CNY Getaway - Mae Salong, N Thailand.

CNY Red Carry Me, ready for Year of the Rat

Locust crowds - Not my idea of fun!

You know its Chinese New Year here in Singapore from the thronging crowds that swarmed the supermarkets and literally any shops that sell goodies, clothes, plants and even mobile phone plans. CNY is arguably the biggest celebration in Asia and Singapore is no exception. If you desire quiet and peace during this festivity, the only way is out of the country. But possible only if you have booked your flights out early - at least 3-6 months, or are prepared to camp out in queue at the Malaysian Causeway, say 4am in your car.

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Fortunately for us, we will fly SilkAir to cool Northern Thailand this Sunday Feb 3 for ten glorious days. We plan to do the Mae Hong Son loop, off to Chiang Rai and our destination Mae Salong. This is a fascinating place with a rich history - remnants of the KMT Chinese army have settled here and turned this region into the world's greatest drug production centre in the 70s/80s. Their reason for this:

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We have to continue to fight the evil of communism, and to fight you must have an army, and an army must have guns, and to buy guns you must have money. In these mountains, the only money is opium.[10]

—Gen Tuan Shi-wen, Weekend Telegraph (London), 10 March 1967

As there will be 5 of us packed into a little Toyota Vios sedan, the obvious choice of foldies are my 2 super-compact Carry Mes. They will be most useful for our morning rides and exploration of good eating places when we arrive at our destinations.

Welcome Year of the Rat! Goodbye crowds. Kong Hee Fatt Choy ...