Day 22 & 23: Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand
We have a few days now in Chiang Mai to relax before starting our next elephant adventure. So, we plan a few slower activities.
Yesterday we attended a popular 1-day meditation retreat and learned about Buddhism from a monk. It was good to slow down, focus on breathing, and doing some guided walking meditations in a 600 year old temple. We also got a nice overview of Buddhism philosophy, which has helped put some of our observations into context. Like the abundance of offerings, statues, and ornate temples isn’t based on the teachings of Buddha, but are the Thai and local culture’s interpretation and implementation of these teachings. Similar to what we see in other major religions.
We start our mornings with a typical walk, this time it is around the moat – think of green lake, just with a 3 lane highway next to you. We did stop at one of the few public parks and it was a sea of activity – one of those great public places. People jogging around the small park, others actually using the work out equipment on the trail, a group of backpackers (?) have already put up their slack lines and are doing yoga in shifts. There is a group of 20, all ages, learning some martial arts. The newest addition on this day is a group playing “foot volleyball” or Sepak Takraw, a national Thai sport. It is 3 v 3, can use anything but the hands and is played with a ball just bigger than a softball. Pretty amazing to see someone doing a bicycle kick for the spike – and then keep doing it each time. We feel like we have found the mixing place of locals and foreigners.
We spend our evenings finding another great restaurant and then just hanging out. For “Thanksgiving” dinner we treated ourselves to another Michelin rated restaurant which seemed very fancy, with great service, amazing food, and all for under $40. I can see once again why Thailand has become so popular.
We are also recovering from a bit of cold and a few other ailments, so some downtime isn’t too bad. We have actually finished a book.
Glad to hear from many of you of your Thanksgiving plans and good wishes.
Tomorrow we try out another cooking class 😀 and figure out our last day here before having to pack for the next phase of our travelling.
Siri and David Adventures 