Happy Father's Day to Uncle Chng!

Thank you for supporting me no matter how stupid my ideas were 

Today, I asked you what is the first word I spoke when I was a toddler

You proudly said "papa"

Love, Cass 

I'm actually back from this Thailand trip for close to two months already 

The purpose of this trip is to spend Songkran with my Thai family

It's been 10 years since my last trip back 

I honestly didn't know what to expect 

10 years can do a lot of things 

My grandparents have passed on, my cousins have married, my uncle has a son and the cows are long dead

But the hospitality they've shown us is something I can never experience in Singapore 

Anyway, we took a night flight and we reached Chiang Mai at 11pm

We couldn't do anything but walked to the night bazaar for some roti prata, Mum's recommendation 

I had the corn and condensed milk one 

Not bad! 

Met up with one of my cousin who came to Chiang Mai to set up a stall at the night bazaar about a year ago 

Mum's kampong is around 3 1/2 hour drive away 

His wife and daughter came along too 

This is what we have each morning in Chiang Mai 

Super nice and cheap! 

I always request for more pig blood and we had char nom yan = thai milk tea too

We didn't take any tuk tuks cos there are too many of us so we opt for songthaew, converted truck with two rows of seats which is why it's named songthaew(two rows)

It's a cheap form of transport for us, 20 baht per person(S$0.80)

I'm super glad cousin's wife came along with us! :D 

My thai relatives are super nice, they can drop everything they are doing  just to accompany us while we were there 

Talk more about this later on

My cousin and his family runs a stall in the night bazaar but they took the effort to wake up in the morning to accompany us around Chiang Mai, thank you!

His wife knows the place very well and she helped me nego with the stall owners, I practically got every 30 to 50% off! 

We didn't go to places tourists frequent though 

It was those wholesale place

I also went to buy sausages and sweet meat my dad requested for

Took the opportunity to shop more cos after tomorrow, we will be in the kampong and there are literally zero shopping place

You need to drive 20 mins to get meat!

Paiseh, I went off track lol 

Afterwards, we bought some sticky rice, marinated meat, pork ribs and stuffed thai sausages back to the hotel 

Apparently it's a famous store, there are a lot of people! 

Dad say we always eat the food there every time we come back

These are some of the tribal things I got 

100% handmade!

But most of them are for crazy gang and smelly 

Rested a bit after lunch and we went to the night bazaar! 

Dinner first then visit cousin's stall

Really have to thank them 

They braved the heat, sacrificed their sleep just to accompany us (me in particular cos I bought the most things) to shop, bring us to places with the best and cheapest things

And it's the first time I met cousin's wife and daughter, my thai relatives are too nice to us (: 

They sell mirrors and fruit baskets 

They also have customised key chains

We are their first customers 

I saw cousin's wife dust our things and I asked why 

Apparently, the first sale of the day is very important 

If they dust the first item they sell, more sales would follow 

Call me superstitious but there are a lot of tourists who went to their stall after us!

Cousin and us! 

Really got to take my hats off him 

Mum told me he is a degree holder and yet he chose to set up a stall 

He used to be a monk which explains his character 

Very mild tempered, happy go lucky, simple minded, easily content

He hurt his hand years ago and it was quite serious he needed surgery but the family couldn't afford it so Mum gave him money for the surgery

Wonder how my mum do this for years 

Gave my uncle money to get a bike, gave my younger aunt and older uncle money to build houses, gave my cousin money to get married 

And that's on top of raising us

Wed I even accompanied her to get shoes for my aunt for her traditional thai dancing

Ought to respect her more

Mum and cousin's daughter 

The mirrors they are selling

One side is concave and the other convex

Soap craving

Mum bought a few 

The night bazaar stretches for miles 

There are quite a few street artists

If I knew I would come here to get my O level art piece LOL

Confirm A1!

Key chains I customised for crazy gang and smelly at cousin's stall!

His wife made them for me (: 

Actually I made a mistake, I forgot to tell her which animal is for which name but miraculously, she only got maureen and aster's wrong!

