Wild about Austin: River cruise

Today being our last day in Chiang Mai, we decided to do a short cruise up the Ping river. Turns out this was a lovely way to while away a steamy afternoon! It was cooler down on the water, and there was a bit of a breeze, and trees, and less air pollution. Ahhh...

The water was chocolate brown, but flowing along at a good pace.
Our boat looked like one of these.

Our driver was a friendly young guy who just came to Chiang Mai thirteen months ago from his village up near Burma. He grew up on the farm helping his dad, but came to the city to find work. He aspires to work in a hotel, but he doesn't have a university degree so he feels that is unlikely. I asked him how he learned English. He said he had a dictionary that he studied very hard for three months. He makes about ten dollars a day driving the boat for the tourists. And he has a smile on his face.

This is what is called a "scorpion tailed" boat. The end looks like a stinger. It's the design from the olden times.

Not sure if you can see the huge tree behind the dock there. They told us it was over 350 years old. Imagine all it has seen in that time!

Here's a shot of the lower part. Sadly there is nothing to compare it to, so you can't tell that it is probably 40 in circumference at its base. No wonder the Thais venerate trees. This one is magnificent!

The river winds through town for a while, past the high rise condos where the expats live and under several bridges.

The driver pointed out this building established by the missionaries in Thailand. They have been coming here since the early 1800's, I believe.

The King and Queen are highly respected and also have a nice billboard on the river way.

Our driver explained that during the festival coming up next month people will come down to theses steps and set afloat little boats they have made from banana leaves and flowers. The boats carry a lit candle out on to the water.

Here are a couple of pictures I snagged from the Internet to give you an idea

I'll bet it is quite a sight!

Some scenes of the river bank.

There were plenty of beautiful homes along the river.

Here is part of the movie set built for Rambo 4.

We saw lots of guys fishing and lots of fish traps which I apparently forgot to take a picture of. Only saw one guy swimming. There was a lot of stuff floating in the water. No way would I swim in it.