A parade kicks off the festival on Saturday morning but after several years of watching for four or five hours of constant stopping and starting of floats, marching bands, bands of marchers and convertibles carrying endless Thai dignitaries we now
defer from attending that event. Instead we go to the Sunday Festival Fair that is set-up adjacent to a park just inside the moat that encircles the old city.

The Fair’s main attraction is the display of the floats that were made for the parade. They are constructed almost entirely of flowers, fruit, vegetables, palm, grains and every other kind of vegetation found in this region. Each design has its inspiration in some element of Thai culture and the amount of time and effort in creating them is extraordinary. Flowers even decorate the wheels of the tractors that pull the floats along the parade route, though most of the tractor drivers are older than the one pictured below.

The Festival Fair brings out all the gardening groups with their best plants to compete for the coveted blue ribbons. However have noticed at some of these competitions in the past that some of the groups can get more than a little competitive in attempting to insure that their entry has the best display location. Haven’t noticed any physical violence but there can be some very hostile posturing.

The Fair offers an endless array of food stalls and shopping opportunities. Here you can find every imaginable type of plant, bush or tree to take home and create your own botanical garden for roughly the cost of what a bouquet of cut flowers would cost you in most parts of the world. After viewing the amazing bonsai trees displayed by the gardening clubs you can buy one to take home and probably manage to destroy in short order (one of those don’t try this at home moments). Best to stick to buying the sunglasses, Rolex watches, t-shirts, Barbie like dolls and crocheted cover for your motorbike (pictured below) on offer in the hundreds of stalls at the Fair. Note it is always best to get to these events early as the crowds grow steadily throughout the day as Thais come and stay for the duration.

Another event that we always visit is the Umbrella Fair in the village of Bosang just outside of Chiang Mai. This area specializes in the bamboo framed umbrellas made of paper or silk that are hand painted in an always changing variety of designs.
Strangely we brought a number of the large umbrellas back with us to the USA years ago but haven’t bought any while living here as there isn’t anywhere around our home to use them. We however always find a number of other handicraft items while visiting the fair. Once again we only visit during the day in order to avoid the crowds.
Given the difficulty of finding parking in the village during the day can’t even begin to figure out where the huge crowds park after dark.

Four years ago we went to Pattaya which is located a couple hours east of Bangkok to see a Hot Air Balloon Festival. We had always enjoyed this type of event in the USA and we did enjoy the event in Pattaya. The organization that had sponsored the event there for the last four years decided this year to move it to Chiang Mai. It was held here over three days and was even better that the one we had attended. Held in a local municipal park it had all the facilities necessary and provided a great environment for watching the balloons. There was a great variety in the thirty balloons that came from all over the world. We are hoping that the large crowds and the great venue will encourage the organizers to bring the event back here in the future.

The Singapore Elephant Parade happened, most fortuitously, to coincide with our holiday trip. There were over 160 decorated elephants at locations all over Singapore. The local organizing committee, in keeping with Singapore’s renown for organization, produced a great guide that allowed us to find nearly all of the elephants in over twenty different locations. Some were however located at the Singapore Zoo which we missed as we no longer visit any zoos.

Below are some images of the elephants that we found most attractive and interesting. It was sometimes a challenge to take the photographs without including all the people who wanted to pose with them. One afternoon Singapore was inundated by monsoon like rains, but we still managed to get our photos. Some of the elephants may appear to be sweating but it is just the rain.

The event will conclude by January 14th with three days of “invitation only” auctions. It would be expected that a lot of money is going to be raised as the degree of wealth in Singapore is extremely high. The highest auction price at the last event in Copenhagen was $30,000 USD so assuredly the Singaporeans will be out to top that amount. With the world population of Asian Elephants at less than 50,000 there is a critical need for conservation efforts.

Arriving at the Singapore airport you immediately find that Christmas is a special holiday with huge flower displays and a massive inflatable Christmas Castle for the children to play. We arranged to stay along Orchard Road which is the main shopping area with more than a mile (1.6km) of shopping malls and department stores lining both sides of the street. Competition is keen to see who can deliver the most extravagant display of light and color. The road itself is covered with blue holiday lights hanging from the trees and light standards.

