Category: Chiang Mai

New Year’s in Chiang Mai-Lanterns and Champagne

January 6, 2017

New Year’s in Chiang Mai was a great experience.  Now the celebrations are over and many of the local businesses that closed for the New Year’s Festival are open again. They don’t close much over Christmas, but many closed from Dec. 30-Jan 5.

New Year’s Festival

We found out about the closures when we went to the Air Asia office to pay for our flight home from Cambodia in Feb.  We could pay cash, but if we wanted to use our credit card, then that wasn’t available from the 30th to the 3rd.  The office was open though. This seems so different to us who can use our cards 24/7, anywhere we want.  We could have booked online with our card, but there was a fee of almost $25 to use it. In the office, there is no fee, but it’s not always available.  I’m so glad we are not trying to do these bookings during the old work week with a few minutes here and there for errands.  We ended up having a good walk to the office then found a wonderful jungle restaurant for dinner that night.

Supper at the Residence

Dr. Smith owns Smith Suites, the newer building where we live, and Smith Residence, the older hotel a block from here. He invited all the guests from both buildings to a dinner in the lobby of the Residence.  It is the same place we had the pot luck at Christmas.  The entire meal was provided by Dr. Smith this time and included spicy noodles, potato salad, a delicious meat stew that tasted like home and strips of meat on a stick cooked over the grill outside.  It was a chance to meet some new people.  There was even some dancing after dinner.

Peter and I with an English couple.

Group picture on the steps. Dr. Smith is in the front right.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We left about 8:30 and walked into the old city.  The wats held merit making ceremonies (a Buddhist belief in earning merit for this or the next life) and candles were lit in tribute to the late King Bhumibol Aduyladej and to the new King Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun.  We saw the lights on the outside of the temples and many people sitting under the lights in the courtyard were quiet and reflective.

3 Kings Monument

The statues of 3 long ago kings are in a large open space in the center of the old city of Chiang Mai.  Many special events are held in this area.  This space is next to the Sunday Walking Market.  Every week, several blocks south and east of the 3 Kings close to traffic and a market takes place.  There are many crafts available, as well as food items and is usually so crowded you can hardly make your way down the street. Even though it was a Saturday, the road closed for the lantern lighting and so a market appeared.

Google Maps timeline 3.5 km

We were able to make our way to the monument and heard a wonderful orchestra from a university from Bangkok.  They had a small choir with them and accompanied several soloists singing traditional Thai songs.  I really enjoyed it.  It was filmed and shared on several large screens, although there weren’t as many people there as I expected.

Lantern release

We could see lanterns being released into the sky at Tha Phae Gate, which is several blocks east of where we were…through the market.  It took us quite a long time to make our way there.  We would just find a clear spot to take a few quick steps and a busker would appear in the middle of the crowd and everyone would have to try to pass them. Some of the buskers were blind or disabled in some way and just trying to earn a living.  As people here drive on the left, it is hard in a crowd to know if you should move to the left or naturally to the right to pass those coming towards you.  It all depends on what country the opposing person has come from.

We saw lanterns being released in November at Loy Krathong.  It was much busier for New Year’s.  There were less locations for this event than in November so everyone was crowded into the gathering area around the gate over the moat.  It was also cooler at this time of year, so the lanterns rose more quickly and were carried away by the wind.  It was serene and exciting at the same time.

Even though the gate area was packed with people, the crowds were not rowdy or drunk.  The police had a small presence but we didn’t see anyone causing problems.  People were sharing lighters and helping hold the lanterns as they filled with warm air.

Crowds…
Crowds…

Midnight

We arrived back to our apartment around 11:30.  We took our bottle of champagne downstairs along with some disposable plastic wine glasses that we found in the market in Chinatown.  At midnight we popped the cork and shared a glass with the night security man, Mr. Dang.  There were a few fireworks so we went up to the 7th floor landing for the best view of the city.  We found 3 other people with the same idea so we shared champagne with them as well. The views were impressive as we could see the midnight lanterns being released from a couple of km away. The fireworks are usually a much bigger event at New Year’s but were not appropriate because of the mourning period for the King.

View to Tha Phae Gate

View down our soi.

New Year’s Day

New Year’s Day was a rainy day, which is very unusual in January in Chiang Mai.  It was only 23 degrees which is the coldest day we have had so far.  I put a sweater on when I was outside, but the Thais wear light down coats.  It seems hard to believe that you can really adapt that much to the heat so that 30 seems normal and 20 seems really cold.  The rain meant we had to have mimosas in the lobby.  There were 12 of us from the building who shared guava juice and champagne to toast the new year.

