Around Chiang Rai

 We didn't just visit the city of Chiang Rai. We also decided to tour some places outside of the city.

One thing we really like to do is go through the countryside. As a bear, it's always good to get back to the trees and mountains. Plus it gives Spike more places to sniff around.

Hey!

Just making a joke, Spike. Anyway, we took a trip with Bee and Amon on bicycles through the Lanna countryside. 

We took a half-day bike ride, mostly on small paved roads and paths with some rougher roads along the way in dirt or gravel. I definitely would have found it a bit more difficult in the rainy season when the ground is muddy!

 

So we rode through rice paddies which, surprisingly to us, were being planted in the dry season!

 

Since there are several rivers, there are actually two rice crops each year. One during the rainy season and one using irrigation from the rivers during the dry season. 

 

We also passed by a lot of corn fields. This corn has a 75-day growing period, so we would see new plants, medium-high plants, tall plants, and some ready for harvest. This allows the farmers to have income throughout the growing season!

Then there were the pineapple plantations! A plantation is just a big farm concentrating on one crop. It does not have anything to do with slavery. This is the poolae pineapple, which is a really small pineapple when fully grown, unlike the pineapples you see that are really big!

 

A fun thing to see were the water buffaloes! We saw one that was only two days old! It was really cute. We learned that the buffaloes aren't really used to till the fields anymore. The tractors are more efficient. And the flocks of birds are a farmers friend because they kill the worms, snails, and insects that can harm the rice crop.

Besides the bike ride, we ended up going to the Choui FongTea plantation. It's huge! Gai was our wonderful driver and guide on this trip!

 

They take 45 days to pick tea leaves from each bush once. And they only pick in the early morning and mid-morning.

While the tea leaves are drying, music is played to make the tea taste sweeter.

The tea tasting allowed us to try three different types of tea. 

Then we enjoyed some lychee oolong and a matcha green tea frappe.