Chapter 16 Original Ban Wa Wi Narrative (and miscellany)

New Year’s Trek to Ban Wa Wi , 1972-73
(This is the original narrative from January 1973, very different from the account written in 2019.)

One of the more memorable treks that Royse and I took in Thailand was a New Year’s weekend trip back to Ban Wa Wi in Chiang Rai’s Mae Suay district. There were times during the planning stages when we wondered if the trip would be any fun at all, since we had just finished a brutal six day trek in Mae Hong Son and we were putting together a group of people who didn’t know each other well. However, fortune smiled on us and it turned out to be a perfect short trip – sweet and rich and wonderful material for memories.

The members of our little expedition certainly deserve individual recognition since it was the interaction we had as a group that gave the weekend its peculiar and enjoyable chemistry.

There were five of us:
Nick “Walk On In” Handy has been with us on so many trips that I’m beginning to think we first met him somewhere on the trail. If you just stick your head out of your door in the middle of the night and whisper the word “trek”, Nick will materialize with minutes with a pack on his back. Between his stories of French pancakes with whipped butter and his street-side hunts for Ban Wa Wi opium dens, things never get dull with Nick around.

Chris “Smokestack” Blauvelt is the greatest danger to clean air in all of Asia but one of the happiest heads we’ve ever met. He was a houseguest for over a week and was pleased to top off his stay here with a trip into the hills. We persuaded him that it wouldn’t be as taxing as his recent seventeen day ordeal in Nepal..
David “You Tuh-peak Ink-lish” Rossien, otherwise known as Saul’s son, was the star attraction of the trip and one of the motivations for getting the weekend together in the first place. We enjoyed him a great deal and hope to see him often in the future. He’s really kind of a precocious kid – well-informed and bright in a way that makes me realize what a dunce I must have been in junior high school. He was also a gutsy trekker, although his legs weren’t as long as ours and he hadn’t had quite the conditioning and trail experience that we had had. Nevertheless, he hung in there real tough and proved his mettle.

The last two members of the team, Royse “Superstar” and Peter “Shreds Of Mist” Crall, we’re getting to know better and better as time goes on. Peter is well-known for his ability to reduce his pack load to just the bare essentials such as anvils, whetstones and libraries on tropical medicine. Royse is also known to the hill people in this region as “Tiger Paws” for her sure grip on wet logs.

The trip began at 4:45 A.M. on December 30, 1972. Our game plan was to take a boat from Chiang Rai town up the Mae Kok to a river village named Mae Salak – an hour short of Tah Tawn – and strike south to Ban Wa Wi. After resting for a full day up there (Sunday, December 31 – New Year’s Eve), we would return to Chiang Rai in one day. We stumbled out of our house on Tanon Sri Gurt at 5:20 and started hiking down the road to the boat dock opposite the OMF house. There in the pitch dark by the river we met our boatmen, Tawin and Loi. We wondered whether the three Lahu men standing around in the shadows were going with us and just how the boat was going to get upstream anyway since there was no motor. But, as we were standing around glaring at the Lahus, Tawin and Loi went into a nearby house and in a few minutes emerged through the fog staggering under the load of a Rotax marine engine with a six foot drive shaft. Slipping and grunting, they lowered the engine down the steep bank and nested it on the pivot at the back of the boat.

Loi pulled the starter and the Rotax’s nasal drone broke the pre-dawn silence. We moved away from the bank, across the still backwaters and into the main channel. Dense fog hung on the river for the first half of the trip and gave our passage upstream an eerie, primeval atmosphere. Clumps of grass and rocks and overhanging trees loomed up suddenly and then faded back into the grey mist. The twisted branches of drowned trees rose like serpents in front of us as Tawin crouched at the front of the boat giving hand signals to Loi to guide the boat around rocks and past rotted bamboo weirs, whose sticks wiggled nervously in the current. As the fog slowly thinned, we moved past curious dome-shaped hills and a sulphurous hot spring with curls of steam rising from it.

Though the fog eventually lifted from the surface of the river and gave us improved vision – even glimpses of brightly colored river birds – the sun never broke through the overhanging clouds until we arrived at Mae Salak. It was quite chilly and we froze our asses off. Chris got out his blanket and Nick wrapped his sleeping bag around David. Half an hour from Mae Salak, we had a chance to walk around and warm up at a Lahu village on the north bank. It was a very large village – at least forty houses – and David and Chris got to photograph the men and boys playing their traditional New Year’s game of top-spinning.
We pulled into Mae Salak a little more than four hours after leaving Chiang Rai, which put us in real good shape for getting off on the trail. We hauled our gear onto the bank, paid 275 baht to Tawin and checked out the village. Seen from the River, Ban Mae Salak is nothing more than a patch of bare river bank with three or four buildings and a few boats tied up. There are more shops and houses which stretch back from the river bank along a dirt street. For its small size, there is a fair amount of traffic through Mae Salak since it is the starting point for the main trail to Wa Wi and to the Mae Suaie valley beyond. After locating our fifteen year old Thai Yai guide, named Nit, we put down a bowl of khao soi each, straightened our gear and took our first step on the trail at 11:45 AM. We were happy to be off relatively early since we remembered that last year it took over five hours to make the descent to Mae Salak from Wa Wi. Once on the trail, David and Chris had some minor troubles. The shoes that Chris had borrowed from me were too small, forcing him to switch to sandals, while David sweated under a relatively heavy pack, although nothing was bad enough to cause pain or spoil the mood. For Nick, Royse and I, it was like taking a stroll down to the corner to do some shopping. After the 25 -35 lbs we hauled in Mae Hong Son, we cut our packs way down for this trip. I find it very hard to express how good it felt. I literally floated along the trail – uphill as well as down. One time I actually jogged just for fun and even on the steepest inclines I barely broke a sweat. Nick said his pack was so light he could hardly feel it. I felt guilty that David had to haul such a heavy load and I stuck with him as he brought up the rear. He looked pale with exertion when we reached a Yao village about half way to Wa Wi and took a welcome break. He needed that rest. He had been sick three weeks before and had not fully recovered. During that breather, Nick and I grooved on what had to be the world’s grossest goiter hanging off the neck of one of the world’s most retarded-looking individuals. A small girl put her mouth up to the man’s ear and shrieked a message to him. Thus we discovered he was also hard of hearing.

The trail up to that point had forced us to cross over more than a dozen streams (or the same one twelve times). The scenery had been pretty but we were glad to move to higher ground and let our feet dry out. The country in the last hour before Wa Wi was just delightful. We were moving through small winding valleys with groups of houses and hillside meadows planted to fruit trees and tea bushes. As the sun dropped down over the ridges, the valleys were divided between golden evening light and blue shadows.

The closer we got to Wa Wi, the more my thoughts dwelt on life in hill villages and the people of this region. A brand new approach to Wa Wi had been cut during the past year and on it we encountered a fat Chinese man on a horse with an armed guard of four men. We learned that his name was Lao Li and that he was the head KMT man in Wa Wi. As the reader will soon discover, his particular line of work made an armed guard just common sense.

We entered Wa Wi by way of a group of Karen houses, the school, and the Wa Wi Fragrant Tea Works factory. Nit was going to try to find us a place to stay at the house of the kamnan (sub-district officer) house but he wasn’t in or he was hiding from us, so that chance was lost. As we stumbled around town with about a million kids following us, we met Gaew’s wife and daughter. It was great to see them again, but there was no invitation to stay at their house since Gaew was off to Fang to buy a cow. Finally, someone directed us to a large house where it was said we could find shelter. We rested on the steps to wait for the owner and the one million kids formed a semi-circle around us, staring mostly at Chris and his flowing locks. Finally the owner came and, without any great initial enthusiasm, agreed to let us stay. His name was Songnook. He was a Shan and one of the first settlers in Wa Wi. He warmed up to us when he saw we could behave ourselves and wouldn’t ask for food.

That evening around 5:30 we went and had a real nice bath. We didn’t know about it when we came through last year, but at the lower edge of town beyond the temple a stream had been dammed up to form a small pool. A number of bamboo tubes are fed from this pool and make a series of bathing and washing stalls at a lower elevation. It was really delightful. The water was cold but not freezing and you could really get clean. As darkness fell, we wandered back to the house to dress and hunt for dinner. Eventually, we found a little shop with a Chinese man and his cute daughter running it. Starvation had set in, so even Chris ate his fill of sticky rice and khao soi. We were real tired and real full at the end, so we paid our bill and staggered out into the street. As I remember, we may have tried to take a tour of Wa Wi that night, but it’s a tough undertaking since there was no electricity and the whole town is virtually pitch-black after the sun goes down. That itself adds an interesting touch since you’re able to look through the bamboo slat walls of people’s houses and see a bit of what’s going on inside by the light of their candles and lanterns. But essentially we were too tired to do any heavy touring, so we went back to our house and crashed. I slept like the proverbial log – a deep and undisturbed sleep, so deep that I didn’t wake in the middle of the night to wonder why I hadn’t bought a thicker foam pad.