Music resounds everywhere with caroling groups and bands creating of virtual wall of Christmas music from one end of the road to the other. Large plastic enclosures were set-up to provide the children an opportunity to step into the freezing cold and feel actual snow falling on them. Note that coats, hats, boots and gloves were supplied and required for all those who wanted the experience. We noted that every business made some effort to provide the Christmas theme, even the House of Condom. The last picture below however does show that some visitors had other priorities than taking in all the Christmas atmosphere. For us a visit to Singapore should become a new holiday tradition, though we’ll be back in Chiang Mai for Christmas and our Annual Day After Christmas Party.

There is not much live theater here but we are blessed with a wonderful director who had worked in Chicago theater before moving here to teach in one of the secondary schools.
He directs a local theater group in several fine productions a year. This past weekend he presented The Miracle Worker with the students at his school. It was an excellent production that we thoroughly enjoyed.

The “Doggie Wat”, temple where we help care for the dogs, had
two new members this week (pictured below). Fortunately the cute puppies are usually quickly adopted. That’s great though we often miss seeing some of them again.

There was a hot air balloon festival in town along with the semi-annual garden sale (fair/flea market) that raises funds
for charity. All of that and now we begin decorating for Christmas.

We had tried to visit Melaka on a previous trip to Malaysia but had been stymied by a holiday season that booked out every available means of getting there.Singapore however offered an easy four hour bus connection to Melaka so we had no problem booking the trip this time. The bus was quite comfortable but as in obligatory here in Asia it provided entertainment on video screens and through peakers at every seat. Our feature for the trip was Megapython and Gatoroid a film that was truly as “amazing” as the title. Suppose it is nice to see that in the era of technological wonders in the cinema that someone is still making films like they did in the 1950’s.

We had hoped to see some interesting glimpses of life in the Malaysian countryside but that didn’t prove possible. The good news is that the main road system is the best we have seen anywhere in southeast Asia roughly comparable to the interstate highway system in the USA. Of course, like the USA system, it avoids all contact with people and glides you through the countryside with monotonous views of trees and fields. The destination has become far more important than the journey, a fact that travelers must accept as progress.

A visit to Melaka left us with two very different and opposing impressions. As expected we found that the UNESCO designation was well deserved in that the city’s 18th century layout and structures are well preserved The exception is the old Portuguese fortress from the 16th century which the British decided to almost totally destroy when they captured the city in the 18th century. One of the fortress’ gates was spared for some inexplicable reason. Throughout the area stores, galleries and restaurants are well integrated into the historical setting. The river that winds its way throughout the city has walkways and boats that offer respite from the traffic on the small streets. The river also offers home to an attraction that surprises the visitor. Large swimming lizards (up to 2 meters long) often emerge from the river and slither along the shoreline. Assuredly harmless they are not something you want to inadvertently step on. Circulating through the city are also colorful trishaws covered in artificial flowers hauling visitors from sight to sight. In the evenings their battery powered lights create a Disney like atmosphere.

The second impression may be explained by the fact that the vast majority of Melaka visitors are from Malaysia and come here for a short holiday. The historic district may lure them here but commercial development has descended on Melaka to provide them with the shopping experience. Signs are posted at the boundaries of the historic zone to reassure the concerned that the massive shopping malls have not officially encroached on the UNESCO sight. These malls literally cast a shadow over the heritage sights and blatantly promote themselves. It is fairly obvious that these malls have devastated the small businesses that used to occupy the historic zone. Apart from the malls the shops sell cheap Chinese made souvenirs that appeal to the Malaysian market but hold no interest for other travelers.

