- Chiang Mai
- These are some pictures that were taken back in the beginning of
July. Jared, Shari and Trisha went up for a nice four day weekend.
The first time outside Bangkok for me!
-
- This is a picture of a traditional Northern Thai temple. Often very
tall. This was taken in a small village town north east of Chiang
Mai where we visited a cave that was turned into a Buddhist temple. Inside
there were all sorts of carvings and Buddha images. It was too dark to
take pictures, but I'll never forget the old tourguide who spoke no English
but tried really hard to. The best way to decribe him I think would be
as an old miner in the way he looked, and as "Keeper of the Holy Relics"
in the way he was the only one around as far as you could see, just there
guarding the entrance to the cave!
- This is also where Jared and I were nearly attacked by dogs who (I
guess) owned the temple. They seemed to get angry every time we tried to
get near the building. I just stared them down, and that was that! There
wasn't a single person anywhere because as we later found out, they were
all at a village funeral. Ask me about that one sometime!
Although this
wasn't taken at the temple (above) it's not an uncommon site. This was
taken at the temple on Doi (mountain) Soi Tep, in Chiang Mai. These are
images of some of the great monks who are litteraly covered in flakes of
gold. You can see how well they shimmer when a breeze comes by. A strong
wind I'm sure would land someone a nice souvenir! If you got too
close though, the smell of incense would probably floor you!-
This is a picture of when
I was up in the mountains north of Chiang Mai. The elephant trek up there
took quite a long time, but it was a very nice view up there and the pictures
really don't do justice. This is where some teak wood is grown and bannana
trees! This 
larger
picture is one of the hill tribe villages that we past through. The little
hut in the foreground- right is where they have a shower apparently. This
little boys mother just threw on a shirt before he walked out, which kind
of surprised me because clothing is really an option around there at that
age...no matter who's in town (ie. myself). The house in the background
it typical, on stilts, and with lots of "ventilation" as their
animals live below the house. Good planning though! You don't have to worry
about floods, and the house acts as two shelters in one. Therefore
no need for a barn, per say. Some might feel that it wasn't the barn
that was eliminated however! You'd have to see for yourself.-
Here's your
typical banana tree. These won't get much bigger than this, as they are
typically small here. They taste great though! The leaves up top are harvested
just as much as the banana. A Thai tradition is to wrap food (mostly desserts
like "sticky rice") in banana leaves. Beats plastic!
I was quite impressed
with the detail and effort put into the making of these fans. Each artist
that worked at this place had his/her special pictures and designs that
they could do well and for a small token you could have them paint a picture
on whatever you wanted. Some where doing small fans that you hold in the
palm of your hand and some were - doing
ones the size of an umbrella for patio furniture.
- Chiang Mai Page 2