Happy New Year to everyone and may you have an opportunity to travel and experience life in a new place in 2017.

Christmas in Thailand…our first on our own

December 29, 2016

 

I’ve shared a few pictures on Facebook of some of our Christmas activities, but I wanted to share more of my thoughts on Christmas in Thailand.  It is the first Christmas without the crazy excitement of school and also the first Christmas without at least one of our kids home for the holidays.  Add to that the fact that we are far from winter in a tropical country and it complicates the discussion even more.  This is more a reflection on all the changes that retirement and independent grown up children bring to your life, than just a travel blog post.

Christmas traditions

I have enjoyed the opportunity of being away from home and reflecting on what is really important about those things I have done every year to celebrate the Christmas season.  What are the things I do that are just because I always did them, or my mother did them, or my grandmother did them and what are the things that if I don’t make them happen, Christmas won’t feel like it happened?

Celebrating a Christian holiday in a Buddhist country meant we had to look a little more carefully for what we wanted.  It also reminded us to question the value of our traditions.  Spending time this season with some Australians was another reminder that the North American version of this holiday is not what everyone in the world is used to.  Having Christmas in the middle of summer every year puts a different twist on to things.

What we did and didn’t do.

Gifts

Gifts were not a very big part of our Christmas this year.  Living small has put us off of stuff.  We bought a subscription to Google Play Music to have access to any music we want, especially while we are away.  We also bought some toys for the kids who are here every day while their parents work at the building.

I made some photo cards for the people we’ve met and spend time with.  Having my external drive along with all my pictures made that pretty easy.  Pete had a Thai woman in the building write out the names of the staff in Thai and he made up cards with a message and their names in Thai.  We found some chocolates at the store and a couple of bottles of Quebec maple syrup that we gave away.

Choir

Singing in a choir in December has been part of our lives since we moved to Rocky Mountain House.  We sang with Northern Crossing for about 20 years and shared the gift of music with the community.   I directed the Northern Crossing Children’s Choir for 11 years and accompanied them for another year.  We had several performances in the community and at the Festival of Trees in Red Deer.  That event always got me inspired to get a tree up and decorated.

I had a choir at the school for 29 years and we had performances at school. For the last 8 years Peter and I have sung with Soliloquy in Red Deer and had concerts of winter and Christmas music in formal and less formal settings.  In addition, we have sung in the church choir for many years and I have directed this wonderful group of musicians for a long time as well. Christmas without music at church would be unheard of in our life.

Lannacapella

So what we did do was join a choir here in Chiang Mai, called Lannacapella.  This group of about 15 is composed of singers from Japan, England, Australia, United States and now Canada.  We didn’t know they existed until the end of November so we had 2 weeks to prepare for the first performances at the local Anglican church as part of their lessons and carols services.  The director was helping with accompanying on the church organ, an opportunity that is not available at most of their venues, hence the a cappella emphasis.  I offered to help conduct at rehearsal.  Before I knew it I was the conductor of the group.  Peter is a big help to the bass section.  They were as happy to have us appear, as we were to find them. One of the members picks us up a couple of km walk from here and takes us to all the rehearsals and performances.  Pete is off golfing today with one of the men.  Another woman shared her home for a rehearsal.

Choir Performances

We had another chance to sing at a beautiful resort, the Ratilanna Riverside Resort for a group in town called the Swiss Lanna Society.  We did 6 carols-3 on our own and 3 as singalongs.  Silent Night was sung first in English, then in German and then in authentic Japanese with our native speakers doing the words and the choir humming along.  The audience joined in with us as we all sang the first verse again. Pete played guitar with us on that one.  It sounded really nice.

On Christmas Eve we had lunch at the Le Meridien Hotel for of the Ex-Pats club Christmas meeting.  The meal was fantastic and could have been served any place in the world.   The Christmas pudding and Pecan Pie were highlights but the Jamaican Fish in curry and the leg of lamb were pretty spectacular too.

There was a drama group that did 2 reader’s theatre.  One was a story of how John Pierpont was such a failure…except for his penning of Jingle Bells.  The second one was the story of the Germans and Allied Soldiers that held the Silent Night truce during the war.  They were very believable in their rendition.

Our choir sang in between their performances and were very well received.  We did the same program as the night before, but we had more people singing along.  It was fun to be part of the event in such a glamorous location.