Our quest for vegetarian food in our travels is often difficult. Virtually all local restaurants here in Asia avoid serving all but the most basic vegetarian option (stir fried vegetables and rice). Some tourist oriented restaurants will offer something that they imagine some will want (Elvis Presley’s favorite sandwich), but they generally fail miserably to provide true vegetarian dishes based on the local cuisine. With the help of a great website (HappyCow.com) we found a vegetarian restaurant in Melaka that maybe our most favorite place in all our travels. Ten years ago a Malaysian Chinese woman began selling vegetarian food at a street side stall. The innovative and quality food she served was so good that eventually she was able to open a real restaurant. We spent three days eating at the Man Yuan Fang Vegetarian Restaurant and getting to know Jin, the owner and cook. Our sincere regret is that we had to leave having only sampled a small portion of her dishes and herbal teas. On our last night Jin brought us additional items to sample as she didn’t want us to miss them. Our offer to all is that when in Melaka eat at Jin’s restaurant, if you aren’t totally satisfied let us know and we’ll refund you for the meal.

Melaka is well worth visiting but should maybe it is best visited soon before what is most noteworthy isn’t swallowed entirely by the shopping malls. Watch out for those lizards.

[note the last picture in the report –taken from the deck of a gunboat at the Maritime Musuem-might be a good strategy for historical preservation of Melaka]

The flat plains of central Thailand are ideal for farming but when the rivers converge in this area the flooding is devastating. The flooding is said to be the worse in fifty years as when the waters breached the flood walls it spread quickly over an area that is estimated to be thirty percent of the country. Besides the farms there were huge industrial parks inundated closing factories and putting nearly one million people out of work.

Bangkok’s central commercial district was spared by diverting the flood waters into the suburbs of the north, east and west. Five years ago the new airport was opened which was indeed fortunate as the old airport that had totally served the city was swept under several meters of water. The old airport, that still was used for some domestic flights, has been closed for a month and may not open for another couple of weeks.

The Hard Rock Café in Bangkok each year sponsors a fundraising event that brings people from all over the world. We have been coming for five years and did not want to miss the 10th annual event. We flew off the Bangkok with most people here expecting that we would need to hire a boat to get into town. That prediction proved totally wrong as during the several days we were there we saw no flooding.
Throughout central Bangkok we found sand bag and concrete barriers erected to protect businesses. Climbing over many of them in attempting to walk around town definitely made for more exercise than most Thais are accustomed. Fortunately the area has yet to be confronted by flood waters as the randomness and incompleteness of the barriers would prove ineffective in dealing with the power of a flood. The Hard Rock Café event was very successful in raising money for school charities and the attendees thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

There was no problem flying out of Bangkok, which had been our greatest concern, and we made our way to Singapore. On our last trip here we had visited the newly opened Universal Studio Park. A return visit however was necessitated by the fact that the much heralded Battlestar Galactica roller coaster had not been allowed to operate due to safety considerations and Lois wanted to do the wild ride (not me). You can be totally assured that each and everything you do in Singapore will be as safe as possible. The public’s health and safety are the paramount responsibility of the Singapore government. Admittedly some of the laws and standards in Singapore are extreme and might be considered infringing on personal freedom elsewhere, but arguably you are safer there than anywhere else in the world.

Battlestar Galactica is actually two roller coasters. One is called the Human and the other the Cylon as found in the television series. Lois found the Human to be a very fast and jarring experience. The Cylon carried you up, threw you down, cork screwed you around and the results had Lois calling it the best ride she had ever experienced. Tried to get her to temper her evaluation as having ridden most of the world’s best coasters it should be hard to name one the best. Here second Cylon ride confirmed her opinion so now she has to try and find one to top it.

The park had decent crowds but we never had to wait more than a few minutes for any of the attractions. A boat ride based on the movie Madagascar was new and was quite entertaining. A highlight in the park is the Water World show that takes place in a huge lagoon setting with non-stop speedboats, jet-skis, explosions and pyrotechnics. Ironically Universal has managed to turn one of the worst movie ever made into something special, but it had actors that showed emotion not Kevin Costner.

The Marina Bay Sands Hotel/Casino is an amazing complex of entertainment and shopping, but they have added something very special to the Singapore scene.
The Art & Science Musuem a stark white building that reminds one of the Sydney Opera House sits directly adjacent to the hotel/casino facing the city’s harborfront.
When we visited it was playing host to two fantastic exhibits. The 100th Anniversary Titanic display and a collection of Salvador Dali’s eclectic art. Each was very memorable in their own way.

