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Sawadee Khrap

On our way back from Jerry’s place in Nanoi, just a little ways south of   Phrae, near Den Chai there was this great Wat.  Wat Phrathatsutonmongkonkiree,

 

so we stopped and got some shots.  I didn’t get a GPS reading while I was there, but Google Earth has a site I think is the same – next time I go over to Jerry’s I’ll make sure to get a reading. 

 

 Google Earth shows these coordinates for some un-named Wat and I think it’s the same one:

• N 17 58.34
• E 100 00.51

 

And here is

the

SLIDESHOW

Enjoy.

 

Ciao.

 

 

Sawadee Khrap

On Thursday we headed for Nanoi, or actually Ban Phut Charoen, 5 Km North and about 12 KM West of Nanoi from the Wang Sai-Nanoi highway where Jerry and Art have built their new house.  We had a great easy ride over, clear weather and little traffic – but that evening it started to rain and never let up till we left on Saturday morning.  Actual coordinates are :

• N18 22’49.0”
• E100 40’21.0”
• Elevation 1433 ft.

From my GPS phone. it’s very accurate for Google Earth people

The house is next to Art’s parents house and actually shares a back yard – at least Jerry has fenced and walled them together without a separating wall in between.  Art’s father looked after the building and now takes care of the yard.  Great help.                         Since it was raining the entire time we were there, I didn’t get a lot of pictures this time. 

On Monday, the Blessing Ceremony was to take place but we couldn’t stay because Nu had to start his English Language school on Monday.  I understand that there will be 9 Monks and probably all of the neighbors from the surrounding villages. 

Jerry hasn’t gotten the entire interior furnished yet, furniture and wall hangings – so we’ll wait till next time.  But here’s another exterior shot and one of Art’s shop.

 

 

 

 

 

For dinner and excitement we went to CK’s, local Nanoi bar and outdoor restaurant – Ladyboys, ladyboys – local gay hangout – great food and very lively later in the evening.  And finally I love these shots of one of Jerry’s pets I found on the banister in the morning.

 

 

 

 

 

Well it’s definitely country life – dark as hell when the sun goes down – but I can imagine a beautiful sky of stars at night – too bad it was clouded over or I would have tried to get a shot.

Dogs, cats and roosters are the only noises heard in the night – but all three were quite loud.   more details later:  Ha ha

Sawadee Khrap

Haven’t had a lot to say lately – that’s apparent with the low entry of posts I’ve made – busy and resting.

Got another stomach bug infection, took 5 days on antibiotics to get rid of them, I know better than having drinks with ice in them here – you never know just where the water came from to make the ice, so it’s always better to have your drinks direct from the bottle – except booze, it kills the little buggers so little or no problem – but I don’t drink and so have to always be aware of what I am drinking – last time I didn’t and suffered the consequences.

Tonight Nu arrives on the train from his home town and tomorrow we, his Uncle and I, will take him to the school in Mae Taeng to register for the coming semester.  Then he will return to Chumphon (Southern Thailand near Surat Thani – On the Gulf of Thailand) and come back later with his Aunt.  She went down with him in Dec and was supposed to come back with him mid Jan but she broke her foot while there and has to stay till she mends.  He had to come back by himself to register and will go back to help her return in about 3–4 weeks  – plenty of time before school starts.

The monks have returned from their 15 day meditation retreat at Tha Ton

 Here’s a shot of the area.  I showed these shots in another post on my trip North from Chiang Mai to Fang, Mai Ai and then to Tha Ton,  This is a shot from one on the temple look-out areas there.  This is in the area where it used to be Burma but the border movement here increased the Thai position and now the local city is fully in Thailand – check out the earlier post to see what I mean – great pictures there on the whole area.

We will begin going over the monk’s blogs on Wed. and Wat Suan Dok has hired a manager to oversee the latest projects, Boyd will be responsible for all their projects including the Lak Tang – One Baht School Project.  I will start helping him set up the PowerPoint presentation for that project next week too —

Never a dull day here in PARADISE. 

Ciao

Sawadee Khrap

Let’s see,

Saturday was the Expats Meeting at the Orchid Hotel – right down the street from my place – easy walk.  Guest speaker was Consul General Michael Morrow.  He’s been in this position for about 5 months now and will serve a 3 year term here.  His speech , stories, and question & answer period was really worth attending.  Well spoken and seemed ready to share – had a great time.

First a shot of cleaning the sidewalk in front of a local small restaurant on the way to the Hotel.  Then the Expats meeting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the meeting I went over to the Shopping Center to see what was set up for the kids.  Today across Thailand is “Children’s Day”.  Same as done in the States – children at the workplace, special things at the malls – etc.  Here are some shots and a great one of a couple of young men grabbing a bite to eat at a favorite German restaurant I like in the Center.   enjoy – I did.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday

First I went to Wat Suan Dok and a meeting with several monks who are learning how to set up their blogs. I’m helping them learn HTML/Java and how to use Blogger and BlogSome to make their own personal blog sites.  They are going to put pictures of their villages, homes, and family (Cambodia, Lao, Burma and some from Thailand), their home Temples, why they became monks, and what are their plans for the future.  This should really be some great reading – and it helps them learn English, programming and share their thoughts to the world.

