Deer Park

Sukhothai to Lampang

Lampang to Chiang Mai

Firstly, Thai road are excellent. Not a pothole yet. (I was just reading Steph Jeavon’s update and she’s just encountered the worst: Honduras).

Fantastic relaxed riding, and can get some speed up to ventilate the suit

Egrets, as they’ve been on both sides of the Pacific in tropical fields

Another one of these

We went for a 30 minute ride alongside a stream that followed the road

Through a town, can’t remember

And up into a forest

There were few cars, maybe one every 5 minutes. So I could park the bike in the middle and take a nice avenue shot

Later, lunch. The only street-side stop we saw that day

There were some unusual reptiles, insects, small mammals and fish in the bags. I know a few people who would be bothered by some of this, so I’ve left out everything except for the things in the bottles at the end here

Stag beetles. Wow!

The prize, biggest ones were loosely tied to pieces of wood. Expensive, about the price of 3 lunches

Example, a monster at about 2 inches long

I was so fascinated by these, the fellow pointed at his scooter down the road and off we went. No secret what’s coming up

A box a beetles. Not giants, like on the wooden displays

So he showed me what they did, which was fight. Possibly a male territory instinct. They made a large popping sound of gas to frighten the rival. At one point I had a decent war going on my hands. These are his

Really hot, as you can feel from this river shot

The greenest country we’ve seen until now was Costa Rica. This is a tie

Then into Lampang. We were really disappointed we’d made a commitment in Chiang Mai the following evening because Lampang looked like the most beautiful town yet. Plus I had my best Thai dinner yet here. So I guess I’ll be back, and I have a opportunity to do that. Unless it continues this way…

A ‘bikes only’ bridge

Another of the great bridges here

Roughly in the middle of town there’s a largish compound of temples, a monastery and things we’d never seen before. I’m sure there are incredible things to follow, but this was lush with beauty, all tightly packed.

Wat Pong Sanuk Tai temple. One of the several entries. Wow!

And a sign on the wal

Back on topic. I don’t understand yet much about what I’m seeing (although I’m reading as we go) so until I do, just images, lots of time for that

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The building below had a reclining Buddha inside for its entire length

Here. Hard to express how extraordinary this appears

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An avenue roughly through the middle of the grounds

The temple on the left seemed to be the main event

Spot the Sidis

A riot of visual activity inside

Some young kids were building the flower structures that donations are attached to. I sat and helped with 2. The ladies thought I was very strange suffering in full gear. We had a major photo session, it was fun

This was one of the most exceptional things we’ve ever seen. I walked by this ‘sculpture’ as I thought, a few times in the temple. Yes, he was motionless, not a blink, not any movement, nothing. I studied his face, his hands, not even a microscopic waver. Been thinking about this…