Around Chiang Mai Christmas 2007

[benbaaa]

All my family came to visit, so we did some stuff in and around Chiang Mai.

First up, a so-called Hmong village on Doi Pui (up the road from Doi Suthep temple and the Phuping Palace). It's a real tourist trap, but I got a few good pictures.

Opium poppies:



A view over the gardens and roofs:




Next, the Queen's monument on Doi Inthanon (the King's had scaffolding all around it):



And a view of the hills around it:

[rawlins]

Very nice pictures... I like the opium poppies (picture that is, never tried the product... yet)

[benbaaa]

Next, the inevitable Wat Doi Suthep:



And the less inevitable Wat Umong:






And one of the Buddha just before he decided that perhaps a good breakfast wasn't such a silly idea after all:

[benbaaa]

Next, the Tweechol Botanical Gardens, as recommended by that nincompoop CMN :





The Mae Ya Waterfall on the foothills of Inthanon, nice place for a picnic of som tam and barbecued chicken:

[benbaaa]

And finally, lunch at the Mae Kuang Dam, north-east of the city. The, er, restaurant took a bit of finding, but it was lovely when we got there.

Really pleased with the reflections in this one:



The kitchen:



The restaurant, car park and toilet (bottom right) - specially for DD - taken from the road:



And some friendly cops on the next table. We were there two and a half hours, and they got there before us and were still going strong when we left. That's what I call a long lunch.

[ChiangMai noon]

Super looking pictures benners.

You must have a better camera than me.

[benbaaa]

It's weird. I thought my camera was crap and wanted to get a new one like my mum's. But all my pics turned out much better than hers. Mine's an old Olympus with 3.2 megapixels. Hers is a new Canon with 6 megapixels. The difference, we now think, is the lens size.

Note to budding photographers: all the megapixels in the world won't make your pictures bright and sharp if you only have a tiddly little lens.

[ChiangMai noon]

^
I think i need to finish off my new year thread.
still haven't covered the last leg from nan To Phayaao.

[daveboy]

Outstanding pis bb must have been the good light or something

[unkleblacky]

great pics and great work, next time i am up that way I will check it out