Another Afternoon Ride !

[Rivo]

After buying my detailed map of the North of Thailand myself and my mate from Australia found nothing better than sitting at a bar the night before and having a couple of beers before deciding where we should go on our scooters the following day, plenty of places to choose from and we just pointed with our fingers at a tourist attraction and then said "We go for Look". We always checked with the girls and got the standard answer "upto you".

This time we decided to go to the San Kamphaeng Hot Springs, heres is a bit of history : it is located just 23 km from San Kamphaeng district and about 36 km from Chiang Mai City. It is situated amid natural surroundings of shady trees and fertile hills. The drive to the small weaving village of San Kamphaeng passes by a large number of handicraft shops and the famous umbrella village of Bo Sang. Some 3km beyond the village is the pleasant forty-acre park containing the hot springs.

The park has been well landscaped and in the cool season the flowers are very lovely making it a good place for picnics. There you can find a camping area, a swimming pool, restaurant dining facilities and segregated mineral water bathing room huts are also available.

The San Kamphaeng Hot Spring is the ideal destination for health and physical well being. The water has high sulphur content and possesses curative and restorative properties. This is a very active geological area. The water, at a temperature of a hundred degrees centigrade, comes from a deep source. Attempts have been made to harness this energy and there is a research station nearby with information on display.

We left the Raming Hotel at our usual early start of about 11am and head out of the city enjoying the sites, as always I am stopping regularly to take a pic, we also stop to buy fruit which is plentiful on the store on the side of the road. What we found with the store owners was even though they dont speak english just point and ask if "good" and then next they will be slicing one of the fruits open for us to try before we buy.

Her's a few pics I took along the way.............

[Rivo]

Whilst we were on one of our regular fruit stops a car pulls up in the middle of the road, a girl sticks herself out the window and starts waving, its one of mates TG friends. Instead of pulling over to the left of the road they were happy to block the one lane off. Not a busy road but there was times where the traffic had to wait for them. The biggest attraction was my mates TG friend had a small baby, maybe just 1 year old or younger so all the girls had to have a hold 555 They were stopped talking for 20 mins or so in the middle of the road 555

[Rivo]

Wasnt too long of a ride before we were pulling into the carpark of the San Kamphaeng Hot Springs, we were guided into the undercover parking area, under a big tarp 555 We had to pay for the parking, it was a case of get off your bike and they would reverse the bike into the correct place, maybe only 10 bikes there but they were organised. Grabbed our gear and a cold drink and wandered down the road through security into the park .................

[Rivo]

Once you have wandered through the park on one of the many pathways you get to make the choice, trun left down to the pool and hot tup rooms which is full of this water from the hot springs or turn right and head up to the hot springs. The hot water is like a geyser out of the groung and then follows a curvy man made stream through the trees down to the pool and hot tubs. You can sit along the stream and put you feet in the water. Supposed to be good for you, you gould do the same at home, just pour boiling water over your feet 555 I could keep my feet in the water for about 1 minute before it was painful, some people could last hours. 555

There was a fountain on the way in with egg looking formations, thats exactly what they represent as you can buy eggs to boil and eat. The eggs were available in different sizes, from small Quail type eggs to big chicken eggs, they were different colours aswell.......

[Rivo]

Once we had sat around the hot stream for an hour or so and had a drink and icecream we then wander back down towards the hot tubs, this is were our girls want to have a hot tub. I went and had a look at there hot tubs thing they would be like a spa. Wrong, its more like a small pool that is emptied after it has been used, the drain tap is a 12 inch gate valve so as you would imagine it is emptied very quickly. As for the filling that is by 2 x 2 inch gate valves, one hot water and one cold. The girls controlled the filling and it was that hot I couldnt get in, had to run the cold(warm) tap for about 10min to make the water bearable. The tub could hold about 30 people easy, we had just the 4 of us and just sat around talking and relaxing and getting told how good this was for us.

After our hour in the tub was up it was time for a shower and head back to the bikes, wandering through the souvenior shops, where I bought some fridge magnets. Anyone who has been to my house back home is amazed at the many magnets I have, I collect them from every holiday I have had over the last 20 years or more. 555

Back on the bike and a leisurely ride back to the hotel where it was time for a beer again, download the pic's from the day out and get our map again, where will we head tomorrow ?

[Spot]

Keep em coming Rivo, another good one, great pics mate. Just a BTW I noted on my first trip everyubody parking scooter nose in. My habit of a lifetime was always to park tail in especially on sloping parking bays, ie rear wheel to the curb. No matter how many times i did this in LOS i would come out of wherever and find my scooter turned around and nose in. Ghosts, Feng shui, or just not pointing the dirty end at something?

[Quarky]

I like the pouring boiling water over your own feet comparison Rivo... 555

Great pics yet again.

[vanguy77]

Really enjoyed the tale of your latest daytrip, Rivo, as I always do. Great pics to accompany the report as well, catching some very still-life moments of life in Thailand. I especially like the pic of the 5 schoolgirls waving to the strange farang from the back of the pickup truck! 555