On our last day in Chiang Mai we drove up Doi Suthep Mountain again to get to Phuping Palace.  We stopped at the lookout point on the way.

As always – insects everywhere, including my shirt.

Phuping Palace is the king and queens winter residence when they travel to the area.

The area is couched in religious aura (I had to buy pants to put on over my shorts) due to the citiezrns’ reverence for their king and queen.  In fact, images of the king and/or queen can be seen almost everywhere in Thailand.  Since Thailand has a parliamentary government system the king and queen are largely figureheads for the country.  The king and queen are loved here for their charity efforts much like princess Diana was in england, but over a timetable of four decades.  I would wager there are more photos of the royal couple in Thailand than there are coca cola signs in California.  There are huge billboards in every town in multiple spots.  Every government office has a photo by the entrance.  Temples have photos of the queen planting Trees on the grounds. Every restaurnt and business has a photo (the older the better) on the premises.  The really great places have a photo of the king or queen actually visiting.

However, the actual public grounds of the palaces were not very impressive, just a few small gardens.  I have a feeling we just aren’t allowed to see the good stuff.

On the way back down from the mountain we passed the perfect example of mobile safety in Thailand.  I didn’t have time to get a photo when passed by a motorcycle with a child in front of the driver and a woman behind holding onto a propane tank.  The photo below illustrates this minus the propane tank.  Also note the “All Seasons” hotel ad in the background.

After leaving the palace we visited Wiang Khum Kham or “old town” Chiang Mai, obviously the ruins of the first Chiang Mai city.  Unfortunately we didn’t see the Wat Chedi Si Liem (at the time I had no idea it was there).  Below are photos of what we did see.

The bathroom had a perfect example of Chinglish.  Also, if you’ve never traveled, then you haven’t experience the public restroom sandal situation.  At every public bathroom (except for some rest stops) you are encouraged to take off your shoes and wear provided sandals.

Next we drove through the dangerous mountains again to get to Jae Son National Park.  The heavy rains that caused our hotel ceiling to leak two days earlier had also caused landslides on the mountain roads through Lampang Province.  Once we had a to stop and wait for a backhoe to clear the mud for us.

We also came to some kind of ranger station with a bathroom where everything was powered by solar panels.

Once we reached Jae Son we ate a late lunch made by an old woman accompanied by many stray cats who begged for food.

After lunch we headed to another multiple-level waterfall.  Again, we didn’t have time to walk up more than two levels.

This time we skipped the other levels of the waterfall because we had to go to the hot springs at the base of the waterfall for a two hour thai massage.

I can’t say Thai massages are my favorite (unless Sam is doing it) as they are very painful.  I’m told that the pain is necessary to release tension from the muscles and other things.  It seems to work for other people so I’m sure there is some truth to that. After the massages the sun was alredy setting, but they let us use the hot springs tubs for ten minutes.

Sam and I actually hopped out after about five minutes because it was so hot.  The rooms normally had electric lights, but the rains had downed electric lines (or something).  It was dark when we walked out and a park attendant led us back to the car with a flashlight through the maze of stones running through the hot springs stream.  I tried to take some photos, but they were rushing us out, so I couldn’t get the shot that I wanted.

When we were almost back to Chiang Mai we stopped in another town for a street snack.  These snacks were a hodgepodge of beans and other things boiled up in front of us.  Not a fan of beans in general I did not find this desert sweet enough for my western palette.

Across the street was a good example of the proliferation of English in small towns.  I think they like to see it and feign use – but here we can clearly see an english sign installed upside down and left that way.  If I owned a business I’d certainly had that corrected if I could tell the difference.  My guess here is that they could not.

(I’d like to make clear that I’m not saying they SHOULD know English at all, but the misuse is often amusing.  I often think “why bother?”)