Spotted Doves and a Crested Serpent Eagle

I've been feeling like our birding this year in Chiang Mai is a little slow. But probably if I look back, it took us a while to figure things out then too. As you can see, we still have a pretty good view for birding. We're next to the rooms we had last year, but this time we face west instead of North. And we don't have this giant fruit tree just off our balcony, so we won't have birds quite as close as last year.
Here's the view from our apartment. Those giant leaves in front are teak. You can see the spotted dove on the top of the tree there. (Insert at lower left is from last year so you can see what that bird is.) The doves like to sit up on the top of those trees. They did that last year too. But this bird, once in a while would jump up and fly almost straight up and then loop back down and land back on his perch. He did that this morning twice while I was watching. The second time, while he was gone, another dove landed there, but when he came back the other flew off so he could resettle.

This picture I got Wednesday on the way to work. I was on the bike and saw this raptor not far off. I stopped, pulled out my camera and got off this shot before it flew off. Dogs nearby were beginning to bark at me stopped in their territory looking at the sky. I've cropped this so you see the bird close up. It gets a bit blurry, but I lucked out getting the wing spread up like that as well as the tail. The only thing I could find in my bird book that came close - because of the white bars in the tail and wing was a crested serpent eagle, but I didn't know if those were enough to identify it. But that night we had dinner with the other AJWS volunteers and G has been here a couple months and connected with the bird watching community. I sent him the picture and he identified it also as a crested serpent eagle (without my telling him what I thought.) He passed the picture on to local bird expert Tony Ball who concurred. So, that's an identified bird I wouldn't otherwise have taken credit for.


These two I caught taking a picture of the orange flowers on this tree. I knew they were there, but didn't realize I'd caught them revealing those white wing patches. I'm guessing they are white vented mynas, but I'm not positive.

I also saw a scarlet backed flower pecker this morning. It's a small bird that flits around, basically black and white, with an outrageous bright scarlet (when you see it you think that's what scarlet is) splash painted down it's back and a bit on its rump. No picture though. My picture from last year isn't too clear and doesn't see it from the back.

We hiked up -from our place - to Doi Suthep today. I'll try to get some pictures up soon. I've got to get rid of stuff from my computer. The memory is so full it won't download all the pictures.

Dinner With J's Tai Chi Friends

[Saturday, Jan. 31, 2009, 10 pm Thai Time]

Last night we had dinner with J's Tai Chi group at B&K.


At our table we enjoyed our conversation with a retired economics professor and a retired Japanese travel writer who's moved to Chiang Mai.

Bike Ride to Wat Pa Dara Phirom Part 2

This really should be consolidated into one post. Here's the link to the first part, with the map. Today was the second day of the meeting at the Wat, so I have a couple more pictures. I also failed to say that I was starting out near Chiang Mai University. I just want to add a couple more pictures of the ride. Then I'll do another post with pictures I took at the Wat during meeting breaks. Another post about the meeting itself - what it was all about - is on the pile of to do posts, including more from the Petchabun meeting.

I also want to add that last night I got a ride back - I didn't see riding home in the dark along the highway, even with my blinking light in back, as a desirable option. As it turned out, I got a ride back today too as the meeting got out mid afternoon and there were pickups headed back to the office. It's a lot cooler at 8am than at 3pm and they didn't have to twist my arm too much. It was great getting in a longer-than-my-short-office-ride in - the Wat is about 14 kilometers from home - but I'm not excited about the highway part, even with relatively little traffic.


This is the key picture I didn't get yesterday - the part of the road where there's just this tiny space for a biker, up against the wall. There are three lanes of traffic and there was little traffic, so I never had anything bigger than a motorcycle in the lane next to me, but still, I didn't enjoy it. Where there was a road - paved, but more often not - on the other side of the canal, I took that. On the way home, in the pickup, I saw that the other side of the road has more sidewalk, but it isn't a clear shot - it's got trees and lots of signs as frequent obstacles. Things are like this maybe a kilometer past Huey Road until after the 700 Year Anniversary Sports Stadium.