The balance of the day was spent preparing for a “Workshop” for the Chiang Mai Photography Club.  Every 3^rd Wednesday of each month I will be running a 2 hr. workshop on photo image editing software, such as LightRoom and PhotoShop CS3.  So I am preparing a PowerPoint to use for the first meeting introduction.  The first part is for beginners and then we will explore the more advanced Photoshop capabilities – so far sounds like it will have a good turnout.

Well that’s about how my time is being spent – fairly busy for a retired guy.

 Ciao

Wow, 2008 already – going on 3 years I have been in Chiang Mai – Oct 3^rd to be exact.  Doesn’t seem that long.  It’s a little different now that I’m single, but as they say – Life goes on – unless you stop, and I’m not stopping.  just got back from doing some shopping at Care-Four and Rimping’s market.  Little stuff I needed, new shower curtain, cleaners, baked beans to eat in a pinch, soap — isn’t it exciting.  I did meet several of my friends shopping – that was very nice.

The most pressing problem I have now is deciding what and where to eat – alone I presume, no dates set – next week some dinner dates are set, but this weekend I’m by myself.  Maybe cruise the Shopping Center too – nice eye candy and I can get a great 1 hour foot  massage for just $3 US — or 120 Baht to round out the evening.

Sunday is MonkChat and web code teaching – the monks have started their blogs on Blogger and we will work on them and how to make major changes using HTML/Java code.  6 monks so far have started their blogs – Thai, Lao and Cambodia monks – with pictures of their villages, family, country, and life as a monk – I’m sure they will be great reading and viewing.  Each will be linked to the main MonkChat web-site so I’ll post it here when they are active. 

The Main MonkChat web-site is being completely revamped and we should have it fully running about the latter part of next week – It really looks great so far.  It will also contain audio and video clips of the MonkChat Radio program and celebrations/teachings that are being held in the Temple.  It’s really been a lot of fun watching the sparkle in the monk’s eyes as they see what they can do – now the world is open to them, but better yet their family can also stay in contact by going to their local Internet Cafe and checking out their son’s blog – that’s powerful.

Well – Sawadee Pee Mai – Hope your having a Great New Year.

Ciao

 

Sawadee Khrap

Haven’t done much – No photos – just getting ready for New Year.  How about you ?  I’ve been house cleaning – that means looking at all the clippings and articles I saved during the year and seeing which ones need to be kept. – NOT MANY – most can be found on the Internet and I can just put a link to them – so why have a pile of paper here in the apt. 

Here’s one I got when I first came to Thailand and I thought it was great:  I have still not gotten the technique of using the squat toilets here in Thailand – actually I refuse to use them, so I have to plan ahead when going on a trip.  But this notice left in every room of the YMCA Hotel in Chiang Mai  really made me laugh – and I am told that several time many of my friends have see Thai’s try to use the throne this way .

 

And Here is a article I just saw in the “Pattaya News”.  I am always amazed to see what others will use to try and get their point across – this one takes the cake – I can’t imagine how someone would relate a blow up doll to talking about KFC chicken and especially taking it on a tour of the red-light district.

Sounds to me that they just wanted to have a excuse to go to the “Red-Light” district – fuck the dolls or KFC.

 

Anyway – as you can see I have nothing to post so I just put up some goofy stuff.  But as for New Year:

•  Jan 1^st – our New Year 2008

Buddhist New Year 2551 

• Wikipedia
• Another Post
• Buddhanet.net     In Theravadin countries, Thailand, Burma, Sri Lanka, Cambodia and Lao, the new year is celebrated for three days from the first full moon day in April.

Thailand Tourism states the following:

1 January 2008
(Tuesday) New Year’s Day
The beginning of the western new year is a national holiday in Thaland, one of three “new year” holidays celebrated every year.
National Holiday

8 February 2008
(Friday) Chinese New Year
The beginning of the Chinese lunar year is celebrated in the Chinatowns of every city throughout Thailand. Some businesses close for the day, but it is not a national holiday.

13 April 2008
(Sunday) Songkran
Songkran is the traditional Thai new year, generally celebrated as a water festival.
National Holiday

Soooooo we get to celebrate New Year several times  —–  next week will be mostly vacation, celebrations and hang-overs.  I’ll try to get some shots of the fireworks if I can.

Sawadee Pee Mai     Happy New Year

Sawadee Khrap

It’s been a busy weekend, 22^nd to Chom Thong and here on Dec 23^rd 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.

 

 

 

 

 

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. 

 

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!

 

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)

 

 

 

 

 

 

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. 

 Here’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).

 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. 

