As you will have seen from the earlier photos, Chaing Mai was a wonderful trip
full of many varied cultural activities,it was great fun to have Jenny experience these with us,with a lot of laughter and discussion. Beginning with our very vigorous ( extremely good) Thai massages from the rehabilitating inmates at the women's prison.During the last 6 months of their sentence they are trained in either massage or in the catering department at their on site cafe. We had a feast at the Baan Thai cookery school,each cooking 5 different courses which covered all of our favorite Thai dishes. I think the highlight activity must have been the mahout day, each with our own elephant,feeding them vast quantities of bananas and sugar cane, riding bare back and washing and playing ,very up close and personal. We took 2 'all day car ' tours ,firstly to the golden triangle( name due to the gold exchanged for opium where the 3 countries meet, Thailand, Burma and Laos ), plus visiting some of the hill tribes and also visiting an extraordinary white temple just outside of Chaing Rai .Wat Rong Khun,designed by the Thai artist Chalermchai Kositpipat began in 1997 and is still a work in progress.At the entrance are 500 clawing hands and as you enter the central hall with the Buddha there is skull over the doorway.The surreal mural on the walls is ever evolving with demons,spider man, depictions of michael Jackson ,the matrix and the twin WTC towers exploding.We also visited a Inthanon national park with the highest peak in Thailand, numerous waterfalls plus a stop at the great holy relics pagoda with gardens honoring the 60 th birthday of the present the King and Queen! Our last planned activity was a 24 hour meditation ( mostly silent) retreat with Buddhist monks from Wat Suan Doc. I wasn't sure how the Captain and Jen were going to enjoy this 24 hrs,but they were game .It began with an hours drive ,changing into white clothes, meditation instruction,supper and an early night ,with men and women in separate 2 bed rooms, Jen and I together, and the captain with an un -named dude , both of them practicing silence.Woken the next day by a 5am gong ,it was very dark and surprisingly cold as we made our way in white blankets to meditation 2 hrs prior to breakfast, discussions ,more meditation etc, before returning to CM. I have to report that they surprised themselves ( and me) and actually felt that the de -stressing meditation to be relaxing. On our return to Phuket ,we picked up some new hatch covers and an extension to our Bimini giving us more sun protection in the day. Jenny had a few more days ,so we decided to try going to Phang Nga bay again, this time the winds had calmed, so we were able to go around the islands ,visiting James Bond island and anchoring at a nearby uninhabited island .We had visited this same island last year with cousin Benny ,it had a small derelict hut on it with a strange orange evening dress hanging inside, and guess what, the same dress was in the same place again this year,( it even looked clean,)but this year just outside the cabin there was a tree draped with pieces of cloth and what looked like an offering,a bowl of rice, water and a dead bird! Most creepy. We also went to spend a lovely day at the 'Paradise resort '.Making good use of their swimming pool, beach chairs and restaurant. We then sailed up the west coast of Phuket to Nai Yang or the airport beach anchorage, said good bye to Jenny and set off to the Similan islands . These islands are designated national parks ,so no fishing ,hence an abundance of beautiful ,colorful fish swimming everywhere along with sea turtles and sea eagles. North of the Similans are the Surin islands,both have pristine water clarity resembling jewels such as Emeralds and jade.We enjoyed the Surins much more as they are more remote therefore bringing less tourists by fast day tripper boats. After a week we came across to Ko Phayam one of the last anchorages before Burma.We returned here to spend a little more time as we had so enjoyed it last year.It is definitely off the beaten track,no cars just tractors and motor cycles, it is much more rustic and authentic. We adopted one restaurant for our daily repast! Kleung Klong with a French chef, so daily baguettes and pain au chocolat, this has to be the best Thai food we have eaten! The island is covered in cashew trees and the Miss Cashew festival was on this week, very low key. As we walked the 2 + km to the little town the paved track was strewn with ripe cashew fruit all over the ground giving off a very pungent, but not unpleasant earthy smell. This island has some rather run down Hippy bars with notorious all stages of the moon parties! We made our way down the coast with 2 stops ,one at an inlet that protected us from a westerly swell and the second stop at another favorite we discovered last year,a very protected anchorage where the Thai navy hangs out,the best eating place here is called 'the navy wives club' with its famous Jungle curry. We are currently at the airport anchorage again ,working through some boat maintenance , I feel like I am living in a 'Man shed ' at the moment with all the tools scattered around the boat, where is ' Young Ron ' on days like these!
Photos to follow
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