Our van bounces and sways as it continues its climb along the hair-raising twisting road through the mountains in Mae Hong Son province. It’s a stomach-churning journey and our thoughts go to our beloved late monarch, His Majesty the King Bhumibol Adulyadej who made this and similarly jarring trips as he travelled to the many uncharted villages across Thailand.

Finally we reach the end of the road, clambering with relief out of the vehicle outside the rice mill in this small village nestled beside a creek. Pigs, hens and dogs sound the alert in a cacophony of cackles and barks and are soon joined by village headman, his wife and other villagers.

“Welcome to Pa Pae, a village of the Lawa people,” says Sangla Praimeekha, the village headman, warmly.

Pa Pae is a small village in the backwaters of Mae Sariang district. It’s home to some 200 Lawa, a tribe that’s been around in these hills since the fifth century. Unlike Pai or other popular destinations in Mae Hong Son, Pa Pae hardly sees any tourists. However, everyone here remembers very well their most-honoured visitor.

“Back in 1970 King Bhumibol came here with Queen Sirikit,” says the headman and shows us a coin engraved with King Bhumibol’s portrait on one side and “MS097715” on the other. “The king came to set up a rice bank for the village and handed out these coins as a form of identity document to my father and other hilltribe people.”

In those days, highlanders and hilltribe people were not formally recognised by government and thus were not entitled to any form of identity card. The late King sought to change that by giving them these special “identity coins” (Rian Ratchakarn), which guaranteed their recognition by the King of Thailand. The rice bank, a type of cooperative, was to ensure that nutritional needs were met as the villages couldn’t produce enough rice for everyone.

“The rice bank was a life-changing project,” the headman explains. “Not only did it save the children from going hungry but it also helped the villagers to stand on their own feet.”

The picture in Pa Pae is now much brighter, with villagers living well and sustainably through their farming and weaving projects.

“We have enough rice,” says one Lawa woman, smiling as she hands us glasses of throat-burning rice wine.

The Lawa no longer shy away from their tribe and identity and are proud to dress in their finest costumes to greet special visitors. Lawa bags and dresses with unique tribal patterns are among their best-selling products along with shiitake mushrooms and organic vegetables.

“We offer home-stays too,” the Lawa woman adds.

After a delicious lunch of chicken, we leave Pa Pae and head north to the royal project in Mae La Noi district. Mae La Noi Royal Project, with its beautiful terraced rice paddies stretching all along the hillside, is noted for agrotourism. Visitors come for the fresh mountain air and breathtaking views before leaving with bags full of passion fruit, coffee beans and Cape gooseberries.

“Back in the 1970s Mae La Noi wasn’t this pretty,” says Manoon Raksachon, an agricultural officer with the Royal Project. “The highlanders practised slash-and-burn agriculture to clear land for their new crops. It was King Bhumibol who told the hilltribe people to change their way of farming in order to save the watershed forest.

“It took years to convince the highlanders to accept new crops and techniques but they now recognise the benefits,” adds the agriculture officer. “The terrace steps are used to decrease erosion and surface runoff. And Arabica coffee, leeks, radishes, beets, berries and some high-altitude crops have replaced the cabbages.”

A short ride from Mae La Noi Royal Project is Huai Hom, a Karen village in Mae La Noi district, and the home of the finest Arabica coffee. The villagers are Starbucks’ partners, supplying some of their best beans to the famous coffee chain. Wilawan Nakrobprai, a Karen woman born and raised in Huai Hom, recalls the day King Bhumibol arrived at her village back in 1970.

“I was a child then. I remember my father and his Karen friends receiving the King here. Some of young people performed a tribal dance,” says Wilawan, pointing to a wooden abode perched on a mound. “The King told my father and the other villagers to dig a reservoir above the village as a way to save water for the dry season.

“The King returned to the village a few more times. Sometimes he took a lunch break under that shelter.”

Visitors and coffee aficionados can now stop over in Huai Hom village for a caffeine kick before following the King’s footsteps along the coffee trail. Wilawan leads us into the coffee plantation, where the bushes grow strong in the shade provided by Areca palms.

