Hans Penth was born in Berlin/Germany on May 6, 1937. Later in 1964, he became Dr. Hans Penth at Frankfurt University in “Languages and History of Southeast Asia” having Chinese and Ethnology as side subjects. His thesis was a translation and cultural-historical analysis of a part of the Sumatra chronicle of Hikajat Atjeh, printed in German as a book in 1969. Soon after, he went to Thailand.

Starting in 1965 until 1970, Hans studied old Lan Na Thai chronicles under the abbot of Wat Phan Tao in Chiang Mai. As a philologist-historian, who specialised in Northern Thai History, he settled down in Chiang Mai and married a Thai professor from the French Language Department of Chiang Mai University.

From 1970 until 1980, Hans has been working as a researcher on Lan Na Thai history documents at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Chiang Mai University. From 1981 until 1997, he became “Foreign Expert” at the newly established Social Research Institute, Archive of Lan Na Thai Inscriptions.

Dr. Hans Penth has to his credit over one hundred scholarly publications, including the Jinakalamali index. In his lectures and writings, he emphasised culture and everyday life in Lan Na Thai.

Dr. Hans Penth retired at the age of 60 years and was nominated “Honorary Member” of the Siam Society at Bangkok in 1997, being a close associate of Her Royal Highness Princess Galyani Vadhana, the elder sister of His Majesty the King of Thailand.

Needless to say, Hans continued to work as a “temporary employee” and was charged with work on Lan Na Thai History, in particular the publication of microfilmed inscriptions. Actually, Lan Na Thai is the name of a conglomerate of city-states that covered roughly the area of modern North Thailand between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries. Mostly under the leadership of the city-state of Chiang Mai, Lan Na’s influence reached far into the neighboring regions, covering parts of present Myanmar, Lao PDR, and the southern part of China.

After such hard work that sadly was never fully recognised in the ivory tower of Thai Studies in Germany, Hans succumbed to brain cancer after a long struggle at the Suan Dok Hospital in Chiang Mai. He has passed away on Wednesday, June 17, 2009. Buddhist funeral ceremonies were held every evening at Wat Suan Dok, Chiang Mai. The cremation was on Sunday, June 21 in the afternoon. His wife and married son Bernhard survived him. May Hans rest in peace!

Northern Thai News 55

Have you ever heard from Wiang Haeng, a district town near the Myanmar border in Chiang Mai Province? If not, Wiang Haeng is becoming worth a visit and a real alternative to more popular tourist places in neighbouring Mae Hong Son and Chiang Rai Provinces.

It is also a kind of adventure to drive to Wiang Haeng, which is located near the sources of the Mae Taeng River, which flows into the Ping River a little bit south of Mae Taeng. The tour highlights “Eco-Tourism” in its purest form, because you travel to natural and cultural areas that conserve the environment and still guarantee the wellbeing of local people.

Luckily, I had the chance to travel with three other Germans from Chiang Mai, when our guided three-day tour started at the end of last February. Actually, it was the idea of Michael R. Boeder, Advisor in Economic Development, to do this survey trip in order to look for project sites to establish “Schools of Hope” for Tai Yai youngsters in the Thai-Myanmar borderland. Our guide was Noom Hkurh, by himself a Tai Yai from Wieng Haeng, who was fluent in the English language.

We started from Chiang Mai early in the morning along National Road no.107 (Chiang Mai – Fang – Mae Ai) to visit another foreigner in Chiang Dao, who is married to a Lisu and doing a successful research with “tung oil” imported from Myanmar. After having passed Doi Luang Chiang Dao, one of Thailand’s most impressive mountains located within the Doi Chiang Dao Wildlife Reserve, we reached the Muang Ngai intersection (after 84km) and had lunch at the nearby market of Muang Ngai.

