Its that time of year again, and although I’ve always been a bit of a Christmas humbug, not being a Christian, and being far more into the idea of people gift giving when they want to and not when they feel they have to, I’m now running a Childrens home and I do appreciate the fun the festivities can give to them.
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.
This has proved such a popular pass time and produced some great results that have convinced us to try our hand at producing both seasonal and general greetings cards, postcards, etc.
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 The Stratton ABC Foundation general fund and go towards helping us to give disadvantaged kids from in and around Chiang Mai and Lamphun A Better Chance.
For anyone who may own a business in or around Chiang Mai or Lamphun and feel that their premises may be a suitable location for one of our collection boxes, please contact me ,(John), using the contact link at the bottom of the page.
When we arrived we saw that there had been some sort of event going on over the weekend, sponsored by Sponsor.
We decided to grab something from the food court in the lower level of the Plaza.
As they prepared to scrub the school down there was a slight distraction when a baby Cobra was spotted.
Sadly it would appear that this is part of the culture that may be slipping. Whilst being a little wary, the kids seemed intent on throwing things at the snake, which was doing its best to slip away, to the point where it got agitated enough to turn and head towards them, hood spread.
Expecting the nearby cafes to be open I headed down the old Lamphun/Chiang Mai road to Cafe Lut 89, the small coffee stall just before the intersection with the Super Highway.
Another day when culture comes first.
On arriving at school today we saw preparations being finalised for the imminent procession.
A few minutes shaking out my stiff joints and I went and caught up with the kids as they walked down to the second Temple.
In desperate need of refreshment by the time we reached the second Temple, I chose to sit this one out at the little shop opposite and take a drink, whilst the children all went in to deliver the second candle and listen to more sermon.
Then I discovered that there was a much bigger parade to come. We all went into the main village where many others were also gathering; many dressed in their traditional clothes, and with many decorated trucks, carrying candles and Buddha figures.
The procession actually ended up in the field of our school where there were food stalls, a stage and marquees, where yet more Monks were in attendance to receive gifts and give merit.
So it was party time here tonight and I’d like to start off by saying a big thanks to all my staff, Mr Ping Pong, and our French Clarinet player,(sorry didnt get your name).
The party went very well and the children all seemed to enjoy themselves very much.
Some of the kids had a bash on the Cafe Congas.
Keen to involve the local culture, and with many surplus presents in the ‘bin’, we then gave another present to each child before walking into Wat Chedi Luang, the Temple behind us, where the children gave these presents to the Monks to pass on to others.
The children were captivated by the Monk, who spoke to them for around 45 minutes before performing a blessing on all the children, with the tying of the symbolic string around their wrists.
It was a wonderful setting and end to what had been a full and exciting day for the children.
This was just 3 weeks ago, in the first week of April, when Lars, a Danish plumber, with a penchant for interior design, had been visiting for a couple of weeks and was keen to get out and see more of Northern Thailand.
Boon had quite a busy schedule with his business, but we decided to fit in a couple of days traveling with Lars, who had turned up with Conga Dave, an old friend from the UK. Shame Dave had already gone home really.
Lars had been out and rented a 250cc Honda Chopper.By all accounts very comfortable and certainly handled the hills a touch better than my 150cc JRD., but then I did have a passenger.
By midday we were pretty much melting and on the hunt for a waterfall where we might be able to cool down.
It took a while but eventually we came apon a beautifully refreshing spot, around 30kms from Phayao, and free! Always the best.
We joined many Thais, including a bunch of village kids who had been taken there by a group of Buddhist Monks, soaking in the natural beauty, and getting soaked in the wonderfully cooling water that gushed down the mountainside.
The first is entered via an old stone stairway, which, apart from the very first few steps, which take you under a very impressive archway, is long but not so steep.
There are actually several small Temples of differing styles on this first site as well as quite an array of impressive stone statues, set amongst the mountain forest trees it is so peaceful, apart from the hums and buzzs of the forest insect life.
If ever I take the plunge and sign up as a Monk , this is definitely high on the list of places I’d like to do it.
So quiet, and so much beauty, both the architecture and the scenery, some great views of the surrounding countryside .
This Buddha was obviously very old and possibly in need of renovation, and looking across to the third sight where the replica of Buddhas Temple can be found.
Completely different in design to Thai Temples this blue/white stone edifice casts an imposing feature on the landscape. It is set in manicured landscaped gardens , another must for anyone interested in the Buddhist theme.
This Temple turned out to be just 5 minutes or so ride down the road and a wonderful place to visit.
Indeed it seems to have been developed into a ‘teaching’ Temple.
Other notable features are the gigantic Golden reclining Buddha; a group of quaint concrete Animal statues, including dinosaurs, and a curious dome shape Vihara.
It became quite impossible to take photographs of the concrete animals without several children rushing into the shot and posing. Many of them seemed keen to practice their English and there was a prolonged period of answering the same questions, ‘what is your name?’, ‘where do you come from?’. The lovely part of that was the genuine looks of delight when they got an answer, seemingly surprised that I’d actually understood them.
One confident young lad, Boom, became my guide for a short time, keen to point all the many different things worth photographing.
It was he who took me around to the dome shape Vihara, quite different in design to anything I’ve seen at Thai Temples before, it had more of a Dutch feel about it to me.
