childrens home chiang mai 4003

This weeks trip out with Ally was more of a work day as I was visiting many establishments around Chiang Mai trying to find Sponsors and collection box locations, for The Stratton ABC Foundation, in and around Chiang Mai.

Still there was some early interest factor to the trip as we headed into the city via the River road from Sarapee. The recent heavy rains continue to turn the River Ping into a swirling brown torrent that clearly has its benefits for the people who live along its banks.

At a bend in the river we spotted some fishermen and ladies using nets on long bamboo, close to a canal outlet into the river.

When I stopped to take photos one of the men eagerly pointed me towards a huge fish, caught earlier, being held on the end of a rope.

Later, just before we took Coffee at Vittoria Coffee, opposite Wiang Kum Kam, Ally took me to the riverside at a weir point, where we saw the full force of the river in action.

We also came across a group of chickens;

including this stylish fellow.

Part of the work day included a trip To Wararot Market area, on a search for collection boxes. Our search didn’t find what I was looking for but its always fun to visit Wararot, so many different stores, so much colour and atmosphere.

After visiting many different places I counted the day as a success having acquired 4 new sites for our collection boxes and having had our first offer of monthly sponsorship by a prominent local company. More details will appear soon on The Stratton ABC Foundation website once all the boxes are located and sponsorship details finalised.

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Woh! So long since I’ve sat down to write anything on this site. Its been a busy year, hampered by having no home internet and little time to spend in the internet shops. Thankfully we now have broadband at home again and there will be more and more new posts appearing here in the near future.

Todays post is just to say that life is good. Our Foundation Project, The Stratton ABC Foundation is going well and we now take care of 9 children from disadvantaged backgrounds, all from Northern Thai Provinces.

Today I visited nearby Sarapee, to watch a Parade involving two of our children who attend Mattayom 1 and 2 in Sarapee.

Its a sad reflection of todays society that parents around the world have little time to attend such events and I feel blessed that it is my job to make the time to do so. many children do not understand the constraints put on their parents, by modern day living. I’ m sure, like myself, you can remember the good feeling whenever your parents turned up to see you take part in something; sports day, a school play maybe. That feeling that they wanted to give up their time for you, to take pride in what you were doing.

I firmly believe that if we want to salvage any semblence of civilsed society, governments around the world should move to create a situation where parents are allowed paid time off work to attend such occasions if need be.

Kids are left to fend for themselves too much these days, and the apparent lack of interest in their activities, by their parents, leads to all sorts of problems for society as those children get older.

Thailand, like most countries these days, is battling a spread in the drink and drug culture in the younger generations, and todays Parade appeared to be addressing this issue and promoting healthy lifestyle.

The Parade went from Sarapee Train Station, where I dropped our two older children early in the morning, down the old Lamphun-Chiang Mai road through the first part of Sarapee and ending at Sarapee Pittiyakom School.

It was a lively colourful event with a Marching Band at the lead;

the local Police were represented by some very jolly looking Policemen and women;

 and a few colourful floats following the anti drink and drug theme made for a well worthy Parade.
For more photos of this event please visit our photobucket album here.

If you want to know more about how you could help our Foundation project please follow any of these links;
Our Foundation Shop……here you can buy items produced by the children, such as greetings cards; sponsor a child; or maybe check out
our Wishlist and sponsor the purchase of items we need;…and more

Our main Foundation website.

Our Thai language website which is being constructed by the children themselves.

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Its that time of year again where love is in the air.

Take a moment to consider the origins of Valentines Day.

Before the day was high-jacked for lovers, it was originally meant for

close and trusted friends and companions.

So why not send a card to all your loved ones on this special day.

Even better, purchase your cards from The Stratton ABC Foundation online shop.

You will find a lovely collection of designs produced by the children at Stratton House Childrens Home, Chiang Mai.

They very much need your support so make both them and your closest friends happy and order today.

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Just a couple of days to cover since my ride out with Ally. Sunday was a bit of a lazy day in the end. Not so early to rise, after the exhaustion of Saturday, I had planned to visit the Gym on Sunday afternoon and even got as far as getting to Airport Plaza for around 4pm.
sponsorsoccerWhen we arrived we saw that there had been some sort of event going on over the weekend, sponsored by Sponsor.
We’d obviously missed most of it but there were some dance displays going on.
Having got there all geared up for the Gym, Boons hunger pangs got to me and I decided to eat with him first.

airportplaza We decided to grab something from the food court in the lower level of the Plaza.
We then went for a wander around the Plaza during which my legs began to ache, still coming down from the strains of the day before.
Stopping at Maggs Coffee, on the first floor, we made the mistake of plonking ourselves down on their comfiest sofa, at which point all hope of me going to the gym faded away.
dance4

Finishing my very nice Ice Mocha, I dragged myself up and we went down to watch some of the show on the stage outside.

But even the very energetic and entertaining dance routines could not compete with the tiredness that had set in and we soon headed home for an early night.
Back to school today. Another good one, with the kids being on their best behaviour and very responsive to the lessons taught.
We finished early today due to a mass cleaning session, which all the children had to take part in.
snakeAs they prepared to scrub the school down there was a slight distraction when a baby Cobra was spotted.
Now I sort of assumed that knowledge and respect for such creatures would be one of those things passed down the generations, in a country where they are indigenous.

snake2Sadly 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.
One of the teachers had just informed the children that this snake could spit its poison quite along way and thankfully they had stopped throwing things. No longer being attacked the snake relaxed and went on its way.
After our early finish we had call to go into Chiang Mai after getting word of some furniture, that will be useful for our Foundation Project, going for a bargain price.
We needed to go to Lamphun first, for Boon to pick up his latest batch of Herbal Life ‘put on weight’ pills. Boon had informed me that he was getting hungry again and wanted to eat soon.

coffee 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.
Unfortunately for Boon the cafes were closed. After a delicious Iced Latte, we carried on into Chiang Mai. I told Boon to let me know when he wanted me to stop for food. When he gets hungry Somboon tends to get very grumpy. We got all the way into town with no word from Boon, so I headed to Chiang Mai Gate to the food stalls there. He wasn’t impressed by anything on offer so off we went in search of somewhere else. Trouble was he had already gone into full grumpyness melt down and we proceeded to ride around for another half an hour, passing numerous cafes, before he finally settled on Champeuk Gate food stalls. And of course it was all my fault!
All smiles again once he’d eaten we drove into The Brick Road Cafe. Yes, we’re buying our old furniture back off the new owner who is about to completely refurbish. Today was just to get the 3 single beds and 4 wardrobes down the stairs ready for transporting tomorrow.
This replaced my rescheduled plan to go to the Gym. Going up and down the stairs at The Brick Road 8 times was more than enough exercise for the day.

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