We continued on National Road no. 1178 to reach Arunothai, also called Nong Uk, which is still in Chiang Dao District, but very close to the Myanmar border. Dominated by Chinese businessmen - selling tea and herbal medicine - the place is a potpourri of different hill tribes, most of them having settled decades ago in Myanmar’s Shan State. Not far from Arunothai is the Royal Project Foundation site of Nong Khiaw, where many of the hill tribes find work in the agriculture business.

We left Arunothai in the late afternoon to cross the watershed between the Ping and Mae Taeng Rivers further west. The so far paved road deteriorated as soon as we arrived on the mountain pass leading down to Wiang Haeng, which was more than 70km away.

When we hit National Road no. 1322 in time for the sunset, we headed straight north to Ban Piang Luang to spend the night there in the local guesthouse (room for 200Baht). We finished the first long day with a specially prepared Tai Yai dinner in the house of our guide’s mother.

Piang Luang is just near the Thai-Myanmar border and is a typical Tai Yai settlement. The houses look very wealthy and similar to a Chinese settlement. Just a few kilometres away, there is the border point of Lak Taeng, to where we headed early next morning. Our focus of interest was Wat Fa Wiang In, which is a temple divided by the fenced Thai-Myanmar borderline. This old temple was rebuilt in 1968 by Zao Korn Zurng, a respected Shan leader and patron of the temple. At that time, Wat Fa Wiang In provided education for hundreds of children.

However, life suddenly changed after the MTA (Mong Tai Army) surrendered to the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) in 1996 and the Myanmar Military Government seized control of the area. Most of the Tai Yai villagers fled to the Thai side. The temple school was forced to close, while the students scattered to seek their fortunes elsewhere, only to re-open in 1997.

Today, Wat Fa Wiang In is providing housing and education for children from impoverished families, who are unable to feed or send them to school, and orphans, who have no family to take care for them. In1997, the school started with 2 teachers and 26 students. In 2005, the school also added English to the curriculum and currently has 7 teachers and over 70 students, attending 4 classes (2 primary classes and grades 1 and 2). Although the school’s educational offerings are much less than that of official educational institutions, largely a result of funding constraints, the basic education the school provides has enabled several children to further their education in Bangkok.

The school is currently supported by SWAN (Shan Women’s Action Network) and Terre Des Hommes (Germany), providing funding support mainly for stationnary and food. However, this support is increasingly inadequate as more children seek to attend, straining the school’s already limited budget. Thus, it is here that the “Schools of Hope” project comes in.

Back in Piang Luang, we also visited the Sweet Home Orphanage, organised by Mary Phoe Han, 71, who was educated at the Sacred Heart Convent in Loi Lem in central Shan State and now teaches mainly English in her boarding-school funded by donations (see attachment photo). Later, we paid a short visit to a refugee camp and Wat Prathat Saen Hai, with a history going back to the Buddha. There is also a spirit shrine for King Naresuan, who led an army against the Burmese enemy in 1604.

The last night, we spent in a roadside guesthouse in Wiang Haeng, where only a few government buildings were seen from the main road. So, shortly after a local dinner, we went early to sleep to wake up next morning to see another King Naresuan temple shrine nearby, which will become a big park for the people to visit in the future.

On the way back to Muang Ngai, we enjoyed an interesting 70km long and winding road - directly leading through the impressive Chiang Dao National Park. Housing some Lisu villages along the road, the park is the habitat of rare animals, such as goral, banteng, gaur, barking deer, wild boar, porcupine, palm civet, as well as different birds and reptiles.

Arriving in Muang Ngai at lunchtime, we didn’t miss to visit the colossal Phra Naresuan Maharat Pagoda, which was built by the villagers some time ago and sponsored by the Thai Military. At the base of the pagoda is written the history of King Naresuan, who was born in Phitsanulok and later became King of Ayutthaya. Nearby is the model of a palisade wooden camp. Today, King Naresuan is the “icon” of the Thai Military in the whole country. When we arrived in Chiang Mai in the evening, our recommended trip was over.

