gail's advice
to call in at Lao Airlines office in LPB. I decide to stay at a hostel highly
recommended on Hostelworld so that I’d have some money left to buy textiles. Haven't stayed in a Hostel for years, but the young people coped. Anything to have money to spend on textiles.
4 days in Chiang Mai was quite enough. Time to find the great textiles I was looking
for, visit a good doctor (found though Tripadvisor) and pay quite a large
amount for my medication which you cant get in Laos. It makes you realise how lucky we are in
Australia with our great health system and subsidised PBS.
Chiang Mai is a largish city in the north of Thailand. It has larger populations of Ethnic minority
groups some of which have come from China, Burma and Laos. Groups such as Hmong, Akha, Lisu, Mien and Karen (who make up something like
45% of the community groups. It has also
been very popular with tourists for many
years. I stayed near the old part of
town within the city walls and this is also the tourist part of town.
Have thought about looking for English teaching work there as
it is one of the bigger centres outside Bangkok. There are many English teaching schools and
a couple of Uni’s . After my 4 days, I couldn't really comment on what it would be like to live there. After all, I was staying in the tourist area. It certainly seemed big – which can mean
difficult to get around.
The "delights" of TESCO
I had some time to fill while I was waiting for an appointment in
an area outside the centre of Chiang Mai.
I went to a TESCO store. IT IS HUGE.
Nothing like this exists anywhere in Laos
"Normal" supermarkets like Coles and Safeway don't exist.
So I took photos to show my students.
They just can't believe the size ... and the excess.
^^ How many checkouts was it ^^
And how many kilometres of aisles????
Above and below
This was the section that cracked me up.
This is the monks aisle.
Everything is saffron and orange. You can buy robes and saffron coloured towel and the special saffron coloured "Monks facecloth". Or the saffron coloured bucket with all the supplies such as toothpaste and toilet paper.
And more acres of TESCO
This is a bit sad. No matter who we are, what we look like or the colour of our skin, it seems we're not happy.
In many parts of Asia you see adds for skin whitening products.
I think I've only seen women using them. It's a bit like when we were kids and we'd put powder all over our faces. The women who use these products don't quite look right.
More at TESCO and this is seriously weird
Chinese festival in Chiang Mai
Above is food in bamboo.
And it was a full moon
This monk was buying his lottery tickets
The much loved king and queen -in younger days
Their photos are in the streets and inside most buildings
King Bumibol is in his late 80's and is in very poor health.
Queen Sirikit was known world wide for her fashion sense in the 60's,
a bit like Jackie Kennedy.
She revived silk production and weaving in Thailand and had Paris designer Pierre Balmain design for her using Thai silk.
I wonder how happy they are. They had 4 children. One daughter hasn't married and the three other children have all been married at least once. Their son and heir, Prince Vajirlongkorn has led a very interesting life.
Believe it or not, but the man behind this restaurant has done a huge amount when it comes to education about birth control and prevention of sexually transmitted disease.
Pink condom shirt and pants
And of course, Father Christmas's suit made of white condoms
The hill tribe museum
There are more than ten tribal groups in Chiang Rai province. These groups, including the Akha, Lahu, Yao(Mian), Hmong, Karen, Lisu, Lua, Shan, Chinese etc. Each community has different cultures and traditions and often colourful traditional costumes. They normally settle on the high mountainsides
In the Hilltribe museum. Various compounds over the years have contained Heroin
Many communities were in the past growing opium
They number more than ten groups, including the Akha, Lahu, Yao(Mian), Hmong, Karen, Lisu, Lua, Shan, Chinese etc. Each community has different cultures and traditions with the main attraction being their colourful traditional costumes. They normally settle on the high mountainsides
This is a huge basket made of bamboo. Probably 3 metres across.
It is used for threshing rice.
