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Part III: A massage, a blessing, home life and temples |
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November 25:
Moving day and Jim is fighting a sore throat.
Several days later we deduced that he was having an allergic
reaction to the air pollution as well as the transition back and forth
from hot humid outside air to air-conditioned bus and hotels.
This is the day that we fly to Chiang Mai in the northern part of
the country. So we had a
leisurely breakfast and got everything packed up to depart.
Had lunch on the way to the airport and needless to say, another
outstanding meal. Chiang Mai is the capital of the
north and has a very nice airport. Preecha,
our bus driver, and Bier, his helper, had left the evening before and
driven “The Bordello” through the night to be there to meet us!
We arrived at The Park Hotel by 4:00 p.m. (http://www.hotelthailand.com/chiangmai/thepark/index.html)
While enjoying a welcome drink we were briefed by Note on what
would happen during the time we were in this area. We were also offered the opportunity to try a traditional
Thai massage at an extremely reasonable price.
Amazingly I was the only one to take advantage of this.
It was very interesting, done in our hotel room, and quite
different to the therapeutic Swedish massage that I have once a month in
the US. Dinner was in the hotel and - need
I say it? - another very nice buffet.
After doing a bit of laundry we made an early evening of it because
we were to be on the bus at 6:15 a.m. for alms giving. November 26:
True to form, everyone was ready early and we were on the bus by 6:10 a.m.
The monks come each morning into the cities and towns all over
Thailand to collect alms for the day.
This consists of offerings of food (mostly) from the people who
live in the area. Yesterday Note had asked who wanted to participate and
everyone decided to take part in this very moving ceremony. Since the monks do not work for pay, the only way to obtain
daily food is from the generosity of others.
Each monk carries an alms bowl, made of metal or wood, which has a
lid. In Chiang Mai they live
in a temple complex at the top of a mountain.
(More to come about that temple).
They walk down the mountain into the city and as they do, people
stand along the route with individual packets of food. The local citizens have prepared
this food themselves; however, since that was not possible for us, Note
had arranged to purchase the usual items from a family who does this as a
business. We each had a
plastic tray with small plastic bags containing different foods in single
serving sizes. On my tray was
curry, rice, green beans and a piece of fruit as well as a container of
juice. Note took us to an area where we
could see the monks as they came down the pathway. Then he demonstrated for us the process for giving alms and
receiving a blessing. As a
monk approached, he stepped forward and knelt on one knee. The monk opened his alms bowl.
Note rose and carefully placed the items from his tray in the bowl.
Then he knelt again and the monk said a blessing just for him.
As more monks approached, each of us took our turn.
Once his bowl is full, the monk walks back up the mountain.
They only eat twice a day. After
midday they are not allowed to chew anything so they come very early in
the morning to collect the alms. Food
is not supposed to be an important part of their existence; it is only to
sustain life. Every male in a traditional
Buddhist family is expected to spend a period of his life as a monk.
For those who are not going to make monkhood their life's work, the
time period is usually three months.
They can do this as early as age nine.
Note said that doing this service brings great honor to the entire
family and that many young Thai women still today will not marry a man who
has not spent some time as a monk. He
mentioned he has friends who have not yet served and he wonders if they
ever will. The trays were
returned to the family who had provided the food, and we drove back to the
hotel for breakfast. Our next order of business this day
was a visit to Wat Chedi Luang temple to have a discussion with two monks.
The Mahamakut Buddhist University, where the temple is located, has
undergone renovations with help from a donation from the Grand Circle
Foundation, a charitable organization which OAT supports.
This was very interesting. Both
monks spoke English very well. The
senior one had traveled in the United States as well as many other places
in the world. He did the
explanations and the younger monk handled the question and answer period.
The abbot of the temple was having his 84th birthday
celebration that day and many people were there to take part. Afterwards we headed up the
aforementioned mountain to the most magnificent temple that we visited in
the northern part of the country - Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep.
We rode up the mountain negotiating hairpin turns until we came to
a flight of 300 stairs flanked by naga serpents whose tails coil up
the mountain to the temple. We had a choice of climbing the stairs or riding a funicular
up to the temple on the top of the mountain.
Jim and I decided to ride up and take the stairs down - a very good
decision. The temple complex
was outstandingly beautiful!
