Wat Pasak Banthi is where Pasak School is also located. This, you may know, is where I work as part time, volunteer, English Teacher. Whilst at school this week, I noticed the construction of large marquees in the school sports field and was informed that there was to be a Tamboon ceremony, to raise money for new building work at the Temple.
Last night was the first night of the ceremony, which involved several Monks from many different Temples in and around Chiang Mai. We took the children from Stratton House up, knowing that many of their school friends would be there.
I thought that we may see the start of the ceremony, but discovered that it would not start properly until 9pm, and by then we had returned to Mae Salab so the kids could get their sleep.
Still they had a good 2 and a half hours playtime with the other children there and May and Yong made merit by putting money in the collection bowls.
This is a particular method of merit making and the smallest denomination coins are placed symbolically into each of the many bowls laid out on the tables.
To take part you pay 20 baht for a bowl of the small satang. There were other ways of giving, such as the slot machines that when fed played recordings of Monks giving blessings. There was also a catch net held by a group of straw village folk.
This morning was time for villagers to come to make merit by offering food to the Monks and listening to the blessings.
All the school children were involved.
Our lad, Jack, had taken 4 packs, prepared by Wasana, our house mother, and shared them with some friends who had less to give.
The Monks chanting was very relaxing and for a while I sat in quite deep meditation.
I am not sure how many days this ceremony will run for but was interested to see the temporary accomodation for the visiting Monks.
Very simple cubicles constructed with rough wooden poles and brown paper, straw laid out inside for sleeping on.
There was a big turn out and I felt lucky to witness this cultural event.
At the end of the mornings ceremony all the people stood in line, forming a pathway and waited for the Monks who walked through collecting the food offerings.
For more photos please visit our photobucket album here.
Khruu Khemtong Punyoyai,from Huay Sai school has been running an annual English Camp for several years now.
San Kampaeng Hotsprings is such a good choice of venue; with camping at very economical prices; the ambience of the gardens and of course, the luxury of the Hot Springs.
The ethos of the weekend was that above all it should be fun. All students were told not to worry about making mistakes with the language and not to take it to seriously, but to enjoy the experience of the weekend and the opportunity to practise their English with English speakers.
Each trainer had 10 or 11 students and we had a very good workbook to follow, carefully compiled by Khruu Khemtong.The day was split into short work sessions; both sitting with the book and strolling around the grounds for survey and map drawing;and freetime for both children and trainers to relax.
The children had plenty of time inbetween the ‘work’ to enjoy the facilities at the Hot Springs, paddling in the manmade Hot Spring ‘stream’, wandering around the site when the work day finished at 4pm, swimming in the big pool.
There was more singing and after dinner it was Party Time. Whilst the 2 Dutch trainers went home to sleep, Sue and myself stayed and Sue really got into the spirit of the Party with an impromptu dance that got all the kids on their dancing toes to.
Just before the party started, a large fire was lit and as the evening went on the children cooked kaow lam and toasted crackers on the fire.
Although I was surprised to see the best singer hiding under a table whilst performing, clearly shy to perform infront of his friends.
It was lovely waking up to the peaceful surroundings and relaxing atmosphere of the Hot Springs gardens.
Although all the kids were there it was mostly the boys that got into the pool, the girls possibly too shy.
At around 11.30 the school Director, Mr Hirun Chainu,came to officially close the camp and to issue certificates to all children and trainers. 
And I would like my group for being such fun.
The lady Jennifer, made a generous donation;in honor of her father; to The Stratton ABC Foundation, in the process and although a refund was offered she wouldnt hear of it, and I’m glad to report that she is now in contact with the correct John.
December 5th is Fathers Day in Thailand, being, as it is, The Kings Birthday. In tribute to The King, at the start of his 82nd year,the Chiang Mai Royal Flora Exhibition opened its gates for free for a period of 10 days from the beginning of the month.
The Royal flora is an impressive and beautifully landscaped and manicured site and on this night was host to thousands, filling every available viewing spot. There is a wonderful Temple building to the rear of the site and it was to the Temple ‘grounds’ that we headed. By this time the firework display had already begun and the skies were also filling with paper lanterns. It had been worth the hassle to get there. The children sat and watched the display for a while but soon bored of it when spotting the animal statues in one of the many garden areas. Once the display had finished we wandered around the site that I can imagine would be a wonderfully relaxing place to be when not so packed with partying folk.
We hope you enjoyed your day your Majesty; Long Live The King.
As art and craft is already a popular activity at Stratton House we decided to give the kids a chance to produce some homemade Christmas cards.
These products will soon be available in our, soon to open, online shop, under the heading ‘Because You Care’. All profits will go in to 
Part of the joy of running The Stratton ABC Foundation is getting to see yet more of what goes on in Thai society. Last week was the culmination of many weeks practice at school for the children, when a major inter school running competition was held for the local schools in and around Banthi, over two days.
Held at the local Government Office grounds, it was quite an impressive event. Commitments here at Stratton House meant that we could only manage afternoons, but we got to see plenty of the excitement.
There were stands and awnings erected around the outside of the sportsfield for all the different schools and their supporters.
All the children taking part put their heart into it and I think winners and losers alike should all be very proud of themselves.
We were on the back mountain roads going from Doi Saket over to Chae Son National park when we first came across many trays of coffee beans drying in the sun at the roadsides in many of the small villages we passed through.
One guy was doing it by hand whilst his neighbours opposite had mechanical help.
At the house that was using the machine there was also a lovely little coffee shop where we were able to purchase a cup of their fresh coffee, which was just perfect.
I found it delightful that rather than one mass producer it seems that there are many small scale coffee farming operations going on throughout these hills.
So now Stratton House Childrens Home in Ban Mae Salab, 2km off Highway 11, turning left for Banthi at the Banthi/Sarapee intersection, has now been open for nearly 2 weeks and is presently looking after 3 disadvantaged children from Chiang Mai/ Lamphun areas. So far so good with all the children settling in well with a pretty rapid rapport with their House Mother, Wassana.
Having just opened the Stratton House Childrens Home I was unsure of what we would do for Loi Kratong. In the end we split the evening between a quiet village celebration in Mae Salab and a run into the centre of the Old City in Chiang Mai where Boon helped our first child, Jack, join in this colourful celebration close to the Three Kings Monument.
The skies were filled with many hundreds of paper lanterns similar to the one we sent up.