The thing I like about resting on the trail for a day or so is that you can take your cotton-pickin’ time getting out of the sack. Which is exactly what I did. I yawned and rolled over in my sleeping bag for an hour or so and then slowly got up, doing my famous getting-my-stuff-together act which amazes everyone and drives Nick up the wall. Thanks to my efforts, we were able to finish breakfast about 10:30 and begin our day of casing out Ban Wa Wi. This was our big chance to snoop around and compare observed fact with background information picked up from secondary sources.

The unresolved question in the history we’d heard about this place is whether “Wa Wi” is “opium” spelled backward and if, in fact, this idyllic mountain community is a major fountainhead for the high quality smack which flows out of Thailand, across the Pacific and finally into American veins. Frank Yonkin gave me a knowing shrug one time and said he’d heard it was a big boiling down point. Al McCoy, the author of “The Politics of Heroin in Southeast Asia”, was up here last year researching his book and seemed to think there was some monkey business going on. However, since none of us was an experienced nark or willing to get shot asking too many questions, we’d never find anything out for sure unless some Chinese fellow invited us to tour a heroin factory for five baht per person.
Apparently, however, Ban Wa Wi didn’t start out on opium but picked it up as the town developed. Our Shan host provided some fascinating information on the origins of Wa Wi. According to him it’s not more than 25-30 years old. Back then it was nothing more than a few Karen houses. Songnook moved into the valley with them and built a house, so he is considered one of the first residents of the town. Over the years the town developed and absorbed people from different backgrounds. From the beginning, tea plantations supplemented rice farming as an economic foundation for the town. The most important event in the town’s history (and the greatest impetus to its growth) was the arrival of the Chinese after World War II. There’s some question in my mind just who these Chinese are. I’ve heard they are predominantly “Jin-Haw” or Yunnanese Chinese. I’ve also heard they are KMT families – remnants of Chiang Kai Shek’s Kuomintang army, supposedly fighting Mao Tse-Tung but mostly trading in opium. Maybe the Jin-Haw and the KMT are one and the same. The fact remains that the Chinese moved steadily into the valley, bought up land from the Karens and Shans and today are the dominant force in the town. Most of the kids you see in the street are Chinese, the schools are conducted in Chinese and you see Chinese-style houses and signs in Chinese.

As for the question of dope, we never did see a pot of boiling opium or bricks of morphine on their way to be further refined into heroin, but there seemed to be lots of circumstantial evidence. The town is quite wealthy for its mountain location, lots and lots of people carry guns, and, to repeat a joke amongst ourselves from that weekend, there are just a whole shitload of pack horses in Wa Wi. You figure it out and it doesn’t take a computer. On that first night in the village, I got a provocative glimpse of local activity which provided unsurpassed grist for conjecture. I came back last from the baths and it was dark by the time I got to the center of town. At one point I passed by a run-down, windowless bamboo shed whose door had been left ajar. Inside I caught a brief glimpse of a large cauldron up on a stand heated by a fire of bamboo and hardwood. The next day I came back and there was no fire, just some kids sorting vegetables. I was sure they weren’t cooking vegetables in that huge vat, so what were they boiling and why were they doing it at night? Here was plenty of material to keep my fevered imagination astir.
On our day of rest, when we weren’t trading speculation on narcotics, we walked around and enjoyed the pleasant human and natural scenery of Ban Wa Wi. Nit took us out through the south side of town to poke around. We stopped at the site of a new building, then climbed up a trail to gaze down at the town and its setting. Later we sought the trail to the south by which we had entered Wa Wi the year before. It was a delightful prospect. The traveller approaches on a level trail that curves around a hillside to reveal the town in its entirety, nestled in a shallow bowl with a rim of gentle hills. The Shan temple in the foreground, with its bright, fresh colors and comparative size, stood out like some unreal fairyland building.

Our next stop was at the Karen houses that David had been eager to visit, and our visit there turned out to be quite interesting. None of those Karen households had any handicrafts to sell and didn’t seem interested in entertaining us, but, as we were loitering on the Karen headman’s porch, an old acquaintance emerged from inside. It was a Wa tribesman from Burma named Moses, a fellow we’d met in 1971 on a Fang-Chiang Rai boat trip. In many ways he’s an extraordinary person – only thirty years old but with a background of adventures, enterprises and experiences of a man twice that age. He was born in China and educated in Rangoon. After one year of university, he was arrested by the Burmese authorities for political agitation relating to the rights of the Wa people in their region of Burma. Since then he has worn many hats – soldier, hunter, trader, farmer, wanderer and opium smuggler. His father is a general in the Wa army and Moses himself holds an officers rank. He has made and lost a lot of money in various trading ventures. As we sat around in the headman’s house talking and smoking hill cigars, I took it as a measure of his liking and trust for us that he made reference to a recent disastrous undertaking – an investment of 700 “wee” [1.6 kilograms] of raw opium in a huge shipment that was seized by Thai authorities in August 1972 – north of Chiang Rai town – in a Mae Sai lumyai orchard. He lost not only his entire capital but a lot of his good cheer. His face looked tired and lined with care. I didn’t know whether to believe him but he offered the explanation that he traded in opium only to raise money for the Wa people who are fighting for autonomy in both Burma and China. It was a sad story. Their ancestral homeland is being encroached on from all directions by modern nation states. Their armed resistance seemed futile and their traditional way of life doomed to extinction. Yet they fought on, hoping to save something, looking to any quarter for money to buy arms and ammunition.

He joined us the next day as we walked from Wa Wi back down to Mae Salak. Our conversation ranged widely, from English into Thai and back again, from African pygmies to life in the States and to methods of bribing narcotics police in Thailand. He spoke of the Wa to the north in China and evoked haunting scenes of those rugged tribes in the mountain fastnesses of their vanishing world, dressed in animal furs against winter snow. My original suspicion that he would use our friendship to mooch later on began to fade and I realized that here was a complex person, with deep and varied feelings, and a look of wisdom in his weary eyes.
Towards the end of our day of rest, we took a late afternoon bath – again delightful – and sauntered off to see Gaew’s family. His full name is Gaew Em-at and he’s a Muslim Haw Chinese married to a Pakistani woman from Mae Sai. They have a twenty year old daughter named Ganjana. We stayed with them when we were in Wa Wi last year. This time we went over to see mother and daughter and, although there was no dinner, we had a very pleasant visit. We gabbed for forty five minutes, gave them a picture of us and extorted a promise from them to visit us in Chiang Rai.

We then moved off to dinner at the same little Chinese shop, whose owner and his daughter had now fully realized the significant business opportunity presented by this itinerant band of farang customers. After seating us outdoors at little tables in a cozy al fresco setting, they prepared a sumptuous dinner of spiced chicken, real white rice and various fixins that jacked the price up to an astronomical 55 baht. When presented with the bill, we gulped and paid it, knowing that we’d leave the next day. Besides, it was New Year’s Eve and we didn’t want to spoil the occasion. Actually, there wasn’t much of an occasion since the Haw, Shan and Karen all celebrate New Year’s at different times. So the revelry we conjured up was to walk through the darkened streets, stare through the bamboo-slat walls of houses and let our imaginations run wild. And run wild they did. First, we thought we saw a witch or a sorceress chanting incantations and giving prophecies over some poor soul’s palm. As we enjoyed these moments of immature fun, we noticed that Nick had fallen behind. I looked back and saw his dark shape leaning forwards towards a house and swaying back and forth as he stared through cracks in the walls. With a whisper he signaled me to come and look. He seized my arm, pointed to an opening in the wall and breathed in my ear, “I think this is an opium den.” My heart leaped to my throat as I strained forward to get a look at the horned devils inside. Here was my chance to see Sin Incarnate. I wasn’t really brave enough to get extremely close but I thought I saw a woman in one room working something with her hands and in another room I saw disembodied fingers kneading a ball of some kind. Aha, I thought, dope smokers always do that before they light up. These scenes were certainly exciting, although admittedly somewhat ambiguous. Chris, however, was really curious and put his eye right up against the wall to check things out. He saw that the woman indeed did have something in her hands but it looked suspiciously like a needle and thread. Do opium smokers also do that before they torch up? After a few minutes we started to cool down and realized that we still weren’t sure if we had actually seen Demon Dope or if our imaginations had just been helping our eyesight along.