That day, some bad things happened 

We booked a van to bring us around Chiang Mai and the driver is supposed to drive us back to the kampong the next day

But he came with a missing license plate van and we got suspicious but mum told us to get in the van anyway

The driver did quite a good job actually 

He brought us to Mae Sa elephant camp and some temple, quite friendly 

Until we paid him 

We've got a bigger problem now 

We are suppose to go back kampong next day and it's their new year, it's near impossible to get a van to drive us back 

We seek help from our hotel and were told the price would be twice or thrice the original amount but thankfully, mum's friend's uncle is going back to his kampong quite near ours so he could bring us back, at normal rate. Yay! 

Oh ya, elephant camp lol

Very little pictures are day 2 cos I took videos of the elephant performance and it drained the camera's battery, heh

Some temple, very famous according to the van driver

Reached the temple loh!

It's a temple up the hill and we have two options to get to the temple 

Walk up or take the elevator which costed very little 

Mum chose to take elevator LOL 

And it's one of the scariest time of my life, a big black dog went into the elevator with us! 

Shit man! I hid at a corner lol

But I got to say the dog is super smart, he knows to take the elevator leh!

Other dogs ran up the hill he take elevator hahaha

We were given a piece of paper each to recite thrice as we walk three rounds 

It was translated in english alphabets so it was quite ok for me 

I finished reciting at 2 1/2 round and bro couldn't finish

It was scorching hot that day! 

We had to remove our shoes and leave them at the shoe cabinet

The cemented floor is cooler than the coloured tiles 

Such intricate cravings 

This is suppose to be at the top but I'm lazy to move it up, haha

We went back hotel to rest awhile then we head to the night bazaar

It's not the same one though

This one only open during weekend but since it's very near new year, it is open as well 

We saw this stall that sell drinks in bamboo!

I chose the chrysanthemum tea

Fried insects!

If you look past the appearance, they taste pretty buttery 

This night bazaar has rows and rows of food stalls 

We had some food there 

Not bad, not bad

But the cockles are so hard to open we eventually gave up on those ): 

Mei you hum chi liao 

 We got up bright and early to prepare for our ride back the kampong 

I was dreading this day cos in my memory, the kampong has A LOT of cats and dogs 

In fact, my aunt has three

Mum bought a whole styrofoam box of seafood back for relatives cos the area don't have seafood

One of the days, she bought durians on the way back 

Chiang Mai don't have durians, they have to be delivered from Bangkok

We stopped along some hot spring place to have lunch

And we reached Doong Boon Nak! 

It's the name of mum's kampong

There, mum gave her family a lot of things, we practically dragged 140kg of things there 

I learnt a very valuable lesson that day 

We packed our unwanted clothes, bags and hand phones for them and they were so appreciative

A few years ago, Mum brought back my Mr Happy shirt for them 

My aunt's husband is still wearing them 

I'm ashamed because I thought the shirt was out of fashion, I chucked it aside 

But to my thai family, a shirt is a shirt, they don't care about the design, the pattern or how much it cost

The girls and ladies got my wallets 

I was surprised the amount of unwanted wallets could be given to so many people! 

Sheepishly , I still have a lot at home, heh

This time round, dad passed me a lot of his clothes for them 

I thought it was nice of him since he and mum have already divorced 

His clothes were given to my cousins and my uncles 

Afterwards, another of cousin came over to drive us to get necessities like instant noodles, meat and fruits 

At this point of time, a lot of people have started splashing water at each other 

My relatives graciously let us sit in the truck( it could fit 5) while they sat at the back 

I am grateful to my cousin who drove us around, it was for so many days, to super far places like 3 hour rides many times a day, not on normal roads but dirt roads 

He is supposed to be resting since it was his new year holiday but he gave it up to drive us around 

Almost all my relatives did that

They braved the heat, sitting at the back of the truck for hours

Back to the point, everyone in the family made it a point to cook something and bring it to grandparents' house to eat dinner with us

