Went for another trip on my Bike Today. Took a new track just outside of Ban Dung which I had been meaning to try months ago – as expected it? was another route to one of our two plantations. Then I swung by plantation number 1 and onto Old Peters village. From there I went to look at Sandys eucalyptus trees which I hadn’t seen since they were planted.

I then had a choice of routes – to swing back and try and find Brians place ( An ex cschool teacher who has retired and now has a family out here and comes from the potteries ) or to do a long trip round via Sang Khom. I opted to go to Sang khom.? Many of the paddy fields on the route had been burnt in preparation for ploughing and planting again later in the year.

Sometimes these “controlled” burns get out of control and cause damage to eucalyptus trees and other crops growing at this time of the year. I also passed this “crematoria”? at first glance they look like small temples until you notice the scorch marks around the oven doors. These buildings are normally located in the grounds of the local Temples? – Everybody in Thailand is cremated.

Nearing Sang Khom some fishermen were out on the river.

By now the temperature was souring and I regretted coming this far -? but I was two thirds of the way around the route so I had to carry on.? On into Sang khom and then I headed back Home. I called in on route at Plantation number two to cool myself off with the rain water we collect in the big storage jars and to replenish my drinking water. After a 15 minute rest I had cooled down enough to do the last 10k back home where I had a nice cold shower. Total duration was 5 hours – one our longer than I had anticipated doing.