More Exploring

One day last week, while at the school for lunch, we were treated to the sound of someone talking on loudspeakers so that the whole village could hear it. This time it was not the mayor or some local businessman...the sound was coming from a Wat (temple). As I left the school to go toward Mae Rim, I found myself behind a funeral procession. The pickup truck has the loudspeakers. Notice the spire at the top of the bier.







That spire cannot make it under all of the utility lines, so it is hinged! Even with that, look close and you will see the fellows with the long poles for pushing up the wires.

Again, notice the wooden prop to the right of the bier.

At the checkout counter at Tops, the modern grocery market in Mae Rim. I took this picture for Shelby, to assure her that if she should ever decide to come here for an extended period of time, her beloved Vicks would be readily available. When I showed her the picture, she asked me to bring a couple jars back with me- apparently it is a bit cheaper here :)

For Nathan's friend...

These beautiful vines are everywhere, (including on the roof of the farmhouse).

Back home in the USA, residential construction is continuing to approach a near-standstill. Here there seems to be a lot going on, although, as we have seen, they do not always finish everything they start. This home looks like it will be quite nice (see below). At least they have a mixer- much of the work at the house being built near the farm is done completely by hand.

The house next door to the one being built above. Looks like it will be a nice neighborhood.

I will devote an entire long post to the house being built nearby for those interested in how they build over here.

Notice the water running in the irrigation ditch next to the road. This is a VERY common site, as you have seen in previous posts, and will see again soon.

When I came to this "T" intersection, I turned right. Just seemed like the right thing to do :) (Actually, I was pretty sure that I wanted to go north, which seemed to be to the right.)

This road, with its even larger irrigation ditch to the left (west) looked familiar. I had not been here before, but it had a familiar feel to it.

Here we see a narrow footbridge from the road to a Wat. Notice the trough under the walkway. It carries water. This is one of those many examples of water being carried at different levels, so that at times, they have to cross each other to get where they each are going. It is a marvel of simple engineering, and it is everywhere. In fact, whereas I am used to seeing water run *toward* the larger streams, here I often see water running *away.* This is because water is routed from larger waterways to smaller streams and ditches for distribution to fields. More on this in a future post.

Sure enough, when I got to the next intersection, there was a sign for that restaurant I visited last week. Last time I had approached it from the north. I wonder how far "100M" is? I could see for more than 100 meters up the road and there was no sign of the restaurant.

I remember from when my children played basketball in high school that the problem was often that Dang Center on the other team.

I had turned left at the intersection with the restaurant sign, and the road seemed to be leading to a touristy area. Deanne Howell had told me that there was an Insect Zoo near mae Rim, and here you can see a sign advertising it on the right.

At the Monkey Centre, they had a sign showing all the entertainment options in the general area. There were all kinds of attractions. In general, the roads were better, the vehicles newer, the traffic faster, and the signs more in English. I had discovered a tourist spot, and the serene and family atmosphere of Mae Sa Laung seemed very far away, even though it was just a few miles.

On one curve of the road was this reminder of home- a place where one can 4-wheel, bungee jump, paintball fight, shoot at a range, etc, etc. All these activities were run by one company, but they were at different locations along the road.

For Jayme---

After passing the Monkey Centre (I did not go in), I rode the bike toward the Insect Zoo. Near the Zoo was another monkey place...this one was called a school. I remember 7th and 8th grades, which seemed like a monkey school, but I think this one had the real monkeys.

What does this sign mean- do people teach monkeys to do people things or do monkeys teach people to do monkey things? Is there a difference? Quiz on Tuesday.

At the Insect Zoo, I discovered that the most interesting exhibits were not insects. They had walking sticks, scorpions, centipedes, etc in additon to the insects.

I liked this sign. The Zoo had thousands of beetles (mostly dead).

I would have never guessed that the winner would win, but then what do I know about beetles? I know more about the beatles (more later).

Look closely and you will see the largest waling stick you have ever seen. I was amazed. It was probably a little over a foot long!

This centipede was about 8 inches long. Wow. The little 1-2" ones we have at home are creepy enough for me.

They had a butterfly house, which was nice, even if the variety was limited.

Just in case you were more familiar with some OTHER band called the Beatles, each of the signs for this place specified the members of THIS band. Maybe it's just me, but I would suspect that if you were attracted to this sign in the first place, the mention of their names makes no difference. It was just a place in the woods- looked kinda uninviting. I did not go in.

I was looking for some Farong food by this time, but given that I was riding a bike and had jeans and a T shirt on, I did not try and go in. I certainly must visit before I leave, though. Shelby and I tried to visit one in Nevis a few years back. Went there for lunch. They would not let us sit anywhere or go anywhere except right around the restaurant area. VERY PARTICULAR!!

Up the hill from the main buildings of the Four Seasons, there was a lot of construction going on. This suite does not look quite ready, but I am sure it will be nice when it is. (And I bet that *this company* will finish its construction projects.)

Down the hill from the Four Seasons was this restaurant which looked like it had potential. I ate dinner there and it was very nice, even if the Filet I ordered really wasn't. They fixed me my favorite drink, which was not on the menu, and were very friendly. The menu was vairied, even Italian. I think I will go back.

I sat outside and enjoyed the atmosphere on the porch. At first, I was the only customer, but was eventually joined by an expat family that had spent many years in Hawaii previous to their arrival in Thailand.

Not sure if the "r" was xed out because the spelling was wrong, or if they just decided not to serve Tacos any more. On the menu, Tacos were crossed out altogether. I did not notice any hemp around, but I suspect that is the theme behind the name

They even had American ice cream, but I did not try any.

This restaurant was another example of the intricate exterior trim one sees so much around here. Must be because labor is so inexpensive.

There was also a Tiger place nearby. I went there, but will save those pictures for another post.

Banana trees on the side of the road, beautiful mountains in the background. What's not to like?

On the way back past the Wat with the footbridge, a monk was burning leaves on the irrigation canal bank. This idea of burning things on a hillside with water at the bottom is pretty common over here...makes the use of "Gehenna" in the Bible all that much clearer.

Another proof of the cheap cost of labor. It wimple would not be worth it to make a fence like that in our country. Here, it makes perfect sense for many people in the country. Food is very inexpensive here, so people can live on very little if they have a place to live. (Rent is not very much either.) Many people make more and have more, but one can survive on much less.

This is very time-consuming, so I am a little behind in sharing some things, but keep checking back. I will have more!