In another development, coming April is always a special time to visit the Kingdom of Thailand. It is a time of celebration for Thai people to enjoy Songkran - the Festival of Water (on April 13-15). This yearly event is the traditional "Thai New Year" and is a time for visiting friends and relatives, paying respect to the Lord Buddha, and, of course, a time for fun! The latest attraction in Chiang Mai is Latin Night at “Le Recipe” in the Le Meridien Chiang Mai on every Saturday night. Just go and find out!

Furthermore, for spa and spa resorts lover in Chiang Mai, please go to attend the highly acclaimed Asia Spa & Wellness Festival 2009, which will be held at Royal Paragon Hall in Bangkok on March 20-22. This will be Asia’s foremost international exhibition, trade mart and conference for spas, spa resorts and wellness tourism.

The first day is exclusively for hosted buyers, whilst the last two days are opened for the public. Expecting some 300 delegates, the event is without doubt the largest gathering of spa and wellness professionals in Asia. There will be some 60 exhibiting companies from 12 countries in collaboration with the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) and Thailand Convention & Exhibition Bureau (TCEB).

For further information, please contact Reinhard Hohler by e-mail.

Northern Thai News 57

Most of the foreign tourists who visit the border town of Mae Sai in Northern Thailand come for a visa run. Since decades, it is a normal procedure to reach the scenic bridge over the small Mae Sai River to cross over to Myanmar’s Tachileik, do some shopping on the busy border market and return to Thailand on the same day with a new visa entry stamp. After the newest visa regulations of the Thai Immigration Bureau in 2009, foreign tourists can do this every 15 days.

But there are other foreign travellers arriving in Mae Sai by bus, car or motorcycle who really come to see and experience some part of the Union of Myanmar, which is hidden, mysterious and not easy to reach from inside Myanmar with its new capital in Nay Pyi Taw. Thus, these foreigners or some Thai domestic travellers use the touring route from Mae Sai to Kyaing Tong or progress even farther to the Myanmar-China border town of Mong La. On April 29, I arrived in Mae Sai with a friend from Germany and his Cambodian wife at Mae Sai in the evening in order to do just that.

We had left Chiang Mai in the morning at 11.00 not to forget to bring along some brand-new passport photos and all our personal belongings for the planned one-week trip. Also, I was riding in my old Land Rover, which I needed to take across the border to travel independently on my own.

The road to Mae Sai led us out of town on National Highway no.118, passing Doi Saket and up on the winding road to Doi Nang Kaeo, which is the important watershed between the Ping River in the west and the Mekong River system in the east. Reaching the high mountain pass, there is the old spirit house for Nang Kaeo, also marking the provincial border between Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai.

Further on, we passed the headquarters of Khun Chae National Park and stopped at the famous Hot Spring Spa of Mae Kachan for a first break. We continued to Wiang Pa Pao and Mae Suai, where we had an apple pie and local coffee at the Charin Garden Resort. After that, we soon hit the National Highway no.1 at Mae Lao to reach the town of Chiang Rai, which we bypassed to continue to Mae Chan and Mae Sai. We arrived at the border at 17.30, our final destination, after a 245km ride.

Mae Sai is the northernmost spot of the Kingdom of Thailand and the large 891km marker stone is counting from Bangkok in the south. There is an attractive border market around Wat Phra That Doi Wao. Chinese shops and temples abound.

Accommodations in Mae Sai are reasonable-priced and start from the fancy Wang Thong Hotel (700Baht per room) to cheap guesthouses along the Mae Sai River for 250Baht. After having spent one night at Mae Sai, we passed the Thai Immigration border post at 8.00 in the morning. To cross with your own vehicle, you have to show your blue car registration book for the Thai Customs and leave them a copy of it. Important is that your own full name is mentioned in the registration book.