Heading back to Songnook’s house, we paused to look up at a dark, velvety sky absolutely ablaze with stars and flashing meteorites. That was our New Year’s entertainment and we were in bed by 11:00 PM, except for Chris, the long ball hitter, who stayed up till midnight to sing Auld Lang Syne before crashing.
We woke up with a rush at 6:00 AM to get going, get packed, get breakfast, get Moses who was going with us, and then get on the trail. Despite my normal delaying tactics, we got it all done pretty fast. I gave a picture to Songnook. Gaew’s wife found Royse’s jacket for her, we picked up Moses at the Karen house and set off by 8:30. It took us four hours of swift but pleasant walking through the same gentle hill country to get down to Mae Salak at the river. On the way I got to see the low clouds and strung-out pieces of mist that serve to remind me I’m in the Orient.

Down the trail to Mae Salak and on the boat to Chiang Rai, as we glided past the steep banks with their tapestry of fern and bamboo bowing politely to the water’s edge, I reflected that circumstances had aligned nicely to allow our group to have a rare and fascinating adventure together. Wa Wi is a very special place, and I remember a comment by one of us that perhaps touches on the reason: Wa Wi is hobbit country. Its steep streets and winding paths, its thatched houses with ponies tethered outside, its tea plantations and little gardens with its natural fence of hills make it seem like a place that elves and hobbits might enjoy. And just as a hobbit will live best in our imagination if we never really see one, so Ban Wa WI is best with some of its mysteries left unresolved. How fortunate that we never really saw an opium den or a soothsayer working a spell. That weekend can sit on a shelf in our memories like a Rubik’s Cube that we almost solved or like a treasure map with the “X” torn off. It’s always there to grin at us and make us guess.

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(B) – English compositions and letters by Samakkee Whittayakhom students

(1) My Darling,

I am very sad because I hear the people said you have bad gas. When I marry you and sleep with you, if you release your bad gas, I will be sick because I don’t like the bad gas.
So I want you to get rid of your bad gas. If you get rid of your bad gas, I will marry you. If you don’t get rid of your bad gas, I won’t marry you.
See you next month, Panat Sanssombat 2/8

(2) Dear Mr. Nixon,
I think you don’t want to see a battle, but now everywhere in Asia, there are battles. In particular, in the north of Thailand.
MR. NIXON! Can you give soldiers, cars, airplanes, guns, and many, many things in particular my wife. You must give these things to me and to everybody in Asia. If you can’t give these,
I will curse you, and I will give you a very big “O” for your test. O.K. good-bye.
yours truly, Banjobe Kitysampane 2/8

p.s.: I forgot! Tomorrow I
will go to heaven. Do you
want to go too?

(3) The Moon
July 32, 1971
Dear Mr. Nixon,
I saw your Apollos 11, 12, 13, 14 a while, ago. They were very bad rockets.
The men in Apollo 13 didn’t die because I helped them. Mr. Nixon, please
don’t send Apollo 15 from the world to the moon because I am too lazy to
help your rocket.
I came to the moon 100 years ago. 100 years ago, the moon had many
people, but today the moon doesn’t have any people because I ate them
all. So today I eat rocks.
yours truly,
Somrung Treenarut 2/8

(4) The Foolish Boy

by Charoen Churiyagune 3/8

Vocabulary
1. to ride without hands (v) 7. to blow a horn (v)
2. to have a good time (v)    8. driver (n)
3. warn (v)    9. to help (someone) up (v)
4. dangerous (adj) 10. scold (v)
5. to be careful (v)    11. obey (v)
6. van (n)

One day a boy was riding his bicycle without hands when his mother shouted to him    that it was very dangerous. But the boy didn’t worry about her, because he was having    a good time doing something he liked.
His mother came out of the house. She went to the boy and began to warn him that it    was very dangerous and told him to be careful. Then she returned to her house.
The boy watched his mother until she walked into her house and closed the door.    The boy began to ride the bicycle again without hands. He rode very fast. Then a van    came up behind him.
While the boy was riding his bicycle very fast, the van’s driver blew his horn. The boy    was frightened and fell down. The van almost hit him.
The driver stopped the van very quickly. He got out of the van and helped the boy
up. The boy’s mother heard some noise from her house, and she came out. While the    driver was helping the boy up, the mother saw them. She was very frightened.
While the boy and his mother were going home, his mother scolded him because
he didn’t obey her.
THE END AND DRIVE CAREFULLY.

(5) The Sand Castle

by Pongsak Saeseu 3/8

Vocabulary
1. sand castle (n)    8. bathing dress
2. beach (n) 9. preventive measure (n)
3. spade (n)    10. motor-boat (n)
4. bucket (n) 11. wave (n)
5. changing-room (n)    12. ruin (v)
6. sea shell (n)    13. tumbled down (v)
7. youngster (n)    14. disappointed (adj)

One day, a boy and a girl got off a bus on a road. They ran down the stairs to the
beach by the sea. The boy carried a bucket and a spade with himself. The girl did
too. There was an anchor, a wooden boat, and a changing-room at the beach.
When they arrived at the beach, they made a sand castle near the sea. They built
it with spades, buckets and their hands. While they were building the sand castle,
a beautiful woman walked toward the changing room. She had a towel and a
handbag. She looked at the children before she walked to the changing room. Near
the children were many sea shells.
Later, the children finished building. They were very happy and danced around
their sand castle.
The woman opened the door of the changing room while the children were dancing.
She wore a bathing dress and a hat which took a preventive measure against water
which would go in her ear.
The woman walked toward the sea so that she could swim. A motorboat from the
sea came near the beach and then went back. The boat came near the beach as
though it were pretending with the children and the woman because when it came
near, it didn’t stop but went back. So there were many waves in the sea and the
waves ruined the sand castle.
After the children’s sand castle tumbled down, they were very sad because they
attempted to make it carefully. So they went away from this beach disappointed.
They walked along a wall on the beach. Then they arrived near a big rock. The
boy was very smart and he told the girl to make a new sand castle on the big rock,
because the water could not ruin it. So they began to make a new sand castle. The
new sand castle was better than the old sand castle. The boy fixed a flag on top of
the new sand castle.

THE END

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(1) – Which hotels are used by visitors (in order of preference)?

The Sukniran is the most well-known and well-established in the Amphur Muang
and is a popular stopping place for travelling businessmen and government officials.
The physical plant is somewhat old, however, and two recently completed hotels,
the Krung Tong and the Rung Nagar, offer a more attractive environment with
adjoining restaurants at comparable prices (see tariff schedule). Like the leading
three, the Rama Hotel offers air conditioning but differs in the wide selection of
room rates. The Rama, too, is somewhat old but has the advantage of ideal central
location, as does the small Chiang Rai Hotel, which caters mostly to economy-
minded travellers. For those on a starvation budget, there are a number of older,
wooden hotels which, though far from elegant, will keep the rain off your head for
relatively little.

(2) – Where can they obtain a meal?

The gourmets of Chiang Rai eat at the Muang Tong (Gold City). It offers a wide
variety of excellent Chinese and Thai dishes. The service is good, air conditioning
is available at extra charge, and the prices, though not cheap, are commensurate
with what you get. The Muang Tong’s nearest competition is right across the
intersection at the Silana, which offers by its smaller size a somewhat more intimate
atmosphere. Most of their dishes are good and their steak salad deserves special
mention. In the center of town, the Rot Niyom (Popular Taste) has a good selection
of Chinese and Thai food at reasonable rates. Sit out in the back garden and order
their boo jaa (stuffed crab shell), which weighs in at a hefty 5 baht a shell but is
unsurpassed. For cheap, real Thai food, go to the Ruam Mit (Friendly Gathering) for
rice (plain or sticky) and a good selection of gaeng (curries). It is located at 120 Try
Rat Road near the Rama Hotel. For a good selection of ice cream to go with a meal,
try the Sonimit store.

(3) – Emergencies

(a) – There are two good-sized modern hospitals in Chiang Rai town. The largest is
the government provincial hospital, while the second is Overbrook Hospital, a
Christian mission hospital serving the Thai community. Both are quite reliable.

(b) – The police station, complete with a heliport, occupies the west side of
Ratanakait Road between Uttarakit and Singhaklai. Open 24 hours a day.

(4) – Communications

(a) – How far out is the airfield?

2 kilometers south on Pahonyotin Road on the right hand side. Watch for
the easily-missed turn-off. Daily flight out at 1:00. Ticket office in town on
Pahonyotin.