 

 

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

Sawadee Khrap

Celebrate the birth of

  MIRACLES

Sawadee Khrap

Last Sunday  Brian & Pong and I went to see if there would be any good sunset shots from the Royal Flora Ratchaphruek 2006 Expo grounds.  Too hazy and no sunset.

When we first arrived we went up to Wat Phar That Doi Kam and took some shots looking down on the Expo site.  It’s am impressive Buddha statue overlooking the entire site.  If you look closely at the pictures in the SlideShow you can see the Temple area on the top of the hill behind the Expo site.

 

 

This is a shot from within the main are looking back toward the large entrance plaza with the ticketing areas.  Right now admission is free but the Expo is considerably smaller.  They are not keeping open the exhibits from all the participating countries when the actual Expo was officially open.  And only flowers indigenous to Chiang Mai are in bloom now.  Here’s a few to show what I mean – we didn’t have time to go through the orchid display, but I did catch some great shots.

 

 

Please enjoy the SlideShow

 

Ciao

Sawadee Khrap

Dec 3, 07 was Green Day in Chiang Mai and they celebrated with all the Chiang Mai schools sending representatives to a Rally at 3 Kings Monument.  Wat Suan Dok, with teacher Khun Joanne, had a group of monks participate.  That’s Joanne with the green sign on the right.  Among them were some of the monks I am helping learn HTML and web programming. 

 

 

 

 

 

I have created a

SlideShow

of the event.  Bands from each of the school came from all 4 sides of the Old Wall Gates to meet at the 3 Kings Monument. Hope you enjoy the pictures.  I am in the process of getting all the shots from the last 3–4 week ready to put on the Blog – sooooooo there will be more from different venues for posting shortly. 

Ciao

Sawadee Khrap

Well, it final. I’m a “Big Brother”, not by that name but as they say here, same-same. I am helping a young man here in Chiang Mai to go to school. I won’t mention his name for his privacy, but he and his family are unable to send him to school for the final classes to graduate and I have volunteered to sponsor him.

He lives with his Aunt and Uncle and he comes from the Southern part of Thailand. It’s a familiar sad story, he is a young Kathoey and from a poor family where going to work is more important for the family survival than his schooling – so he had to drop out and work at his father’s trade – fishing. But being Kathoey – commonly called a LadyBoy – he is not up to doing that muscular work. So he was sent to live with his Aunt & Uncle.

I was introduced to him by a friend of mine and got to listen to his story and dreams. Thailand on the surface is very tolerant toward gays and the LadyBoys but deeper down at the village level there is not that level of acceptance – especially if the boy is the oldest child and expected to help support the family as soon as he is able. In this case being different caused problems.

I came to Thailand wanting to help someone have some of the opportunities I had enjoyed. I had hoped my relationship with Tas would give me that opportunity – apparently not. So I started searching for another I could assist. Schooling was paramount in my life – I know I didn’t really try as hard as I should have and that did make it difficult to land those good jobs or positions – but I had some Great Mentors during my career. Thanks to them I was able to fulfill my dreams. Now I have a chance to help another fulfill theirs. Also I am very aware of what discrimination can do when one is considered different.

The last years I was in San Francisco I had several LadyBoy friends and on many occasions we talked about how hard their life had been – all were Thai and all experienced the loneliness of being different. It’s hard enough to build self respect when you are considered different from the others and even more pronounced when because of lack of education the only minor jobs are available or denied entirely. That leads many, and I see many, in the local sex trade. Hopefully I can have a part – even if it’s only for one child – that I can help see that some of the obstacles are removed from his path so that he can reach a full satisfying way of life. Education is the first step, and here I can help.

From time to time I will post on his progress. I do wish him the best, but I know he’ll make it.

Ciao

Thanks for all who inquired as to my well being – I have been extremely busy and unable to post anything in the blog lately. 

I have  (I hope) some great news to post soon, I am working on it now – but cannot say anything for at least another week.

I’ll post soon

Thanks again

 

Sawadee Khrap

HAPPY THANKSGIVING  – I trust you are all having a great day.

Last night I went to MonkChat and took part in the first Wat Suan Dok MonkChat Radio broadcast on 106 FM for Chiang Mai, Lampoon and Lampang.  Had a great hour session with Phra Chhunny by interviewing each other on the spot, no scripts or format – went great and smooth, Chhunny is a wonderful speaker.

Wrapped that up at 6:30 and went to get something to eat – I did notice that at about 6 PM my stomach started to feel a little quiezzy, but by the time I finished the burger I bought I was in a great deal of pain, with vomiting and diarrhea.  I took some medicine I had and waited till about 9 PM to finally go to the hospital and get some stronger help.  Not sure whether is was food poisoning or bad water – in either event it sure put a damper on my Thanksgiving dinner arrangements for today – and most of all I had to cancel my weekly massage with a haircut today. Damn  – I waited all week for this pleasure.

So here I sit today, eating Cambell’s Chicken & Noodle Soup and taking antibiotics.  Feel much better and should be fully recovered tomorrow.  Have to get ready for Loy Krathong.  Charging the camera batteries now.

Ciao