After five hours, 2,000 baht, and help from several helpful locals we figured out that Chinnaworn got into trouble and is now in Lampang. His homestead has been abandoned for the last three or four months. After all of that we were able to track down his sister who told us that we were welcome to move into the old homestead, however, it would require quite a lot of cleaning. We decided to pass and we are now back in Chiang Mai. One of the people that knew him, Ben, told us that we were absolutely not to go to the homestead or to the mountain on which it is located.
The good news is that the mountains around Chiang Mai are beautiful! Seriously it is paridise. There are a lot of small farms and I felt very encouraged seeing the villagers working them. We got some spectacular pictures (if they turn out... the light was a bit funny) of the mountains and valleys. There are giant clumps of bamboo, some of which must be at least thirty or fourty feet high! It was nice and cool up in the high country and overall seemed a great place to have a farm...
I'm so bummed out about Chinnaworn. I think that was the highlight of Spencer's and Karina's stay. Did he have financial trouble? I wonder if there's another place in the mountains you can stay for a few days. When are you coming back? Bruce is in Dolores taking a break, so it should be fun for him. It's really hot here and there, 100ish. Love you both lots.
ReplyDeleteThat is hotter than it is here! We are going to get out of the city by going to the zoo today and then a temple in the mountains tomorrow. We have two days left in Chiang Mai and two left in BKK and then we come home the 22nd. We really miss you guys and while we are enjoying our last days in Thailand we are excited to come home. We were thinking we would have everyone up for dinner (Thai food) and a slideshow of our pictures when we get back.
ReplyDeleteI am not really sure what kind of trouble Chinnaworn got into. No one would tell us directly but they all knew. Pang Term is a very tiny village only about five families it seemed and they all knew but were unwilling to speak about it. The consensus was that he had left abruptly ~three months ago for Lampong. His own sister said she had not been able to get a hold of him. Another guy, Ben, said we shouldn't go to the homestead or to find Chinnaworn at all and that we should go back. He was adamant that we not stay at the homestead. The lady that was helping us had her own farm that she originally said we could stay at but the more we asked about Chinnaworn the more she treated us with suspicion... and she didn't want us to stay at the farm anymore by the time we left. It was all very strange.