(b) – Is there a railway station?

No.

On Pahonyotin Road, just after the airline ticket office. Regular departures to
all major towns, featuring the 80 baht express to Bangkok. (1 morning and 4
afternoon-evening departures). Village buses and local small buses leave from
Uttarakit behind the market.

(d) – Is there any communication by river?

Yes, but not much. Usually on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday there are
long-tailed boats that ply the Kok river between Chiang Rai and Fang in Chiang
Mai province. Price: about 30 baht. Departures: irregular. Advance inquiry
necessary. Boats leave from either behind Overbrook or from the big bridge
north of town.

(e) – Can one make a long-distance from the telephone exchange

Yes, during office hours.

(f) – Where is the Post and Telegraph office?

At the corner of Uttarakit and Taa Luang Road.

(g) – Are taxis available?

Yes, at the corner of Pahonyotin and Banpapragan Roads. Strenuous
bargaining and firm admonitions will yield a reasonably-priced, safe and
comfortable trip either north to Mae Chan / Mae Sai or south to Lampang /
Chiang Mai.

(h) – In case of a breakdown, what is the recommended garage?

Raan Isarapap at 388 Banpapragan Road (just west of Wat Ming Muang)
will undertake most major repairs.

For reliable motorcycle repair, go to It Motors at the corner of Tanalai and
Wisetwiang Roads. Address: 620/5 Tanalai Road.

(5) – Are there any overseas agencies in the town/province?

There is a United Nations Development Agency attached to the Salaklang Changwat (Provincial Headquarters). It is involved in general development.

The Mekhong Committee for the Pa Mong dam, which operates under the United
Nations Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East (ECAFE), has a branch
stationed in Chiang Rai. It is carrying out survey work for a projected dam site on the
Kok river upstream from the Amphur Muang.

USOM has an office attached to the Thai Accelerated Rural Development (ARD)
headquarters on Pratu Chiang Mai Rd.

(6) – Are there any development projects in the area?

The Community Development Office in the Salaklang Changwat carries out an active
program of small dam and spillway construction at the village level aimed at flood
control and irrigation for increased acreage and double cropping.

The ARD office in Chiang Rai conducts a broad general development program with
emphasis on highway construction.

In Mae Lao, there is a large irrigation dam which diverts water into an extensive
canal system. To get there, go south from the Amphur Muang to the Mae Suay turn-off
on the right. A few kilometers along the Mae Suay road is a sign on the left marking the
access road to the irrigation works. Follow this road past a checkpoint to reach the
dam.

(7) – Please name places of local interest,

(a) – The town of Chiang Rai itself contains no significant ruins or fortifications. How-
ever, the town of Chiang Saen to the north on the Mekong was an important early
capital and today remains a site of archeological interest. Apart from the ruins of the old
city walls and numerous chedi and satup, there is a small, one-room museum just inside
the city wall on the right hand side. To the west, outside the city wall, the long climb up
a hill to Wat Jom Gitti provides a pleasant view of Chiang Saen town and the Mekong
river valley. For the expedition-minded, a hired boat or a strong motorcycle will take you
either downstream three-quarters of a kilometer to Chiang Saen Noi (ancient name:
Wiang Bruksaa) where there are two chedi and a large sitting Buddha, or upstream to
Sabruak, a Thai village at the confluence of the Mae Sai and the Mekong rivers. From
an ancient temple on the hill, you can look down at the actual “Golden Triangle” where
Burma, Laos and Thailand meet.

(b) – In Chiang Rai town, all temples are happy to welcome visitors who are willing
to take off their shoes and pay a respectful visit. Of particular interest is the temple on
Doi Kao Kwai ( Buffalo Horn Hill), the second and higher temple which can be seen just
west of the airport. It’s hard to get to, but from the top, you can rest from the climb, have
a drink of rainwater, and enjoy a beautiful panorama of the Chiang Rai valley. Also of
interest in town is Wat Ngam Muang, whose old brick satup is said to house the bones
of Chiang Rai’s founder, King Meng Rai.

(c) – A very pleasant stroll takes you west along Singha Klai Road down to the
riverside, where a small road follows the south bank of the Kok for three-quarters of a
kilometer past the water pumping station and government officials’ residences to a
small hill (Doi Chome Tong) on the left where steep steps lead up to a Chinese temple
and and a nice view upstream along the river.

(8) – Are there any cottage industries?

Nearly all the cottage industries based in Chiang Rai produce goods designed for
local consumption. A wide variety of utilitarian items such as baskets, fish traps
are sold in the markets. A comfortable, northern-style floor mat made from spongy
reeds, known as the sua kok, is produced here in quantity. Some silk is woven at
Ban Hoa Doi in Tambon Mae Lao of the Amphur Muang. Home handicrafts of export
quality are produced by the women of Ban Farm Sampantagit, a Christian village
downstream from Chiang Rai town. Their wide selection includes hand-carved birds,
animals and bells, as well as miniatures of northern Thai village life done in bamboo,
teak and silk.

A cottage industry of growing importance is the handicrafts produced by Chiang
Rai’s numerous hill tribe groups. The recently-established, non-profit Thai Hill Tribe
Crafts Foundation serves as a marketing outlet for these goods. A wide selection
of high quality goods is available from their Chiang Rai outlet.

(9) – Is there any light industry?

Chiang Rai’s economy is based largely on agriculture and thus there is little in the
way of industry, although there is some small scale mining carried out, particularly of
fluorite in Mae Suay and near Wiang Pa Pao. Much of the paddy land is Chiang Rai
is planted to glutinous rice for local consumption. Some high grade white rice is,
however, grown for export. There is relatively little teak logging carried out in Chiang
Rai itself, although on the way to Chiang Rai along the mountainous Lampang
portions of Route 1, there is a teak development center and a training ground where
elephants are prepared for log-hauling duty.

(10) – Is there anything to do once the sun has set?

(a) – Strolling through the center of town and window-shopping are generally the
most popular nighttime activities, although the town does offer two good movie
theatres, the Suriwong and the Racha, both on Tanalai Road. Each has a sound
room for the original English and Chinese soundtracks. Their billings are a
mixture of Thai and western films.

(b) – For the adventurous farang, The Chiang Rai Nightclub on Pahonyotin Road is a
Thai-style establishment which offers a dark atmosphere, acceptable upcountry
hard rock, and pretty bar hostesses.

(11) – Are there any special events, ceremonies, fairs?

One of notable annual events peculiar to Chiang Rai is the pilgrimage to the temple
at the top of Doi Tung in amphur Mae Sai. It occurs at the end of February and lasts
for two or three days. Buddhists consider it an important merit-making opportunity
to take the four hour climb to the temple, whose chedi is said to contain a sacred
bone fragment from the Lord Buddha. To avoid the daytime heat in February, most
people make the pilgrimage at night, following the broad, well-marked path by
moonlight.
The history of Doi Tung can be traced in legend to the time when the early Thai
people migrated south from China and settled at what is today Mae Sai town. From
there, the people could see a mountain towards Burma which became a familiar
landmark known then as Doi Sahm Sao (Three Points Mountain). One day, hunters
from Mae Sai pursued an animal from the surrounding woods to the summit of Doi
Sahm Sao. There they came upon a great rock formation in the form of a sleeping
elephant. To their wonderment, they found that this rock emitted a strange light. The
site became venerated and eventually a temple was constructed. According to
legend, monks from India brought the bone fragment which is troday contained in the
chedi.
To reach the auto road or climbing trail to the summit of Doi Tung, proceed north
on route 1 from Chiang Rai’s amphur muang. Fifteen kilometers beyond Mae Chan
on the Mae Sai highway is the village of Ban Huay Kraie. At Huay Kraie, turn left just
after the police box in the center of town. Two kilometers down a dirt road brings one
to the beginning of the eight kilometer walking trail. The auto road continues on to
the summit.

(12) – Please add anything else which you think would be of interest.

(a) – Amphur towns in Chiang Rai province. Chiang Rai town can be used as
starting point for numerous day-long or two-day excursions to outlying
amphurs. Mae Chan is nearby and offers a pleasant, shady center of town.
On the north edge of town is a shop which has a lot of hill tribe items made in
silver. Also in Mae Chan is a store run by a Yao tribal family which sells hill
tribe embroidery and other crafts. Local enquiries necessary to find it.
In Mae Sai, you are as far north as you can go. Watching the different tribal
groups coming across the border from Burma is a favorite sport here, as is
shopping for jewels and Burmese ivory. Local enquiries will yield directions
to caves in the hills just behind the town to the west.
After you’ve seen the ruins in and around Chiang Saen, take a boat down the
Mekong to either Chiang Kong or Ban Huay Sai which lie opposite each other.
For short visits to Laos from Chiang Kong, visa formalities can usually be
waived.
If monkeys are your thing, then you can plan a trip to the monkey temple at
Ban Tum, which lies past Ban Huay Kraie about twenty kilometers north
from Mae Chan on the Mae Sai highway. There is a large sign in Thai on the
left. About one kilometer off the highway is a temple with resident monkeys,
and beyond to the left are some small caves with shrines.

