Just a day trip

Today I'm going by rental car Chiang Mai just going out to visit a few places I haven't been in a long time. Start with a ride to the ancient site Lamphun to see the famous temple there again.

It is Sunday and therefore wonderfully busy at the temple complex. Shoes off and barefoot I enter the temple and, even as a non-religious person, enjoy all the ordinary things that I see around. Deep, very devout bows to Buddha alternated with groups posing for a photo. Children who receive money from their parents to slide into the offering box and a very young monk who has sat cross-legged on a dais. With a certain regularity, people kneel before him, donate money and finally he dips a number of sticks in a holy water font, after which he lets Buddha's blessing descend on them in liquid form. The young monk is also only human, because if he has no business for a while, he plays with his mobile phone to quickly crumple it away from under his orange clothing when new believers arrive.

Lottery

When the blessing has descended upon you, luck must begin to smile upon you. And of course they respond to this cleverly because countless lottery ticket sellers are ready to give you a helping hand.

In a few days you may be a million baht richer. As a tourist you can also make your move in Lamphun because if you want to buy a beautiful real cotton dress or blouse as a woman, you can go here because the city is known for its cotton weaving mills.

San Kamphaeng

The ride continues to San Kamphaeng to see the Sunday crowds at the hot springs there. It is already a pleasure to watch the many Thai companies, just enjoy the little things. Many people sit with their feet in the healing warm water. You could describe it more or less as a kind of paddling. A little further, for a fee, you can immerse your whole body in the warm healing spring water for a while and get out again feeling reborn.

A more childish thing is that you can buy a wicker basket of eggs in some places to boil them in the hot water in some places. I can appreciate a soft-boiled egg in the morning, but let this child's play pass. Thinking about what is going on in the underground of our planet makes you come to your senses. In certain places in the beautifully landscaped complex you can see that the geysers spray the hot water sky high with full force. The Yellowstone National Park in America contains the largest and most active geyser field in the world, but here in San Kamphaeng you still get a nice picture of it. If you want to learn more about this so-called volcanic phenomenon, just click on this link: www.vulkanisme.nl/vulkanische-phenen/geiser.php

Sales technique

After a nice ride I sit on a terrace behind a glass at the famous Anusarn market in Chiangmai and watch the construction of the many stands. Right in front of me, a man in his thirties is busy with his wife and it looks like he has good taste. When he has properly illuminated his products with the various lamps, he and his lady take a seat behind the high wall of his display. The customers can come. And … although it is still early in the evening, from my 'lookout' I see a lot of interested people regularly looking at the stuff and even touching it. However, Mr. Seller, together with his wife, stoically sits on his chair behind the construction wall, hidden from the prospective buyers. Surely a little salesman had already put many baht in his or her pocket. When I leave I can't fail to advise the man to stand in front of his booth.

It is still early in the evening and I have little appetite to look for a restaurant. So take another place where a reasonable glass of wine is served. Just look around me and enjoy all the audience that passes by here. Many holidaymakers walk around in strange attire and it is a feast for the eyes to watch them unobserved. When after a while my stomach gives a signal to eat, I ask for the bill. On the head I have to pay 400 baht. Pay with a thousand note and receive one 500 note and five 20 baht note back according to known custom. Without saying a boo or bah, the waitress throws the folder with change on the table. Too bad for that girl because this not stingy man has not even left a twenty note behind.

Had to think back to a former colleague who showed me around Thailand 25 years ago. “Who should have taught them?” I heard from his mouth at the time.