The Titanic Exhibit (which strictly forbid any photographing) traced the doomed ship from its conception, through it construction to its disastrous sinking. It had full scale displays of many parts of the ship including reproduction of the Grand Staircase.
However what it did so well was to include personal history and accounts for passengers from all classes that were on the boat. As you entered the exhibit you were given a boarding card that represented a passenger and allowed you at the end of the exhibit to find if you survived the sinking or not. Lois survived being in First Class while I did not while in 3rd Class- surprised?

Salvador Dali was one of the seminal artistic creators of the 20th Century but due to his flamboyancy, self promotion and commercialism he deservedly produced a questionable legacy. The choice of works selected to display in this exhibit credit him most favorably. That in itself would make this exhibit outstanding but another factor elevated it even further. The installation of the works in this new gallery go beyond any exhibit we have ever seen anywhere in the world. The utilization of the unique space offered by the gallery design and the extraordinary lighting of the pieces were truly inspired. One of the very central displays allowed the viewer to blend the color and intensity of the lighting to create an endlessly varying artistic experience. How this would have worked with a full crowd is problematic, but when viewing virtually alone, as we did, it was magical. The museum has no permanent collection but will promote itself (and the hotel/casino) on exhibits. Given Marina Bay Sands resources this should make a stop at the Art and Science Museum a must for any visit to Singapore.

What is the poor tourist to do if they want to visit Kapok City? Thai Immigration in the Golden Triangle tells us that it is not possible to cross over to this area. However they then tell us that we could visit an office of KingsRomans that is located several kilometers down the road in what had previously been a huge abandoned economic development building. At that office we do find willingness to assist us after some initial skepticism about our intentions. Soon our passports and 500 baht each ($16 USD) is being whisked away by a young man on a motorbike. Returning fifteen minutes later he presents us with a form issued by the Thai Immigration Office that we had previously visited. The form is addressed to Laos Immigration and begins
“I shall be grateful if you would kindly allow the persons mentioned below to enter for a period of three days. Your cooperation in this matter is highly appreciated”.

Next step was to get on a free small speedboat, under the cover of a large tarp (either to shield us from the sun or to shield passengers from being seen) and quickly arrive at the Kapok City. We wander off the boat and are directed up a long staircase to a gold domed office that is the Laotian Immigration Office. We surrender 200 baht each ($6 USD) and our passports (retained by the Lao officials who had some difficulty finding them when we departed the next day) and wander out the front door to our limo. The five minute drive down the six lane road reveals that many of the Laotian families remain in their small wooden houses to provide a work force for building Kapok City. Their villages and temples however were relocated outside the Zone.

Delivered to the front door of the casino we first head to the hotel to secure a room for the night and get rid of our bags. The Chinese staff at the hotel do not speak English but after their initial surprise they do get us a room. The room rate clearly posted in Chinese currency is three times what we had expected which in this part of the world generally means that business is bad (few customers -raise the price to get as much as you can from them). The room is fairly comfortable and though the hotel is virtually new it appears well worn already. All the amenities are there including as we were to find later armies of small ants unlike any we have encountered at any other hotel in our travels. As our room is on the second floor we conclude the ants have taken over much of the building.

KingsRomans quite obviously were impressed by Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas as inside and out it does its best to copy the design. The casino security made it quite clear that no photography would be allowed inside the casino- a rule that we did not feel inclined to test at least on this visit. Your foreign currency must be exchanged for Chinese money and you won’t find any ATMs or place to use credit cards. The casino was quite large with three main gaming areas, on two floors, complete with an array of tables for various card games and small banks of the latest slot machine designs. Curiously there were no roulette wheels except for one automated version. What was also evident were large numbers of small rooms located around the periphery of the gaming area that were labeled VIP Rooms. We got glimpses through the doors as people entered and exited of gaming tables occupied by the VIPs, who obviously sought not to have their presence noted.