(b) – Hill Tribes. For those with a four-wheel drive vehicle and a yen to see some
hill tribes, the nikom (government resettlement area) near Doi San Chai is a
good destination. If you don’t have a four-wheel drive vehicle, you can chance
it with the occasional small bus or truck that makes the twelve kilometer run.
Two villages can be visited from the fork in the road where some government
buildings stand. The left hand takes you to a Yao village while the right hand
leads to an Akha village with a Border Patrol Police school.

(13) – Local History and Legends

(a) – Chiang Rai 70 years ago / Dr. William A. Briggs: Singkaew Suriyakam, formerly a
doctor at Overbrook Hospital, has written of his childhood memories in
Chiang Rai at the turn of the century. The following are some of his
observations, as well as some accounts of Dr. Briggs, a Canadian missionary
who had considerable influence on the development of Chiang Rai.
“From the hill one could look down upon the city as upon a dense forest…
the city at that time was sparsely populated, people could build houses where-
ever they liked, and title deeds were not necessary at that time. The ruling
princes had home built of teak wood, with tall sloping roofs according to the
northern Thai style. In the compound there were stables for horses, cattle and
elephants, houses for slaves, as well as betel nut, jackfruit, and coconut trees…”
Dr. Briggs and his family arrived in 1900, apparently the first missionaries to
come to Chiang Rai. At that time, a man seeking to be of assistance had to
wear many hats, and during his time in Chiang Rai, Dr. Briggs was a doctor, a
minister to the small Christian community, the British consul in Chiang Rai, an
architect, dentist, educator, musician and city planner. Many of the buildings
which he designed and built, such as the governor’s residence opposite the
tiwagan, the dorms of Chiang Rai Wittayakhom and the old salaklang are still
in use today. In the eyes of many, his most significant work in the town was
his city planning. It was Dr. Briggs who laid out Chiang Rai’s wide streets and
right-angle intersections, and like Pierre L’Enfant did with Washington D.C.,
Dr. Briggs planned for the future by cutting a network of city streets into what
was then dense jungle.
More accounts: “The City of Chiang Rai was then like a jungle of trees and
bushes. At night, leopards, jungle cats and palm civets roamed the streets
and stole chickens. One day a python as big as a telegraph pole snatched a
favorite dog of the ruling prince and dragged the dog from the city to the army
target field. When Dr. Briggs knew what had happened, he distributed
shotguns and cartridges to the neighbors to help kill the python. When they
opened the belly of the snake at the house of Dr. Briggs, they found the
carcass of the dog with a string of bells around its neck.”
An attack on the city: “in 1905, a troop of Shans from the Shan States
numbering 200 strong tried to plunder the city of Chiang Rai. They
encamped on the opposite bank of the river. At that time the river was high.
There was a bamboo bridge across the river…just opposite the present-day
police station. The ruling princes of that time placed an old mortar with its
muzzle pointed to the bridgehead on the other bank, ready to fire at any
moment. The floor of the bridge had been removed and camouflaged in order
to lure the enemy to be drowned there.
All was quiet on both banks for a long while. Then the sound of gongs and
long drums burst forth. ‘Mong, Sae Mong!’, the chief of the Shan shouted.
‘Pakamoong! Hey! Jee Hey! Pao Hey!’ Then the robbers, who thought
themselves invulnerable because they were tattooed all over, marched with
swords in both hands to the bridgehead and came within the range of the big
gun hidden on the city side. When the robbers came near the middle of the
bridge, the ruling prince himself pulled the trigger of the gun, and the vanguard
of the enemy disappeared into the river. At last, the Shan forces were driven
out of the kingdom.

(b) – The Legend of Yonoke

Although the early history of the Chiang Rai valley is an uncertain mixture
of fact and legend, accounts of the earliest civilization in the area point to the
ancient city of Yonok as the first center of importance in the region. Yonok
was located in the valley southeast of the present day Mae Chan-Chiang Saen
highway. Today the valley contains only a lagoon and the Thai village of Toong
Fah Hahm.
At the height of its influence, Yonok was the capital of the region and held in
its sway such vassal city-states as Chiang Rai (known then as Chainalai),
Chiang Saen, and Fang (formerly Chaiprakan). According to legend, the city
of Yonok was destroyed by a natural catastrophe, apparently as the fulfillment
of a curse on its inhabitants. This tale reports that one day fisherman from
Yonok caught a great white eel in the nearby Kok river. The eel was brought
back to Yonok amid great rejoicing at its extraordinary size and beauty. In
the ensuing feast and celebration, the entire population – save an old widow –
ate the eel. Shortly thereafter, a disaster occurred – probably an earthquake
and flood – which destroyed the city and killed all the inhabitants, except for
the widow who had not partaken of the eel and therefore survived the curse.
After the destruction of Yonoke, the capital of the region was moved to
Chiang Saen, which assumed Yonok’s former domains and flourished
approximately at the same time as Sukothai.

The origin of the town of Chiang Rai is attributed to King Mengrai of the
kingdom of Hiran Nakorn Ngeun Yang, which was probably located
somewhere between present day Mae Chan and Chiang Saen and may have
been a vassal of Chiang Saen.
One day King Mengrai’s favorite white elephant escaped from its keepers
and wandered south from Hiran Nakorn Ngeun Yang to the banks of the Kok
river. King Mengrai and his soldiers searched the region for the elephant and
finally found him at Doi Chome Tong, a hill located northwest of Wat Doi
Ngam Muang near the present day Chiang Rai Vidhayakhome School.
So pleased was the ruler at having recovered the elephant that he decided
to found a city at that location. So the forerunner of Chiang Rai was
established and given the name of Chainalai. Menrai’s son was installed as
the ruler.
King Mengrai also reportedly founded the city of Chiang Mai some time
after the creation of Chiang Rai. At that time, it was a given the name of
Muang Sawan (the City of Heaven). King Mengrtai died in Chiang Mai at the
age of eighty when he was struck by a bolt of lightning in the market. His
remains were brought back to Chiang Rai and according to legend are
interred in a satup on the grounds of Wat Ngam Muang. By coincidence, this
same satup has been struck by lightning.

(14) – Map: A street map [subsequently lost] of Chiang Rai in Thai and in English has been
included with this information.

Here is the numbered index to go with the map:

Hotels: 1. Krung Tong, 2. Sukniran, 3. Rung Nagar, 4. Rama Hotel, 5. Chiang
Rai Hotel.

RESTAURANTS/NIGHTLIFE: 6. Muang Tong, 7. Silana, 8. Rot Niyom, 9. Ruam Mit, 10. Sanimit, 11. Suriwong theatre, 12. Racha theatre, 13. Chiang Rai nightclub.

EMERGENCY: 14. police station, 15. provincial hospital, 16. Overbrook Mission
Hospital, 17. telephone company, 18. Isarapap auto repair, 19. It
motorcycle repair.

SERVICES/ORGANIZATIONS: 20. post office, 21. bus station, 22. taxi stand,
23. boat dock, 24. airport, 25. Thai Airways ticket office, 26. ETO
Chiang Rai, 27. market, 28. Thai Hill Crafts Foundation.

GOVERNMENT: 29. Salaklang (provincial headquarters), 30. Tiwagan (district
office), 31. Teseban (city hall), 32. fire department, 33. court building,
34. Samakkee Wittayakhom School, 35. Damrong Ratsongkraw School,
36. Chiang Rai Wittayakhom School

TEMPLES/CHURCH: 37. Wat Ngam Muang, 38. Wat Phra Gaew, 39. Wat Ming
Muang, 40. Wat Moong Muang, 41. Wat Phra Sing, 42. Wat Elang Wiang,
43. Wat Jet Yawt, 44., Wat Sri Boon Luang, 45. Wat Sri Geut, 46.
Christian Church.

(15) – Your name?

Peter C. Crall

(16) – Your present address?

Samakkee School / Chiang Rai

(17) – Forwarding address in April 1973?

Old Mill Road
Gates Mills, OH 44040
U.S.A.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Phone: 13628. Gram: Kathouse. Address: Sidi Bhawan, Thamel Paknajol,
Sathghumte, Kathmandu.