Christmas Eve

We walked home from the concert with my camera backpack and Pete carrying his guitar on his back.  We went into a grocery store on the way home and bought a freshly cooked deli chicken for our Christmas dinner.  They are all pre-cut into sections and then put back together to look like a chicken.  We bought some croissants for Christmas morning but unfortunately they ended up in the bag with the hot chicken and were not so recognizable by the time we walked home a couple of km.

The sister hotel to this one held an open house in the evening.  They provided some food but people brought pot luck items too.  There was kiwi fruit arranged like a tree, decorated with strawberries.  Someone found a roasted, smoked ham from a vendor.  Others brought pizza or cake.  The bakeries here do fantastic pastries.  We took a plate of mixed raw vegetables and a dip I made from Greek yogurt and Montreal Steak spice.  It was all I had but it was pretty good.

They had a tree set up and you could buy wine or beer.  Many of the staff who work here  came to the party as well.  It was a nice gathering with many of the people we’ve met since we arrived.

We wanted to go to church in the evening, but the services weren’t until 11 pm and were too far away to walk.  It would have been very difficult to get a ride back home at that time so we decided we would have to put that on the “didn’t do” list.

Christmas Morning

I woke up early to catch up on the pictures and conversations from my family in the western world.  They shared their stories from Christmas Eve.  Peter and I had coffee and mandarin oranges together in the room.

We met with some neighbors to have our traditional mimosas out under the pergola.  Sparkling wine with mango and passion fruit juice is special in any country.  Pete and I finished our tradition with the squashed croissants with butter and jam.

We ordered an uber (which is even cheaper than a songtaew, especially for 2-3 people) and went to church Christmas morning.  Jeanne from North Carolina came along with us.  It was a community church in English, and the message and last carol were great.  It was lucky we were early enough for that much, since I had the wrong start time in my head.  The service started at 10, not 11 as I thought.  Oops!

Christmas Day

After church we came back to the apartment.  Pete had a nap and I spent the afternoon riding the bike in the gym and sitting by the pool.  It was so quiet and peaceful.

I came back and put our dinner together.  We heated up the chicken, mashed potatoes, steamed carrots/cauliflower/broccoli, and peas.  I found a box of stovetop stuffing in a store here too so the meal was delicious. Instead of cranberry sauce I had Thai chili meat sauce for my chicken, but that was still good.  A couple of chocolates and a glass of red wine in a coffee mug finished off the meal.

“Not another picture. I want to eat.”

The evening was spent taking with family at home now that it was Christmas there.  We talked with Tim, Suzan and Joyce in Calgary on Facebook messenger video.  We connected with Owen and Megan in Houston on What’s App.  Melissa was off grid in Peru, but talked with us on What’s App video before she left.  My Mom was too late getting up for us to stay awake any longer, but we talked with her on Google Hangouts on Boxing Day morning, which was Christmas night in Canmore.  The technology makes staying in touch with family anywhere in the world so much easier.  I missed the kids. Pete missed them even more.  If we had been at home, we probably would have been alone unless we went south to spend it with Owen and Megan.  The annual Boxing Day at Tim’s might have made up for some of that feeling of being away from family.

We shared pictures on What’s App and Facebook so people knew what we were doing as well.  It wasn’t that long ago the only way we communicated with family was with long distance telephone.  It was much better to talk on video if we couldn’t be in the same room, or even the same continent.

Christmas Did and Didn’ts

Did

  • sing in a choir
  • spend time with people
  • eat traditional favorite foods
  • go to church
  • buy gifts for kids
  • give cards to friends
  • spend time reading Facebook posts to keep up with family and friends
  • hang out at the pool
  • wear our flip flops all day

Didn’t

  • feel stressed
  • spend hours shopping
  • overeat cookies and chocolate
  • put up a tree or decorate
  • sit by the fire enjoying the warmth against a cold and snowy night
  • go out into the forest and get a tree
  • sing in the Soliloquy Choir at Christmas celebrations
  • share boxing day adventure stories
  • set ski trails at the golf course

It was an interesting Christmas Season.  I’ll see how I feel about it next year with time to ponder between now and then.

 

A regular day in Chiang Mai…and what the heck is a bum gun?

November 25, 2016

Not every day is filled with festivals and Wats.  Some are just a regular day in Chiang Mai.  I’ll get to the bum gun part later.

