On the way we stopped at a silk factory, where they produced a range of silk products from scratch. I purchased a nice dressing gown at a very reasonable price.
Silk worms munching their way through mulberry leaves
Once the larvae have finished eating they spin silk cocoons to pupate in.
The fine silk threads are individually unwound from the cocoons and wound onto reels.
The silk is finally woven into cloth, baled up and used to manufacture clothing, there was a showroom full of beautiful products. Which it was hoped that we would purchase.
We continued further north into the province of Chiang Rai and stopped at some hot springs.
This is boiling water gushing out of the ground.
These pools were full of water of different temperatures.
The lowest temperature was just about bearable and was OK for Tatty Bear and I to soak in for a few minutes, very soothing after walking.
Some of the other pools were boiling and these children were selling hard boiled eggs that they had cooked in the pool.
The eggs can be seen below, cooking in string bags. Just before I took this picture a trader from a food stall removed a big wire basket full of hard boiled eggs.
The next stop was “Wat Rong Khun” The White Temple, unfortunately the temple was closed to the public as work was in progress inside.
Construction started in 1997 and the site is still under construction, the building is white to show the purity of the Buddha and the glass is to represent his wisdom.
The temple was designed and built by an architect called Chalernchai Kositpipat at his own expense.
Unfortunately it was only a short visit and as part was closed my knowledge is rather limited.
As can be seen it is a very stunning building.
They even had white fish in the pools.
A close up of the construction, showing the glass mirrored facets in the mortar.
Our final destination was the “Golden Triangle” where the borders of Thailand, Burma and Laos meet. This area was one of the worlds largest producers of opium, we are told that this has now all stopped. I am not sure what the locals were trying to sell out of suitcases in the alleyways.
We went on a boat trip across the Me Kong river to Laos. Considering this river at this point has only just left China and is many miles from the mouth it is very large.
A floating temple.
A Chinese cargo boat, we saw many of these on the river.
Another boat similar to the one that we were aboard.
A riverside resort in Laos!
A small poverty stricken on the Laos border.
A friend of mine made the mistake of giving money to on of the many begging children, within seconds he was surrounded.
The harbour wall on the Laos side of the river, going there was an experience but it was very poor very dirty and alive with rats.
In contrast this is the border from Thailand to Burma.
This had been a very long day and we had now to face a 4 1/2 hour journey home.
No comments:
Post a Comment