Photo9 Northern Thailand 2

Northern Thailand2 - 30 years ago

Northern Thailand by motor-cycle almost 30 years ago!

I was visiting Northern Thailand, Chiang Rai and Maesai area around 1975. It was not so easy to arrive there at that time. Not many foreigners made this trip. Still some pictures are in my archives, pictures quality is not so good anymore, but it is a very nice rememberance of my first trip to Northern Thailand by motor-cycle.

Dusty roads!

At that time, many roads were unpaved... Difficult by motorcycle, very very dusty, when dry and impossible to move on when rain.

Also driving a car was not easy!

Cars were often overloaded, and the dry sand everywhere made it difficult to move on, very slippery when moving down from Doi Tong mountain area on this sandy road - dangerous!

Three Akha women

The Akha hilltribe women are all working in the fields and carrying often heavy goods home - no Akha men seen working anything....The woman in the middle is smoking opium.

My motorcycle and one of the Akha women

Akha women are very friendly to foreigners, and do not mind to pose for a picture against some little coins. - Even at that time, where only few foreigners made that trip.

Better go by boat

Streets around Chiang Rai area were very bad 30 years ago. Many people preferred to use one of the boats instead. Picture taken at Chiang Rai boat station, not far from market place.

Water-wheel

The river water was very clean and was used in the small town of Chiang Rai for washing clothes, gardening, even washing food at the nearby market. The water-wheel was connected to a water-drain to the market.

Between Chiang Rai and Maesai

I made a ride with the motor-cycle and made a short visit in a Thai village. This was the main-road from Chiang Rai to Maesai.

Thai village near Mae Chan

One out of the many small villages in that area.

Thai girl called Nipaporn

This girl, only 17 years old, is already orphan and has to take care of her two grand-mothers, the only survivors of the family. She works sometimes in Chiang Rai or is working in the strawberry fields outside near the village.

Nipaporn and her grand-mothers

These Thai people are living in poverty, but feel satisfaction of their lives, and did not ask me for anything in return, when I was entering the village and finally their house, which is nothing more than a shelter made of wood and grass against the rain. No electricity, no canalisation, no water-supply. - The girl has to pay rent for making use out of the land, as it is not her land, where the house is located.

JOHANN's HOMEPAGE, TOKYO - Northern Thailand, 30 years ago