jiejie

This thread is bringing back interesting comparative memories, I can remember living in Chiang Mai (1967) when it wasn't much more than an overgrown village like Luang Prabang. CM with only 50K people total--including maybe 500 foreigners living there--was one cool little backwater then with the nicest people anywhere. Definitely go to LP now.

jbcarioca

Do I know you? I was there for a few weeks in 1967 also, when I made my grand tour of Thailand and Laos driving my Mazda Familia. I lived in the tiny fishing village of Pattaya at the time.

As the saying goes, "you can't go back..."

DownTheRappitHole

Without quetion, Luang Prabang over Chiang Mai.

Not to encourage drift, but do either of you have any pictures you'd be willing to share? That sounds incredible! Recently read that Thailand in ~1970 or so saw fewer tourists a year than Myanmar did last year.

jbcarioca

My spouse is searching for them. Angor Wat at the time had just the Royal Guest house (now the Raffles), most famous tourist places were just villages. Pattaya, where I lived, had a very few foreign residents, among them people who operated three restaurants, and the then-famous Nipa Lodge. The only glamor was the king's residence where we often saw the royal kids (two decades later they Queen stayed often in our building in Park City, Utah on the Deer valley slopes and one of the royal children recognized us).

Luang Prabang was mostly notable then for an infamous allegedly CIA base nearby. Chiang Mai was a delightful mountain town.

If we find the photos how do you want them?

dsquared37

You're speaking of Long Cheng I believe, which is a good bit away from LP, to the southeast. Home of Isaan Air .

I've heard that area can be accessed without too much hassle on a good dirt bike. But from Vang Vieng rather than LP.

On another note, Vang Pao recently died, another chapter of that era gone.

jiejie

Gaboodles of fascinating pictures from that time. Unfortunately, they are mostly in slide format and at my parent's home in the USA. One of my projects over the next year or so will be to get digital conversions done to preserve these images. The ones of my dad standing out in the middle of northern Thailand opium poppy fields next to proud hill tribe farmers in full traditional dress are a scream. Ah, memories...

The Nipa Lodge! I'm amazed anybody still remembers, although I think the buildings still exist in Pattaya, maybe under another name. Lots of people don't know that the long-time (recently retired) manager of the Oriental Hotel in Bangkok--Kurt Wachtveitl--started out at the Nipa Lodge. And yes, CM was a delightful town, though actually living there was pretty simple and spartan and we had to do without a lot. Back then, both Luang Prabang and Siem Reap were much more difficult to access than today. And not entirely safe. Actually, even far north Thailand was not completely safe and under government control, what with opium warlords, Communist guerrillas, the CIA, and various other ne'er-do-wells roaming around up there.

DownTheRappitHole

Anyway you'd be willing to share them would be awesome. Definitely a different time which I'd love to hear more about.

dsquared37

It would be fascinating if you converted and posted those pics. History is more meaningful with visions to go with the words and thoughts.

jiejie

I believe we even have some pictures taken in Chiang Mai at an elephant show, when the King and Queen of Thailand came up to CM hosting the Shah of Iran and Empress. As part of the small foreign contingent in CM then, invites went out. If only we knew then what history had in store some years later....

dsquared37

What an incredible childhood. WOW!

jbcarioca

+1 Amazing! I hope you can find photos. We would love to see them, as we would your father consorting with the poppy producers.

Mynameismud

Waiting for any picture of you guys are willing to share.
The more i read your comments about how it used to be (and i am not only thinking about Asia), the more i wish i could have travelled 30 or 40 years ago...

jbcarioca

My photos are in another house we do not often visit, so my spouse discovered. It will be some time before I will be able to retrieve them.

Goldorak

On the main street, the restaurant of the boutique hotel "les 3 nagas" is excellent

jbcarioca

The hotel is quite interesting also, I stayed there two nights. I very much like the restaurant. Thanks for mentioning it.