A story from Thailand, Macadamia journey

Unexpectedly I decide that I really need a few days of vacation. I have to get out and this seems like the right time to go to the Doi Tung to see the macadamia plantations there. I described this note earlier based on internet knowledge.

To get the most out of the planned four days I decide to fly to ChiangRai. With AirAsia. Of course I can order tickets online, but I want to be sure that I can leave in two days. So I go to the Flying Dutchman travel agency. There I am spoken to in Dutch in a friendly and business-like manner. I pay a good price, all in. While enjoying a bouncer (I mean an egg dish) in the restaurant Ons Moeder next door, I receive the confirmed tickets. A good start.

 
On Monday I and Sun, my travel companion, are on the bus to the airport at twenty to eight. At ten o'clock we are at the airport and there we have to go to the back part of a pier. AirAsia is simply meant for the poor travelers. I'm glad I booked through the travel agency, because all 156 places are taken. We leave fifteen minutes early and arrive in Chiang Rai twenty minutes before the scheduled time. My old friend Thia, his son Korn and an acquaintance are waiting for me there, because I combine this trip with a visit to these old acquaintances in Pajao. Earlier I wrote about the village where they live in Marriage in Esan. Strictly but fairly I was reprimanded by someone from the embassy. Pajao is not in Esan, but in Noord Thailand. I now have to review dozens of experiences in this area, but justice must take its course. My old friend borrowed the car from the temple in his village. A very old blue sled, of which it is difficult to determine what brand it once was. I'll consult the old-car expert on the board. There are no seatbelts, but no doubt this car is well-initiated.

Via good roads through a beautiful mountain landscape we drive towards ChiengKham. We'll stop somewhere I would never have stopped. It turns out to be a stepped restaurant with a magnificent view of the Ieng river. I didn't even know this river existed. Our individual meals are accompanied by a large platter of huge lobsters, almost as delicious as the diner on my corner in Jomtien. And very affordable. In BanLai we are warmly welcomed by my friend's wife and other son. Immediately we are provided with the delectable fruit that Pajao is famous for, lamjai. This fruit looks somewhat like lychee, but tastes very different and has a kernel.

After a while I say that I will go to the temple to greet the head monk acharn Athit (brother sun we would say). I am warmly welcomed and shaken. He pulls up a chair, because he knows I'm not used to sitting on the floor like Thais do because of the class difference with the clergy. We've known each other for a long time. He used to come to Pattaya regularly and stay at my house. He pours me a cup of tea and of course I get lamjai again. I understand that his health is not quite right and that he needs to take it easy. Western as I am, I think for a moment, how could a monk slow down. Probably as I wrote at the beginning of this piece that I was due for a holiday. Still, I ask him if he would like to go to the Doi Tung in Chiang Rai on Wednesday. Immediately he says yes.

First breakfast. The Nescafé is not drinkable, the toast comes with two tubs of butter, no jam. At eight o'clock the blue car of the temple arrives. Acharn Athit offers me to sit in the front, but I decline. We drive through the beautiful landscape again to ChiangRai. Just before this place, the monk asks me if we should make a detour past a temple that is worth seeing. Please, of course. I have seen quite a few temples in Thailand, but this one is extremely special. It is called Wat Rong Khun and was built entirely by a Thai artist Chalermcha Kositpipat. The temple is completely white and has all kinds of sculptures. A lust for the eye. The artist is still busy, but there have now been more than 5.000.000 visitors. I'm glad I'm traveling with a monk or I would have missed this.

Half past ten the monk directs us to a restaurant on the Kok river. As a monk, he is not allowed to eat anything after eleven o'clock. Hence this early time. In previous years it was made clear to me by Thia that the monk ate first and then we as mere mortals. The development does not stand still, because this loss of time is now solved by the monk eating at one table and we at another. We just pretend we don't know each other. Faith is a fascinating game.

Now to the Doi Tung. On the road north of ChiangRai towards MaeSai. Thirty kilometers in advance we see a sign with Doi Tung Development Project. The Queen Mother initiated this project to take farmers away from poppy cultivation. When we turn left to go up the actual mountain, I see a small nursery on the corner with the name of the project. This can't be it, we must be the mountains. We see the announcement again a few times until the road splits a few times. We have to choose and after that we will not see the announcement again. It's a beautiful area. I like the comparison with Switzerland, but it could also be the Ardèche. And these qualifications apply to the entire mountain region in the border region of Thailand and Laos.

We start with questions. The monk, Thia and Sun now also know that I am looking for macadamia. Nobody has heard of it. Nobody understands what we are talking about. Finally we go to a place, which is called Royal Villa. We did not see the villa, but we did see a souvenir shop and there I found, to my great delight, jars with macadamia nuts, macadamia sauce, macadamia with green herbs and macadamia biscuits. My mission is accomplished. All the more so since I finally also find a bush with macadamia nuts. I'm not sure about this though, because I asked, is this Macadamia, and a Thai likes to give you a moment of triumph. So he will always answer yes to such a question.

We're going back. The monk says he knows a hot spring somewhere where I don't have to climb. Unfortunately we go a different way so I can't get to the nursery I saw earlier. Again beautiful views. Unfortunately I hear a strange noise under the left side of the car. A little later the monk also hears this. We stop at a lookout. The monk looks experienced under the car. We can do nothing but go to a garage on the main road from MaeSai to ChiangRai. A mechanic begins to remove parts from the left rear wheel. A second mechanic in the rear right. There are more and more pieces of metal on the floor and I wonder if they will ever be put back in their right place. I will not find out because hours later we learn that the repair will continue tomorrow. While waiting I pass the time by reading, but especially by photographing a fly close up on my empty beer can. I am proud of the result. The garage arranges transportation to ChiangRai. There Thia and the monk are dropped off at a bus stop to ChiengKham and we say goodbye. Sun and I are going to hotels WangCome brought. I remember it from years ago.

We eat in the room, because I have no energy left. After breakfast the next day (included in the price of 1.000 Baht) we take a walk to the nearest temple, which is completely populated by nuns dressed in white. Twelve hours we leave with a minibus to the airport. Our plane leaves twenty minutes early. As a result, we just catch the three-hour bus to Pattaya in Bangkok. Two hours later I am home. I feel like I've had a long and well deserved vacation.

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