On the Myanmar side of the border, you have to pay your entry permit fee of 10USD per person. All the other needed formalities to continue from Tachileik to Kyaing Tong and Mong La will be handled by the friendly staff of Myanmar Travels & Tours, who are located just beside the Myanmar Immigration. There you hand over three passport photos, your passport and your car registration book. For the Land Rover, I had to pay a car entry fee of 50USD and 1,400Baht for a local insurance.

Another 100Baht come for the paper work. In return, you receive your “Entry Permit” from the Immigration Department along with the car entry permit, which is a paper that you have to fix at the front of your car window. Also, you need the original of a road permit from Tachileik to Kyaing Tong with some copies for the military checkpoints along the way.

Furthermore, make sure that you have the right pocket money for the trip from Tachileik to Kyaing Tong and Mong La. Actually, you need local money to pay at the road toll gates on the way (6.000Kyat=6USD for one way). In Tachileik and Kyaing Tong, you can pay your bills in Thai currency (1000Baht=30,000Kyat), while you need Chinese Yuan (1USD=6Yuan) for Mong La. The best way to change high-valued dollar notes is at stalls of moneychangers at Kyaing Tong Market, because there are no banks to use in the whole region.

For the tank of your car, make sure it is filled before leaving Tachileik. It seems that gasoline is a little bit cheaper in Myanmar than in Thailand. We left Tachileik for Kyaing Tong (102 miles) at 11.00 and drove up to Talay by having passed the first military checkpoint at Mae Yang (Out), where we had a local lunch at a restaurant. From Talay, we continued to Mong Phayak, where is the next military checkpoint.

The scenery along the way (Asian Highway no. 2) is stunning with beautiful views in villages, valleys and on mountain passes. Shortly before reaching Kyaing Tong, there is another military checkpoint at a place called Hot Spa.

Passing the Kyaing Tong Golf Course, you roll into a town, which is similar to Chiang Mai some 50 years ago. It was 16.30, when we reached Kyaing Tong New Hotel in the middle of the town, where a room for foreigners costs 15USD single and18USD for a double room, including breakfast.

After a scenic sunset over the nearby Naung Tong Lake, we walked to the Kyaing Tong Market and had a Chinese dinner at the Lotus Restaurant nearby. The daily Kyaing Tong Market is the economic soul of the city. We visited early next morning and experienced a conglomerate of different tribes and peoples not easy to describe. Besides the town population of Shan (Tai Khoen), Indians and Nepalis, we met some Silver-belt Palaung, Akha, Lahu and Wa living in the surrounding mountains. It was a shame that the market closes after midday, when many of the tribal people have to return to their respective villages.

Interesting to note is that we met the chairman of the local Chamber of Commerce, who was the owner of a gold shop. He reminded us that Myanmar is a very rich country and not dependent from the outside Western world that is partly boycotting the controversial Military Government of the Union of Myanmar. The reasons for such a boycott are unclear, when comparing Myanmar with other countries in the world. Furthermore, India and China as well as ASEAN countries like Thailand make business as usual with Myanmar and enormously profit out of that.

Kyaing Tong boasts other tourist attractions, such as the Temple of the Mahamyatmuni Buddha Image (Wat Pra Sao Loang). This highly venerated Buddha Image is a replica of the famous Mahamuni Buddha of the Arakan Pagoda in Mandalay, whose legendary history goes back to the time of the Buddha.

The Buddha Image of Kyaing Tong was cast in Mandalay in 1921 and consists of a mixture of pure gold, silver and copper. Its princely appearance is overwhelming and it has been transported with great difficulty from Mandalay to Kyaing Tong by crossing the mighty Salawin River, which divides Shan State into two parts. The capital of Shan State today is Taunggyi, but it is not possible for tourists to travel by road from Kyaing Tong further west because of security reasons.

