Chiang Mai to Thaton
Sunday 20th May
Today was our first day without Sutthi who has left us to deal with other clients. Sart is perfectly capable and we are happy with the situation.
Today was supposed to begin with a trip to the Maesa elephant camp to see "the most fantastic elephant show in Chiang Mai" but we declined, and instead we went to visit an orchid and butterfly farm which was set in some fantastic but "sanitised jungle"
We were at the orchids by 09.00 but still we were beaten by he first of the Chinese tour buses. At this point China is only 250 kms from Thailand. Judging by the size of the car park we were very lucky only to encounter one tour bus. The Chinese women are noisy and enthusiastic but they push you out of the way if you encroach on their interminable selfies.
Sart is funny. He has a running joke of how lucky the number 9 is. He is the youngest of nine children. He told us that we would be at the next stop in 20 mins and nine seconds. Very lucky!
We stopped at a local covered market where Sart took the time to explain what each vegetable and the spices were and what dishes they would be used in. Pauline was in a state of enlightenment. As we went round he stopped at various stalls where he knew the owners and put together a lovely snack picnic for coffee time. Ka-nom Twai and Kai-nom Kainao both lovely sweets and fresh fruit with a prickly exterior - rambutan and jack fruit.
Next stop was just before lunch in Mae Taeng. We stopped at the most fantastic Blue Temple where all of the roofs were in dark blue tiles. The grounds were very spacious and the surrounding area very green after the start of the rainy season.
We strolled around the grounds but we didn't enter the temple because you need to take off your shoes and the sun was beating down on the tiles. Our feet would have been "medium - rare" from walking around on the baking tiles to reach the different temples. We have been inside enough temples and we are close to being "templed out"
Sart had promised us a special lunch of Kow Sao a chicken curry and noodles dish which is a Northern Thailand speciality. It was in a small family run restaurant that we could never have found by ourselves, in Mae Taeng on the way to the Chiang Dao Cave Temple. Lunch was excellent and we felt treated as a visiting cousin rather than as customers. Unusually the owner spoke quite good English because he was in charge of forest preservation in the area.
A long and winding road took us to the Chiang Dao cave and had Sart putting on a Beatles CD when I hummed the tune to "a long and winding road"
The cave was interesting but heavily exploited for its tourist potential. It was 360 m long along a floor which was ribbed like the beach after the tide goes out. There were many fantastic stalagmites and stalagtites and other interesting rock formations. The grotesque Buddha images along the way and the brand new Buddha at the end were a tad disappointing but it was still an interesting trip.
Back down the long and winding road and we reached a coffee stop just as the heavens opened and we had a large electrical storm lasting about an hour (and nine seconds)
which was lucky because the air was cleared and we enjoyed a fantastic panoramic view over Thaton at our final stop to see the Thaton temple which sits above Thaton.
We climbed up a really steep and winding road but it was definitely worth it. The view was breathtaking. For the first time we heard monks chanting but Sart assured us it was a CD to which the monks repeated and responded.
The temple was like no other that we have seen. Myanmar is only a few kilometres away across the mountains and the style was a fusion of Thai and Burmese. We arrived about 17.00 so the site was empty. Our only fellow travellers were the son in law and daughter of a Dutch guy who lived in Thaton.
Sart is from the countryside of the North of Thailand. His mother had a rice farm and kept seven buffaloes.
From 12 to 15 he took the buffaloes to the jungle in the morning and returned them to the rice paddy in the afternoon then home to safety in the evening. When his mother was going to sell them she didn't tell him because he had grown attached to them.
Sart is knowledgable about Buddhism because he was a priest from the age of 15 until he was 21.
Because we had eaten so much at lunch we decided to skip dinner and put on our adventurous shoes and went to the main street in Thaton to enjoy some street food. Working on the basis of the longest queue being a good thing we enjoyed banana pancakes which were really banana crepes with an egg mixed in. They were delicious and more than enough to keep the wolf from the door.
Today was our first day without Sutthi who has left us to deal with other clients. Sart is perfectly capable and we are happy with the situation.
Today was supposed to begin with a trip to the Maesa elephant camp to see "the most fantastic elephant show in Chiang Mai" but we declined, and instead we went to visit an orchid and butterfly farm which was set in some fantastic but "sanitised jungle"
 |
| orchid farm |
Sart is funny. He has a running joke of how lucky the number 9 is. He is the youngest of nine children. He told us that we would be at the next stop in 20 mins and nine seconds. Very lucky!
 |
| spot the butterfly |
We stopped at a local covered market where Sart took the time to explain what each vegetable and the spices were and what dishes they would be used in. Pauline was in a state of enlightenment. As we went round he stopped at various stalls where he knew the owners and put together a lovely snack picnic for coffee time. Ka-nom Twai and Kai-nom Kainao both lovely sweets and fresh fruit with a prickly exterior - rambutan and jack fruit.
Next stop was just before lunch in Mae Taeng. We stopped at the most fantastic Blue Temple where all of the roofs were in dark blue tiles. The grounds were very spacious and the surrounding area very green after the start of the rainy season.
 |
| dragons guard the temple |
Sart had promised us a special lunch of Kow Sao a chicken curry and noodles dish which is a Northern Thailand speciality. It was in a small family run restaurant that we could never have found by ourselves, in Mae Taeng on the way to the Chiang Dao Cave Temple. Lunch was excellent and we felt treated as a visiting cousin rather than as customers. Unusually the owner spoke quite good English because he was in charge of forest preservation in the area.
A long and winding road took us to the Chiang Dao cave and had Sart putting on a Beatles CD when I hummed the tune to "a long and winding road"
 |
| Cave Buddha |
The cave was interesting but heavily exploited for its tourist potential. It was 360 m long along a floor which was ribbed like the beach after the tide goes out. There were many fantastic stalagmites and stalagtites and other interesting rock formations. The grotesque Buddha images along the way and the brand new Buddha at the end were a tad disappointing but it was still an interesting trip.
Back down the long and winding road and we reached a coffee stop just as the heavens opened and we had a large electrical storm lasting about an hour (and nine seconds)
 |
| Call this rain? |
We climbed up a really steep and winding road but it was definitely worth it. The view was breathtaking. For the first time we heard monks chanting but Sart assured us it was a CD to which the monks repeated and responded.
The temple was like no other that we have seen. Myanmar is only a few kilometres away across the mountains and the style was a fusion of Thai and Burmese. We arrived about 17.00 so the site was empty. Our only fellow travellers were the son in law and daughter of a Dutch guy who lived in Thaton.
Sart is from the countryside of the North of Thailand. His mother had a rice farm and kept seven buffaloes.
From 12 to 15 he took the buffaloes to the jungle in the morning and returned them to the rice paddy in the afternoon then home to safety in the evening. When his mother was going to sell them she didn't tell him because he had grown attached to them.
Sart is knowledgable about Buddhism because he was a priest from the age of 15 until he was 21.
Because we had eaten so much at lunch we decided to skip dinner and put on our adventurous shoes and went to the main street in Thaton to enjoy some street food. Working on the basis of the longest queue being a good thing we enjoyed banana pancakes which were really banana crepes with an egg mixed in. They were delicious and more than enough to keep the wolf from the door.
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