Ferrell Ard

My Thai friend NOP and I decided to take a 2 day trip to see Doi Inthanon - a National Park that has the highest peak in Thailand. NOP had heard that, at times, at sunrise, the clouds are "below" you. So, we planned on spending the night and getting up for sunrise (of course, on the day we went, there were no clouds below us). Getting up at 6 AM and riding the scooter up the mountain about 20 km was VERY COLD.

There are many waterfalls in the park, so we stopped by several.

Namtok Mae Pan waterfall
The highest waterfall in Chiang Mai province cascades down a cliff of more than 100 meters. You have to hike from the parking area to see the water falls . The sign says 500 meters - what it doesn't say is that it is 500 meters BOTH horizontally AND VERTICALLY. And that the path thru the woods is THAI SIZE, meaning that US size 12 shoes have a problem in a Thai size 7 shoe path. The water was VERY cold, but it did not stop a group of people from England from having a plunge.

The Kirimaya Paradise Ecotourism Network has set up accommodations for people wanting to spend the night. We rented a hut for the night for 1200 baht (about $35 USD). It was not heated, but did have hot water. We got raw food from the market and Nop cooked for us on the porch (glad he is a Cook).

The overall trip was 300 km.

Note: pictures may load slow.

In Chiang Mai, the observation of the festival of lights, called Yi Peng, is uniquely different (from Loy Krathong). Instead of water vessel, Chiang Mai people release thousand of lighted lanterns in the sky while making a wish. The sky transforms itself in a wonderful and surreal sea of little lanterns floating away. The spectacle is mesmerizing. October 25 Yi Peng Mass Lantern Release @ Lanna Dhutanka Temple Mae Jo University Chiang Mai

Made it back to Chiang Mai Thursday Aug 28th about midnight. But trip was plagued with
delays at each airport.

Leaving ORL - the pilots did not arrive until 5 mins before time to depart, so
we were 25-mins late leaving ORL. He made up all the lost time to ATL - only to
be waved off on landing 'cause the plane in front of us didn't clear the runway in time.

Leaving ATL - everyone boarded - then they said - we are waiting to be fueled.....
go figure - the plane had been at the gate about 2hr - took another 45-mins to
get fuel.

Leaving ICN (Korea) - got to gate and sign said we would be 15-mins late 'cause
passengers were arriving late on another flight. Got loaded on plane and backed out.
Started engine and just sat - then shut down engine while the maintenance crew
worked an issue... 50-mins later we left....

In Chiang Mai, at least the driver picking me up did not leave me.

The Porter family gathered together July 13 - 20, 2014 for our family get-together.

This year, 152 (out of the 225 in the family) were able to attend.

On Saturday, Feb 1, Matthew, Mark, Todd and myself took a 75 km road trip
from Chiang Mai to Chiang Dao - just for something to do. We left at 10 AM.
The route was simple, stay on route 107 all the way, so we didn't think we would get lost.
Just outside of Chiang Dao, in the mountains, we ran across a stream next to the road.
The stream and the mountains combined to drop the temperature QUITE a bit.
In Chiang Dao, Todd went exploring in the Chiang Dao caves while the rest of us
explored the surrounding area on foot for about an hour. After that, we went to
"The Nest" for lunch. Then, about 4 PM, we headed back and got back to Chiang Mai
at 5:30 PM. No one needed to be rocked to sleep......