Lampang

Up and out this morning at 8 and on the road again.  We are heading north west and the countryside is much hillier. In parts it is full on jungle and then around the corner it is rice fields or general farming land. This certainly is a land of contrasts.  Weather warm but only a little humidity so once again we are very fortunate. We stop for a comfort break and I buy some fried banana strips that I share on the coach.  I still had some Durain falvoured wafers left from the other day so we have those too.  We finally get to Lampang after about 2 1/2 hours.  We take a delightful ride on a horse drawn cart around the old city for about half an hour. It was great fun and very relaxing. Then back on the coach to an out of the way restaurant for lunch in a secluded spot where we have yet another of Joe's "light lunches".  So much food and always so tasty. One of the platters had prawns on skewers.  Most of us had one or two but Frugal clearly liked them and ended up finishing off about 10 of them.  I think she was a bit embarrassed by the time she finished when she saw the big pile of prawn shells in front of her, and all of us staring at her!!! (I sat and had breakfast with her this morning as I wanted to try and spend a bit of one on one time with her just to see if I could get through her 'serious' nature. She is enjoying herself but you wouldn't know it unless you push her on the subject.)
Anyway, time to get back on the coach again and we head to Wat Phra Kaew Don Tao which is the temple where initially the Jade Buddha was kept.  But King V had it moved to Bangkok some hundreds of years ago, so we are very privileged that we have not only seen the jade Buddha but its original 'home' which not many locals can say.
We stop in at a local market and have a wander through.  There are all sorts of foodstuffs that I can't recognise and then we see all the bugs for sale to eat.  I tried a cricket last time I came to Thailand but can't be convinced to eat bugs ever again... There was all sorts of offal and small skinned beasties for sale.  all was on display and nothing was refrigerated.  No wonder some people turn Vegan..
A small pet area at the back of the market had chickens, rabbits and puppies for sale.  I was horrified as I was worried that they were for sale to eat, but Joe assured me that they were for pets. He then told the story of some time ago he and some friends were at the market and each decided to buy a pet.  He bought a rat, but by the time they got back to Bangkok his rat had clearly escaped as it was no where to be found in their luggage!  At the mere mention of rats I was out of there.  Thankfully I didn't see them in cages at the back of this market stall or you would have heard me screaming from here! At the front of the markets I did however buy a silver belt so at least I have a half reasonable nice memory of that market now.
Time to head to our hotel which is the River Lodge at Lampang.  It is like a tropical garden with wooden bungalows dotted along the various paths. I had a wander around and eventually found my way to the pool so went for a swim, which was wonderful - the water is always just right, time for a quick change and then to a buffet dinner in an open air restaurant at the resort.  Way too much food once again, but hey, I'm on holidays...
aanother lovely day in paradise.
Tomorrow we head to Chang Rai.  I had asked Joe if there was any way we would be able to get to the Golden Triangle where Laos, Myanmar (Burma) and Thailand borders meet.  Bless him, he has organised a boat to take us on the Mekong river to go to Laos.  It will cost about 500 baht each ($20) and at this stage all have said they are interested in goign, even Frugal. I'm very much looking forward to our next few days.  I don't want to think about it that we have now been here a week which means that we are half way through our holiday. Denial is a strong defence to reality.
And with that, it is my bedtime.