Well, I guess its hardly surprising, but the extended weekend we had due to the Buddhist Celebrations of the Rainy Season, was characterised mostly by …..rain…lots of it. In fact once it started Saturday evening, it didn’t stop until Tuesday.
We actually braved the rain on Monday, putting on our macs and went into Chiang Mai to the Gym. I’m really on this fitness thing now, three weeks and I’m still doing it, shocker!
Stopping on the way for Kow Soi, we then went into Airport Plaza, before going to the gym, I needed to let my food go down properly first. So we used some time to go and check out a different Gym that my friend Jonathan had told me about. Well, a gyms a gym to me but the result of the visit is that I now have lifetime gold+ membership and will change to that gym on Sunday.
Tuesday saw things a lot dryer and we did go out for a short ride out.

boonlunchsankampaengHeading over towards San Kam Paeng on the Banthi road, I should have remembered from Saturdays ride out with Ally, the distinct lack of decent eating stops along this road.
We ended up all the way to the main San Kampaeng-Chiang Mai road, crossing it and riding a couple of kilometres towards San Kam Paeng itself, before we found a lunch stop. I should point out that its partly my fight for not being keen on Noodles, as we had passed a few other cafes but they were all Noodle places.
schoolnear wat patungOn the way back we called up to Wat Pa Tung and I got a photo of one of the possible sites for our Foundation plans.
We also spotted another big house for rent which may be another on the list of choices.
Yesterday was a much nicer day from the beginning and in the morning we rode over to Huay Tung Tao for lunch and a swim.
boonAs apposed to the normal ‘splash about’, I actually did about half an hours serious swimming.
Had a great lunch.

We had to change tables once when Somboon started freaking out at the sight of a hairy caterpillar.

Can’t be sure if it was just his excuse but he assures me they make you itch a lot if you come into contact with them.

caterpillar huaytungtaoOur other lunchtime companions were the cafe cat, who happily ate our leftovers, and a beautiful yellow and black butterfly, possibly a cousin of that hairy caterpillar.
Later in the afternoon we called in at The Brick Road, where Boon, whoes eating like a horse these days, had Spaghetti Bolognese, and I chatted with a nice Dutch family.
moneyboxOn the way home we called in at Chompoo where we fed the fish and I bought a new Moneybox.

You may have read in a previous post, there is a stall that sells these plaster of Paris moneyboxes, along with a selection of paints for you to decorate it yourself.

At 30 baht for the largest, they are a bargain.
toadschompooWe also saw these amazing looking toads.

Quite a wildlife day.

So my evening was mostly taken with some relaxing, simple artwork;

to see the finished result and other photos from these past couple of days, visit our photobucket album here;

wispaandfleabagoh, and watching Wispa playing with her latest buddy, Fleabag.

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Yet another surprise for me, that having paid 300 baht a head to get in, I would exit a relatively small museum a happy man, feeling that I had in fact got my moneys worth.

The owner of the museum, Khun Manop Rattanalitikul, met us at the door and you could not help but be entrapped by his enthusiasm.

The cosy museum, housed on two floors of a Thai house on Siri Mangkhalachan Rd, off Huay Kao Rd, is perhaps best described as compact rather than small.

The collections it holds inside are vast.

We saw many different species of Butterflies, Beetles, Mosquitos and other insects.

The majority of the specimens we were assured, were collected already dead during the course of research done my Khun Manop and his wife Dr Rampa, renowned worldwide for their expertise in the malaria field.

Apart from the tangible love and care of a lifetimes collection, one of the main things that impressed me was Khun Manop and his wife’s view on the treatment of malaria as reported in the Mosquito room.

It appears to be their contention that anti-malarial treatment prior to contraction of the disease is counter productive and only serves to weaken human resistance and strengthen the mosquito’s.

There is much more than just insects here to with additional collections or coins, stones, art, the list goes on.

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