“Want to know what the coffee cherry tastes like?” asks our guide, tossing us branches of red berries.

Of course we do.

For people who get their coffee from the machine most of the time, it is easy to forget that coffee actually comes from a fruit. We pick up some of the red cherries and pop them into our mouths. At Huai Hom, everything is organic. We chomp happily on these little beauties that are sweet, delicate and taste rather like watermelon.

Our last stop is Pang Tong Royal Palace in Muang Mae Hong Son district. Occupying more than 2,000 acres, the palace is part royal residence and part research and development centre for cold-climate livestock. The palace is open to the public and well worth the stop to mingle with the deer, pheasants, red jungle fowl and sheep that roam freely around the open zoo. The palace recently opened its impressive fern garden.

As we follow in the late Monarch’s footsteps from the Lawa village to the Karen Arabica farms to the royal palace in Pang Tong, our respect grows for all he did to improve the lives of the underprivileged. For almost 50 years, the King and the highlanders have proved that a simple and sustainable life can live side-by-side with tourism.

IF YOU GO

< Chiang Mai province is a gateway to Mae Hong Son. From Chiang Mai International Airport, visitors can rent a car and spend a full week driving around the Royal projects without ever becoming bored. Better still, Mae Hong Son is at its most beautiful in December.

Winter is just around the corner and Chiang Rai, the kingdom’s northernmost province, is now more than ready to welcome visitors in search of cool weather.

Perched on a ridge overlooking the hills of Thailand, Myanmar and Laos at the confluence of the Ruak and Mekong Rivers, Anantara Golden Triangle Elephant Camp & Resort is some 70 kilometres north of Chiang Rai Mae Fah Luang International Airport.

On our way to the resort, my friend recommends a short break at the award-winning Choui Fong Tea Plantation in Mae Chan district. Famous for its oolong blends, the tea plantation won the Gold Prize for Jinxuan and Ruanzhi oolong teas from the World Green Tea Association in Japan in 2009. Of the three plantations across Chiang Rai, totalling some 1,000 rai in area, Choui Fong is the smallest at 50 rai. Visitors after a photo of themselves wrapped in the greenish blanket knitted by the rows of tea, brave the blazing sun and walk along the path. I opt for an easier way, sipping hot oolong tea and munching matcha cake at the cafe on the hill, enjoying the sight of thousands of tea bushes that stretch for almost as far as the eye can see.

After a short nap in the van, we arrive at the Anantara Golden Triangle Elephant Camp & Resort. We have a quick lunch at Sala Mae Nam restaurant before heading out to one of the highlights of the trip, the Walk with Giants, where we walk with baby elephants and their mahouts to observe their behaviour in a natural setting.

“These elephants are friendly but we still have to be careful when walking with them. If you happen to be behind them and would like them to be aware that you are there simply call their names. These young elephants are like children, they always love to play so they might stop when they see something interesting and they don’t hesitate to use their trunks to explore,” says Decha, the veterinarian at the resort’s on-site elephant camp. More than 30 elephants have been rescued from Thailand’s city streets, accompanied by their entire mahout family and provided with a place to rest and grow at the Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation (GTAEF) located at and supported by Anantara Golden Triangle and Four Seasons Tented Camp Golden Triangle.Two baby elephants, Rak and Khok-khoon, raise their trunks when their mahouts tell them to greet us. Khok-khoon is quiet and polite while Rak is more energetic and always follows her heart. She stops at every bamboo we pass, eagerly stripping the leaves from the branches with her long trunk then scratching her sides against the trunk. But her best trick is climbs up the slope to reach edible leaves and then sliding down, just like a kid playing on a slide. Walking with these cute baby elephants makes me understand why Henry Mancini’s song “Baby Elephant Walk” sounds so lively.

The allotted two hours seem much too short when walking with these playful giants. “Look! Rak is very clever. She holds the hose with her trunk and drinks from it,” my friend says as we take turns spraying water over the babies after the long walk. The next morning we wake up early as we are scheduled to ride elephants bareback. We all wear the thick Morhom trousers that the resort has prepared for us over long pants to protect our legs from the hard elephant’s hairs.