After another quiet night in Kyaing Tong, we left early next morning to Mong La (54 miles) towards the Chinese borderland in the Northeast. For that, we had to require another road permit from the local immigration officer stationed at Kyaing Tong. The road (Asian Highway no. 3) went over high mountain passes, where in-between was the military checkpoint of Ta Pin. As we stopped there during lunchtime, we were invited for a real Burmese meal without paying anything.

Along the way, we went through Tai Khoen and Lahu mountain villages. As the engine of my Land Rover got overheated, we lost oil and water and had to refill. The last stretch of the road to the checkpoint of the Special Region 4, administered by the Wa ethnic group, was rocky and we received help from a Burmese bus driver, who pulled us through. At the Wa checkpoint, we had to pay 36 Chinese Yuan per person as entry fee.

It was shortly before nightfall and we needed a break. The whole action had been too much for the Land Rover (from 1974) and we had to rely on the service of a taxi driver (for 250Yuan). He pulled us more than an hour from the Wa checkpoint to our destination Mong La and dropped us near a local repair shop. We checked in at the nearby Ba Lai Hotel at 22.30 (for 70Yuan per room).

Mong La is in the centre of a special economic zone. Everything seems possible and there are a myriad of new hotels, restaurants, shopping centres, Internet facilities, casinos and discos. Chinese people dominate in an area, where Tai Lue villages abound. But the nearby border checkpoint of Daluo in Sipsongpanna, within China’s Yunnan Province, cannot be crossed by individual foreign tourists.

I spent the whole next morning to arrange the repair of the Land Rover, what swallowed another 200Yuan, but it was more than worth it. In the afternoon, we could already drive again and we visited the local Drugs and Gems Museums. On a hill just before the Myanmar-China border, there is the spectacular Dwaynagara Shwe Pagoda to learn more about Burmese Buddhism. Also, nearby is the Roman Catholic Church of St. Mary, while mosques exist in all the visited places along the old caravan trail from Chiang Mai to China. Except from the Muslim restaurants, you can get Myanmar Beer everywhere, which has a good taste and quality.

Early in the morning of May 4, we left Mong La back to Kyaing Tong on the same way we had come before. After getting a new road permit from the local immigration officer for the Mong La-Kyaing Tong leg, we were greeted with outmost friendliness, everywhere the people were familiar with us.

We checked in again at the Kyaing Tong New Hotel for another night and witnessed a colourful parade of boys to become novices throughout the town. Young girls and elder women carried flowers and money trees along bamboo poles. Music created by gongs and drums was in the air.

When night fell in, a huge 22m high and new Standing Buddha Statue was illuminated - pointing to the centrally located lake. It was an atmosphere like paradise lost.

To make a long story short, we departed Kyaing Tong at 9.00 next morning after getting again the road permit from Kyaing Tong and Tachileik at the local immigration office. This time we had our local lunch at Mong Phayak and continued to Talay in the sunny afternoon. Arriving at Mae Yang (In) and then at Tachileik at 17.00, we checked in at the Dream Flower Guesthouse (for 400Baht per room). We even entered a new and modern Internet shop, which is the first in Tachileik and run by a Chinese businessman. Also, Tachileik is boasting a replica of the Golden Shwedagon Pagoda and - as the “City of the Golden Triangle” - is becoming more and more important.

When we left Myanmar next morning at 8.30 over the Mae Sai Bridge, everything went smoothly. We got back our passports and I received my car registration book. At the Thai Immigration, we got our passports stamped for a 15 days stay. This is actually the same period that we could have been staying in Shan-State with our special entry permit from Myanmar.

Finally, our way back to Chiang Mai led through the hilly landscapes of Mae Chan, Mae Ai (Tha Ton), Fang, Chiang Dao, Mae Taeng and Mae Rim. When we reached Chiang Mai at 18.30, we were glad to have made it and will remember the Union of Myanmar from one of its best sides.

For further information, please contact Reinhard Hohler by e-mail.

