May 23, 2009-Visit to Chiang Mai

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Judy at the top of Thailand

In May we flew to Chiang Mai for a long weekend with the idea of doing a little road touring and taking some photos. Late Thursday arrival; Friday morning pick up the rental car; and then head out for three days to see Chiang Mai and the surrounding area, mostly mountains and rivers.

This post contains the links to the wingssail images pages where all the photos can be found.


Chiang Mai
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First a few scenes from the city of Chiang Mai itself. We found Chiang Mai to be charming.


Breakfast at the Duang Champa
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See the boutique hotel where we stayed.


Wat Pan Tao
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Around the corner from the Duang Champa is this old wooden temple called Wat Pan Tao.

Click here to see Wat Pan Tao.


Dragons at Chedi Luang Chiang Mai
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Next to Wat Pan Tao is Chedi Luang Chiang Mai which is the site of a very old Chedi (pointed tower) now in ruins but still an impressive site.

Click here for more photos of Chedi Luang Chiang Mai

And we visited Bor Sang Umbrella Factory for a particularly important momento of Asia (see previous post)


Terraced Farm Land
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On Saturday we headed out of town to see some of Chiang Mai's famed mountains and hills. Along the way we found rivers and valleys, and several small Thai towns.

Click here, for shots of the toad trip


Judy visits a temple at the top of Thailand
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Near the top of Doi Inthanol, the tallest mountain in Thailand we stopped at the Napamaytanidol monuments to the King and Queen of Thailand. The air was cool and the location was spectacular.

Click here for a photo essay of Judy at Napamaytanidol.

More shots of Napamaytanidol.

Click here for some other shots we took on our way down the mountain.


Waterfall
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There were many signs along the road directing us to waterfalls and we decided to stop at this one. It was the last chance to see one before the light was lost to the shadow of the mountain. We were glad we stopped.

More waterfall shots.

After all the driving we needed some activity so that night in Chiang Mai we went looking for music. There are a few rock clubs along the river and after sticking our noses into three of them we ran into this great punk band at the Riverside. Here is a short video clip we made to the music of Franz Ferdinand. When the band played this song the whole house started jumping.


Doi Sutep, temple of gold
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After a late start on Sunday we made our way up to Chiang Mai's local mountain temple, the famous Doi Sutep. This temple nestled in the forest on the mountianside high above Chiang Mai has a stunning chedi of gold. In the late afternoon sun it glowed against the blue sky.

We had to climb a long set of stairs to get to it but it was worth it.
Click here for more shots of the Temple of gold
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Young Thai Dancer
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Where there are tourists you often find performers with a collection box on the ground who will dance or sing or play music for donations. At Doi Sutep there were a number of young kids playing music and dancing under the watchfull eye of their parents nearby. We put some extra baht in the box and took photos.

Click here for more photos of this girl.

Also, we took a river trip on the Ping River which flows through Chiang Mai.

Click here for some photos of the Ping River Boat Trip.

We pushed the weekend in Chiang Mai as long as possible only flying back to Bangkok at midnight on Sunday night, but we had a good, mostly relaxing, time and we are so glad that we finally got to see Chiang Mai. Next weekend we go back to Phuket for more boat projects.

We'll keep you updated.

Fred & Judy, Bangkok

May 9, 2009-Umbrella Factory

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Paper Umbrellas

A type of umbrella of wood and paper and waterproofed with the juice of persimmon has been made in Asia for centuries.

I first saw them in as a sailor Singapore in 1971 but even back then buying one was difficult. All I could find in the shops in 1971 were steel and black nylon umbrellas from Japan. Yet the paper ones had to be sold somewhere; the local people were using them every day on the streets of Singapore. The taxi driver I enlisted for my umbrella shopping quest was patient and I was persistent back in 1971 and after several stops we finally found a paper one for sale in a small shop which I bought from the elderly Chinese shopkeeper for a dollar and some small change, all I had in my pocket at the time. That umbrella became a treasured memento of Asia for me and found its way back to the USA in my Navy sea bag. It knocked around the house for many years and eventually lay gathering dust in the basement. I left it when I moved to the boat but I always missed that paper umbrella

This year I saw in a tourist brochure that there is a place in Northern Thailand where paper umbrellas are still made. Now I had a chance to revisit the Asia I knew from 1971.

Judy and I drove to Bor Sang and found several small factories where men and women made umbrellas of wood and paper, hand painted and waterproofed with persimmon juice, the same as Singapore in 1971.

It made for some interesting photos.

And yes, I bought another paper umbrella, three in fact. They are in a shipping box in the apartment Bangkok at the moment and we'll put them on the boat this time where they will replace the rusting and broken steel and nylon ones we carry under the port pilot berth.

Who says you can't go back.

Fred & Judy, SV Wings, Phuket

Click here for some more photos from Bor Sang