It would be nice to figure out some other way to get out there - one that used neighborhood roads instead of the highway.  It would take longer, but be more comfortable.  I know J won't want to drive along this stretch.  

Then the 'sidewalk' appears. (See yesterday's post.) It's not perfect, but it gets you a little away from the traffic. And things look really nice. But I've learned that few things are accidental.

Perhaps this is why the highway is so good here.






Now I'm off the main road on this wonderful little road to the Wat. It turns out you can stay on the main road and the Wat isn't far from it either. But this way is so much nicer. Note the bridge in the background.


And today I took this shortcut - the foot bridge into the Wat. It maybe saves 1/2 kilometer, but it was fun too. (No, I wasn't about to put my camera down and do the automatic timer on the bridge. In places like this I make sure the camera string is around my wrist.)  Also, I see that the map is misleading here as the road across the bridge goes back right along the canal.  I started onto the bridge from the road that cut off from the highway and got off the bridge practically in the Wat.  

Wat Pa Dara Phirom

The meeting was on the Temple Grounds. There are several NGO offices on the grounds. Before the meeting, and during breaks, I strolled around this beautiful temple.

This Temple wa[s] developed in the 1890s, on land donated by a decendant of the great Lanna Princess, Phra Raja Jaya, born Chao Dara Rasmi, 11th daughter to Chao Inthawichayanon, one of the last rulers of Chiang Mai and the Lanna Kingdom. Doi Inthanon was named after this King. [For more of this interesting history of Wat Pa Dara Phirom]from Brick Road Cafe and Guesthouse.

My sketchy translation is this:  

Don't try to do things which are equal to your heart, 

Try to make your heart equal to the things you can do.




This one is for my Mom.  She'll know why.


Talking before the meeting.  

Bike Ride to Wat Pa Dara Phirom in Mae Rim

Pet drew a map to Wat Pa Dara Phirom Saturday night so I could ride my bike there for the Monday and Tuesday meeting. Let me just get this much up tonight and some pictures of the temple. I'll try to figure out what happened at the meetings tomorrow. He figured it was about 15 kilometers. That way he wouldn't have to come by and pick me up. Well his map was great and the ride was pretty good too.



This is past the stadium. It was nice to have somewhere other than the road to ride. Up until this sidewalk appeared I had to hug inside that white line. For a good ways, there was a small wall on the left (drive on the left in Thailand) and then the hill to the canal.



Then after the curve to the right, the separate sidewalk disappears and this bike/motorcycle lane shows up.



Pet had told me this is where the "Military - Horses" are. I guess that means the calvary. I joked that it probably smells and indeed, I smelled the horses just before there was a sign for the horses.


See, it's an official bike lane.




And there was the second military base.




And this is the great little road once you turn off the main highway.

[I've added a few more pictures and comments on this trip in Part 2]

Bikes, Barbets, Card Reader, and Anniversary Dinner

We woke up to an interesting call. I got up and made a sound memo on the camera and downloaded it. Joan found the bird on the top of the tree and once I looked through the binoculars I was pretty sure it was a Lineated Barbet. (There's a nice description and good pictures at the link.) I looked up lineated barbet audio and that nailed it. But when I tried to download the sound memo, I realized I couldn't and hadn't tried for a long time. I googled and found a forum where someone suggested to get a card reader. CARD READER! Of course. That's how I used to download all my pictures and audio until mine stopped working. That was on my list of things to buy once we got here.

Pet and Bon were picking us up today around 11 to look at bikes. The bike choices have been:

1. buy bikes and sell them when we leave (Someone wanted us to do this last year so he could buy my bike at a discount.)
2. rent bikes (what I did last year)
3. the manager of our building offered to buy bikes and rent them to us
4. let Bon and Pet buy bikes and rent from them.