Errands on my own

Chiang Mai Photographic Group

I finally feel like I know my way around well enough to venture out on foot by myself.  I walked a couple of km to the Chiang Mai Photographic Group on Wednesday night.  There were about 15 members in attendance, mostly from Europe.  All were men, except for Malonie, another new member from British Columbia, and me.  We spent the first part of the evening watching some video tips on using Lightroom for photo editing.  That is one of my winter projects already, so I was glad for the new ideas.  There was also a little discussion on equipment.  I can’t believe the number of lenses and cameras some of these people have.  I have 1 body and 2 lenses but I’m still pretty new to this.

We spent the second half of the evening looking at photos that everyone had brought to share.  They were on a large screen and a couple of the members led the discussion.  The pictures were shot all over the world, including Thailand, and some of them were spectacular.  There seems to be quite a lot of time spent editing to make the pictures perfect.  They also commented on being past taking pictures of monks, wats and food buthat won’t deter me from continuing to take pictures of the things that make Chiang Mai interesting and unique to me.

I shared a shot of Moraine Lake from June and one of Mt. Assiniboine from July.  The critiques had been pretty specific up to this point, but they didn’t have anything to say about either of them.  The thing I liked was that both of my pictures had almost no editing done to them.  I know how to take mountain pictures and they are such a good subject to work with.  I will certainly learn a lot from this group as long as I keep an open mind and don’t take the feedback too personally.

Camera Lens Repair

I have had problems with my zoom lens recently.  The auto-focus motor doesn’t always seem to turn the focus ring properly and it makes a terrible squeal. A  club member suggested a repair place and had a name and address sent to me by facebook by the time I walked home. I looked it up on Maps and it seemed to be just over 2 km from here.

Prepared for action

Prepared for action

I am retired, after all, so I didn’t have anything more pressing to do. I headed off, armed with my hat, water bottle, sturdy shoes, money belt and camera-toting day pack.  Most importantly, I had a small paper map and the location on Google Maps on my phone, as well as a screenshot of the route in Google Keep.  Maps uses a lot of power and heats up my phone, but I had an extra charger pack which was useful later in the day.

It takes a lot of energy to walk in Chiang Mai.  I will have some pictures on another day of all the things you find on the sidewalk here, but suffice it to say, sidewalks are not meant for pedestrians.  Wheelchairs or walkers would be impossible. Almost everyone here travels by scooter.  You often have to step onto the road to get around scooters and food carts parked on the sidewalk, or step into the traffic lane to get around a parked car next to the impassable sidewalk.

The pavement is uneven and the curbs are high.  You see many tourists with bandages on their knees, me included.  This happens when you start to look around too much and miss a high spot, a low spot, or a starfruit fallen from the tree hiding in the leaves.

Observations from my walk

Although walks here are not opportunities for reflection like they are on the walking trail at home, I did notice a few things.

  • Scooter riders here look completely at ease, even when riding with a baby sitting on the driver’s shoulders with mom holding her in place from behind
  • Some streets just have a row of tailors, working in rooms open to the street.  Some of the hand work was done by people sitting on the floors
  • Other streets have a row of hair dressers, one shop after another
  • In Thailand you take your shoes off before entering a home.  I saw a Ballroom and Latin Dance studio with a pair of shoes left outside.  What do you dance in?
  • Walking through lanes of cars stopped for a light is not only acceptable but recommended
  • A man with a disfigured foot limping down the sidewalk had the biggest smile and hello for me
  • Just when you realize you are the only white face in a neighborhood, someone will suddenly approach you in a red shirt with CANADA written across the front.
  • The neighborhood around the mosque sold more headscarves and served halal food in the restaurants
  • When you get lost and wander down a dead-end lane and end up in someone’s yard, no one seems concerned.
  • There are some  quiet boulevards that look like they are from any North American small town with traffic moving one way on each side with small stores alongside.
  • The western style grocery stores will offer to check your other bags for you while you shop
  • A fruit vendor with ice-cold bags of cut up papaya appears on a seemingly deserted street just when you need a little sustenance

AV Camera and Lens Repair

I overshot one street but did find the repair store.  He tested the lens and declared he could fix it for about 1900 baht, or $70.  That seemed a lot better than a new one.  His assistant spoke a little more English and made up an invoice and wanted a phone number.  I have a phone number here, but only a small credit on my plan to use it.  I have unlimited data and wifi at the apartment so I asked her to email me when it was ready.  After lots of Thai/English, Thai/Thai back and forth, I determined that the best way is to Facebook message them and they will use Facebook to let me know when it is ready, but I did record their phone number, just in case.  I was glad I had the recommendation from the Photo club.  It’s the kind of issue anyone in a new place must face when leaving their personal things with someone.

