Lamphun – Tha Ku – Pea’s home

Sawadee Khrap

It’s been a busy weekend, 22nd to Chom Thong and here on Dec 23rd to Pea’s house in Tha Ku Village, Lamphum Province so he could vote.  We stopped at the “Gassan” , The biggest golf course in Northern Thailand for breakfast on our way to Pea’s house. Just a couple of shots.

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Their web site has some great shots – sorry I don’t like golfing. The side road from the Chiang Mai – Lampang Super Highway to Pea’s village, Tha Ku, is being widened to 4 lanes and will be great when it’s done.

I got to meet Pea’s mother, stepfather, brother and several relatives. 

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The voting was being held in the local temple, so we went there first.  At Pea’s house I was offered some “tasty” crickets – but passed them by, opting for a ice-cream instead.  Next we went to where his stepfather was working, cutting down branches that had ant nests on them – these ants farm a small insect similar to an aphid that makes clusters on the tree branches.  These are collected (along with the eggs of the ants too – I’m told they are very good) and used to produce a form of lacquer and cement or glue.

Later we drove to Doi Khuntan National Park and the train station & tunnel for the Lamphun-Lampang railroad. I was very lucky to have a couple of trains at the station, so I got some good shots.  Everything is in the SLIDESHOW   enjoy!

 

Ob Luang, Wat Phra That Si Chom Thong Wora Wihan

Sawadee Khrap

On Saturday, Dec 22, I went to visit a friend of mine, Phum, and his family in Chom Thong.  Chom Thong is southwest of Chiang Mai on the lower road to Mae Hong Song.

Phum has a fish-raising enterprise on the Ping River next to his home.  The production cycle is 3 mo from fingerlings to sale – the fish are fed every hour as they grow – so this is a day and night job.  Very intensive. Two years ago when the Ping River flooded, Phum lost his entire setup, fish, baskets and all – what you see now is only half of what it used to be, it was twice as wide.  Oh ya – it extends the same amount to the left of the picture – but my panographic didn’t work. 

(This is a very large image so be prepared for some time to download)

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Here I met his Mother, Father and Nephews.  This SlideShow shows the family, and a side trip we took to Ob Luang National Park and the amazing Ob Luang Canyon. 

IMG_7350 IMG_7372Here’s a great shot of Plum and the canyon. 

 I felt like I was back in California.  Here I am on the other side of the world and I felt like I was back home.  They have a camping area and a trail that we took and crossed the walking bridge over the canyon you see in the first image, past a prehistoric burial site and cave drawings.  What a hike – and it was unusually hot  – I sure got my workout.

From here we went to see the Wat Phra That Si Chom Thong Wora Wihan Temple in Hot (that’s the name of the city or village).

IMG_7426IMG_7412 Impressive, I’ve made another SlideShow for this part of the trip.  The sign tells the story, but I wish we would have had time to capture more images  – what I got was just quick snaps and next time I will try to get more staged shots and panographics of the inside – really nice. 

On the way back to Chiang Mai we stopped at another Wat (I don’t have the name at this time – it was only in Thai and I forgot to have Phum translate it for me – sorry) with a great view of Chom Thong Valley. 

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Just a quick post – hope you enjoyed.  Comment me if you have any questions or would like to see more of this area.

Merry Christmas

Ciao