After lunch we visited a local
handicraft area where umbrellas and fans are made. We were able to walk through the workshop and watch each
stage of construction, including the making of paper from the mulberry
tree. Beautifully decorative
hand-made items were the end result.
Fascinating to watch. It
may be well to note that the area around Chiang Mai is known as the
handicraft center of the country. We
were to visit several places where we could actually watch the work being
done and then have the opportunity to purchase the items being made. Dinner this evening was taken at a
local home. Greeting us were
Uncle Thom, his single 27-year-old niece Oar (father was a fisherman) and
their next door neighbor Po who had come to help cook and serve the meal.
From our discussion with Oar, who spoke the most English, she helps
Po with dinner parties so Po was reciprocating.
We were greeted with warm lemon grass tea, which was very sweet.
An interesting variation on fried wonton, regular and sticky rice,
a beef and vegetable dish, roasted chicken, stewed eggplant, and a bok
choy type cabbage salad rounded out the meal with dessert being made of
bananas which had been mashed with seasonings and then wrapped in strips
of banana leaves to resemble small cones. Oar showed us their home.
The kitchen was separated from the main house in a three-sided
roofed structure. The home
was on stilts with the lower level being two screened rooms and the upper
level being three rooms. The
room in which we ate was like a large screened porch, which was
essentially the living and dining area.
The other two rooms were bedrooms for Oar and Uncle Thom.
Their pallets were on the floor and hung above them were mosquito
nets. There was a chest for
clothes and pegs on the wall for hanging things.
On a very high shelf in Oar's room was a small ginger jar.
She explained that the ashes of the mother of the family always
resided with the oldest daughter and this container held her Mother's
ashes. After dinner we took some of the
group back to the hotel and the remainder of us went with Note on the bus
to the Night Bazaar - truly a cacophony of sights and sounds!
Shops were open on one long street and the sidewalks were lined
with vendors. They begin
around 6 each evening and close down at midnight!
There is everything you can think of for sale!
Genuine copies of all sorts of European designer goods (which did
not interest me at all), every kind of sunglasses and watches imaginable,
trinkets from everywhere, local handicrafts (which did interest me), huge
insects and butterflies displayed in picture frames, jewelry, luggage,
handbags - you name it! Of course every vendor had just what you wanted, according to
the vendor! If you showed the
least interest, you were quoted a price and expected to bargain.
Everything seemed to go for about one third less than the beginning
price. I only purchased a few
local handicrafts as gifts, but I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. November 27:
Up early this morning as we depart at 7:45 a.m. for a full day of fun.
This is the day we visit the elephant camp.
Elephants were traditionally used in the logging business which was
begun by Louis Leonowens, the son of Anna, the teacher of King Rama V.
During the late 20th century when attempts were being
made to save the forests, many elephants and their trainer/owners, known
as mahouts, were put out of business.
Places like we visited today have sprung up to give the elephants
and mahouts a way to earn a living.
When we arrived at the camp, the elephants were having a morning
bath in the river. What fun
to watch! Once they came from the river we went to an area where a
small arena held rough hewn benches for us to sit.
The elephants put on a little show to give an idea of their
strength and their intelligence. This
ended by having a few of the smaller ones actually come into the area
where we were sitting. We
held out 20 baht notes which they would take in their trunks and pass to
their mahout. If you
held out a banana (small bunches of them were for sale), the elephant
would eat it immediately. The
mahouts did not get the bananas!
Note had advised us about this so we were ready with a pocket full
of 20 baht notes (20 baht is equal to about 50 cents). An elephant ride was next on the
agenda. What a delight!
There was a mounting platform which made it easy to climb into the
seat strapped to the elephant's back.
The mahout sat on his elephant's head and guided him or her.
Our mahout did not speak any English aside from “Hey”
and “Thank you”nor did he speak very much Thai.
All of them are tribal people who have their own language.
Our first stop along the way was at
the fueling station where for 20 baht we bought the elephant an entire
bunch of bananas which he ate in one mouthful!!!
About 10 minutes into the ride, the mahout turned around,
took the video camera out of Jim's hand and the next thing we knew he was
getting off and motioning Jim to take his place on the elephant's head,
leaving me in the seat alone. I
gingerly slid over to the middle so that the load on the elephant would be
a bit more balanced. Of
course, Jim had no idea about what to do and the elephant wasn't going
anywhere without direction. Another mahout and his
passengers came up and with his vocabulary of “Hey” and some motioning
he showed Jim that the elephant must be kicked behind the ears to make him
move forward. One also had to
lean forward and press your hands on the two bumps atop the elephant's
head. Being the kind, gentle
soul he is, Jim found it difficult to kick the elephant but soon realized
that if we were going anywhere that day, he would have to do it.
