Jan 20th. Today is Chris’s birthday!

Jan 20^th

Today is Chris’s birthday! 

Stairway to heaven

After a leisurely breakfast near the pool, we were picked up and set off to.......a temple! We drove for about 30 minutes to Wat Banan, which is on top of a 400 metre mountain reached by 358 steps.

The temple at the top of thehill

Flanked by naga balustrades, the steps lead you up to five 11^th century towers or prasats, which have been partially restored by the French in colonial times.  It was actually rather lovely on top of the mountain and the whole temple complex which was small felt very tranquil and serene.  Apart from one other visitor, we had the place to ourselves.  Frangipani trees grew in profusion at the top and are in full flower at the moment so were a beautiful sight.  We got some good views from the top of the surrounding country side which is mostly dry paddy fields with water buffalo feeding on the dry rice stalks.

The bamboo tran

Next stop was a ride on the bamboo train.  These have developed as a cheap and effective way for the farmers to transport their produce around and have replaced the old water buffalo driven carts.  They were created from flatbed mine sweepers that were used in the civil war in the 1980’s.  Noris are assembled on the tracks and consist of 2 bogeys on which you sit a bamboo platform.  Power comes from a motor cycle engine and belt drive housed on the rear axle....there are no brakes!  We climbed on our nori and rattled off down the slightly warped track at what seemed a fair lick.  However, as it’s only a single track, when you meet noris travelling in the other direction, the direction with fewer noris has to give way and you simply lift the platform and then each bogey, which weighs 70kg, off the track.

A brick press in the abandoned factory

When we got to the far end, we had a brief tour of an abandoned brick factory which had been flooded in 2012.  It all looked very medieval and primitive.  The 50 or so people who had been employed here had been forced to go to Thailand to look for new employment.

We had to hang around a bit on our bamboo platform for the incoming noris so had some fun with the local kids who were trying to sell us bracelets.  I have to say some of the children are really beautiful.

The birthday boy and his cake

After that we had lunch and at the end of it, an incredibly blingy and over the top birthday cake was produced for Mr Christopher which included his date of birth and age.  Chris sliced it up and all the locals got a slice and we donated what was left to the restaurant and they seemed  pleased with that.

The old buddhist temple - Thai style

Joe had a trip to a museum and an old Buddhist temple lined up for the afternoon but it involved some hanging around as the museum didn’t open until later. So, we drove straight to the old Buddhist temple complex in town instead.  This had some amazing tacky looking gold and silver stupas (or Buddhist shrines), some amazing plaster statues telling the story of Buddha and then some very over the top Thai styled temples guarded by golden garudas. 

After the temple, we called it a day and asked Joe to bring us back to the hotel as all felt we needed some down time and fancied an afternoon lounging by and in the pool.