Here is a test product video
any suggestions are welcome
Audio Take 2
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Morning adventures in Chiang Mai and a hike
Bev and I tend to wake up early and like to go for a walk/bike ride in the old city of Chiang Mai when it is cool and there is not much traffic.
Last week we went for a morning bicycle ride. I recently bought a used bike and Bev is borrowing one for now. We did some exploring and came upon a temple we had wanted to visit since we did a tour at Chieng Mai City Arts and Cultural Museum. It is on Wualai street which used to be the center for the silver handicrafts and where the Saturday night walking market takes place. The temple is the Silver Temple - Wat Sriphan. Here are some pictures .... The ordination hall which is under construction was particularly interesting and was one of the few places where women could not enter.
Remember to click on the bottom of the slide show to make the transitions faster.
On Dec 7-8 we went with the hiking club to Doi Khun Tan which is between Lampun and Lampang, south of Chiang Mai. It is the 4th highest mountain in Thailand and we had visited and stayed there when we lived here 30+ years ago. In those days the only access to the mountain was a stop on the train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai. Now there is a road part way up the mountain. There are bungalows for rent at the park, some owned by the Park and others by the Railway. However, we stayed at the old Christian missionary cabins that are now owned by Payap University. They are pretty basic bungalows, but the views are amazing and there is hot water and western-style toilets in the bungalows, so what more can one ask for?! The leader of the trip had written a nice book about the missionary bungalows and it was fun to go with her. It was a 6 kilometer (4 mile hike) to our bungalow - not a difficult hike as the trail was very good and ascended steadily, but not steeply. We took the 2 hr train ride from Chiang Mai to the starting point and it took about 2 hrs to reach the cabins. Once we had lunch we continued on to the peak to see the view which was not great as it was a hazy day. One nice thing was our luggage was taken up by a porter for about 15 cents a pound so there was little incentive to carry it up! It was carried by a motorcycle lest you think we loaded down some poor guy with our bags!
Remember to click on the bottom of the slide show to make the transitions faster.
Finally, here are some pictures of our walk on Dec 10th to the southern gate called Chiang Mai gate where we like to buy fruit. On the way we stopped at a Rice/Curry shop for some breakfast. There are so many funky and pretty sights and sounds that we run into! Another thing that I find fun is photographing the many contrasting sights - ancient temples with satellite dishes and loud speakers, Oreo Blizard ice cream/coffee shop, funky entrances to houses etc. Remember to click on the bottom of the slide show to make the transitions faster.
We were walking by Wat Pan Waen and heard chanting and went in ....
As you can see we have had much more time this year to tour and explore which is what volunteers should do :-) We are still working towards getting the sand filters manufactured and as Rita arrives tomorrow I am sure we will be busier once she arrives.
Last week we went for a morning bicycle ride. I recently bought a used bike and Bev is borrowing one for now. We did some exploring and came upon a temple we had wanted to visit since we did a tour at Chieng Mai City Arts and Cultural Museum. It is on Wualai street which used to be the center for the silver handicrafts and where the Saturday night walking market takes place. The temple is the Silver Temple - Wat Sriphan. Here are some pictures .... The ordination hall which is under construction was particularly interesting and was one of the few places where women could not enter.
Remember to click on the bottom of the slide show to make the transitions faster.
On Dec 7-8 we went with the hiking club to Doi Khun Tan which is between Lampun and Lampang, south of Chiang Mai. It is the 4th highest mountain in Thailand and we had visited and stayed there when we lived here 30+ years ago. In those days the only access to the mountain was a stop on the train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai. Now there is a road part way up the mountain. There are bungalows for rent at the park, some owned by the Park and others by the Railway. However, we stayed at the old Christian missionary cabins that are now owned by Payap University. They are pretty basic bungalows, but the views are amazing and there is hot water and western-style toilets in the bungalows, so what more can one ask for?! The leader of the trip had written a nice book about the missionary bungalows and it was fun to go with her. It was a 6 kilometer (4 mile hike) to our bungalow - not a difficult hike as the trail was very good and ascended steadily, but not steeply. We took the 2 hr train ride from Chiang Mai to the starting point and it took about 2 hrs to reach the cabins. Once we had lunch we continued on to the peak to see the view which was not great as it was a hazy day. One nice thing was our luggage was taken up by a porter for about 15 cents a pound so there was little incentive to carry it up! It was carried by a motorcycle lest you think we loaded down some poor guy with our bags!
Remember to click on the bottom of the slide show to make the transitions faster.
Finally, here are some pictures of our walk on Dec 10th to the southern gate called Chiang Mai gate where we like to buy fruit. On the way we stopped at a Rice/Curry shop for some breakfast. There are so many funky and pretty sights and sounds that we run into! Another thing that I find fun is photographing the many contrasting sights - ancient temples with satellite dishes and loud speakers, Oreo Blizard ice cream/coffee shop, funky entrances to houses etc. Remember to click on the bottom of the slide show to make the transitions faster.
