For so long I have been far too busy to get out and about and enjoy some proper freetime for myself.
So it was a welcome break from day to day work , with The Stratton ABC Foundation, when I took a long overdue ride out with my good friend Ally.
Meeting for coffee at the WiFi Coffee shop at Chiang Mai Paintball, on the road from Sarapee to Hang Dong,
we sat for a chat and Ally kitted me out with a walkie talkie so that we could communicate whilst riding.
At around 9.30 we heading off along the River Ping, towards Lamphun. Its a lovely ride along the river , with so much to see.
If you do it don’t rush, take your time and get a real insight into life along the river.
There are many pituresque views to be spotted, especially at this time of year with everything growing so fast and full of lush shades of green.
There was quite alot of activity along the waterway with local people harvesting the river plants.
And it was a day of contrasts where we watched many harvesting by hand, either wading of in small boats;
and further down the river saw a large mechanised harvesting boat, operated by a local lady.
You can also find many fish farms along the way.
Again see the contrast between the more advanced and well cared for operations, with air being pumped into the tanks;
and the less cared for where the healthy fish share their tanks with the dead.
Ally has done this route many times , so knows it well and stopped at a delightful little coffee shop run by an elderly Thai lady.
Its a lovely spot to sit and take a break, the coffee was very good and there are icecreams and other snackfood available snackfoods .
Ally got a phonecall at the coffee shop and whilst waiting for her to finish, I carried on up the road a little and popped into a small Wat. From the outside it didn’t look so exciting; but inside the grounds was a mini treasure trove of sculptures.
I had to smile at this wonderful elephant on wheels which actually turned out to be a mobile light source, with cable and plug coming from its rear end and a light bulb in its trunk.
To the rear of the Temple were many sculptures, including one of some very grotesque looking demons.
As I took photos the Monk in residence came out to greet me and seeing my interest, eagerly led me round to the Temples scared tree which was adorned with yet more sculptures of birds and insects.
We had a lovely chat, where I surprised my self with my increased grasp of Thai language.
Again I failed in good reporting, having neglected to take a notebook with me and can not remember his name, but I would like to extend thanks for the warm welcome and much respect for this gentle Phra.
A way down from the coffee shop we stopped briefly to snap some Lamyai harvesting at a small family home.
This year the rains have been less than usual and Lamyai are relatively expensive due to the shortage of decent sized fruits.
By the time we stopped for lunch, having turned of the river road towards Hang Dong, the rains that had been threatening all morning got closer.
added to this was that Allys phonecall had been work related and meant that she needed to get back earlier than planned.
Having sat and enjoyed some Barmee Duck, thats yellow noodles with duck, we decided to head back to Ally’s house for coffee and a movie.
I can’t believe its the first time I’ve been to Allys home. And a lovely home it is to. Unfortunately none of the photos I took do the house justice, so that will have to wait for next time. If there is a next time after my apparent recent curse with toilets struck yet again(inside joke).
It was very nice to see Allys partner and my fellow Foundation Director, Pee Took, who was just on her way out.
Sitting in the comfort of Allys home office watching the latest version of Sherlock Holmes was a great end to a very enjoyable day off the stresses of my busy schedule.
So if you are looking for a chilled day out with some real Thai life to be seen, grab a bike and head off along the River Ping. Enjoy!
For more photos please visit our photobucket album here.
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.
Had another free day on Friday and used it to get a few things done. Going in to Chiang Mai around midday we first stopped for coffee at a relatively new coffee shop on the bottom moat road on the edge of the Old City.
From there we paid a visit to DK books, on Moonmuang road. Boon was after more reading material and I decided to join him when I discovered the secondhand, English language, paperback sale upstairs.
More coffee at Chiang Mai Coffee in DK car park, and then it was into the Old City so that Boon could have lunch by Wat Phra Singh. Not hungry myself I killed time in the Temple grounds.
On the way we stopped for Lunch at the Chiang Mai Kow Soi cafe on the highway from Saraphi to Hang Dong road.
This time I made sure I got good photos of the strange fruit out front of the cafe…..can anyone identify them?
Outside the Gym there appeared to be some sort of break dance class going on, with many local youngsters practicing their skills.
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.