I returned a headset at the mall for Peter.  It took 3 young clerks to understand my gestures that we had a computer with a single hole for headset/microphone and their headset had 2 separate plugs.  I did apologize for not knowing more Thai.  The service was wonderful.  One of the staff took me to the customer service, offered me a chair and waited with me until the transaction was complete.  Tourists are exempt from some of the VAT so I had to provide the picture of my passport as well to make sure the totals were correct.

After one more stop for milk and a Thanksgiving gift of a package of English White bread of only 4 slices in a package, I walked to a main street looking for transportation home.  A tuk tuk was stopped at a red light so I ran across 3 lanes of traffic and piled in.  He dropped me right at my gate for $3.78 or 100 baht.

Google Maps timeline

Here is a copy of my travels.

Found inside Google Maps app on my phone under timeline

Found inside Google Maps app on my phone under timeline

You can see where I got lost, the dead end lane and the journey in the tuk tuk.  I actually walked a little farther than it shows, but the route is accurate.  This feature is in the Google Maps app under timeline.  You can see each day on a calendar.  In a new place, it is great to see where you have been each day.  Sometimes we forget names of places we want to return to and can find them on these maps.  You can add notes of your own and confirm the places you were.  There is a list below the map for each part of your journey. When I enter the locations I want, Maps gives me the distance in km so  I’m not sure why this timeline map is only in miles.  Fortunately, I am still bilingual in metric and imperial. Except for the overheating issue with Maps, I don’t know if I would feel so confident heading out on my own in a country that speaks a language not familiar to me.  Many of the street signs are only in Thai so navigating with just a map would be so much more difficult

Bum Gun

This is not related to my walk, but it is not really related to anything and it came up in our apartment Happy Hour group discussion yesterday.  Take a look at the pictures from our apartment bathroom (and really any bathroom we have seen in Chiang Mai).  See if you can guess how barbaric toilet paper is compared to this system.

Have you got it?  After describing the squat toilets in China, and thinking that was going to be the way of toilets in all of Asia, we were pleasantly surprised to find this set up in our apartment.  There is a sign on the elevator for newcomers that is very clear that toilet paper is not to be put into the toilet, at all.  I had heard that before we left and wasn’t looking forward to having a garbage can open in our bathroom for that.  We were also told to bring toilet paper with us since the apartment didn’t provide any.  I did that, but still.

Once I saw these hoses in all the bathrooms here, I finally googled Thai toilet hose and got the instructions I needed.  What a wonderful tool.  In our apartment, only the shower has a hot water heater.  All the other taps send out room temperature water.  That is great for the bum gun here.  I talked to a Californian who found one on Amazon under diaper sprayer and had it installed in their bathroom at home.  I’m not sure I want the cold water of the North Saskatchewan coming through that hose at our house though.  It would be a pretty quick rinse with some descriptive language I imagine.

 

Wat Doi Suthep- Temple on the Mountain

November 23, 2016

doi-suthep-1

View at the top

The Loy Krathong Festival was so fun and interesting but it wasn’t the only thing we did while Jane and Steve were visiting Chiang Mai.  We also travelled up the Doi Suthep mountain to visit the temple, Wat Doi Suthep.

Crowds in Chiang Mai

Before I share some more spectacular pictures of this golden wat, I wanted to clarify something that people commented on from an earlier post.  Several people thought they could never wander out with so many people crowded around.  That is the thing about Chiang Mai.  The people here are kind and respectful to each other and to the visitors.  That attitude seems to rub off on the farangs (tourists) as well.  The lantern and krathong releases were exciting but not crazy.  It was not just a drunken gathering.  There were police in sight but I never saw them needing to do anything except move people back from the corners where the floats needed to turn.

We missed a turn on our walk back to our apartment from festival day 2 and ended up on some unknown back streets (soi). We walked over 3 km and it was after 11 pm but felt completely safe.  There were lots of locals gathered around the food carts finishing off the day’s product. We stopped in a couple of chairs for a little rest outside a shop selling purses .  Right away a gentleman offered us a drink menu from the bar next door.  People worry more about the odd stray dog at night than they do the people.  I’m working on a post on the sidewalks and streets that will give you an idea of what we see and have to watch for when we walk.

Doi Suthep

Chiang Mai is up in the hills of Thailand at an elevation of 1020 feet.  We can see forested  “mountains” all around the city.  Doi Suthep is the one of the highest with its summit at 5250 ft. There is a national park on the mountain with hiking trails and waterfalls.  We haven’t visited those areas yet so that will be the topic of another conversation.

