In celebration of my 25th wedding anniversary I wanted to do something special for my wife. Being the true romantic that I am, and having arranged a holiday on my own we arranged for her to join me in Chiang Mai for a few days at the end of my motorcycling trip. As a surprise I subscribed to a three day mahout training course at the Elephant Conservation Centre.
I wanted to be sure how long the journey would take as we had to be there at
8 am the first day so I took a practice run down to the Centre. Had a great ride down there with some lovely scenery although the main road isn't all that exciting in itself. I got to the centre in good time and discovered where to go on our appointed date then only had the ride home to do.
I turned back onto the main road and then hooked a left off the main road onto some back roads. (Edit looks like I left the main road at Mae Tha and headed west then north west towards Lamphun and back to the main road again.)
The following are a selection of photos from the back roads. I know someone will ask me where I went but the detail is on my other computer so I will have to update when I can do so.
Anyway, I took my time going up and down a few back roads but generally heading north westish. Some cool villages along the way.
I was starting to get ready for a drink and maybe some food and looked around for a likely place. I saw a large sign at the side of the road and what appeared to be a nice looking cafe/restaurant inside. I rode the bike in and thankfully a young guy spoke good english.
Anyway, cutting a long story short it turned out to be not a restaurant at all but a private house however they had a small commercial operation running by the family producing and bottling some sort of health drink. We were gradually joined by the whole family and drink and some fruit was prodced in true thai hospitable style. It turned out that the guy had spent a year living in New Zealand and the guy he stayed with was the importer of this stuff. I probably stayed with them for maybe an hour or two enjoying the company and chatting away.
Eventually it was time to leave and they insisted I took a small bottle with me and then we all had to have the family photos taken with the strange falang in different poses. I didn't take any of the group, it was all them.
Must have been a bit of a novelty to have this crazy guy just waltz into your home and start talking. By the time I left we were almost family together and it really was a lovely welcoming experience. They are building a small home stay unit there. I did get the GPS thing and when I get chance I will add the location to this report.
So, I left there and carried on north towards home and eventually found a little market for some food and a drink. Took a few random snaps. This lady wanted me to take one of her cooking so I did.
Once she had seen it she made me take another because she didn't like it
A few more random snaps of the day then I found my way back to the main road and headed home, the skied opening up as I hit the start of Chinag Mai.
Great day altogether and regardless of the rain, the motorcycling was excellent.
With apologies for the sound, or lack of music, I have not yet sussed out how to upload music without getting it stripped for copyright
[youtube:1z7ri9mv] /youtube:1z7ri9mv]
I wanted to be sure how long the journey would take as we had to be there at
8 am the first day so I took a practice run down to the Centre. Had a great ride down there with some lovely scenery although the main road isn't all that exciting in itself. I got to the centre in good time and discovered where to go on our appointed date then only had the ride home to do.
I turned back onto the main road and then hooked a left off the main road onto some back roads. (Edit looks like I left the main road at Mae Tha and headed west then north west towards Lamphun and back to the main road again.)
The following are a selection of photos from the back roads. I know someone will ask me where I went but the detail is on my other computer so I will have to update when I can do so.
Anyway, I took my time going up and down a few back roads but generally heading north westish. Some cool villages along the way.
I was starting to get ready for a drink and maybe some food and looked around for a likely place. I saw a large sign at the side of the road and what appeared to be a nice looking cafe/restaurant inside. I rode the bike in and thankfully a young guy spoke good english.
Anyway, cutting a long story short it turned out to be not a restaurant at all but a private house however they had a small commercial operation running by the family producing and bottling some sort of health drink. We were gradually joined by the whole family and drink and some fruit was prodced in true thai hospitable style. It turned out that the guy had spent a year living in New Zealand and the guy he stayed with was the importer of this stuff. I probably stayed with them for maybe an hour or two enjoying the company and chatting away.
Eventually it was time to leave and they insisted I took a small bottle with me and then we all had to have the family photos taken with the strange falang in different poses. I didn't take any of the group, it was all them.
Must have been a bit of a novelty to have this crazy guy just waltz into your home and start talking. By the time I left we were almost family together and it really was a lovely welcoming experience. They are building a small home stay unit there. I did get the GPS thing and when I get chance I will add the location to this report.
So, I left there and carried on north towards home and eventually found a little market for some food and a drink. Took a few random snaps. This lady wanted me to take one of her cooking so I did.
Once she had seen it she made me take another because she didn't like it
A few more random snaps of the day then I found my way back to the main road and headed home, the skied opening up as I hit the start of Chinag Mai.
Great day altogether and regardless of the rain, the motorcycling was excellent.
With apologies for the sound, or lack of music, I have not yet sussed out how to upload music without getting it stripped for copyright
[youtube:1z7ri9mv] /youtube:1z7ri9mv]