Still there was some early interest factor to the trip as we headed into the city via the River road from Sarapee. The recent heavy rains continue to turn the River Ping into a swirling brown torrent that clearly has its benefits for the people who live along its banks.

At a bend in the river we spotted some fishermen and ladies using nets on long bamboo, close to a canal outlet into the river.

When I stopped to take photos one of the men eagerly pointed me towards a huge fish, caught earlier, being held on the end of a rope.

Later, just before we took Coffee at Vittoria Coffee, opposite Wiang Kum Kam, Ally took me to the riverside at a weir point, where we saw the full force of the river in action.

We also came across a group of chickens;

including this stylish fellow.

Part of the work day included a trip To Wararot Market area, on a search for collection boxes. Our search didn’t find what I was looking for but its always fun to visit Wararot, so many different stores, so much colour and atmosphere.

After visiting many different places I counted the day as a success having acquired 4 new sites for our collection boxes and having had our first offer of monthly sponsorship by a prominent local company. More details will appear soon on The Stratton ABC Foundation website once all the boxes are located and sponsorship details finalised.

The Stratton ABC Foundation,( registered Charity No; C.M310), in Chiang Mai, is presently looking for Sponsors to ensure the continuation and development of  its work helping disadvantaged children to get a better chance in life.

As well as operating a Childrens Home, with beds for 15 children, (presently caring for 9), the Foundation also has an English Language promotion project which aims to increase the use and standards of English language in local rural schools. Good working knowledge of spoken English can often give someone, who may be short on other academic qualifications, a good chance of a job paying decent money in Thailand.

This project includes a website, www.thaischoolsenglish.org; with sub-sites for separate local schools. The Foundation is currently developing these sites to carry online courses for the children to follow as well as placing volunteer teachers for first hand teaching at schools.

You can see more details of the Stratton ABC Foundations work on its own website, www.thestrattonabcfoundation.com.

The Stratton ABC Foundation is also looking for volunteers who would be prepared to commit to at least one day a week teaching English conversation at local schools in and around Chiang Mai. The Foundation can help with acquiring the necessary visa and work permit.

Also any Schools who may like to link with a rural school in Thailand please also contact the Foundation through their website.

If you can help in anyway, please contact the Foundation through their website.

There is also an impressive Buddhist manuscripts hall and several other buildings surrounding the main Temple.

One of my personal favourites was the red stone bell tower.
The artwork and craftsmanship decorating the various constructions are of the highest quality.

Also worth a note is the very grand Gateway that certainly gives that air of Royalty.

For many more photos of this Temple please visit our photobucket album here.

Turning left out of our cafe, this Temple is just a couple of minutes walk on the right hand side of the road.

Sitting in a wide, open compound, notable features of this Wat are; the interesting collection of artifacts inside the main Temple, which include:

• old record players
• radios and a tape machine
• more of those wall paintings
• a very beautiful Vihan
• a most impressive Monks dwelling.

There is a sheltered sitting area and , like many of the Temples, a wide variety of plant life.

Another feature of the main Temple worth a note are the beautifully gilded wooden doors.

A Gold painted Chedi sits next to the Temple.

Once again I could find no English Language History information here and there was no one around to ask. For mention of Wat Chai Prakiat elsewhere try looking here.

You can either walk down Ratchadamnoen Rd, turning right out of the cafe, across the first crossroads and then left at the second intersection; or if you have already found your way to Wat Umong Mahatcheran, then cross over the street from the front of that Temple.

At the time of my visit the site was in some disarray, looking somewhat neglected but I believe that it is yet another Wat on the restoration list.

Although there was no written history available, I had a very nice chat with a very friendly guy called ,Tong Chai.

Tong Chai informed me that the Wat and the Chedi behind it is over 500 years old and is built and decorated in the original Lanna style.

Despite its present condition, as with most of these wonderful buildings, there is no hiding the beauty, and I look forward to seeing this one again after restoration is finished.

