I like to use my free time to find new places by accident by just getting on my bicycle and finding random interesting things that are normally very culturally different than what I am used to. I headed out in a totally different direction yesterday and found some pretty strange and interesting things.
This really isn't that rare here. Thais do love their elephants and there are statues of them pretty much everywhere. This one was special because it was large... no other reason.
At first I thought this was a gigantic trash burning pit, but after speaking to a Thai friend I was informed that this is in fact a reservoir for rainwater to feed the small villages that exist in these rural communities. It is dry now because it hasn't rained a while but once it does it feeds water to many households in the areas on lower ground. I would imagine it is pretty nasty water and is likely either filtered or only used for crops and what not. I don't know for sure
On one unpaved trail i came to a clearing and there was a little spirit house. I was always under the impression that these were meant to protect houses from evil spirits, but there were no houses nearby. Again, according to my Thai friend (and he was speculating,) there will be a house here at some point in the future and the owners / builders are getting a jump start on placating the spirits before they build the house at all.
I don't understand this part of the culture but I'm not gonna judge!
As always I encourage everyone to just get out there and explore. I have seen so many interesting things by accident and also gotten more than 300km bike ride time in and that has to be good for me :)