A Rural Thai Road Adventure

To drive a car on rural Thai roads is a real adventure.
You will stumble upon a lot of unusual things,
like water buffaloes, overflooded roads and
potholes, which are sometimes very big and deep as well.
All You can do, while You´re on a trip in a rural area in Thailand,
is to be very attentive and drive Your car slowly.

It was a funny day and we´ve been heading toward
to Doi Chang, a mountain in the Chiang Rai province (Chang Wat Chiang Rai),
North Thailand, where we had an appointment with a few Lisu Hill Tribe boys.
As we arrived at the foot of Doi Chang, it was already dark,
we´ve been a bit late, because the road was in a very poor condition.
Our Lisu friends been waiting and while we arrived,
they jumped on their motorbikes
and we´ve been driving forward to the top of Doi Chang,
where we wanted to stay in a cozy Lisu Resort
and have a few beers with our friends.
It was a lot of fun in the car and we´ve been joking and laughing,
unfortunatly we didn´t pay enough attention to the windy road.
We hit a pothole and heard a bang,
Mai pen rai (doesn´t matter), let´s go on.
While we arrived at the small village of Doi Chang,
there been 2 surprises awaiting us.
First, there was a big hole in one of the tires
and second, the resort was completely packed,
it was new year holidays.
The boys been changing the flat tire
and one of them made a few telephone calls with his mobile phone.

Then he smiled and said: mai mee pan ha (No problem),
lets go downhill to the house of my family,
where we all can sleep.
This night we´ve been sitting together a long time,
it was lousy cold, but the Lao Tom (moonshine)
was warming us up.

In this way we want to say a heartly Thanks
to the Lisu Hill Tribe people of Doi Chang and Ban Huay Krai.
Thanx for all the help and all the fun we had together.
We will be back for sure !