This is the eleventh in a series of articles about a visit to the fascinating county of Thailand.
RACING DOWN THE MEKONG
By Charles N. Stevens

We get up at 5 am, the darkness of night still firmly in place. By 6 am there is just enough light
in the east to make out the shadowy silhouettes of the mountains topped by a few dusky streaks of cloud. A chorus of cricket’s voices rises out of the brush and trees on the hillside next to the hotel. A wet chill hangs in the air, very pleasant after so many hot days.
At breakfast the hotel chefs offer us muesli, potato patties, potato salad, pasta salad, tuna salad, croissants, and wiener-like sausages. It’s pleasant to look out the windows at the scraps of low clouds flowing along the ridges of the mountains, and the river basking in the sun, a verdant earthly paradise all around.
We leave the hotel about 7:30 am, soon arriving at a boat dock at the Mekong River. We cautiously descend rickety wooden steps with flimsy bamboo handrails, five of us at a time climbing into shallow wooden boats. An automobile engine on a swivel behind the boat sends its long drive shaft into the water, a propeller, and a shark fin-like rudder on the end of it. We sit rather uncomfortably in the bottom of the boats looking out on the flat but flowing river, the sunlight turning the muddy water into silver ahead of us. We take off in a screaming roar, skimming over the dimpled surface of the river as though we have been entered in a speedboat race. We finally slow down near the shore on the Burma and Laos side to watch people who use the river in their daily lives. We see children bathing, fishermen in shallow boats casting their nets and women washing their clothes. Steps had been cut into the muddy bank or crude wooden ladders had been propped up against the bank so that people could easily get down to the river from the land above.
We arrive at Chiang Saen where we gladly step out of the cramped boats and up a series of steps where the busses are waiting. After a short drive, we arrive at a 13th century temple, mostly in ruins, near Chiang Saen called Wathatprat Jadeeloung where orange-robed monks rake up teak leaves from around 100-year-old trees. A large, slightly leaning stupa rises out of the ruins, grass growing luxuriantly in its cracks and fissures. We look at a bodhi tree, the same kind of tree under which the Buddha had been enlightened. Worshipers had placed banyan-like sticks wound with colored metal foils, almost like gold leaf on the trunk by those who ask support for their needs.
We stop to watch people working in the rice fields, all of them using sickles to cut the straw. They wear conical sun hats and long-sleeved shirts. They wave to us, then go about their work again. There is a certain rhythm to the grueling work, but in the hot sun and humidity it must be punishing. I think about our sitting in a cool air-conditioned bus, rich enough to take a trip like this—what a contrast our lives are to theirs.
The sky becomes cloudy again as we pass by the homes of northern Thailand, superior to those we had seen in the south. Many are built of polished wood and stucco, some with two stories and tile roofs. At the apex of the tiled roofs, polished wood figures like Gurudas cross each other. Balconies and glass windows are common .
Clouds hover low over the hills, hiding the trees, as we zoom along the highway. People sell pineapples at the side of the road, most arranged attractively on crude wooden racks. We retrace our “steps” back to Chiang Rae, feasting our eyes on the countryside as it passes by our windows. Dogs wander everywhere and chickens have their freedom, many of the hens with strings of chicks trailing them. Even the children run free.
We climb into hillier country covered with jungle—vines with red blossoms winding up trees and poles, teak, bamboo and egg plant trees with yellow flowers. Out in the country almost everyone has a motorbike, the machines able to go almost anywhere that a person can walk, particularly on the well-beaten paths between rice paddies. The sun breaks through the clouds, the intense light glinting off the jungle leaves.

MONTEREY PARK AUTHOR PUBLISHES 4th BOOK – Seeking More of the Sky: Growing Up in the 1930’s:

Charles “Norm” Stevens, a 49 year resident of Monterey Park has recently published his 4th book: Seeking More of the Sky: Growing Up in the 1930’s. This is the story of a young boy growing up in Inglewood, California in the l930’s. This was a time during the depression when unemployment was affecting many and the banks were closed, while the clouds of war were gathering in Europe. But he was lucky enough to be raised in a loving family, the power of that love reflected throughout his stories.
Stevens is the author of three previous books about his experiences during WWII:
An Innocent at Polebrook: A Memoir of an 8th Air Force Bombardier (Story of his 34 bombing missions from his base at Polebrook, England over Germany and France)
The Innocent Cadet: Becoming A World War II Bombardier (A prequel to the first, telling of his training in the U.S. before going overseas into combat.)
Back from Combat: A WWII Bombardier Faces His Military Future from Combat: (This book details the time from when he returned from combat in England until the end of the war.)
He is known to the readers of The Citizen’s Voice as the author of Travel Log Articles including “Cruising the Rhine and Mosel”,” Best of the West”, “In Search of Snow” ,  “From Paris to Normandy on the Seine”, and “Exploring New York”.  He is retired, having taught for 32 years, primarily in the Montebello Unified School District.
Those interested in purchasing an autographed copy of any of his books, may contact the author at 323-721-8230 or  Normstevens24@gmail.com.