The ticket clerk told me 'number 5, pay on bus', and I was able to get right on the same type of bus I rode yesterday. This time I sat in the back bench seat which had a large floor space in front of the seat for my backpack and other riders bags. The bus pulled out at 8:47. I told the ticket agent 'Ban Basang' and 'Let me know?'. She nodded yes and I paid the 25B fare. The bus was full, with some standees. The police stopped the bus once at a check point and checked the passengers' IDs, but ignored me. The agent motioned to me when we reached Ban Basang at 9:30. I still saw no sign.
I walked across the divided 4 lane road at the T intersection, to the 2 lane road. I was called by the taxi driver sitting at the side of the cafe, with a monk. The driver spoke no English, but the monk did. He told me the fare to Mae Salong is 50B with 8 passengers, and we could leave now if I paid the 400B fare. I told him there was no hurry. The monk and I talked about a few different things. He was going to Mae Salong for the first time. He has a small Wat near here, and he has a sister somewhere in California. After a couple of hours wait he said he had to go back to the Wat. Guess he got tired of waiting.
After nearly 3 hours Trish called and we had a nice talk. I decided to catch a bus to Chiang Rai, and motioned my plan to the driver. He said 'wait' and called on his cell phone. A man and a young girl were waiting at the table. After 15 minutes I again motioned my intentions to the driver. He said 300B. I said 200B. He shook his head no. I decided 300B was the lowest cost I could expect to get to Mae Salong today, even if I took the bus to Chiang Rai and rented a scooter, and the taxi would be faster. So I agreed to the 300B. The man and girl were happy.
At 1, we got in the back and I soon regretted my decision because the road became hilly and the pickup smoked a lot, with some of the fumes coming into the bed. The taxi stopped after 20 minutes and the man and girl got out and talked to the driver. Then they got back in and the taxi proceeded, turning to a side road at a fork. He stopped in 5 minutes, at the end of the paved road. The man and girl got out.
The driver motioned for me to move to the front seat. We proceeded onto the rutted and rough dirt road, mostly packed clay. We passed through a couple of villages. The driver said 'Akha' at the first and near the second said 'Me Akha' and pointed to his chest and then to a house in the village down the hill. I said 'blue' for the only house, or hut, with a blue roof, and he nodded yes. The huts looked small and crowded close together, and the others had brown thatch or grass roofs, probably rice straw.
The road continued through the forest, with only one good view point of the valley below. After about 15 minutes we came to a paved road. The driver went in back and moved my pack back to the front of the bed, then must have told the highway maintenance truck to move. It didn't start with the starter, so the driver let it roll a little ways and it started. The truck backed up out of the way and the taxi crossed in front and proceeded uphill, passing a sign showing 20km to Mae Salong. The original distance was 26km.
The view from the front seat was great. The road is in good shape, but has a lot of up and down and some hairpin turns. As we approached Mae Salong the driver motioned sleeping and I said 'Shin Sane'. He said 'Akha'. I thought he meant I should stay at the Akha Mae Salong Guest House mentioned in the guidebook, but he stopped at the Shin Sane. It was 2:20.
A man at the Guest House took my backpack as I moved it out and asked if I had paid the driver. He is Chinese and speaks English quite well. I said no and gave the driver 300B. The man with my backpack walked up the walk to a bungalow. When I asked how much, he said '200B'. I asked if he had any 50B rooms, with shared bath, and he said 'full'. The room looked good, and I was too tired to go next door, so I agreed. I was given a key and an area map.
I called Bill to let him know I might return to Bangkok in one or two days. Roger is staying in his apartment near Bill and Sumano is coming in for dental work and will give a talk on Friday.
Later I went down to the cafe table and was offered oolong tea. The waiter/helper and I talked for a few minutes. He is from Burma and his parents are from Canton. He said the horses are ponies and too small for me. Also, the villages trail can be walked as fast as the ponies travel.
I walked up hill to the Wat Santakhiri, buying a 2 pastry roll package for 20B. The flattened rolls have a paste filling. Nothing special, but I needed something since I hadn't eaten yet. The climb to the Wat is all uphill and includes 718 steps. The view from the top is very
good, of Mae Salong and the entire valley and mountains, and at least 2 small hilltribe villages. The air is smoky, probably because the farmers burn ground cover in the fields and the cuttings. Most of the fields are on steep hillsides. Crops include all the usual, plus a lot of tea.The Wat appears to be unused, but has 2 open buildings and is clean. There was one small structure on the 3rd floor of the larger temple, and a Buddha in the smaller temple. The grounds include landscaping with trees and poinsettias and yellow sunflowers, which look like large daises.
Going down I continued down the main road and found a cafe mentioned in the Lonely Planet guidebook, the Sui Hai. I ordered a Shitake Mushroom salad, rice and tea.The salad was spicy hot and delicious. Cost 80B for the salad and 15B for the rice. I left a 5B tip, for a total of 100B. As expected there are several tea shops in the village and only one 7-11, where I bought a 1.5L bottle of water for 13B.
So my outlay for today is 473B, $14, and I still owe 200B for the room.
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