IT IS IN NEPAL WHERE…..you will be lost in the gergeous high, higher and highest
peaks on earth, you will be bewitched to see the pre-historic monuments as they were
in position, and you will enchant to see the fabulous art of the collusal pagodas of
unknown creater, wide range of fantastic wild denigens of tropical temperate and
alpine forest, the vergine culture of interwoven ethnic and the people with different
colorful costumes speaking the different languages.
Besides this, the things you will be delighted here are to see the cosmopolitan
shops for an exotic cosmetics and apparals, chaffering in the husky shops of narrow
street, smiling waiters helpful traffic police and hopeful taxi drivers.
Well, if you want to see real Nepal, you should learn an art to catch the precise look
of the time at mind and turn it timeless, nevertheless you have to stay some days in
Kathmandu. Then Question naturally comes forward. –

“Where should we stay?”

Answer???

Yes!

Kathmandu Guest House
an elegant guest house for the economy tourist like you.

KATHMANDU GUEST HOUSE is proud of its situation, lies exactly in between two main localities of Kathmandu, east gate thresholds Thahity and west gate touches
Paknajol.

Specialities: –
Enough campound for your car parking – green grass lawn for your sun basking –
beautiful gardens with fruit trees, green vegetables colourful flowers for your
phylosophical thoughts rooms quite muffeled from street noises – a big living room
with table tennis etc. for your relaxations Chinese restaurant for your refreshment
and room with different shades for your selection.
And besides this we can arrange for you to have cycle on rent to conduct tours
for sight seeing, to help for marketing, to post your letters, to develope your fims,
to sell your second hand articles, and from our mini shop, you can purchase all your
daily necessities item like postal stamps, envelopes, tooth paste, soap, etc.

BUT

We have no luxury for millionaire as well as no marijuana and Toxil drugs for
hippie friends. It is an exclusive guest house for the economy tourist like you. So
our tariff is not more than one U.S. dollar per bed even for single room.

For reservation & further details, please contact: –
Kathmandu Guest House
SIDHI BHABAN,
THAMEL – PAKNAJOL,
SATHGHUMTE
Kathmandu,
NEPAL

Phone: 13628

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

(D) – COMPENDIUM OF THAI MENU ERRORS

Eating Out
(an introduction to menus in Thailand or learning how to love
crisp fried dried shreded shrimp soft drinks…an eater’s guide)

Introduction
(most of the menu items recorded on the following pages first appeared
on the menus, sandwich boards and advertisements of various restaurants
in and around Bangkok, Thailand. Some were recorded in Chiang Mai,
Panat Nikom, Chonburi and Pattaya.

Many are literal translations from Thai or Chinese into English (e.g.
Internal Organs Soup). Some appear as they do because of typing
mistakes (e.g Roup) while some are correct as far as they go but need
an extra word or two (e.g. Soup With or Without). Other menu items
resulted from problems with the spelling or pronunciation of words in
English (e.g. Crap). And others still require some type of explanation
(e.g. Fried Big Core) — Fred Ligon, Nov., 1985

“Our special today is PORK CORD and RICE AT WILL”

ENJOY SPECIAL MENU SET:
Beverage – Red Wind; Orderft – Horse balls or Prawn Brains; Soup – Black Skin Soup
or Spicy Southern Moat; Salad – Chicken Finger Salad or Crap Salad; Entrees – Braised Supremes, Fried Big Core or Chicken Joke; Dessert – Jelly in Heavy Syrup…
WITH HONEY ATMOSPHERE

MENU 1
SEAFOOD: Price Shrimp, Corned Oyster, Crab Nippers, Fish Head in Hot Pot, Prawn
Brains, Prawn Brains in Chicken Skin, Fish Stomach, Cookles, Steamed Crab
in shredded jelly, Dressed Ark Shell, Fried Crap, Baby Clamps, Fried
Swimming Crap, Wanton Prawns, Three Flavor Crap, Mashed Prawn in Skin,
Grilled Fish Grilled, Fried Fish on the Chill, Serpent Head Fish Dish, Pin Prawns.
CHICKEN: Hot Chicken Feet, Baked Chicken with Gingle, Fried Chicken with Queen Bean,
Fried Chicken (in farts), Chicken Thighs with Appendix, Chicken on Fire, Whing
in Red Wine.
DUCK: Foot Duck Yam, Steamed Stuffed Duck’s Feet, Fried Food Duck, Fried Duch
Leg, Goose Feet in Hot Pot.
FROG: Frog Yam, Deep Fried Frog, Frog Cutlets.
PORK: Fried Porks Offal, Rice Proked in Earthen Pot with Chinese Olive, General Pork-
Beef, Fried Pig Bowel.
MEAT SPECIALTIES: Big Liver Tipsy, Cockee Yam, Lab Beef, Ox Stripes, Beef with Entrails
in Fire Pants, Fried Burro, Mix Liver Cridled, Stewed Deer Gut.
EGG: Dressing Egg, Porched Eggs, Secamed Eggs.
NOODLES: Fried Noodles with Anything, Transtarent Hoodle, Jelly Noodle.
RICE AND POTATOES: Mushed Potato Fried, Fried Rice on the Pot, Rice with Clinese
Vegetable.
SOUP: Hot Nutrition Soup, Cream of Soup.
SALAD: Chicken Finger Salad, Wimpy Salad, Pig’s Appendix Salad, Cock Salad, Crap
salad, Jelly Noodle Salad.
HOUSE SPECIALTIES: Fried Eight Tastes, Tail, Dove Curry, Nutrition on the Meat Crab,
Steamed Four Kings, Fried Eight Kings, Spring Rool, Fried Big Core.
EXTRAS: Cashnuts, Cahnets, Casher Nats.
DESSERT OR THE DAY: Pie Apple, My Favorite Sundae, Ice Cream Jally, Timed Fruit,
Prunes Ice Cream, Hawaiian Jelly, Banana Spilt, Banana Spit.
BEVERAGES: Egg Knock, Tomato with Sprite.

WE DO OUTSIDE CAGERING!!

MENU 2
HORS D’OCUVRES: Three tasted Hors D’ocuvres, Sated eggs, Grilled black band,
A Hundred Years of Old Eggs.
SALAD: Yam Meat Balls Salad, Clod Beef Salad, Feet Part Salad, Piquant Salad
Entrails, Piquant Salad Cocks.
SOUP: Rice Soup with Eichen, Cream of the Day, Stomash Fish Soup, Fish Soupin
Fire Pan.
SANDWICHES: Sheesh Sandwich, Egg Sandwieh.
FROG: Special Fried Frog, Frof Red Wine.
HORSE: Horse Balls.
PORKS: Pork Ears, Cold Pig’s Leg Chinese Style, Fried Pork Paste, The Popularity
Created Pork Sausage, Sausage Grill of Popularity Created.
CHICKEN: Sour Hot Chicken’s Feet, Fried Chicken With, Malaysia Fried Chicken
Chaiang Mai Style, Ffred Honey Chicken, Fried Chicken Wines, Bouiled
Chicken with Plumbs.
BEEF: Gordon Blue, Stewedox Tonbue, Cheeskabob, Fillile Mingong.
COMMON BETWEEN FOOD: Bake Piegon with Tonic, Braised Supremes, Paper Steak,
100 year old Duck Eggs Covered with Insides, Stewed Beefor Chicken
Swing.
FISH: Fried Fatty Catfish, Fried Fish with Several Kinds, Catfish (Green and Sour),
Stuffed Stomash Fish.
SHRIMP: Three Musheteers of Drided Shrimps, Shrimp Fried With Broccery, Yam
Shrimp A La Mode.
OTHER SEAFOOD: Prawn A La New Boug, Baked Prawns w/Bubble Beer, Fried Cereal
Coaling Crab’s Claws, Bar B Q Fertile Squid, Crab With Her Egg, Fried Rice
With Crap.
OTHER: Fried Flora Army, Eighteen Crowns, Cancer Celi, Fried Cristy Duch.
VEGETABLES: Mashrooms, Fried Green Pea, A Sparagus.
DESERT: Water Melow, Hawaiiam, Dineapple, Marple Syrup.
BEVERAGES: Smooties, Single Bear, Mark Hong.
TODAY’ SPECIAL: Roller or Toast.