We finally agreed to option 4 since both wanted bikes. I decided this was not a violation of the AJWS ethics rules which say volunteers cannot leave valuable equipment or donate money to their organizations when they leave. I could be wrong, but it seems to make more sense to help them save money on their bikes rather than give the same money to the shop. In any case, we went over the AJWS policy carefully so they knew all the reasons for the rules.



But I insisted we go to Cacti Bikes where we rented our bikes last year. The owner was really a decent guy and I wanted to support him. Maybe he had some used bikes he'd sell. He did and we got two bikes. Bon and Pet went off to their meetings and we rode off on our bikes.











(1000 Baht is about $29)
Not far, because the computer arcade is pretty much across the street and canal from the bike store. I found exactly what I wanted - the card reader and a new stick on Thai keyboard for my MacBook. The paper one I'd bought last year got worn out much to quickly. J did great even in the Chiang Mai traffic. We tried to go more round about routes through less crowded sois. We mixed in some walking.

















The old card reader I had bought in Thailand was great. It was tiny and just needed to plugged into the USB port. This new one has its own USB connection. 150 Baht or about $4.30.



Next we got the stickers. The old ones were paper and after about six months, the most used keys had been worn bare. I'd seen clear plastic ones online, but there were about $6 plus more than that for shipping. I figured I could wait, and it was good I did because I had to get the keyboard replaced. But now I can put on the new ones, and I need them here.





Checking J's map, we saw the YMCA was nearby and J decided we should eat there. I'd only been in the parking lot when we picked up the Japanese researchers last year. With the bikes, getting a little off the beaten path is much easier. We had a decent lunch and I found this map there. I'd been aware that maps were culturally biased by seeing that in Asia China was in the middle of world maps while in the US, the US tends to be in the middle. There's also the Europe in the middle version.

But the description on this map said that the size of countries, of continents even, were distorted so that Northern Hemisphere countries appeared much larger than they actually were and Southern Hemisphere countries smaller. You can see more of the details at the Peters Map Site. But I figure that Alaska-Mexico example is of interest to my Alaskan readers. And no, Texas isn't really bigger than Alaska too.

Then we went on home - J getting used to riding in Chiang Mai - a lot more exciting than in Anchorage where there are separate bike paths most places.




Since it was our anniversary, I'd invited some people from work for dinner and we decided on Khun Churn, a yuppie vegetarian Thai restaurant. I'd also invited the other AJWS volunteers, whom I hadn't met, but we'd gotten email connection. We rode through the Chiang Mai University campus agricultural department area.


We had a fun dinner, lots of laughing. M, one of the volunteers came too. I learned that there'd been an orientation for the Thai and Cambodian volunteers that week that we'd arrived. I'd never gotten any information on it at all. This was about the same time that I learned from Pet that A, one of the AJWS staffers, had told him today that I wasn't really a volunteer, I wasn't on the list. Since AJWS paid for my plane trip, I'm guessing I really am an AJWS volunteer. Anyway, a trick I learned at the first Anchorage International Film Festival was that when the picture is too dark, or otherwise funny, you can always play with filters to make it interesting. So this picture of us at dinner is with Photoshop's graphic pen filter. Much nicer than the original photo.

[Update Jan. 25, 2009 Sunday evening Thai Time:  I forgot to mention that folks got there late because some roads were closed off and there was an anti-Government demonstration.  J and I didn't see it at all.  But this is pro-Thaksin territory.]

Cut Through Wat Umong on Way to Work

Yesterday I used an extra bike at our building to go to work. But it was obvious when I got back that they really needed it and I shouldn't have accepted the offer. The seat was really hard and the brakes were ok as long as you didn't have to stop in less than 15 feet.

So today I walked again and decided to cut through Wat Umong. Most of the time last year I rode my bike and going through the temple grounds on the bike didn't seem the best thing to do. But walking it was great. And it seems to be something of a short cut as well. I've been trying to grab something from Google Earth, but I can't quite make sense of what I see in our neighborhood.