There was a stunning painting on the side of the Vihara, and, I suspect, more inside the Temple.

For more photos of Wat Ban Ping visit our photobucket album here.

Once again I will have to point you to Allys site for directions as I got hopelessly lost in recording where we were going after about half an hour.

The river was just as green along the banks but the recent heavy rains and clearance of river vegetation have seen the river turn into a raging muddy brown soup.

Just as well Ally comes armed with her GPS as I do believe that she was struggling to recall her route, having done this previously.

Still its one of the things I enjoy about our rides, when we don’t always know where we are going, that way you tend to stumble over things we weren’t expecting.

I’ve been struggling with an ear infection for a few days now and this did take a bit of the enjoyment of this ride away for a while.

Normally the ,’thisway–thatway’ of it all gets me going;

but by midday my system was screaming out for nourishment, and I could feel myself getting decidedly grumpy with it.

As we looked out for an eating place we came across Wat Patana Tdua, which ,Ally tells me, translates into something like’ Temple that displays an exemplary example’.

This may have been true in its hey day, but right now it is a Temple that shows extreme neglect.

The gigantic Golden Buddha that overlooks the compound is the only thing that looks recently cared for.

Actually, thats not quite true, there are also signs that the gardens are being looked after.

The rest of the buildings in the compound are in various states of delapidation.

Ally dropped a ‘Geo cache’ at this site. An interesting pass time for those of you who like a day out with a difference and something I may well do myself, in the future.

I guess its abit out of the way but my thought was that if they did restore this Wat to its former glory then it could be a big tourist draw, so maybe they shouldn’t.

Not far from here we took lunch at a small cafe in a rural 1 street town, Don Qui Lek. A warm welcome and good food , and some beautiful little flowers.

Feeling much better for having eaten I followed Ally as we wended our way across to San Pa Tong.

It was around 2.30pm by the time we hit San Pa Tong.

Having ridden the main San Pa Tong road several times I , like Ally, have often wondered about ‘the place of interest’, so it was good to finally go and find out.

Just a couple of kilometres down the sign posted road and we came across Wat Ton Kork.

An impressive set of ruins stands in a wooded area at the roadside.

For me it was a bit of an anti-climax as the only significant building was the huge brick Chedi.

I’ve never been able to get too excited about bases of ancient buildings and nothing else.

That said as we headed off toward the river, and home, we found Wiang TahKan, the main ‘ruins’ site of a complete ‘city’. So for any historians out there, I’m sure you’d find it worth the trip.

My delight was the beauty to be found at Wat Tahkan nearby.

In the end we skipped the river run home, opting for a mad wizz down Highway 11 from Lamphun, stopping for coffee and cake at Amazon coffee at the PTT petrol station before parting company to return to our respective homes. Cheers Ally, looking forward to next week.
For more photos please visit our photobucket album here

My good friend Ally has been doing some work for  Panyaden School who are presently constructing an innovative new school for children of  kindergarten up to Prathom 6 ages. This is no ordinary school.

It is being constructed within an environmentally friendly philosophy, using natural and renewable resources.

The main construction materials are Bamboo and Rammed Earth and it is quite something to see.

For me it is a leading example of taking a step back in order to take a step forward to protect the future for our children on this fragile planet.

The Panyaden School has been developed in order to combine the modern day curriculum with the learning of natural wisdom and real life skills within a Buddhist cultural setting.

You can find all the details of the aims and objectives of this fantastic project at the school website.

The school site is situated on the left hand side of the  Canal Road, that takes you out of Chiang Mai city from Suthep Road, shortly after the Samoeng/Hang Dong Rd intersection.

Currently the entrance is via an unmade road, all that will change into a purpose built road system. When you travel down this track, you suddenly come across the expansive site where work is well underway.

The designs of the buildings under construction are a testament to the strength and versatility of Bamboo, an abundant and very cost effective resource in Thailand.

Several different varieties of Bamboo are used depending on their individual characteristics and the job at hand.