MENU 3
APPETIZERS: Vegetarian Roll, Chicken or Beah with tomato catchup, Dueks feeef cooked
with Mushrms, Thai Style Reef with Cucumber, Fried Bees with
Vegetables.
SALAD: Crisp Cap Salad, Chep Salad, Chaf Salad.
SOUP: Sukiyaki Soup or Without, Clear of Vegetable Soup, Dry Fish Soup, Chinese
Sea Fooe Soup, Corn and Egg Roup, Rice Roup, Black Skin Soup.
CHICKEN: Roast Chicken Wing in Brawn Sauce, Fried Chicken ion Envelopeed, Fried
Chicken Calfs.
BEEF: Fried Beef w/Blocory, Fried Beef with Garlic and Peeppes, Deep Fried Beef
with Peppar.
PORK: Fried Pig’s Stomach w/Pickles, Hog Maw, Fried Pig’s Ap Pen Dix, Steamed
Pork and Power Egg.
NOODLES: The Fried Noodle, Cream Noodle Any King, Pried Noodle.
SOUP OF THE DAY: Hot Canned Fish Salad.
SHRIMP: Fried Duck w/Shrimp Fake, Shrimp Paddies, Shrimp Cookeat with
Mushrooms, Crisp Shrimp Balls.
PRAWNS: Sreamed Prawns, Steamed Prawds in Earten Pot, Fried Prawn with Starch,
CRAB: Fried Crab with Onion Stem, Fried Crab Spincers with Starch, Crabmeat
Cookeat with Mushrooms.
FISH: Steamed Fish in Prune Sauce.
OTHER SEAFOOD: Steamed PIncess, Poched Cockle.
TODAY’S SPECIAL: Wanton Noodles witr Noodles.
FLOWER: Fried Morning Glory.
TRAB: Broken Slat Trab.
HOUSE SPECIALTIES: Pork Pickles, Eardrum Sausages.
DESSERT: Group Peacock.
DRINKS: Hongtong, Polalis.

A SIMPLE BUT ELEGANT

MENU 4
APPETIZERS: Fried Eight Things, Fried Goun, High Way Sundry Squid, Fried Nut.
SALAD: Ear’s Pig Salad, Cow’s Tongue Salad, Duck Salad, Limpid Noodle Salad,
Dies Shrimps Salad, Pickled Turnip Salad, Chicken Claws Salad.
SOUP: Sour Lost Soup, Pig’s Stomoach Soup, Bond of Pork Soup, Minced Meat
With Internal Organs Mushrooms Roup, Minced Meat With Internal Organs
Seaweed Soup, Rickled Plumps Soup, Bonito Boiled Soup, Cockle Boiled
Soup.
READY-MADE FOOD: Breakfast, Fried Forg, Dressed Fish, Chicken Frog with Holy
Basil, Horning Glory with Snail Oil.
AN ADDITION: White vegetable, Dried Mushrooms With Pork With Stick Of Bean-Jelly,
All Sides Vegetable Fried, Pork Fried In Burnt Chili Paste, Frozen Porks.
SPECIAL FOODS: Cold Pork Leg, Goose Duck Soya Sauce With Special Tifs.
PRAWNS: Prawn Oncnarcoal Faied, Prawn Nith Gralig a Peper, Peaswith Porks
Prawns.
SEAFOOD: Fried Shrimp in Batter With Sweet Savoe Seperfely Sewed, Shrimp with
Noodie, Fried Pickled Crabs, Chinese Fish With Pickled Plump, Fish Balls.
CHICKEN AND DUCK: Sqiced DicedChicken, Onion Duck, Chicken Strak.
SUNDRIES: Bowel Pig or Tongue Pig or Ear Pig, Stewed Deer Gut, Hot Dressed
Cashew, Fried Meat-Egg, Crab Sausage (Fried).
NOODLES: Fried Noodle Toppin with Cookeo Vegetable, Fried Noodle Toppin Owithvarvs
Meate.
DRINKS: Crisp Fried Dried Shreded Shrimp Soft Drink, Coola, Mackong.
SPECIAL OF THE DAYS: Corn Tried.

MENU 5
SOUP: Pig Entrails in Clear Soup, Spicy Southern Moat.
BREAD: Hard Row, Sesame Horn, Poppy Seed Row, Duck Puffs.
FIRST COURSES: Half Fresh Oyster, Wrapped Fermented Pork, Salty Prunes, Pillinut,
The “Only One” Stewed.
RICE DISHES: Black Glutinous Rice, Fried Rice with Sweet Basin, Rice Cruel.
CHICKEN: Chicken Joke, Volcano Chicken, Fairy Chicken, Hot Mixed Chicken Feet.
PORK: Pig’s Brain, Hot Mixed Rolled Pork, Double Boiled Pig’s Brain.
BIRD: Bird Curry, Fried Rice Bird, Hot Fried Rice Birds.
DUCK: Fried Duck Feet with Asparagus, Duck Noodles.
CRAB: Fried Crab Balls, Curry Crads, Famous Crab Meat Pudding, Grilled Swimming
Crabs.
PRAWNS AND SHRIMP: Burned Prawns, Alive Shrimps, Died Shrimps.
FISH: Milk Fish and Vegetables, Deep Fried Soft Fish, Fried Butter Fish with Full Stuff,
Brittle Fish, Fried Stuffing Fish Stomach, Steamed Butter Fish with Salty prunes,
Fried Fish Balls.
BEEF: Steahed Steak, Fermeuted Beef, Fried Beef Salt.
SPECIALS: Famous Serpenthead Pudding, Spicy Gourd, Grilled Cockles, Hot mixed
Entrails, Baked Shell.
SPECIAL OF THE WEEK: Crisp Fist.
DESSERT: Jelly in Heavy Syrup.
BEVERAGES: Closter Beer, Cora, Coin Treu.
PLOPEYE’S FAVORITE: Spinach.

MENU 6
SOUPS: Crimson Soup, Fish Maw Soup, Soup with Stuff Balsam Apple, Pig Soup,
Shredded Jelly Soup With Chopping Pork, Spicy Snakehead Soup.
SALADS: Ryan’s Daughter Salad, Combine Vegetables.
TITBITS: Thai Titbits, Chicken Balls, Seaweed Chicken Balls, Fried Fish Paste, Crab
Paddle, China Wall, Tail of Dragon, Steamed Crab Nippers, Stewed Fat,
Black Band Travelly, Jade of Prawn.
EGGS: With Fried Egg, Omelet with Choppina Pork, Guail Eggs, Brown Sweetened Salted
Boiled Egg, Fried Green Omelet.
STUFF: Stuffed Duck Claw, Omelet Stuffed With Rice Sticks, Fried Stuff Omelet.
STEMINA FOOD: Fried Chicken Entrails With Chilli, Dishes Separate Curry, Steammed
Crab With Anything, Chicken Meat With Vampire Mushrooms, Eel in Red Sea,
Pig Maw, Pig Offal.
GENERAL: Fresh Fish Bowel, Claw in Crab Fat, Unforgettable, Stewed Goose Claw,
Prawn Family, Naked Duck, Two Tastes of Big Claw, Roasted Chicken With
Beer.
ONE DISHES PLATE: Fried Crab Craws, Minutes Steak, Shunk Steak, Dubble Filet,
Fried Four Things, Steamed Three Family, Fourth Prince.
LIGHT MEALS: Sauted Frog, Bird Thai, Sweetened Salted Pork Leg, A Piece Of Fried
Chicken, Fried Sheat Fish, Shish-ka-Bub.
DAILY FOOD: Pig Skin Sourly Cooked, Shredded Jelly Pig Skin and Chicken Leg Sourly
Cooked, Canned Fish Sourly Cooked, Ox Entrails Sourly Cooked, Smoke Fish
Sourly Cooked, Cat Fish Sourly Cooked.
FOUNTAINS: Black Beer, Gloster, Sweet Green Water, Sweet Red Water, Ice (per small
box), Libton Tea.
DESSERTS: Ice Cream Burger, Combine Fruits, Banana Sprit, Banaba Boat, Yelly Ice
Cream, Sandae.
SPECIAL OF THE DAY: Pork Cord.

