Wat the Donald?

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Friday 12 February

We rise earlier than intended this morning as the Hotel is full of very noisy Chinese, who believe the only form of communication is to shout instead of talking. After breakfast, we decide to take a river cruise, choosing to go via the Old Town and along the river to the jetty, via the post office to send some postcards (we are really starting to know our way around by day 5). En route we pass another Wat which is old and beautiful, however, the atmosphere and serenity is a little dampened by the Wat's specially added feature, displaying a life size model of Donald Duck amongst the religious Icons - only in Thailand, of course. Paula decides we will cross the river Ping and walk along the quiet bank towards the ferry point at Wat Chai Mong Kol (yes, another Wat to negotiate). Somehow, we managed to miss a vital river bridge crossing which would have taken us back towards the city. After about an hour and a half of strolling around, enjoying the warm dry sunny morning, Leo commented that 'the good thing with us is that we are comfortable wandering around totally foreign streets without any angst' when it dawned on us that we were actually totally lost. That'll teach him. More by luck than judgement, we take a right hand turning along a narrow lane that brings us to a very rickety foot bridge, which on crossing we realise is the last in the Chang Mai City district, strangely, it brought us right into the back garden of a village house full of chickens and a clutch of tiny brown chicks. Smiling in apology to the residents as we interrupt their lunch, we pass into a narrow alleyway that brings us back on a main road. Logically, we turn right. So, after two hours of walking we finally arrive at Wat Chai and Leo sensibly decides that as we are now familiar with the river, there is no need to sail on it, so we retire to a little bar/ restaurant to people watch the SYMs , SOBs and the DOBs and the RATs (full explanation available upon request for those of a delicate disposition). This is our last night here before heading South, We have really enjoyed Northern Thailand the people are hospitable and friendly, the cost of living far cheaper than the South and the Country side spectacular. God willing we will come here again.

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Comments

[Diane Jones]

Onwards and southwards
Wat the Duck? you're covering some distance, funny to hear you ended up in a private garden with hens - enjoying your blog, keep safe xx p.s. looking forward to opening my card tomorrow, thank you for remembering x