I appreciate it 

Everyone thought that I hate going back because there are cats and dogs everywhere but that's not true, I place my thai family above them 

Guess I am too comfortable with not showing feelings 

 For the first time among our visits back there, we didn't sleep at grandparents' house 

My uncle is living there now and he has his own family 

My aunt graciously let us sleep at hers

We call her On Kaew

She is the younger aunt 

My older aunt is Pa Kaew

I am closest to On Kaew and her husband cos they took great care of me 

Bro's favourite person there is Pa Kaew's husband 

He gave him chilled fruits, brought the fan out of the house for him, gave him a lot of thai amulets

This might not seem a lot 

But for these people who has little to give but yet gave so much, I am amazed, we didn't know what we do to receive so much from them

For On Kaew, she slept beside me and every night when I woke up in the middle of the night, she would ask me a ton of questions 

I can understand but I can't speak much thai

She would ask if it was too hot, if I need the blanket, is it the mosquitoes, do i want more bolster, do i need the toilet 

I basically shook my head until she got it right 

And this is for every night 

Such dedication

One night mum and bro went to see the performance in the kampong, I opt to stay in the house with aunt's husband and cousin 

On Kaew came back earlier to accompany me

This is the view in front of On Kaew's house

I sat there every morning 

On Kaew has a dog 

He is the most timid dog I've ever seen

If you want to feed him, he will run away until you are far away then he come back to eat 

He is even scared of dust particles HAHAHA

But he is the most loyal and bravest dog I've ever seen
When we went out, he will follow us 

When we went to the kampong's temple, he also followed us, I sat in the middle of 6 big dogs but I wasn't so scared

The last night we were staying in Thailand, we stayed at a hotel in Phayao cos it's easier for us to travel to the airport though Phayao is only 1 hour away from the kampong

The dog followed the truck and he fought with three dogs cos he wanted to protect us, wow. 

It was super aggressive I really thought he will die 

This dog that chose his owners over his own kind, wow 

And he never play with other dogs, he stayed at On Kaew's house all day

On Kaew's husband asked me if I could stay one more night 

It's so sad, cos we are going back the next day and he only asked me 

I will miss them

We slept in mosquito nets cos the bugs were so deadly and incredible 

Bro is still sleeping inside 

He had the time of his life 

The left side of the house 

You can see a small part of my grandparents' house

Next year, we will be going back for one month 

Will be building a house there cos mum say we should have our own house so that we won't have to trouble the rest every time we come back 

On Kaew's dog!

He is actually more grayish than brown 

And then after breakfast, the whole brood of us went to visit Aunty Joy' house

Aunty Joy is mum's former employee 

We were resting at some lake while mum call her for her address

Aunty Joy married a malay man

There are quite a number of thai women who married muslim men in Singapore

She only spent 15k building her house! 

Was supposed to go Aunty Ivy's house but we couldn't find the place 

Bro and I traded place with my aunts 

They sit in the truck while we sat at the back cos it was such a terrible weather! 

But we got splashed with water every 5 mins so it's quite ok for us

It actually got quite cold at the end cos we were travelling high speed 

But! The people there basically used any type of water to splash us! 

Tap water, mud water, coloured water and ICED WATER!

Wah fuck, the iced water is super super torturing!

 The whole brood of us went to visit the elders!

Basically grandpa and grandma's siblings

We didn't managed to visit them all cos some were not home

This is at grandpa's younger brother's house 

That's On Kaew beside mum!

This is what we typically give the elders 

In Thailand, once you start working you need to give the elders money during Songkran 

Mum bought the shirt and watch in Singapore

She got them for all the elders on top of her immediate family

The lady in pink is Pa Kaew! 

She is wearing the top mum got for her from Singapore 

They really appreciate the things we got for them

My cousins wore dad's shirts too 

They are not picky of the things you gift them 

They understand the thought you put in to get them overseas, bring them there so that they can wear it for Songkran 

This part, I need to learn 

They have an elder sister who died at 18 

Everyone say I look like her 

But I saw her pictures, she is quite pretty leh HAHAHAHA

Buying cantaloupes along the road!

