Elevated above ground to prevent flooding, the 200-year-old wooden houses were gathered from across central Thailand. Re-erected on today’s site in 1959, they’re chock-full of antique Buddhas, statuary, and curios. (Look out for the “mouse palace” and the frog- and cat-shaped chamber pots!) The raised wooden boards at each doorway weren’t designed to trip up human visitors—they’re baffle boards to keep out ghosts and spirits. 

An ex-military intelligence agent from Delaware, Jim Thompson is credited with reviving Thailand’s hand-woven silk trade. (Hard to believe now, but after World War II, it had dwindled to cottage-industry status.) The story of what happened to Thompson is strange. He was born in 1906—and an astrologer warned him to be careful of events during his 61st year. Leaving no clue as to what became of him, Thompson disappeared during a visit to Malaysia’s Cameron Highlands in 1967.

To avoid city traffic, the best way to reach Jim Thompson’s House (6 Soi Kasemsan 2, Rama I Road) is on the Sky-Train—get off at National Stadium station. It’s well-sign-posted; opening hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is around $2.

Bizarre Chiang Mai

Thailand’s second city, Chiang Mai feels more like an overgrown village. Enclosed by a moat, its old quarter is a beguiling warren of laneways, teakwood houses, and temples. It’s impossible to see all 300 temples, but don’t miss Wat Mahawan with its fearsome dragon guardians. 

Chiang Mai’s main attraction is its mammoth Night Market. Any songtaew taxi (songtaews are pick-up trucks with benches) takes you there. From sundown until late, hundreds of booths and shops open for business. Hill-tribe people in native dress—tribes such as the Akha, Lisu, and Karen—also converge upon the market with loom-spun fabrics, silver hash pipes, amulets, and other wares. 

If it’s made anywhere in Thailand you’ll find it—and at a fraction of gallery prices. (Though it’s worth noting that things are even cheaper if buying directly from craft and hill-tribe villages.) Even so, prices in the Night Market are astounding. 

If you have $1 to $5 to spend on a gift, you can choose from woven bags, cushion covers, hand-painted umbrellas, opium-smoking artifacts, snake and monkey puppets, magic tricks, lacquer-ware boxes, fish mobiles, bamboo fans painted with golden dragons, and hemp serpents that can be twisted into a variety of shapes. Even genuine silk scarves are only $2.50.

Don’t want to spend as much as a dollar? Well, 50 cents buys a key-ring with a carved wooden elephant. With most items—though not 50-cent key-rings—haggling is the order of the day. And don’t be shy. My advice is to offer a quarter of what the vendor is seeking—and never pay more than a third of the asking price. Thankfully the market also has luggage shops selling bags to transport your treasures.

Misty Hills And Jungles

From Chiang Mai, you can take excursions into the surrounding provinces of mist-cloaked hills and jungle. Go elephant-trekking, go white-water rafting, visit hill-tribes and craft villages. Day-trips don’t have to be by coach. For an equivalent $50 apiece, we hired a private guide and driver for a 12-hour trip to Chiang Rai and the Golden Triangle. The car was air-conditioned, and a hotel buffet lunch was included in the price.

Notorious for poppy fields and opium production, the Golden Triangle is where Thailand meets Myanmar (Burma) and Laos. But this trip packed in far more than just an opium museum and views across the mighty Mekong River. Visits to Yao and Akha hill-tribe villages...farmers planting rice...a Buddhist temple and a food market in the sleepy town of Chiang Saen...Ban Pong Num Ron where villagers boil quails’ eggs in hot sulfur springs...shopping for Burmese jade in the border town of Mae Sai…

We arranged the tour through the excursion desk of Chiang Mai’s Lotus Pang Suan Kaew hotel. This four-star hotel offers excellent value. Booked through the price of a double room—including breakfast—is $25.

Soft Adventure In A Hill-Tribe Village

An hour from Chiang Mai, Lisu Lodge is an eco-tourism project. It lets you combine a stay in a Lisu hill-tribe village with elephant trekking, mountain-biking, oxcart-riding, and river-rafting. If the thought of venturing down backpacker trails makes you shudder, this is as comfortable as it gets. The lodge and its “soft adventures” is aimed more at pampered souls than rough-and-ready students—but you will experience mosquito nets and chickens underfoot. A two-day/one-night stay costs $117 per person—www.lisulodge.com. 

None of the Lodge’s activities are compulsory. I certainly wasn’t prepared to suffer an eight-mile bike ride. Thailand has venomous snakes, and I had nightmarish visions of falling off into the embrace of a King Cobra. Riding in a truck to the elephant camp seemed a safer prospect. But it’s as much a cultural tour as physical high-jinks. You get to take tea with a shaman, visit an Akha hill-tribe village, and meet the Lisu people living next door in Dton Loong village.