To turn right or left you had to kick more vigorously behind the
appropriate ear! Soon he got
the hang of it and we were lumbering off
through the forest. The
mahout was on the ground with the video camera and we did not know
if he knew how to operate it or not.
(Jim's camera is a bit different from the most common ones.
Viewing the film when we returned home, we found that there is some
footage of Jim “driving” the elephant.
There is also a lot of footage of the surrounding foliage as well
as the ground but that can be edited out of the final video.)
At one point when Jim was driving,
we passed a banana plantation. The
elephant took over and headed toward the plantation. Nothing Jim did could get him back on the path.
The mahout, walking along side, did not have much control
over the elephant either! Managing to get a couple of stalks of greenery the elephant
munched happily before allowing Jim to finally “kick” him back onto
the path. Needless to say, we
laughed a lot on this journey. Eventually
Jim came back to sit beside me, the mahout remounted and we headed
to another fueling station to buy the elephant another bunch of bananas.
What a thrill that was, especially for Jim to drive the elephant!
We tipped the mahout twice what had been suggested because
we never expected to have this personal experience of driving an elephant
and this is when we learned that he knew the words “Thank you.”
No one else in our group took the opportunity to do it, but Jim is
like me, and we feel that when given the opportunity to do something
unusual, we should go for it. Our next activity was taking a
bamboo raft to get down the river to the place where the bus was waiting.
It was pretty much a pleasant float with four passengers and two
rafters with poles. We went
through a couple of little riffles caused by rocks in the river, passed a
lovely waterfall, saw several kingfishers and generally just enjoyed the
scenery. After another delicious lunch, we
visited a silk facility. We
saw everything from the worms devouring mulberry leaves to unwinding the
cocoons, to harvesting the silk threads to spinning the threads to
weaving. It was fascinating!
I had seen pictures of the process in books but had never actually
witnessed it. This facility
also did batik work on cotton. They had several handicapped workers who painted the batik
patterns. We spent time
watching a young man who worked by holding the brush in his mouth because
he was unable to use his hands. He
was very artistic but it was painstakingly slow for him.
At least he was gainfully employed and that is not the case for
many handicapped people in this part of the world.
Many of them are reduced to having to beg to stay alive. The other craft places we visited in this area made
lacquerware, woodcarving, teak furniture, and hammered silverware, which
was especially interesting to watch. Dinner was taken at an open-air
riverside restaurant with live music.
Tonight was jazz night. It
was soft background jazz - perfect for dining.
We learned from Note that the King is an accomplished jazz
saxophonist who has written music. (More
to come on the King.) One of
the dishes at dinner was outstanding: chicken crusted in sesame seed then
baked and served with a lemon sauce.
Dessert was fruit and along with the familiar watermelon, pineapple
and papaya we had two new ones - green guava and rose apple. Those who wanted to go to the Night Bazaar again were dropped off by the bus, but tonight we had to find our own way home. Mary Swan, our single traveler, stayed with Jim and me. I wanted to do a bit more purchasing and Jim wanted to get some video footage so while Mary and I bargained for merchandise, he filmed. When we'd had enough shopping, we bargained with a tuk-tuk driver to take us back to the hotel for 40 baht (about a dollar). It wasn't very far but we had a wild ride! The tuk-tuks in Thailand are a bit different to the ones in Cambodia in that they are true three-wheeled vehicles. In Cambodia, they are rickshaws tied to the rear of motor bikes. The Thai tuk-tuks are made to carry two people comfortably but can carry 3 or 4 uncomfortably. Also, they are more modern and go much faster! It was quite a sight to see the three of us along with our purchases crammed into the little tuk-tuk literally flying along the street where there were other tuk-tuks also flying along with regular vehicles. Jim had the video camera running all the while and I really wasn't sure we were going to arrive in one piece. Sort of reminded me of “Mr. Toad's Wild Ride” from Wind in the Willows! |
Scenes from the beautiful mountain temple, Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep (click thumbnails for larger versions)
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Click here for photos from Jack and Mary's Thailand trip Nov. 2002