Riding an elephant is not new to me but this is the first time I’ve tried it bareback in the vast grasslands where they live.

As the elephants walk gracefully towards us, I cannot help but feel very small and vulnerable. The soft sunlight pierces the fog behind the elephants creating a beautiful silhouette and the sight briefly washes away my apprehension.

Once forced to walk the streets with her young calf, my elephant Poonlarp came to the foundation showing classic signs of abuse and stress, including a head bobbing behaviour typical of highly stressed and anxious elephants in captivity. The Poonlarp I see today is serene, polite and kind. She is so gentle that I would like to hold her a little longer when I climb up on to her back.

My friend sits on Poonlarp’s neck while I sit on her back. Everything is fine while Poonlarp sits and lets us adjust to a comfortable position but once she stands, I wonder what on earth convinced me to mount such a large beast.

When she starts to walk, my heart beats faster and I worry that I might fall off and be stepped on by the pachyderm. At some three metres above the ground, I find it hard to balance and that’s when I recall I don’t have health insurance.

Poonlarp’s gentle pace gradually gives me peace of mind. After my panic passes, I relax my clenched hands from the rein tied loosely around Poonlarp’s chest and start to look around.

Now I feel like I am united with this magnificent giant.

At her gentle pace, I feel peace.

IF YOU GO

< Bangkok Airways flies daily between Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport and Chiang Rai. Visit http://BangkokAir.com.

Once you reach Pang Ung in Northern Thailand’s Mae Hong Son Province, you will immediately realise that this small hill of pines and a reservoir is getting way too much attention (and too many visitors – of course) for its size.

Given new life by the locals, this abandoned logging site enjoyed a second wind thanks to a landscape photographer who captured the solitude beauty of the reservoir.

Pang Ung is now a popular winter destination.

Casual campers pitch their tents and chill out in the cold weather under canvas. Weekenders and day-trippers roam around clad in their finest jackets and sweaters looking for the best backdrops for their photos.

Now that beautiful nature is once again fading and the old logging camp is losing its second life, the victim of too many visitors over the last five years. The noise level is deafening. Cars are everywhere, as is carelessly discarded rubbish. That’s disastrous.

If you want visit Pang Ung for a quick winter retreat, avoid long weekends and public holiday.

And if you cannot stay away from the crowd, then jump into a boat. At the speed the oarsman is able to row, you will ที่leave the noise and people behind and enjoy the natural beauty that lies ahead.

IF YOU GO

Pang Ung logging camp is about an hour’s drive from the city of Mae Hong Son. You rent a tent and stay at the campground. Local food stands and bathrooms are within walking distance from the campground.

In his last hideout in Berlin, Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler seems to have had a portrait of Emperor Friedrich II hanging on the bunker wall and a small German shepherd statue on the desk. In one corner a grandfather clock, in the other, an oxygen cylinder.

That’s what’s in a reconstruction of Hitler’s working and living quarters recently opened by a commercial tourism venture in Berlin.

The new attraction, called “Documentation Fuehrerbunker”, includes a 1:25 scale model of Hitler’s living and working quarters where the Nazi dictator took his life on April 30, 1945, as well as a full-scale reconstruction of his study.

The installation is located in an authentic, war-era air-raid shelter at the ruins of the Anhalter Bahnhof train station, a 15-minute walk south of where the 1944-built Fuehrer Bunker used to be located.

On the actual spot, there is only an information panel mounted on two poles. Monika Bauert, a film set designer who led the reconstruction of Hitler’s private study, says tourists expect more than that.

“The information plaque there offers too little historical background,” she says. “I think one needs to be able to imagine it three-dimensionally.”

“We are not trying to create a Hitler show,” says curator Wieland Giebel of the non-profit association Historiale, which finances and curates both The Berlin Story Museum and the bunker exhibition.

He adds that the mock-up study is only available for viewing by visitors taking the overall guided Berlin Story bunker tour lasting about 90 minutes, during which no photographs or other recordings are permitted.

That tour leads through an above-ground reinforced-concrete air-raid shelter built for civilians.