Known as the red-faced “German painter” in Chiang Mai, Gerd Barkowsky had a sparkling personality. Often being met in the well-known Daret Restaurant near Chiang Mai’ s Tha Pae Gate in the early 1980s, Gerd enjoyed the company of Arthur, a Dutch national married to an aristocratic lady, and Swiss Theo Meier, an outspoken artist of life, earning money as painter as Gerd himself. It was business as usual to see them holding their favourite glasses of “Mae Khong” that they were already drinking in the late afternoons sitting around a small wooden table.

When I met Gerd at Daret’s in early 1882, he told me that he was already living some 25 years in Chiang Mai and had married a nice lady taking care of his daily escapades. He has left Germany in 1950, just five years after the Second World War that has devastated most of the German cities.

Actually, born on 26 April 1926 at the East Prussian port city of Koenigsberg, today’s Kaliningrad in the Soviet Union, Gerd’s childhood was a happy one until the outbreak of war. Already selling his first water colour paintings as a schoolboy in his hometown and other Baltic resort-towns, Gerd had to join the military service in Hitler’s Germany as “Panzer Grenadier” and fight at the Eastern Front. After the war, he managed to study “Fine Arts” first in Brunswick, then later at the Academy of Art in the Bavarian town of Munich under the famous Professor Teutsch.

After getting some money through the making of portrait paintings, Gerd’s chance to travel came in 1950 and he started a pilgrimage tour to Italy’s capital Rome. From Rome, he went to Palermo in Sicily and jumped on to North Africa never to return to Europe again. Like the “hippies” in the 1970s going east, Gerd worked his way for good through Libya, Egypt, Ethiopia and Kenya, getting impressed by the natives. He also visited the Seychelles and finally arrived in 1952 at the port city of Bombay on the Indian sub-continent.

Living some time in Jaipur, Rajasthan that he very much associated with Africa, Gerd left in 1953 to far away Singapore, from where it was near to reach the Indonesian islands, Java and Bali. Especially Bali was the place where he got his further influences on the art of painting in oil and charcoal. Via Hong Kong, Gerd finally reached Thailand’s capital Bangkok in 1956, where he met his future wife and made his way up to Chiang Mai in 1957. The couple married in 1958 and the wedding party was done at the Arun Rai Restaurant located just outside the moat of Old Chiang Mai that still exists today.

In 1972, after some short one-year stunts in Macao (1960) and Kuala Terenganu (1964), as well as an exquisite visit to the long houses of the headhunting Dayaks along the Rajang River in Sarawak, Gerd was ready to build his own teakwood house at 34/1 Huei Kaew Road. The one-rai piece of land he had acquired from his best Thai friend, the late Chao Pattana Na Lamphun. The two-storey house with a veranda was in full view of the holy Doi Suthep Mountain. Most of all, he built it for his wife Prapai and foster daughter, also for the storage of his oil paintings and charcoal collection of more and more portrayed hill tribe people.

Needless to say that Gerd has held many art exhibition of his works at places as far away as Calcutta, New Delhi, Penang, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Hong Kong and of course Bangkok, supported by the British Council or the German Goethe Institute. Even though his fame as a painter never reached that one of Theo Meier, his contemporary colleague in Chiang Mai, his sketches can easily been found in many homes of some of his closest friends around.

Gerd Barkowsky surprisingly died at the early age of 60 on 29 July 1986 after a short illness. His last will was written and after his cremation - “Mae Khong” was needed to ignite the flames - the ashes were buried in peace in a grave at the International Cemetery in Chiang Mai. Luckily, his oil paintings and charcoal works will survive forever.

Special thanks go to Major Roy Hudson, who has mentioned Gerd Barkowsky in his 1965 and 1966 authored , and writer John Cadet, who has published an article about Gerd Barkowsky in the Asia Magazine, April 25, 1982. Without their generously supplied material, this article could not have been written.

For further information, please contact Reinhard Hohler by e-mail.