All the Bamboo is sorted, straightened and treated at Chiang Mai Life Construction (CLC) nearby which we also visited a little later.

On entering the construction site we were greeted warmly by one of the ‘foremen’ who eagerly pointed us toward some local herb tea brewing on a small fire out side a bamboo house’.

Both Ally and myself partook of this very refreshing brew.

Close to this building was a store holding neatly stacked  earthen bricks and also some prepared bamboo awaiting use in the construction.

One of the buildings looks much larger than the others, it’s the Assembly Hall,  a huge construction, reminiscent of a gigantic pre-historic dinosaur skeleton in its present stage of construction. The natural design with its graceful curves makes it not just a building, but also a work of art, worthy of a place in any gallery big enough to hold it.

Nearby is another building of similar design, somewhat smaller and a little closer to completion.

Towards the rear of the site are the ‘classrooms’. Presently, the main work here is on the rammed earth walls.

During our visit we watched as several teams of workers continually pounding away, with huge wooden and metal tools, at the earth that was packed in between bamboo retainers that will be removed once the wall is finished.

Each wall takes about 4 – 5 days to ram & after that, they need to be left to dry for a couple of months before the bamboo roof is placed on top of the rammed earth load bearing walls.

Sand bags are used to create cavities on their removal later.

Once the ramming stage is completed and the whole wall stands in place the work is far from finished.

Nearby we saw another set of labourers working on a ‘completed’ wall, brushing the rough surfaces smooth.

Behing the main site is a small, specially constructed ‘workers village’, built using the same method employed on the main site. Here you see the tool shed built with Adobe walls.

Bamboo is seen all around the school and its not just for construction. It’s being planted for it’s beauty and various uses that this flexible material can be utilised.

There are plans to have bamboo walkways all around the school, it will be a wonderful place to encourage children to grow and learn .

Planting of trees, bamboo and other plants is well underway and in the future the school will be farming it’s own food in the organic gardens to follow on from the construction period.

Ally pointed out the extensive thinking put into every aspect of this project;

with pipes having been laid all around the site , which will drain away excess rain waters into the lake and basically work as a continual cleaning system for the water contained within it.

I, for one , cannot wait to see the finished School and envy the children fortunate enough to end up learning here.

After a quick coffee at Bugs Coffee, back towards Chiang Mai on the Canal Road, we popped into the Chiang Mai Life Construction, where along with sorting, straightening, and treating all the Bamboo prior to use at the school, this innovative company have experimented with different types of earthen walls to find the most suitable for use in Chiang Mai, with respect to the weathers these walls will have to cope with.

We were lucky enough to be there at a time when the man behind this project, Markus Roselieb from Austria, was taking a group around the complex and explaining some of the processes. His enthusiasm for his project is clear as is his knowledge of the processes in use.

I listened with great interest as he talked about the variety of earthen walls they have tested, including Adobe, Rammed Earth and even Wattle and Daub.

For the Thai climate rammed earth & adobe walls seem to be most suitable. However, Markus explained that Wattle and Daub can only be used as interior/non weight baring walls as they do not have the strength or durability, but are excellent sound absorbers.

Markus explained the importance of protecting earth walls against ground water by raising their foundations above the ground to prevent rapid deterioration.

Today’s visit rates as one of the most interesting days I have had in a long while and one that gave real hope that if more people can follow such examples of environmentally friendly forward thinking, then our dream of providing a better future for our children may well come true.

The coming of the rains also bring out all the bugs, including the notorius Aedes (Stegomyia) aegypti mosquito, which bites all day long. This mosquito can be the carrier of dengue fever, a flu like disease which kills hundreds every year.

There is no preventative apart from not getting bitten, and once contracted, the only treatment for Dengue fever is rest, fluids, and paracetemol to control fever. if the patient does not fight of the fever themselves the only chance for recovery is a complete blood transfusion as Dengue destroys the blood.