Buddhism in Thailand

Monk walking on the Iron Bridge

Monk walking on the Iron Bridge

I don’t pretend to be an expert in Theravada Buddhism, but I have learned a few things that help me understand the purpose of the many  wats (temples) for which Chiang Mai is famous.  Although it is based on Buddha’s teachings from India, it also includes ideas from Hindu, Tantric and Mahayana influences, like the worship of Buddha images. The belief of spirits, magic and astrology are also common in Thailand.  The Thais, however, believe that the strength of their country comes from Buddhism. the monarchy and nationhood.

Thais believe in reincarnation and to reach the stage of enlightenment, or nirvana–the ultimate state of being, they need to earn merit in whatever life they are presently in.  This can be earned by becoming a monk, which most boys do for some time during their life.  Giving food to a monk or having a monk bless a home or child-naming can also earn merit.  Being kind and respectful to others also count, as does leaving offerings to Buddha.  We’ve seen small banana baskets with food or flowers left on the sidewalk, or hung from a wall.

Offering left on the sidewalk

Offering left on the sidewalk

The Buddhist rules that apply visitors have to do with being respectful.  Visits to a temple expect your shoulders and knees to be covered.  I brought a scarf and bought some wrap around skirts to use for this purpose.  You also take off your shoes before entering a temple or anyone’s home.  Women may not touch a monk, or even sit next to one on public transportation.  The head is considered the most sacred part of the body so you are not to touch anyone’s head.  The feet are the lowest, least sacred  part so you never point your feet at someone, especially a Buddha statue.  Think of the lotus position with feet tucked away. It is very disrespectful to put your feet up on a chair or table, or close a drawer etc. with your feet.

Wat Doi Suthep

The Wat on the mountain  was supposedly chosen by a White Elephant.  In the 1390’s the king’s elephant walked up the mountain, trumpeted and turned around 3 times and the site was selected.  It is near the summit of the mountain and can be seen from the city, shining from within the forest.  Fortunately there is a paved road all the way there.

Getting to Wat Doi Suthep

The most common way to get there is by songtaew.  You can take one from the city to the Chiang Mai Zoo, then transfer to another one that takes a group of people up to the top.  It costs about 80 Bhat, or $3.00 to get there.  These vehicles are open in the back with sliding windows behind the benches.    The number of tune-ups they undergo is questionable.  The road is steep and full of switchbacks.  The exhaust blowing into the back and steady back and forth made feel quite queasy by the time we got to the Wat.

Songthaew. Passengers sit in benches along the side of the box.

Songthaew. Passengers sit in benches along the side of the box.

Upon arriving, we had 304 steps to climb to arrive at the actual temple.  The steps were brick but the railings were a Naga, the serpent protector of Buddha.  There a couple of pre-school girls in traditional dress on the bottom steps posing for pictures.  I didn’t see their parents, but apparently someone was collecting money for those who wanted to make a donation.  Those girls sat there all day in the heat.  I don’t know of any kids from home that would be that patient.

The climb was shaded and once at the top we took our shoes off and began to look around.  The Central Chedi was completed in the 16th  Century and is gold plated.  The filigree umbrellas on each corner are covered with gold leaf by pilgrims.  It is so bright from all the gold that it is hard to look at some of them.   One of the buildings had murals depicting the life of monks from the past.  There were many statues of Buddha.  His hand positions can symbolize reassurance, connecting to the earth, meditation or justice, to name a few.

 

doi-suthep-3

Visitor Behaviour

The thing that disappointed me about this beautiful Buddhist temple were many of the visitors.  Foreign tour guides were yelling at their clients with stories about the wat.  Girls were doing jump pictures.   There were signs to remind people to be quiet but you couldn’t see them through all the selfie sticks.  At the same time, people were doing meditation walks around the chedi, hanging bells with good wishes on the eaves and being blessed by monks.  Many areas were for people on their knees saying prayers.  It is real place of worship.  I would not expect to see the same people behave this way in a cathedral or even a church.   I felt a bit embarrassed being there at all.

What’s next?

I’ve started adding a few more pictures under the travel heading in the menu at the top.  This will be an ongoing process now that I know how to do it.  Check back.

There are no immediate plans for any visitors, so for now we continue to explore the area and enjoy the retired lifestyle of “Let’s see what the day will bring.”

doi-suthep-2

Jane, Peter and Steve