During the two days we were in Kapok City we saw only one other non-Asian individual, seemingly a tourist that wandered through the casino with what appeared to be a guide. Previously we had heard that western staff had been working here but apparently their responsibility for training staff had been completed. There were only two places to eat in Kapok City a small café shop and the VIP Buffet in the casino. The Chinese buffet meal costs only 100 baht ($3) from 11:00 AM to 11:00 PM and
50 baht from 11:00 PM to 11:00 AM, though the food offerings never seemed to change. However at best it might be called “cafeteria food”- very certain the VIPs had
somewhere else to eat that wasn’t made available to us. The staff brought a constant supply of free water and iced coffee but there appeared to be no alcoholic beverages being served to anyone (maybe in the VIP rooms it was different). Reluctant to report that it appeared almost impossible to lose money playing the slot machines (our winnings paid for the whole excursion). Conceivably management has not “adjusted” the machines properly so expect this will change in the future.

On the avenue named “Shopping Street” there were an array of businesses that catered to the “needs” of the visitors. A small grocery store packed with Chinese foodstuffs and an array of imported snacks and drinks. The rest of the operations were
massage parlors and clubs that offered services otherwise illegal in the rest of Laos.
Along the side of the gated hotel complex were small one room buildings that were
in operation after dark. In our hotel room the television had one free channel that showed continuous Chinese pornography or possibly it was just a close circuit view inside those little rooms.

If you want to visit would recommend you stay at the much better and cheaper hotels on the Thai side and go over for the day. Do stay for the evenings as the whole complex lights up like a Christmas tree which does tend to hide much of the garishness visible during the day. Hopefully this Zone will produce some benefit for the poor Laotians , but in many ways it is a huge geopolitical statement by the government of China.

Chiang Rai located about 180 kms (110 miles) from Chiang Mai has always been the far less developed of the two cities. On our last trip we noticed that a new shopping mall was being constructed which would certainly be a big move for that area. What we found now is the Central Plaza Mall which completely amazed us. Here in what was a quaint somewhat backward region of the country there is now a shopping mall that in almost every way is the equal of any we’ve seen in Thailand.The mall is far better than those in Chiang Mai and signals the rapid change that is taking place here in Thailand. There is substantial wealth here and it is being used to rapidly alter the lifestyle of the Thai. Everyone is entitled to a better life but it must be recognized that life here will never be the same.

Continuing on from Chiang Rai there were additional signs of change which could be distilled to one word -CHINA. Development in Asia’s giant keeps exploding at a rate of 10% growth each year. While Europe and the USA struggle to keep their economies growing China has realized they can only sustain their expansion by finding additional markets for their goods, raw materials to feed their factories and food for the world’s largest population. Southeast Asia has been their target to sustain this growth and China has been driving development in this area. Dams, bridges, high speed railways are part of this effort, but most evident in the north of Thailand is the highway development.

Driving from Chiang Rai to the border region where Burma, Laos and Thailand meet along the Mekong River [the Golden Triangle], used to be an adventure into part of the world where most of the world’s opium was grown. The governments of the three countries had very little control over this region instead deferring to the USA’s CIA and Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to constrain the flow of drugs. Those efforts and that of the King of Thailand to encourage cultivation of coffee and other crops had a positive effect. Small farmers began to prosper and the region was safe and fascinating to visit.

However the Mekong River runs from southwest China and until the high speed railways are completed through Southeast Asia to Singapore the river is the highway for materials and goods. The small river port of Chiang Saen, site of a fascinating number of ancient temples and buildings, now finds itself the gateway for China’s trade. The twisting narrow roads that went to the north and south weaving around the small farms and villages now have been transformed into four lane highways that will carry the huge tandem trucks moving the Mekong River commerce back and forth to China. The rural Thai lifestyle may persist for a short time but most will miss that as they whiz along the new superhighway. There is another dramatic change in this region that will be covered in the next report.

First impression on landing does give some positive sense as the new airport is quite modern and operated extremely efficiently. The immigration authorities were as pleasant as one can expect in this part of the world and customs was unconcerned with the contents of our luggage. Stepping out of the terminal you begin to find that not a lot has changed and what has changed is not necessarily for the better.