The first three pictures were going to work in the morning.








The last three pictures were on the way home.





This is definitely not your everyday temple, nestled as it is in a heavily wooded area.

Rat Na Kai and Why Thailand has an H in it

I still plan to post several more times on Petchabun, but it's easier to just give you a couple of quick pictures of going to lunch today. We are still working on my workplan. Basically I was to be focused on management, but before coming to Chiang Mai I did some checking on the possibility of importing mangoes from Thailand. I think there are lots of obstacles, but maybe it's doable. This would be really helpful to some of the farmers we work with who have wonderful mangoes. And maybe we'll discover there are other products that would be easier to export from Thailand, like wild honey. Of course, you know what happens when you come up with an idea. You get assigned to follow up on it. So that's a new one of my assignments.

Also, at Petchabun I talked to one of the farmers about birds and I mentioned the possibility of training some farmers to be bird guides. Pet liked the idea, so now I get to check out all the birdwatching websites in Thailand as part of my work.

Anyway, Ping and I went to a small shop nearby for lunch. Above you can see it from the outside. It's just a set of posts with a corrugated metal roof. With lots of green stuff acting as most of the walls.



Here's looking into what was the black hole in the middle of the top picture.





And here's Ping (Last year I started spelling this "Bing," but he spells it - in English letters - with a P. That's ok for people who have studied some Thai and know the difference between an aspirated P (Ph) and an unaspirated P (P). So, you pronounce that first letter like you were going to say the English P, but don't let air come out of your mouth. (Hold your hand in front of you mouth when you say the English P and you feel a puff of air (that's the aspirated part). Now say the P without the air. That's how to pronounce his name - Ping. It's not the same as a B, but B is the closest English sound) adding some spice to his lunch. This is essentially wide noodles, some brocoli like vegetable, some chicken (kai - that's an unaspirated k, same routine, K without the puff of air, close to an English G, but not quite), and a liquid that's the consistency of gravy. I used to have this a lot when I was a Peace Corps volunteer, my third year working in Thonburi.

Since I got into all that aspirated stuff, I might as well take if full circle and explain, that's why Thailand has an 'H' in it. This is an aspirated T, pretty much the same as an English T. But they also have an unaspirated T - say T but with no puff of air - and so the phonetic Thai alphabet I originally learned reserves the letter T for the unaspirated T sound and TH for the aspirated T sound. So that's why Thailand has an H in it, but is NOT pronounced Thighland.

One more note: I spell my boss' name Pet, because it also has an unaspirated P. So it sounds more like Bet, but to get it right you have to form your mouth and tongue like you are going to say a P, but don't let that puff of air out.

I went looking for a picture of the mouth and tongue, but found these pictures of the B (left) and P (right) sounds. You can go to Slice of Thai to see the original pictures and explanations along with hearing the sounds.

















These pictures don't help me understand this at all, but they are pretty.

Here's part of Slice of Thai's explanation of the charts:

Sounds that are lower in pitch are near the bottom of the chart, and sounds that are higher in pitch are near the top of the chart.

Notice the blue fuzz at the bottom: that is the very low-pitched, wind-like blowing sound you can also hear along with the whistling.
The color of the spectrogram at a given point indicates how much sound with that pitch you were making at that time. The color scale works like this:



So the red parts of the spectrogram represent the most noticeable pitches.

Stopping at the Street Vendors after Noodles

I'm still trying to figure out how to post the trip to Petchabun, so here are some pictures of the street market down the street from our apartment. These are a couple of the ones where we bought goodies after having noodles for dinner.







J likes these little vegie patties that are cut up and stir fried.












I got a cup of strawberries for breakfast tomorrow.






Roasted bananas with coconut milk. Mmmmmmm.




And these are all sweets. I'm not sure what all they are, but a lot have cocunut, some are egg yolk and sugar.






My computer conversion calculator says 10 Baht equals 28¢. Now we're home watching the inauguration festivities on CNN.