One Year Later – Reflections On The Golden Buddha Ride

A year has now passed since I participated on the inaugural 2023 Golden Buddha Ride from Saigon to Bangkok and our Editor-in-Chief asked me to reflect on my experiences. In many ways, it feels like it was just weeks ago that I returned home from Thailand.

Convoy out of Saigon

We started in Vietnam, its tragic wars now far in the past, and the country is now in hyper development. Though still run by the Communist Party, the concept of ‘from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs’ replacing the profit-based economy has been totally abandoned. Everywhere one turns, something is happening. Laos, culturally laid back with a Buddhist philosophy still part of everyday life, has only recently opened to foreign investment but the impact is already highly visible. And then there is the Siamese Kingdom, better known as Thailand. I don’t think I have ever met someone who has been to Thailand and didn’t enjoy it. The gentleness, the Buddhist soul, the tolerance of the Thai people, their temperament, the delightful street food, one could go on endlessly.

>>Related Post: Lovely, Laid-Back Laos

Key maker, Hué

However, what sticks in my mind most a year later are the fun encounters with locals. My favourite, which I mentioned in a blog, is how a chance encounter on a rest day in Hué, Vietnam, resulted in my getting a spare key for my bike lock, a replacement that I wasn’t able to get in Toronto. The story illustrates the difference between our ultra-modern society, in which simple things such as making a new key has become a quandary of either throwing away a perfectly good lock, and in the process adding to more garbage, or ending up spending a significant amount of time and resources to get a replacement.

The ancient and the modern

The second memorable chance encounter happened while riding out of city of Chiang Rai after our first rest day in Thailand. Chiang Rai province, of which the city Chiang Rai is the capital, is where the famous Golden Triangle is located. For younger readers of this blog, the Golden Triangle is not made of gold, but rather refers to a large mountainous area of northeastern Myanmar, northwestern Thailand and northern Laos and the area was one of the largest productions of opium in the world. The name, Golden Triangle, was coined by US State department official by the name of Marshal Green. There was no sign of opium in Chiang Rai, even though I secretly hoped that on one of my walks someone would emerge from a dark corner and say, ‘hey do you want to smoke some authentic opium’. I figured at my age, why not. But it simply didn’t happen.

Disappointed that I probably missed my one and only opportunity of smoking ‘authentic’ opium ?, our early morning ride out of Chiang Rai took us by one of the most extraordinary temples in Thailand. Whereas most temples in Thailand have a long history, the Wat Rong Khun temple only began construction in 1997, built by a Thai painter turned architect. When my cycling companion Rita and I arrived, we were almost blinded by the temple’s glittering surface which looked like porcelain. We got off our bikes and joined a lineup of tourists visiting the impressive temple. We walked around, admired the unique architecture, the paintings of samsara (the realm of rebirth and delusion) as well as contemporary images of planes smashing into the Twin Towers, and reproductions of Superman, Elvis, the Matrix and others. And of course, we took pictures and watched everyone else taking selfies.

Henry & Rita meet the master

Once we left and got our bikes, we saw a crowd of people surrounding a man, all dressed in leather, wearing knee high boots, looking like a member of the Hell’s Angels. All these people were lining up to take a picture with him facing the temple. It didn’t take long for intrepid Rita to find out that the middle-aged gangster was actually the architect of the temple out for a ride with his motorcycle buddies. Soon enough we were chatting with the architect himself, Chalermchai Kositpipat. It was an awesome experience conversing with a most interesting individual.

I didn’t get a puff of authentic Thai opium, but I sure got an authentic Thai massage or at least I thought I would. You can read all about it in a blog I wrote, Seeking an Authentic Travel Experience.  Every day that I now think about my creaking body needing a massage, I chuckle, and think of my massage in a Thai temple compound. “They go easy on foreigners.”

On the boat (L), On the road (R)

Then there is the wonderful time I spent with several riders going on a two day ride up the Mekong River possibly on the least developed part of the river. While the rest of the group took on the challenge of cycling the remote mountainous areas of Laos, several of us choose to check out a boat ride up the Mekong. It’s hard to know who had a better time, as from the cyclist’s stories, it sounded like it was the best part of the trip. When I came back home from the trip and was asked how the trip was, I said great. A year later it feels even greater.

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