I found a reservoir that’s past the swimming pool I usually go to. It’s about six miles from town. Costs sixty cents to enter, you can buy lunch for less than two dollars including drink. There are little huts along the beach. The mountain in the background in Doi Sukhet. The reservoir is called Hueay Tueng Tao.

The water seems clean enough, and during the week the place is abandoned. Weekends, it’s full of Thai families, but few people swim. The only Thai I talked to about it said it has a reputation of being dangerous. I guess it would be if you couldn’t swim.

My swimming pool, an Olympic sized 50 meter pool at the 700 year stadium puts copper sulfate in the water to control algae. I began to notice that my white beard was developing a blue-green tint. Then I saw an old man at the pool one day and his white hair was strikingly blue-green. He said his hair cutter asked him if he dyed his hair. He replied “I don’t have to. The swimming pool already does a good job of it.”

So this natural body of water may be a delightful alternative, and is only a mile or two farther down the Canal road.

There is a road towards the mountain that becomes an entrance into the Doi Sukhet National Park. I tried taking my motor scooter up the mud road, but soon decided this was a really bad idea and came back down. Even a real off-road dirt bike would have a hard time of it.