About this website and about me

About this website and about Frans Betgem

I am a Dutch national who has been living in Chiang Mai for more than 20 years. Amstelveen, just south of Amsterdam is my hometown. I graduated in contemporary history from the University of Amsterdam before I started traveling. My travels brought me to Southeast Asia in 1987. In 1990 I started working for Baobab Travel as a tourleader in Thailand. I worked for this company in Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines and Australia from 1990 until 1998. In 1994 I joined Khiri Travel Thailand. In 2012 I retired from Khiri Travel and started my own business in Chiang Mai which is now called Green Trails. We organize tours in North Thailand such as trekking tours, historical and cultural tours. Green Trails has two more websites: Chiang Mai a la Carte and Chiang Mai on Three Wheels.

Chiang Mai a la Carte offers day tours and multiple day tours in North Thailand. The focus is on history, traditions and local culture. We offer tours with a fixed program but really specialize in tailormade tours. We promote festivals and events as much as possible. Chiang Mai on Three Wheels is our social project.

History has always been my passion and it still very much is. I have done extensive research into the history of Chiang Mai and I am the admin of a Facebook group called “Chiang Mai Memories“. I really like “Then and Now” pictures. This website started initially as “Chiang Mai Then and Now”. Most of the articles I wrote for this website and are about the history of Chiang Mai and less about travel. I will keep on writing such articles.

This year, 2018, I decided to widen my scope and changed the name of the website in “Travel and History”. I don’t want to restrict myself anymore to North Thailand only. My first story is about my recent trip to the Deep South. I will write about other destinations in Thailand and also about other countries in the region. I want to give travelers more historical background information about the places they visit. I am looking for old pictures of these places and visit archives to find any relevant and interesting information about these destinations.

About the pictures

There are a lot of pictures on this website. Many of them I made myself, many I found on other websites and many were given to me. I am aware of copyright of pictures. This is not a commercial website. We don’t sell anything, we only share. Most of the pictures of others I have shared are old pictures that have little monetary value. They might have emotional value for some people. Many of these pictures I have collected over the years. Of many I can’t remember where I found them. If I know the photographer I will credit him or her. In some cases I will add a link. Many of the pictures I found on websites such as www.teakdoor.com which has an old pictures thread on which people post pictures. In most cases no source is being mentioned.
If someone for some reason objects to the use of a picture on this website please send an email to me: frans@green-trails.com

Frans Betgem, Chiang Mai
May 16, 2018