It has been a long time since I have written anything here!  Life has been busy over the last month as I enrolled in a couple of online courses and have been helping a friend with her various websites.  And I have had four requests in the last couple of weeks for articles about life as an expat in Thailand which I have yet to get to.  Boredom is something I will never encounter in my retirement years. I know it is getting bad when life and building in my virtual worlds is put on hold for life in the real world!  Although I know most of you would say that is a good thing lol!

On Tuesday morning, a small group of us headed north on our scooters and motorcycles to Lake Phayao, located about 150 km northwest of Chiang Mai. The weather managed to stay incredible for the two days we were on the road. Sunny skies and moderate temperatures made for a great ride. It dipped down into the low 20s (Celsius) through the mountains which was a little chilly for us! Read More

On Friday a couple dozen of us headed into the mountains again with Wat Mae Takhrai as our first destination. We had been given a steer towards this place by a friend that said it was a site worth visiting. Apparently, there was a large display of sculptural objects that represented one Buddhist’s vision of hell. Our interest was peaked and off we went in search of yet another temple with yet another unique group of objects on the temple grounds.

Wat Mae Takhrai is located several kilometres outside of Chiangmai in the foothills. It could be reached by Songtaew if you told the driver exactly where you wanted to go but, again, these types of places are much more accessible by scooter or car. The winding road eventually entered the small village where the temple is located with a typical Thai temple complex visible at the side of the road. I won’t say that “if you have seen one Thai temple, you have seen them all”, although it is getting to that point with us these days! They all have their own individual character but, at the same time, have very strong similarities.

The first thing that is noticed as you approach the village is a huge sculpture of a monk that rises into the air and can be seen from quite a distance. I tried to find out who is depicted by this large work of art but to no avail. If anyone knows the story behind it, please comment below. Up close and personal, it is even more spectacular. Near its base, another larger than life head is part of a small shrine. All are gilded with randomly placed small squares of gold, which I doubt are the genuine metal! In any case, it is something to see. Read More

Last Friday, about ten members showed up for our weekly ride. It was a pretty small group compared to the couple of dozen that appeared last week. I’m not sure if people were busy or if they were still recovering from the challenging roads we faced during our previous jaunt!  This time we headed into the mountains northeast of the city.  The group meets every Friday morning at the Shell station on the west side of the moat and heads out at 9:30am sharp.

We rolled up Huay Kaew Road and then took a right turn onto Highway 11 (aka Superhighway) at the Maya shopping center. Veering left onto the frontage road at Home Mart, we then turned left onto Highway 118 at the Central Festival shopping centre. This road eventually takes you past Doi Saket, and if you stay on it a few more hours, Chiang Rai.  It doesn’t take long before the city is left behind and you begin to enter rolling hills with the large mountains visible in the distance. The traffic can be busy but safe enough if you stay to the left and follow normal common sense.  It seems in Thailand, everyone loves to cross the centre line on curves so that is one thing that always needs to be watched when there is no median. It really does not become a big problem until you get onto the smaller secondary roads in the mountains. Read More