MENU 7

SOUP: Sliced Chicken Soup, Shark’s Fin Insoup, Plain Soup Flandred With Seafood.
SALAD: Rose Salad, Salad Surround.
APPETIZERS: Presered Black Eggs, Fried Eels Sauts, Dries Chilli, Diced Frog, Fried
Mixed Shreded Pork Eggs, French Ride, Fried Cap, 3 Tastes of Snake Head,
2 Hards Eggs.
MISCELLANEOUS: Mongolian, Shreded Sourly Cooked.
VEGETABLES: Cabbage With Chicken Oil, Bam Boo Shoot.
RICE & NOODLES: Phia Rice, Fried Beef Pour Noodles.
PORK: Roasted Pork Crose Style, Pork Shops, Sparerip.
BEEF: Bar B Q Fat Beef, Penang Beef (Thai Style).
HAMBURGERS, SANDWICHES, ETC.: Berger, Chese Burke, Hamburke, Humburke, Egg
Burker, Sardine Oil Sandwich.
OUR FAVORITES: Roasted Beet or Charcoal Fire, Spewed Butterfish Served With White
Bean Curdle Soup.
TODAY’S SPECIAL: Sesamed Sea Blubber.
CHICKEN: Fried Chicken Balls, Flying Chicken, Wrapped Chicken, Roasted Chicken
w/Ornage Juice, Chicken Butter.
SEAFOOD: Fried Shrimps With Crisp Ride, Canfish Cooked, Steamed Inside Dresseo
Fish, Shrim, Stewed Fish Bowel, Mackarel (Cooked Slices Butter).
BEVERAGE & DESSERTS: Coconut Per Grass, Flanbees, Flaming, Jelly P.

MENU 8
BREAKFAST: Aspirin (with a glass of water), alkaselzter (with a glass of water), Rum
Omelette, Corn Flake (with milk).
SOUP: Steamed Pig’s Brain Soup, Shrimp Ball Soup, Sinew Soup, Tongue Soup.
SALAD: Mix Slad, Sardine Oil Mix Salad, Tuna Oil Mix Salad, Bean String Salad,
Fermented Pork Salad, Jelly Fish Salad.
SANDWICH SPECIAL: Tuner Sandwich.
CARTE: Tendon, Fried Peas Nut, Mached Potatoes, Freshly Boiled Eggs, Wild Curry, A
Magical Taste of Cashew Nut.
SANACKS: Plean Pizza, Poak.
SPECIAL OF THE DAY: Oven With Minced Pork.
VEGETABLES AND PASTES: Fried Woodle With Shrimp, Fried Prawn With Top Corn,
Stuff With Chicken Liver.
FISHS: Crab Balls, Scrimps, Octopussy.
BEEF MEAT: Beef bamboo, Fried Peef, Panland Steak.
PORKS: Smoted Ham, Fried Brad Pork Ontop.
TRY OUR: Fried Mandoo.
SPECIAL OF THE WEEK: Jump In Your Mouth Pork With Ham, Roman Style.
DESSERT AND DISHES: Ice Cream Per Ball, Flame with VSOP.
BEVERAGE: Fresh Beer.

ENJOY YOUR FAVORITE CAKES AND SWEETNESS WITH OUR DAILY PRODUCT!

MENU 9
SALADS: Dry Fly’s Salad, Salad At Will.
SOUPS: Consomme With Diablotins, Clear of Soup, Big Noodle Soup.
SANDWICHES: Tuna Fish of Chicken Sandwich, Fish Breadcrubh, Cheese Baker Sandwich.
APPITIZER: Chicken Thig, Floating Rice, Crystal Pig Ear, Fried Pork Pepper, Chracoaled
Beef.
SPECIAL TO DAY: Dishe.
FROM OUR CARTE: Potapo, Yong Corn, Shimpcake, Magaroni, Crispy Snakehead Mullet,
Weaverbird in Red Wine, Toast Bread, Spaghelti, American Fired Rice.

WE NOW HAVE THAI BOILED RICE AT WILL!

SIAM EXTRA FOOD: Prowns, Crippy Noodles, Bean Off Shoot, Chop Pork, Noolde, Fried
Cap.
FAST FOOD: Chicken Honey, Sping Rools, Chilly Sauce.
HOUSE SPECIALTIES*:
1. Fillet of Seabrass
2. Chicken Bonekess
3. Fried Beef Sautee with Holy Basil Leaves
4. Steak with Green Pepper Butter.
5. Sea Duck
*All items above served with Fried Wang Dang Noodles.
CHEF’S SUGGESTION: Jumping Pork.

WE HAVE CHINESS FOOD, JAPENESS FOOD OR DELICIOS WITH RUSSIAN
STYLE!

SEAFOOD: Muddy Fish, Prawn Ork Pork, Pignant Pork, Prawn Put On Rice, Siamese
Shrimps?.
CHICKEN: Chop Chicken, Simmer Chicken, Chicken Stick.
BEEF: Spigned Beef, Tongue Cow, A Day Dried Beef, Beef w/ Been Sauce.
DESERTS: Dennish, Ice Cream Food.

MENU 10
SOUP: Pork Stomach Soup, Eelg Soup, Han and Eel Soup, Chinese Soup on Fire,
Thai Soup on Fire.
SALAD: Chee’s Salad, Spicy Vermincelli Salad.
COLD BUFFT: Fish Mow, Serpart, Sliced Noodle, Taslgfulof Verierty Meat, Preserved
Egg in Potash.
NOODLES: Slamese Noodles, Fried Nodle.

ENJOY SPECIAL MENU SET WITH HONEY ATMOSPHERE

ODERFT: Park Dumpling, Pork Curd, Toasted Fish, Rich Fish Ball, Frog Thighs, Fired
Chicken, Fridee Fu Yong.
PORK: Noisette Pork, Pig Stomach (Cold), Pork Heart, Pork Entrails.
EXTRAS: Fried Noodles meat white, Fried Famous Fish with Thai Orpice, Breen Vegetable,
Fried Glalic.
HOUSE SPECIALS:
1 Crab Tried Curry
2 Fish File
3 Chicken Blood in Soup
4 Duck Entrails
5 Chicken Intestines
6 Crisped Geese
7 Brailed Prawn
8 Braused Beef

WHY NOT TRY OUR FISH GLUE OR LEVER

ALL ITEMS ABOVE SERVED WITH: White Greens, and Delicios Rice Cooking in Pot, and
Sesame Seed Sroth.
MEAT: Beef with Aeromatic Herbs, Noodnoodte with meat, Beef Willington, Braised Pig’s
with Chinese Bread.
SEAFOOD: Nature Lover’s Seafood Thai, Crab with Carry.
BEVERAGES: Greenjuice, Redjuice, White Wine or Red Wind.

” I WOULD LIKE THE HOUSE WIND PLEASE”

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

MY SPEECH AT DAMRONG SCHOOL’S FAREWELL PARTY FOR US.
MAY 1973

Rian phuu chuay suksatigan changwat, ajaan Bunjong lae paliya, kaek phuu mii giat took than. Rusak ben giat maak tii day rap cheun maa naay ngaan liang song keun ni. Kawpkhun maak tii hy giat pom phuut naa awgat samkan nii.
Pom maa ben khruu sawn naay pratayt Thai ben wella sahm pii laew tawng caak Chiang Rai naay wan pruengnii laew.
Kanadiuogan tii pom sawn naay pratayt Thai, pratayt Thai kaw sawn pom paay duay. Prawn Prawn gan pom kaw day rian lae suksaa gio gop watantam lae kwam ben yuu kawng khon Thai. Ying kwaa nan, pom lian pasaa Thai lae haat phuut samam sameu.
Krang Raek tii pom maa yuu tii nii, pom day rap kwaam ope oon, lae gaan dawn rap, kwam chuay leua, yang cing cai caak ajaan Bunjong lae khruu ajaan took than sameu. Tii nii khruu ajaan took than ruam ngaan lae chuay gan ben yang dii. Praw rongrian Samakkee nii som cheu cing cing.
Kit waa may tong klua rawk waa pom ca leum muang Thai praw pom day ban jew kwam song jam gio gop pratayt Thai long heap song pay America.
Pom ca may leum dek nakrian tii keuy sawn, lae gitchigam lonmg lian tang tang, yang chen chumboon pasaa angkrit, wan gila, ngaan wan Christmas, lae ruam tang ngaan liang song kranf nii ben ton. Doi cha praw yang ying, tutsanasuksaa saay sangkom suksaa pay Chiang Saen lae Sukothai tii powm chawp maak maak. Tutsanasuksaa nii sanuk dii lae pom day kwam ruu maak gio gop prawatisat Thai.
Samrap phaak nuia laew, pom pratap jai tamachat, akaat yen dii, lae phuu khaow suay ngam tii pom chawp pay tio. Lae cha may leum Chiang Rai, muang tii nah yuu lae kamlang patana yang ruwat reo leey.
Pom may ruu waa anakote cha ben youngray mua pom clap pay America laew. Bang tii choke chaataa aat ca nam pom lae khrawpkhrua clahp maa Chiang Rai kranf nung kaw day. Toah ben ching, pom kong cha dii jai maak tii suht..
Sutai nii, pom yahk cha khawpkhun kruu ajaan took tahn iik khrang nung.
Khawpkhun khrap.
Sawat dii.