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It was a better start to the day today at least we made It to breakfast, though next time we'll give the coffee a miss, as I think it had been passed through an ancient monks flip flop. Other than that, it wasn't too bad,especially if you wanted curry or stir fry.
We made a sandwich from our provisions, and Russ set off to hire a scooter for the day. It's definitely the way to get about, cheap to hire and fuel, relatively safe, comes with insurance for £5 per day from a company calling themselves Mr Mechanic who come recommended from most of the top guide books. You can pay even less if you don't want insurance, we did! After a quick lesson that comprised of "have you ridden a bike before" "No" "ok press this, squeeze that , you're good to go" Russ headed back to the hotel via the petrol station where he had to be shown by the pump attendant how to get the seat up so he could put some fuel in. A half tank cost 50baht around £1 this almost lasted the whole day.
The setting off was the hardest part, with Russ
trying to get his balance with me on the back, weaving amongst the traffic, with the only rule being to stop at some of the traffic lights.
We headed towards Bo Sang, the umbrella village, where they make and decorate them by hand. After making our way through the town traffic, we were able to get some speed up, and the only issue then was the odd pot hole in the road. We parked the bike up, and went into the biggest factory shop where they demonstrate the art of umbrella making and painting. They even had a photo of a huge umbrella they had made for the visit of Princess Diana. The only issue we had was that everything that we liked, they didnt have. We tried a couple of other shops but we didn't see anything as good as the factory shop, whether it was because it was Sunday and some were closed, the choices in the other shops were no where near as good - perhaps somewhere to go back to? We continued on our way, towards the next town, which didn't seem to have anything in it, so on we went. Following the directions in
our guide book, we were looking for another Wat - Pa Tung. Our route took us off the main roads, and more into the countryside into a landscape that reminded us of our cycle ride in Vietnam. There were just houses on stilts dotted every so often, farmers working the land with cattle, and stalls selling soft drinks which were probably out of date.
We reached the Wat, and after donning my shirt and trouser legs, went up into a temple on stilts. There sat a old monk - real this time, and in a glass case the body of a revered monk who had been at this temple. After walking round, we went to a sort of assembly hall, where a very friendly monk showed us the paintings on the ceiling of the hall, and explained that there would be a procession that evening of people walking towards the mountain Doi Suthep.
After this visit, we called back at the hotel, changed and started to make our way back towards the town, as the bike had to be back before 6pm. It was just approaching rush hour, and arriving on fumes, we had to stop and put
in another 80p of fuel. We dropped the bike off and headed out to the Sunday Walking Market. We had seen them setting up when we dropped the bike off. As the name suggests, it's only on a Sunday, and more traditionally has food, plants and goldfish!
We had only gone about 200yards, when there seemed to be a general rush amongst the stall holders as they tried to cover up their wares with plastic sheeting, as the sky had gone an ominous colour. Not to be deterred, we continued, and inside the Wats along the street seemed to be the small food stall holders. Interestingly, the quail omelettes in banana leaves looked nice, and there seemed to be a large selection of fat sausages for sale. Russ was nearly pursuaded to try the stir fry within an omelette. As we left the grounds of the Wat, the first drops of rain began to fall. We continued, and as the rain got a little heavier, made for shelter inside a bar. We weren't the only ones sheltering, and we spent half an hour laughing at a family cover up their stall, as they looked like they'd never done it
before.
We set out again, braving the rain, and as it started to reach monsoon levels, we sheltered in a shop doorway. On the plus side, poncho sellers were doing a roaring trade! Finally, it stopped enough for us to continue, and as we did so, we noticed a procession coming down the street. It was led by monks, followed by lots of very wet school children and then some mobile statues of Buddha replicas which had to be carefully led down the street as they were too tall to safely go under the hanging electric wires so a stick was being used to move them out of the way. The procession went on for ages, with more and more school children, all looking very wet. After a bit more "treasure" buying, we went for something to eat. We went back to the bar we had had drinks in earlier "Hot Chilli", and in an attempt to be more adventurous, picked something Thai from the menu. When it came though, we were both disappointed, the fried noodles were soft and slimy and Russ' didn't taste of anything at all.
We crossed over the road at the Tha Prea
Wat Pa Tung
painting inside assembly hall showing procession to Doi Suthep gate, to have a look at some more stalls, and then called it a night. Before heading home, we stopped for water, and a quick beer in the UN Irish Bar before getting a tuk tuk back. When we got back to the hotel, we got our rucksacks out to prepare for the trip the following day.
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