Being an annual danger the authorities do their best to inform people of the dangers, advising that people make sure they do not have standing water nearby, where the mosquitos will breed. They also activate teams to go to peoples homes and spray with mosquito killing gas.

This weekend it was the turn of our village and on Saturday morning our whole Childrens Home compound , including indoors got a good gassing.

Having been very busy ensuring registration for the Foundation I had been unable to give the thaischoolsenglish project any time over recent months. Now as I consolidate my daily routine I hope to resume my assistance with this worthwhile project.

In return Khruu Khem has agreed to be a regular visitor to the home, by way of offering some independant monitoring of our work.

She will come to visit the Childrens Home and be able to speak freely with the children on all aspects of their life here at Stratton House.

So it was a welcome break from day to day work , with The Stratton ABC Foundation, when I took a long overdue ride out with my good friend Ally.

Meeting for coffee at the WiFi Coffee shop at Chiang Mai Paintball, on the road from Sarapee to Hang Dong,

we sat for a chat and Ally kitted me out with a walkie talkie so that we could communicate whilst riding.

At around 9.30 we heading off along the River Ping, towards Lamphun. Its a lovely ride along the river , with so much to see.

If you do it don’t rush, take your time and get a real insight into life along the river.

There are many pituresque views to be spotted, especially at this time of year with everything growing so fast and full of lush shades of green.

There was quite alot of activity along the waterway with local people harvesting the river plants.

And it was a day of contrasts where we watched many harvesting by hand, either wading of in small boats;

and further down the river saw a large mechanised harvesting boat, operated by a local lady.

You can also find many fish farms along the way.

Again see the contrast between the more advanced and well cared for operations, with air being pumped into the tanks;

and the less cared for where the healthy fish share their tanks with the dead.

Ally has done this route many times , so knows it well and stopped at a delightful little coffee shop run by an elderly Thai lady.

Its a lovely spot to sit and take a break, the coffee was very good and there are icecreams and other snackfood available snackfoods .

Ally got a phonecall at the coffee shop and whilst waiting for her to finish, I carried on up the road a little and popped into a small Wat. From the outside it didn’t look so exciting; but inside the grounds was a mini treasure trove of sculptures.

I had to smile at this wonderful elephant on wheels which actually turned out to be a mobile light source, with cable and plug coming from its rear end and a light bulb in its trunk.

To the rear of the Temple were many sculptures, including one of some very grotesque looking demons.

As I took photos the Monk in residence came out to greet me and seeing my interest, eagerly led me round to the Temples scared tree which was adorned with yet more sculptures of birds and insects.

We had a lovely chat, where I surprised my self with my increased grasp of Thai language.

Again I failed in good reporting, having neglected to take a notebook with me and can not remember his name, but I would like to extend thanks for the warm welcome and much respect for this gentle Phra.

A way down from the coffee shop we stopped briefly to snap some Lamyai harvesting at a small family home.

This year the rains have been less than usual and Lamyai are relatively expensive due to the shortage of decent sized fruits.

By the time we stopped for lunch, having turned of the river road towards Hang Dong, the rains that had been threatening all morning got closer.

added to this was that Allys phonecall had been work related and meant that she needed to get back earlier than planned.

Having sat and enjoyed some Barmee Duck, thats yellow noodles with duck, we decided to head back to Ally’s house for coffee and a movie.

I can’t believe its the first time I’ve been to Allys home. And a lovely home it is to. Unfortunately none of the photos I took do the house justice, so that will have to wait for next time. If there is a next time after my apparent recent curse with toilets struck yet again(inside joke).

It was very nice to see Allys partner and my fellow Foundation Director, Pee Took, who was just on her way out.

Sitting in the comfort of Allys home office watching the latest version of Sherlock Holmes was a great end to a very enjoyable day off the stresses of my busy schedule.

So if you are looking for a chilled day out with some real Thai life to be seen, grab a bike and head off along the River Ping. Enjoy!

For more photos please visit our photobucket album here.