It is going to be 63 degrees today back home. A few days ago, it was 11 degrees. I have decided that I do not miss the weather back home. Now that Christmas is past, Bruce, the employee who is taking care of things while I am gone, officially switches from wearing shorts to work to wearing long pants...but he won't- not if it's 63. He made a point of telling me that he wore shorts the day it was 11 degrees in the morning. I tell that to the students here who bundle up when it gets below 65 or 70, and they can't believe it. That's Bruce!

Today, after doing some study this morning, I decided to get out again and explore my surroundings. A satellite picture will be helpful, courtesy of Google Earth. Sorry for the low resolution. If you are a Google Earth user, copy 18 53.75'N, 98 58.165'E and fly to it to find Legacy Farm. You will have to pan out a little to get the view below, but the detail is worth it.



In this view, you may be able to see some of the things I have mentioned in past posts. To the left is the main highway from Chiang Mai (south- down) to Mai Rim and beyond (north- up). A little south of the golf course is a road that goes off to the east (right) to the village of Mae Sa Laung. Legacy School is in this village, and the Farm is just outside to the northeast. The road through the village passes one of my favorite places, the ice cream lady, and it continues to the east where it stops due to a bridge that washed out. Because of that, I have to turn left before that and go past the monks for a slightly longer route to the farm. (It is almost exactly one mile) The Ping River, which flows down to Chiang Mai (and eventually becomes the Chao Phraya and goes to Bangkok) is east of the village. I have labeled a "detour", which is actually flowing a little now and flows much more in the rainy season. The land bordered by the Ping and the Pseudo-Ping was destined for development one time (hence the bridge to nowhere), and that development may have been tied somehow to the unfinished hotel that lies just to the other side of the creek next to the golf course.

Today, I began my bicycle trip by heading across that bridge and exploring the land in between the creek and river. But first...


Right across from the driveway into the Farm, there is a road heading in the other direction. I decided to ride down and see where it went. I was surprised to find out that it was concrete all the way through- just that the leaves and other debris that had landed there now supports its own vegetation right on top of the concrete.

Turns out that the road just loops around and comes out to the raod to the Farm.




There was an abandoned house on this little road. I am beginning to see a trend here. Many things are begun and never finished- more on that later in today's blog. Perhaps it is a function of changing fortunes connected with changes in government- I don't know. They would do well to review Jesus' parable in Luke 14- For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it—  lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.



Here is a view of the Pseudo-Ping looking down from the bridge to nowhere. Speaking of unfinished business, off in the distance is the hotel that was never completed. This creek has been flowing rather clear, but the little bit of rain we had Thursday was enough to muddy it.

Another view of the abandoned bridge. In this case, the paving ends once the road enters the wilderness. The path was rather smooth, however, so I could continue to ride the bike- in fact I could stay on it most of the places I went on this "island."

Nathan always puts flower pictures on his blog, so I thought I should, too. These were pretty, but they did not seem to be open. They were in the path, and I stopped to look for thorns and such before going through. In all, I was pleasantly surprised to find the area free of thorns and brambles in spite of the fact that it was all overgown with relatively new vegetation. Where I come from, that means a tangled and thorny mess of wild roses and berries not to mention all the other scourges whose seeds stick to your socks and other clothing. Not here- very nice.

When they celebrate something in Thailand, it is likely that flaming "balloons" are part of the festivities. (See Erika's blog from last year) . Well, of course these things have to end up somewhere, and here was one. I suspect they are all over the place, but this is the first one I have seen.

On the way back across the bridge after my exploration, I took this picture, as o'er the ramparts I watched. (Sorry- my mother AND my father-in-law both grew up in Ft. Howard, Maryland, just down the road from Ft. McHenry. My wife went to Francis Scott Key HS, and our first house was right down the road from Terra Rubra, Key's birthplace. I can't help it.) Legacy students (and teachers?) built these concrete-and-brickwork "fortifications" to stop the erosion during the rainy season- so the farm does not end up in the Gulf of Thailand. All that mud in the Chao Phraya in Bangkok came from somewhere! The blue pipe is for getting water for the pond at the farm during the dry season when rice patty water is not flowing nearby.