Not so long back, Lisu families derived their income largely from opium production. Originating in eastern Tibet, the first Lisu settlers arrived in Thailand early last century. Many Lisu men wear western-style clothes, but women and kids wear bright blue and green pants and tunics. They have their own language—one useful phrase is “ah koo boo moo” meaning “thank you.”

Thailand’s Paradise Island

Baking under intense blue skies, Phuket satisfies those winter-time fantasies of white sands, coconut palms, superb seafood, and soothing spas. Roughly the same size as Singapore, it’s Thailand’s largest island and richest province. 

Best known as a sophisticated vacation paradise, it’s circled by 32 small islands rich in caves, cliffs, lagoons, and seabirds. The seascapes are surreal. Rising from waters that gleam jade, emerald, and deep turquoise are countless limestone pillars and bizarre outcrops smothered in jungle vegetation. Movie-makers drool—and it didn’t all start with Leonard di Caprio and The Beach. Phang-Nga Bay was chosen for the James Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun.

Even in February’s “cooler season,” it’s hot—really hot. And humid. Washed by the Andaman Sea—part of the Indian Ocean—the island is only 8 degrees north of the Equator. That means a tropical climate, but sea breezes generally keep daytime temperatures to between 85° F and 90° F. 

The Andaman Sea is an aquatic playground, a yachtie’s dream come true. Swish marinas...big-game fishing for marlin and other monsters of the deep...sea-kayaking...snorkeling and diving trips...boat excursions across the bay to Krabi on the mainland...pearl-farming islands...sea-gypsy islands...completely deserted islands where you can beach-comb for exotic shells.

Phuket’s population numbers around 300,000, so don’t think it’s a slumbery island for castaways. Flights to Bangkok take an hour, and it’s linked by bridges to southern Thailand’s mainland. Around 8,000 expatriates of all nationalities are resident here, including a few Americans.

Resorts like Patpong, Kata, and Karon attract hordes of north European package tourists, but it’s easy to escape them. My favorite part of the island is in the south: Nai Harn. It has a white-sand beach, small bars and seafood restaurants, and a lagoon where locals go night-fishing and the cicada chorus erupts in full song. Sunsets are incredible. Fiery trails burnish the sky, and the red lantern of the sun dips slowly into a shot-silk sea. Absolutely gorgeous.

Going Native

You may be tempted by the idea of not returning home ever. You don’t have to. Phuket has an international school and hospital, good communications, and large supermarkets. Whether it be CNN News or shelves stacked with Pepsi-Cola, you’re rarely far from home comforts. Having bought a home and a car, a couple can live comfortably for well less than $20,000 per year here—and Phuket is one of Thailand’s most expensive provinces—go north, and costs are less.

How much for a home on Phuket? $20,000 to $4 million. A furnished studio in a condo in Phuket’s largest resort, Patong, lists for $20,440. In the island’s center, small and simply constructed two-bedroom homes are often listed for less than $50,000. Between Patong and Phuket City, a two-bedroom home in a development with pool, tennis court, and sauna can be had for less than $40,000. 

For homes of better quality and finishing in an up-and-coming beach area like Nai Harn, $140,000 for a 1,300-square-foot house or condo is the norm. The Rawai/Chalong Bay area has three- and four-bedroom options for $89,000 to $100,000. Although more built-up, it’s only a short drive from Nai Harn.

For a luxury house built of tropical hardwoods with dragon-necked roof gables, verandah-like salas (living pavilions), sunken Jacuzzi baths, and a swimming pool, you’ll have to increase your budget considerably. Depending on location, it’s generally $250,000 upward for a modern pavilion palace of 2,000 to 2,500 square feet. Needless to say, beachfront locations and ocean views dramatically increase prices.

A good contact for Phuket properties is Lifestyle Properties (Ken Abday), 99/31 Chalemprakiet Ror 9 Rd. (Bypass Road), T. Rasada Muang, Phuket, Thailand 83000; tel. (66)164-935-57; e-mail: ken@phuketlifestyle.com.

Foreigners Can Own:

• A condominium unit. 
• A building (as distinct from its land).
• A registered leasehold of up to 30 years for titled land and/or a building. With extensions and purchase options, a lease can be tantamount to freehold ownership.

Or you can lease land. Leases can be structured on a 30-year + 30-year + 30-year basis. Most foreigners who “own” land and houses opt for 30-year leases with two 30-year renewals. Along with rights to sell/transfer the property, such leases generally include clauses that allow freehold ownership if laws change.

Although foreigners cannot own land freehold, you can own a house—or  build one. Although you’d have to lease the land it’s on, the building can be owned freehold. New villa developments also have structured leases to ensure continuity of ownership.

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