“The tour is of a bunker that was planned for 3,500 people but which at the end of the war was sheltering 12,000,” he says. “A parallel is drawn between what was happening there and what was going on in Hitler’s bunker. We do not want to separate the one from the other.”

The Hitler mock-up has drawn fire however from a rival attraction.

The Topographie des Terrors (Topography of Terror) documentation centre – at the site of the former headquarters of the Gestapo secret police and the elite SS guards, located a few hundred metres north of the Anhalter bunker – is critical of the commercial museum.

The government-funded centre’s task is to study, analyse and publicise the crimes committed by the Nazis.

“We look on this as a kind of Disneyland approach trying to create an effect,” says Topographie spokesman Kay-Uwe von Damaros.

“At Topography of Terror we explain the history, do the documentation and keep to the facts. As such, we cannot support such staging. Sensationalism is not our thing.”

To some, this may be an understatement. The Topography of Terror is anything but sensational. Its presentation of black-and-white photos with long captions is sober in the extreme.

Entrance is free of charge, but most tourists don’t spend much time there, eager to get out and explore Berlin’s more exciting and entertaining attractions.

Adam Kerpel-Fronius of the foundation for the Monument to the Murdered Jews of Europe says visitors have a great need to seek out the authentic sites. “I also don’t think this is so bad,” he says.

“The fear used to be that it would become a pilgrimage place for neo-Nazis. But this hasn’t been the case,” Kerpel-Fronius says.

“Everyone who comes to Berlin interested in its history knows that there used to be a Fuehrer bunker – and they are all the more surprised that once there, they find only a parking lot,” he adds.

Shanghai is probably Asia’s greatest man-made phenomenon. Once a small fishing village in Central China’s coastal district, the city was romanticised as the opium den of Asia when the Europeans arrived with gunships and the drug in the early 20th Century. They left behind them the neo-classical and Art Deco buildings that still line the west bank of the Huangpu River and today these old grandes dames stand in direct contrast to the architecturally distinctive and often eccentric futuristic skyscrapers that dominate the Bund business area.

The best way to experience the massive changes that have taken place over the past several years is to stroll along the waterfront promenade on the west bank. Here, on both sides of the river, the past and future – old money and new money – are entwined like the dragon and swan in Chinese mythology.

North of the Bund, where Suzhou Creek meets the Huangpu River, is the best place to start a walk through history. With Waibaidu Bridge presiding over the creek, the Broadway Mansions, Russian Consulate, Astor House Hotel, Union Church and former British Consulate form a tight cluster. The British, the Russians, the priests and the “tourists” must have made for a fascinating community back in the early 20th Century.

Built as an exclusive residential hotel by the British in the early 1930s, the Broadway Mansions is a testament to the art deco movement of the day. It survived the Sino-Japanese War and the Culture Revolution apparently because everyone loved its glamorous character. Japanese troops seized the Mansions in 1937 for use as the headquarters of the Japanese Army Liaison Office.

After World War II, the Shanghai Municipal Council assumed ownership of the building and leased part of it to the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China, leading American journalist John Robinson Beal to quip that it was the most decorous press club in Asia. The Chinese Civil War might have been raging in the rural areas just outside Shanghai but inside the Mansions, there was dancing. Journalists, black market speculators, military personnel and their mistresses partied heavily in its bar almost every night.

The Mansions is still a glamorous place, especially to the Shanghainese and has become the popular backdrop for wedding photography, with numerous brides and grooms posing in front of the iron bridge of Waibaidu.

From the Northern corner of the Bund, I keep strolling southwards, passing the Jardine Matheson and Old Bank of China buildings before reaching my destination – the Bund 18, one of the key landmarks of the British Concession. Established in 1932, it was Shanghai’s first capital bank.

The building housed the Shanghai headquarters of what became Standard Chartered Bank and in 2006 was recognised by Unesco in the Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation. Today the heritage building is home to designer shops, upmarket art galleries and fine-dining establishments.