I headed down the village road away from the vilage and toward the washed-out bridge. On the way, I found Gehenna. As Nathan explained a couple of weeks ago, Gehenna, translated "hell" in the New Testament, was Jerusalem's garbage dump at the edge of the Valley of Hinnom, with 24/7 fires to burn up anything, including criminals' (already dead) bodies. In Jesus' time, it was a metaphor for judgment of evil. It was a bad ending, to be sure, but at least everything was burned UP.

As I have said before, Thailand is the world's largest rice exporter (not producer, China is, but they eat most of theirs). So there are a lot of rice fields, but Thais like corn, too. Here is a corn field not far from the Farm.

The rice harvest has been completed, so what I see now is fields in various stages of preparation for the next crop. Below is a field that has been harvested, but not yet burned off and replanted.

This field appears to have been plowed. I do not think they plow them all. Notice the gullies for carrying water. As I explored today, I noticed water flowing everywhere, and rather complex arrangements to keep it at the elevations needed to properly flood any nearby field.

If there is one thing that has frustrated me in my short life, it is inefficiently run health spas. I am relieved that Thailand is finally doing something about it.

Notice the little white pipe. It carries water from the other side of the street (where Chiang Mai University is solving the world's health spa problems) to the rice paddies on this side. (see next picture)

These fields were burned, but not plowed. They are being flooded now. I suppose they are planted. Thai no-till. Kinda has a ring to it :)

These paddies are farther along. Notice the plastic bags fluttering on twine that is strung along the field. This is to keep certain birds from hurting the crop. Apparently some birds are fond of the leaves.

If you have to work in the fields, I am sure a little shade is appreciated. In Israel, the structures used for this purpose were called Succoth. They were so appreciated, a Feast was named after them :)

In my travels, I got to view the "real" Ping river a half mile or so downriver from where the Pseudo-Ping rejoins its mommie.

Looking back toward Mae Sa Luang. The big building is the health spa think tank, and if you look really hard, you might see the abandoned hotel to the right behind the tall palm. Of course, rice fields in the foreground.

I do not know what or who had the property on the left, but it was decorated by alternating Thai flags and Royal flags. The vegetation was beautiful.

The plants looked very familiar. I think we have many of them back home, but for us, they are house plants.

This one is for whomever Nathan takes them for. Cheers!

????

I guess the guy that gets to guard the bananas needs shade.

As I neared another village, there was the requisite wat.

For the record, I live very near US Route 30, in southern Pennsylvania. Like many of the highways that were used by travelers during the middle of the twentieth century, Rt 30 has more than its share of kitcsh, and signs trumpeting the attractions that are just ahead. Of course, if one is not blessed to be right on the main road, more signs are needed to make sure some poor suckers will leave the beaten path and brave the back roads in the hope that the good things in life really do not come easy. I suspect the proprietors of this establishment may be American, quite likely Pennsylvanian.

Only 250m...Daddy, are we *there* yet????

I'll save it for another time, but when I was taking this picture, a man came up to me on a scooter and wanted to show me his property nearby (he may have thought I was looking at the property, since it was right behind this sign. The man had an unfinished "boutique hotel," as he called it. He showed me around and invited me to take pictures. I will share this in another post. (Only $2 million US, if you're interested. I'll keep my commission reasonable.)

Whatever road I was on came back out to Rt 107 about a mile south of Mae Sa Laung. Directly across the road is a government military installation. Notice the mountains in the background. These are the same mountains that are outside (west) of Chiang Mai.

Riding scooters and bikes on Rt 107 is expected, just stay out of the way. I rode the wrong way (on the wrong side, since I was going to have to exit in a mile or so, and there is no crossover right at Mae Sa Laung), so I stayed WAY out of the way.

Anyone with a nice property, or something to protect, fences it in.

Even if you don't have *that much* to protect. :)

Just south of Mae Sa Laung is this beautiful arch. You see these here and there, but I am not sure why.


The vegetation along the road is beautiful, and not just because of the arch- it is all along the highway to Chiang Mai (as I can attest to- having viewed it without the distraction of windows, twice now, from a pickup truck bed.)

The median is nicely landscaped, and if I were more energetic, I would have gone over to the other side of the highway for a better picture without the shadows.

Mae Sa Laung has its own "Police Box" in case you cannot read it. I know what you're thinking...and I have no idea.

Looking down the street in the village. As I came back from my excursion, my spirits were lifted by the sight of the little white umbrella on the left. That means the ice cream lady is back from her trip!

That's as good a place as any to end today's entry. After some kow soi kai down the steet, I stopped in and welcomed her back.