The roads are wide and the sparse traffic moves slowly towards the center of the city. Gasoline is rationed so driving at a moderate speed comes from necessity rather than safety. Huge grinding buses stuffed to overflow with passengers meander all over the roads attempting to find one more passenger who will then have to fight for a handhold on the side of the bus. There is something missing from these roads and it is pointed out to us that ALL motorbikes are illegal in Yangon. The government decided they were too dangerous so now only the police can use them.

There are plenty of taxis available here but there is no doubt that every one of them was salvaged from junk yards throughout Asia. It was explained that these totally derelict vehicles cost at least $20,000 due to the inability to import new vehicles and the huge taxes levied by the government. In other parts of the world we have seen very old cars that have been maintained for thirty or more years but here what you find are wrecked cars that are literally held together by wire and tape .There is a small market for the latest Mercedes or Range Rover but only the super rich or well connected will ever own their own vehicle.

Could the motorbike ban be a way of restricting the movement of people throughout Yangon thereby making it much more difficult to mount the large protests that had taken place in the recent past? The government secretly built a “new capital” two hundred miles north of Yangon and moved the government there several years ago assuring that its operation could not be affected by any demonstrations. In Yangon what remains is the City Hall a beautiful orchid and white British colonial building that is surrounded with barbed wire barricades and menacing young soldiers with automatic weapons and teargas launchers. (sorry no pictures as haven’t seen such intense distrust since crossing the Russian border from Poland in 1971).

Politically it is not too difficult to find the government’s feelings.
The New Light of Myanmar, the government’s daily English language newspaper carries a series of slogans everyday across the back page of the paper. The following is a sample of them:

Only with stability and peace will the nation develop
Anarchy begets anarchy, not democracy
Democracy can be introduced only through constitution
Voice of America & Brritish Broadcasting Company sowing hatred
Do not allow ourselves to be swayed by killer broadcasts
Wipe out those inciting unrest and violence

Think maybe George Orwell had a lot of influence here?
NOTE: Effective August 17, 2011 the Burmese government ceased
using the slogan’s mentioned above in their newspaper. This should be considered a small step forward.

Development has come to Yangon in the form of several new office structures for Chinese business operations and a couple of modern condo buildings to house the staff. Meanwhile nothing has changed except that the tropics continue to erode away colonial Yangon. The good news is that much of this beautiful architecture would have disappeared decades ago, as it did in other parts of Asia, in modernization efforts if any had been able to take place. Provided real democracy returns to Burma there will be an amazing opportunity for developers to restore the colonial buildings and recreate the 1940’s atmosphere of old Burma. Unfortunately the road to normalcy is going to be a long one.

Thailand and the rest of southeast Asia has some incredibly beautiful Buddhist temples but in Yangon there is the Shwedagon. A dome that rises 322 feet is encased with solid gold and precious stones and there is a no more dazzling sight in this part of the world. Previously we visited the Shewedagon in brilliant sunlight under a bright blue sky but it was no less impressive with a light rain and gray sky. The weather may have dissuaded some of the pilgrims who usually file through in droves which was a positive advantage.

The weather however did create a situation that had a great impact on our Burma travel plans. On a very short flight of wet marble steps my feet went totally out from under me and when I landed my left side hit flush on the edge of one step. It was
immediately apparent that damage had been done. My breathing was not impaired but there was sharp pain associated with every breath and movement. Not wanting to
submit to whatever passes as Burmese medical care we decided to leave for Thailand the following day. Returning to our regular doctor in Chiang Mai for treatment we found that two ribs had been broken but no other serious damage done. We regretted cutting the trip short but we knew the balance of the trip couldn’t be completed with
that kind of injury. The areas we planned on visiting were places we had seen before so we will just have to get back there again in the future.

For the moment I am recovering from the rib injury greatly complicated by the fact that along the way I managed to contract a cold whose sneezing and coughing are
just lovely with broken ribs. Guess I needed a little adversity.