We were walking by Wat Pan Waen and heard chanting and went in ....
As you can see we have had much more time this year to tour and explore which is what volunteers should do :-) We are still working towards getting the sand filters manufactured and as Rita arrives tomorrow I am sure we will be busier once she arrives.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Visit to Ban Pong Hi to find sand and deliver rice
On Nov 24th we drove to Ban Pong Hi to take a GPS and a map to get one of the Lahu villagers to search for suitable sand for the Bio sand filters. The plan was to return the same day. Annie and Resa went with Bev and I. Since Kids Ark had received some money for donating rice to four families affected by HIV/AIDS we also decided to buy 8 bags of rice and deliver them that day. We left Resa off in Fang to order a loom so the villagers could do wider weaving. We bought the rice in Fang. One bag, about 20 quarts of rice, cost 850 baht for old rice and 750 baht for new harvest rice. We learned that old rice expands more and tastes better and hence the higher price. We then went on to Ban Pong Hi to meet with Sila and the villager that was going to do the search. You can zoom in or out to see where it is located with respect to Chiang Mai and the Burmese border. The tall mountain at about 2 o'clock from the marker is where we eventually drove to. More on that later in the blog....
View Ban Pong Hi Village in a larger map
When we arrived neither Sila nor the villager were there so we went to get lunch as we were told Sila would return after lunch. The villagers were planning a ceremony to pray for the well being of the king the next day so there were a lot of people doing preparations etc. Finally we sat down with Sila and the villager and went over the plan to look for suitable sand, how to preliminarily inspect the sand with a magnifying glass and what characteristics we were looking for. We had printed out a map of the area and following the advice of a geologist we showed him where to look, how to collect samples and mark the bags with the number from the GPS. We gave him 4 days at $6/day plus paying for gas. Believe it or not that was a good days pay! Once we finished the training we headed out to deliver the rice. One village Mae Hang is 4 kilometers (2.5mi) closer to Burma on a pretty bad road. One section is so steep they have a concrete surface but the rest could sure use it too! KA has a project to pay for the transportation to Ban Pong Hi for the kids from this village of about 50 homes to attend school. Most homes seem to have solar cells for some power, but I didn't have time to investigate the water and sanitation situation as we had other villages to visit.
We had plans to deliver rice to four families, all living in different villages, but after our trip to the next village we had to abort mission, as the trip to the next village took such a long time and we had to drive back to CM.
This village is located high up in the mountains and whenever we visited Ban Pong Hi we had seen this village and had always wanted to visit it. Getting there was quite an exciting trip - the road was a dirt road, very, very steep and also deeply rutted. Several times along the way Sila and Bev had to come out of the truck to help me navigate the ruts. The scenery was magnificent. Once we arrived in the village I was told that that road is hardly ever used nowadays and that there was a better one to use!
Here are some pictures....
(remember click on the bottom of the slide to have the slides transition faster)
PS Update on the search for suitable sand: we think we have found a source; our next step is to actually use the sand in a filter and test it. More to follow in the next blog; I am keeping my fingers (and toes) crossed!
View Ban Pong Hi Village in a larger map
When we arrived neither Sila nor the villager were there so we went to get lunch as we were told Sila would return after lunch. The villagers were planning a ceremony to pray for the well being of the king the next day so there were a lot of people doing preparations etc. Finally we sat down with Sila and the villager and went over the plan to look for suitable sand, how to preliminarily inspect the sand with a magnifying glass and what characteristics we were looking for. We had printed out a map of the area and following the advice of a geologist we showed him where to look, how to collect samples and mark the bags with the number from the GPS. We gave him 4 days at $6/day plus paying for gas. Believe it or not that was a good days pay! Once we finished the training we headed out to deliver the rice. One village Mae Hang is 4 kilometers (2.5mi) closer to Burma on a pretty bad road. One section is so steep they have a concrete surface but the rest could sure use it too! KA has a project to pay for the transportation to Ban Pong Hi for the kids from this village of about 50 homes to attend school. Most homes seem to have solar cells for some power, but I didn't have time to investigate the water and sanitation situation as we had other villages to visit.
We had plans to deliver rice to four families, all living in different villages, but after our trip to the next village we had to abort mission, as the trip to the next village took such a long time and we had to drive back to CM.
This village is located high up in the mountains and whenever we visited Ban Pong Hi we had seen this village and had always wanted to visit it. Getting there was quite an exciting trip - the road was a dirt road, very, very steep and also deeply rutted. Several times along the way Sila and Bev had to come out of the truck to help me navigate the ruts. The scenery was magnificent. Once we arrived in the village I was told that that road is hardly ever used nowadays and that there was a better one to use!
Here are some pictures....
(remember click on the bottom of the slide to have the slides transition faster)
PS Update on the search for suitable sand: we think we have found a source; our next step is to actually use the sand in a filter and test it. More to follow in the next blog; I am keeping my fingers (and toes) crossed!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)