Day 21: Chiang Mai, Sunny, 32°😎

The Best Ice Tea Ever!!🧉

First things first. I want to give a big shout out to my good friend Ken Wilson who has just had his first walking book published! He has worked so long and hard on this project. Congratulations Ken!👏🏻👏🏻🍾🥂

https://uofrpress.ca/Books/W/Walking-the-Bypass

After a very long 12 hour travel day we finally reached our hotel for the coming 3 nights. It was a long haul, but we made it. Unfortunately, our day wasn’t quite over yet because I discovered a likely fraudulent pending transaction on my credit card. Long story short, after a series of messaging with out Account Manager it turns out that I can’t properly deal with this until the transaction is actually posted. Well, at least I’m on top of this potential problem and I can hopefully deal with it from here.

Having finally fallen asleep late we were up in good time to get out and see a bit of this fabulous city. The old town where we are staying is surrounded by a large square canal. There used to be to be a wall all the way around on the inside of the canal, and some parts of it still remain.

We knew that Chiang Mai is the home to a series of impressive temples and right after breakfast we set off to see two or three of them. The first was Wat Phan Tao and Wat Chedi Luang which are side by side. I understand the latter is the oldest temple in CM dating back to the 1200’s. I saw that somewhere on line, and please don’t ask me where.

The site was quite expansive and very different from what one typically finds in the Japanese Buddhist temples that I’m more familiar with. Nice that they are a bit distinctive.

However, this proved to be just a warm up for the main wat complex Wat Chedi Luang which was just next door.

The original part of the wat sits in ruins and I’ve read that it often is referred to as the Elephant Temple. The reason for this will soon become clear.

I took photos for each grandchild with banners in their favourite colour. Such a grandpa!

In preparation for this travel I did do a bit of reading and we watched a few YouTube videos. I learned something of the interesting history of this region and the temples, but I don’t have the time to write any of it here. This will be mostly a photo mosaic. I refer you of course to Mr Google.

This is the men only temple, and still women are not allowed due to their monthly menstruation cycle. I don’t get it, but I wasn’t going to miss out on the man cave experience. The interior was impressive!

And the wall reliefs dazzled with colour! I promised AM that I would show her my photos later.

We took a temple break after this and walked down to the city market. Along the way we spotted some pond lilies that were just beautiful.

We always love a market, particularly the colourful markets you find in the developing world. This is the Pratu Chiang Mai Market.

We wandered the streets and did a little shopping before moving on.

We arrived at Wat Phra Singh which was lovely. Did I say that today is a Buddhist holy day and holiday? It’s called, Makha Bucha. I must say that we are hitting all the very special days in the calendar on this trip! We were told that all the temples will be lit up and open later tonight. We will be out late!

In Thailand, temples often organize wian thian or a candlelight procession around the ordination hall three times on the evening of Makha Bucha. Other traditions include giving alms, meditation, listening to Buddhist sermons, as well as closer adherence to the practice of the five precepts, including abstaining from alcohol. Yes. absolutely no alcohol is available for purchase anywhere today😢

Many people, particularly the Thai women were beautifully dressed.

As religions go, I believe that Buddhism seems to have a lot going for it. I should take a little more time to read a bit about it before returning to countries where it’s practiced.

Having enjoyed a couple of major temples today, it was getting hotter, and we were getting a little bit hungry. We wandered off in search of a cold drink that turned into a very nice lunch!

And even a dessert to share today!

Today was a wonderful day. Some very good news is that the sky is completely clear after we had being seeing daily reports about the high levels of air pollution in Thailand caused by the sugarcane burn off and too many cars on the roads in urban areas. We hadn’t looked forward to wearing masks all day.

We have an hour before dinner to sort out a plan for tomorrow and then we will find a place for dinner before wandering off in search of the holiday lights!

Happy Makha Bucha Day everyone!!

Geoff🥳