Next door to the Bund 18 is the North China Daily News Building, the tallest of the heritage buildings and once the publishing house of the most influential English-language newspaper in Shanghai. Ironically, an influential press wasn’t in the plans of the Communist Party when it was building the new China. The North China Daily News suspended publication at the orders of the Party and the building was seized by the Shanghai municipal government before being rented out to an insurance company, which still occupies it today. Media fans will appreciate the classic facade with its bas relief carvings depicting the symbols for art, science, literature, commerce and truth.

From the East of Zhongshan Road, where all the heritage buildings stand, I cross the road to the west bank of the Huangpu River, where the waterfront promenade stretches from North to South.

It is a place to mingle and observe. The Chinese tourists roam around with smartphones and selfie sticks trying to take perfect self-portraits. Western tourists, on the other hand, take a serious look at the Bund and the line of heritage buildings before shifting their attention to the modern futuristic metropolis across the river. Tourist cruises and cargo ships come and go along the river. I sit on a bench and watch the world going by on the Huangpu River and the clouds drifting through the tips of Shanghai Tower and the city’s skyline.

Standing 623 metres tall, Shanghai Tower twists like a DNA model into the sky. The building makes a strong statement for this financial powerhouse of China. It held the record for the world’s tallest building before being surpassed by Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, which stands 829.8 metres tall. However, the Shanghai Tower is still top of the rankings for highest observation deck.

In the evening I line up with other tourists to take the world’s fastest elevator to the 123rd floor. With a speed of 65 kilometres per hour (and severe ear-popping), I arrive at the observation deck and see, well, nothing. The clouds are so dense that they are blocking all the buildings below.

I retrace my steps along the Bund as night falls, eager to see “old Shanghai”. The opium dens have gone, of course, but the exotic debauchery left behind is better still.

At the Hakkasan, a fine-dining restaurant in the Bund 18, a light saxophone sound permeates the air. Two Western women are sitting at the long bar, cigarettes in hand, looking at the glowing Shanghai Tower. The Chinese waiters and waitresses are busy pouring chilled Moet for a group of corporate types. A trip in the elevator from Hakkasan takes me to Bar Rough. Shanghai’s high-end club favoured by celebrities and VIPs.

If that John Robinson Beal could see the Bund 18 today, he would probably surmise that Shanghai really hasn’t changed at all.

IF YOU GO

http://www.nationmultimedia.com.

With a captivating voice and crowd-pleasing repertoire, Clairdee is well known to patrons of San Francisco’s jazz clubs. This month, though, the American jazz vocalist is taking a break from her regular circuit and moonlighting at the Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit.

Born Barbara Clairdee in Tucson, Arizona, Clairdee spent her early years in Denver, Colorado, before settling down in San Francisco.

With three highly praised albums to her credit, including “Music Moves” and “Destination Moon”, Clairdee is currently working on her newest recording, “A Love Letter to Lena Horne.”

When she’s not in studio or performing at her regular clubs, she tours the world, and has sung with symphony pop orchestras and big bands, and shared the stage with artists as diverse as Bucky Pizzarelli, Boz Scaggs, David Sanborn, Dick Hyman, Houston Person and the late, great Etta James.

“It has become a tradition for the Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit to bring the finest jazz to Bangkok,” the hotel’s general manager Richard Chapman tells Explore.

The venue for the jazz is the Living Room, a dimly lit bar on the second floor that oozes with speakeasy ambience. In September, the comfortable chairs and café tables were packed every night as jazz fans came to enjoy the dulcet tones of Lezlie Harrison, an American vocalist from New York.

Anna Mjoll, Iceland’s coolest jazz singer, was supposed to perform in October but her residency was put on hold as Thailand went into deep mourning for His Majesty the King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

With entertainment once again permitted, Clairdee is now performing at The Living Room, giving her all through a sparkling repertoire of her own songs and jazz classics.

As ever, she is being backed by the Randy Cannon Group featuring Cannon on piano, Willard Dyson on drums and Therdsak Wongvichien on bass.

Located in downtown Bangkok, |the Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit is a short walk from Asok BTS and Sukhumvit MRT stations.

SOFTLY AFTER DARK

< Clairdee and the Randy Cannon Group perform Tuesday to Thursday from 9.15pm and on Friday and Saturday from 8.45pm.