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.
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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!
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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.