We bought a lot of them, each house gets quite a few!

They are two of the elders we visited 

Very convenient for us cos grandpa's sister married grandma's brother! :D

I really like their house. It was built 2m above ground, they have hammocks below their house, a corner to lepak and their house is super big and clean!

They really resembled my late grandparents

I miss them a lot

Last time when we come back, mum, dad and bro always go out while I stayed home with grandparents 

Grandma always woke up super early to buy breakfast for us and grandpa always sat with me 

I used to take a lot of their rice to feed the chickens 

Maybe I'll go dig up some old photos of us and them and post it here

 I suppose this is their address? 

They laugh at me when I took this picture haha

We went back the house, load a huge container with water and lots of pails 

We are going to the streets to play with water too!

You know, over the past few days we kanna splash like nobody's business and we can't retaliate!

It's no use buying those toy guns! Bring huge container! 

And wear dark coloured clothes cos light coloured ones can be seen through

Obviously we didn't take pictures but I found this picture

except our container is blue and there were 10 of us at the back! 

We went to this stretch of road where a lot of trucks were there and it was near the river so we refilled water a lot of times, 10 baht for each refill ( S$0.40)

It was a lot of fun but Songkran is a dangerous period too 

Around  2000 people died during Songkran 2012

Some are of people playing at roadside 

Cars can't see them so they got knocked down

But the most common is of motorists getting splashed and losing vision, they often skid off the road or ram into other vehicles

It doesn't help that almost anyone can ride a bike in Thailand 

Many times, on the way up the mountains, there was incidents where kids splashed water at the cars behind them 

One of them dropped the pail they were holding onto, it hit the car at the back

The entire car went down the mountain

Everyone died in the car 

We saw the corpse of a cat on the road too 

The head was missing and no one can retrieve the body cos it was a very busy road 

When we went back kampong, we walked to get some sand and dumped it at the temple

It was one of the tradition

The temple wrote the names of people who donate on the things they donate for

It's nice to see my grandpa's name on the main pillar of the temple (:

There are a lot of dogs at the temple! But On Kaew's dog guard us

 It is last day already, we are flying back tomorrow 

Mum wanted to bring us to the border across burma, the border across laos, wat rongkhun and a lot of other places but we didn't have enough time ): 

We only managed mae sai and the border across laos cos we have to go back kampong to get our luggage and drive an hour to Phayao to stay there for the night, easier to travel to airport

We didn't take pictures at Mae Sai 

Mae Sai is the northern most part of Thailand 

I didn't buy much except local tea leaves for my Singapore uncle who suffered a stroke a few days ago and more sweet meat for dad

Quite a lot of things to buy actually

I guess I'm learning on the lessons I've been taught days earlier? 

I didn't buy anything for myself

The picture below is one if the temple at the border of Laos

It was very late when we went back Doong Boon Nak to get our luggage

We wanted to have mookata, thai steamboat with them the last time again but it was closing already 

We just went into some random shop, ordered whatever was left 

But it was still nice though 

The next day, we went to the market nearby hotel to place a container for the thai amulets Pa Kaew's husband gave bro cos it's cheaper to get it done in Thailand and it's a lot! like 20 plus amulets

Cousin already arrived with the rest

They traveled with us to the airport in even hotter weather

Again, we sat in the truck 

A bit sad that we can't go back in November for Loy Krathong cos this is what I will miss

Things I got, super little considering that food were all for dad(sausage,sweet meat,perserved fruits, egg rolls) notebooks, wallets, pencil cases and key chains for friends

But it's ok, I still have next year, bring more money over!

And I will make sure to bring another cam and batteries!

It surprised me I spent less than SGD200 there for 7 days

I have the most amount of money left even though I shopped the most among us LOL

Same case as Taiwan trip!

It was a very fruitful trip that taught me so much and I feel very special knowing that I'm half thai and I have a huge family there! 

I have 11 aunts and uncles and some I have never met! I've only met 6!