We are now in Chiang Mai, which ends our group tour in Thailand. There are more than 300 temples in Chiang Mai. Our morning walking tour only included seven (Pha Bong Temple, Wat Dab Phai, Wat PhrasingH, Wat Pra Singh Voramaharihara, Wat Phantao, Wat Jetlin and Wat Chediluang Worawihan, but that was more than enough. […]
Thailand 9 – Chiang Rai
Sometimes fortune just smiles on you when you travel. Today was one of those days. We had driven to a small town to pick up a long-tail boat for a ride down the river. As we arrived, we discovered the village was about to start an “elephant feast.” Once a year the village puts together […]
Thailand 8 – Mae Salong
We started this morning by visiting a tea plantation (Tea 101), where the tea was actively being harvested. We were allowed to wander into the fields to see and photograph the workers up close. We saw the women (no men) either using scissors or simply tearing the new top leaves off the plants. Afterwards, we […]
Thailand 7 – Chiang Saen
We were all supposed to leave the hotel this morning at 5:00AM, so we could hike to the top of a local peak for what was promised to be an unsurpassed sunrise experience. The forecast was for more polluted air, so personally I decided a couple extra hours sleep sounded better. Evelyn and the rest […]
Thailand 6 – Pha Tang
Every morning at 7:00AM, the monks go to the temple in Pha Tang to receive food and alms from the local people. The head monk offers daily blessings in return. We got up early to see the people prepare the food and watched the procession, as shown above. Along the way, we came across some […]
Thailand 5 – Phayao
Phayao is our next stop on the hidden Northern Thailand tour. On our way there, we started with an early morning hike to the top of one of the neighboring mountains, to see the truly spectacular Wat Chalerm Phrakiat, perched atop a jagged limestone outcrop. This is difficult to reach, as you first drive up a […]
Thailand 4 – Lampang
Lampang is the third largest city in Northern Thailand, but is seldom visited by tourists. Since we are specifically targeting rarely seen areas of Thailand on this trip, this colonial city is a perfect stop for us. In the 19th century, Lampang was prominent in the teak industry, and beautiful colonial Thai-style wood villas and […]
Thailand 3 – Sukhothai
Now that we have left Bangkok, we will be spending the next two weeks exploring some off-the-beaten tracks of Northern Thailand. Places where few tourists travel, and where English is often not spoken — which is why we like having a bilingual guide with us to navigate the hotels, restaurants, markets and general interaction with the […]
Vermont Fall Foliage, Part 2
Despite the pastoral farms and seemingly endless rolling hills, Vermont has several dense, spread out cities and towns, and it is hard to find truly dark skies, as needed for good star photography. A few feet from where we photographed the light-painted island yesterday, there was a partially shielded area that allowed us to capture […]
Vermont Fall Foliage, Part 1
Seeing the Fall Colors in New England has been on our travel list for years. We decided to go this year, which was precipitated by my camera falling onto a granite rock during a windstorm in Namibia in July. That required it to be sent to the Sony repair facility (who fixed it under warranty!), […]
