It being Dec 28 and being a bit bored in a village with no xmas entertainment I decided to go for a ride that wasn't the usual hills near my home in Thaton. I picked an area I had never been in and quite honestly was never thinking to write it up so took few photos. I started at the first left as you head south down the 118 to Chiang Mai and only when on it realised that it was a road along a canal that I assume comes from the Kok river, there being no major dams in this area.
I took a wrong turn early on and ended up at a weir that thankfully bikes could cross but cars not. It was all small unmarked lanes, flat land with rice just going in and not much else. Still north of Phan town I saw the first signs for Good Day Craft Beer which I had heard about. A sign every few kms until I hit the spot. Rather smarter than I expected it was more a restaurant for an upmarket clientele which sold a variety of foreign bottled craft beer but the food and drink were a bit steep priced for a man doing cheap. They had customers and the few cars parked were not farmer pick-ups.
There were some very smart houses as I neared Phan, a few resort/hotels and many fish farms which quite sadly dont make much of a photo. It was no means a poverty district the irrigation providing all the water needed for rice crops and various small tree plantations. The road was in fair condition, all hard surface just a few places with sudden dips and cracks. And deserted, very few vehicles on the move. What caught my interest on the map was a temple (and there were lots of them) with a more unusual name. San Phra Jikong Nam Phing Hong. If its got a name that loong it ,must be worth a look. So I kept going, still on the canal side but seeing a few more villages as I neared.
What surprised me was the size of the place, not just that it was Chinese. I had seen no sign of a Chinese community, wasn't near a market town where they usually congregate, so could think of no reason why several million dollars were spent on a big, smart temple. A couple of hundred low steps led the way up but a drove the bike around nd parked near the main entrance. No fee, not masses to see, just an expensive looking finish, several decorative statues and an internal room that was no entry.
There is an upstairs but at the moment I have such bad knee problems that I had to give it a miss, couldnt drive the bike and no-one to carry me. Next time. From here I just went back to the canal road and it followed it out to Highway 1, the exit being near the Sangthong Garden Resort on the Chiang Rai - Phayao provincial border. Always nice to be surprised, a place I would have expected in a big city but not out here.
I took a wrong turn early on and ended up at a weir that thankfully bikes could cross but cars not. It was all small unmarked lanes, flat land with rice just going in and not much else. Still north of Phan town I saw the first signs for Good Day Craft Beer which I had heard about. A sign every few kms until I hit the spot. Rather smarter than I expected it was more a restaurant for an upmarket clientele which sold a variety of foreign bottled craft beer but the food and drink were a bit steep priced for a man doing cheap. They had customers and the few cars parked were not farmer pick-ups.
There were some very smart houses as I neared Phan, a few resort/hotels and many fish farms which quite sadly dont make much of a photo. It was no means a poverty district the irrigation providing all the water needed for rice crops and various small tree plantations. The road was in fair condition, all hard surface just a few places with sudden dips and cracks. And deserted, very few vehicles on the move. What caught my interest on the map was a temple (and there were lots of them) with a more unusual name. San Phra Jikong Nam Phing Hong. If its got a name that loong it ,must be worth a look. So I kept going, still on the canal side but seeing a few more villages as I neared.
What surprised me was the size of the place, not just that it was Chinese. I had seen no sign of a Chinese community, wasn't near a market town where they usually congregate, so could think of no reason why several million dollars were spent on a big, smart temple. A couple of hundred low steps led the way up but a drove the bike around nd parked near the main entrance. No fee, not masses to see, just an expensive looking finish, several decorative statues and an internal room that was no entry.
There is an upstairs but at the moment I have such bad knee problems that I had to give it a miss, couldnt drive the bike and no-one to carry me. Next time. From here I just went back to the canal road and it followed it out to Highway 1, the exit being near the Sangthong Garden Resort on the Chiang Rai - Phayao provincial border. Always nice to be surprised, a place I would have expected in a big city but not out here.
