Sunday. Exploring Old Town.

It is Sunday, my last full day in Chiang Mai. I can't believe it is coming to an end. I am not ready for it to end.

Most of the group has left. I am hanging out with Mady, a new friend from San Diego, California. Mady is lawyer, a civil litigator and jury selection coach. Kris, you would love Mady.

We have not yet been to the old part of Chiang Mai, the part that is inside the old city walls. So we head out in the blazing heat to walk the short way. We are told it is about a 20 minute walk, however, whoever told us that did not consider the fact we had to pass dozens of shops and stores on the way. So it took us more like an hour and a half.
















Rikshaw bicycles are common in Thailand, too, although not as much as China where they are common place. Here the tuktuk is more common.
   A bicycle rikshaw.

Street food vendors are very popular. They are everywhere and you can get many kinds of Thai food from these vendors.



As we reach old town there is a moat. Portions of the wall are gone and a moat is in its place, together they surround the town centre. There is a gate at the West end and the East end where the wall is still intact. Inside are temples, shops, cafes, restaurants.















 

                                      







We find a coffee shop with excellent air conditioning and debate spending the afternoon there. I am thrilled to find a very traditional American Clubhouse on the menu, it even has plain white bread. I am a little pad thai'd out by now.  Eventually we decide we are going to have to go out in the heat sooner or later. We are making our way to find a Spa that was recommended for a massage.

We pass a temple we call Temple of Many Tacky Statues, or Wat Were They Thinking, (Wat meaning Temple in Thai) It reminds me of those yards with dozens of gnomes and yard ornaments scattered everywhere. I'm sure they have a cousin who makes cheap statues. I am not talking temple-like statues. There are bunnies and chickens and laughing babies and everything else you can imagine!  But it has a beautiful roof with intricate design and carvings.



                                                

It is Sunday and there is a Sunday night market. The vendors are starting to set up so we browse, happy to have a sneak peak before the masses of people arrive for the market.

   

                                                                 

    The Sunday street market starts to set up.


I think I will buy this VW van and become a nomad, just travel from place to place, sleep in the back, visit everyone whenever I need a shower.



Finally we find the Spa, but to our dismay they are all booked up and we can't get in. Just so you don't think we had that one coming for not making an appointment, most massage places here are walk-in. Oh well, we passed a great little wine bar on the way so decide that a bottle of wine is the next best thing to a massage.  And, we are quite excited because they actually had 6 bottles of white wine!  Every place we have gone there are 2 bottles of wine - one white and one red!  And the white is a cheap chardonnay which is much better when watered down with a full glass of ice. And heaven forbid if they empty that bottle!  I guess Thailand is not much of a wine drinking place... but the Singha beer is great!

    Fah Lanna Spa.



                                                                          



We wander back through the streets as it gets dark. The crowds have now descended and it is packed. Along the way street musicians and 'Elder Bands' play classical Asian instruments. We pick up a few last treasures and make our way back. One last feast of Mango with sticky rice at MoMo Thai restaurant and we call it a day.

 

 

 
Party's over.  Taking down the decorations from the week's festival activities.

                                                                

    
Street musicians at the Sunday night market.

                            
                                      Paper lanterns for sale.

 

 

 

And then, just a few artsy shots, bear with me...

 

                    

                                      
                                           
                                                                     

                                                                                    

Thank you for taking this journey with me.

The Lantern Festival : Yeepeng Lanna International Festival

Saturday, November 8th.

The rain has past. The day is hot and clear. This is the day we have been waiting for, it is the real reason we are here. Today is the Yeepeng Lanna International. It is the annual Lantern Festival which pays homage to the Lord Buddha and thanks to the water goddess, Khong Kha, for the rains for harvest. Rice takes a lot of water, so once the harvest is through thanks is given to the water goddess. The saying is, No water, No life. This festival takes place at the full moon in November and is an important event which takes place only in Chiang Mai. The regular ceremony, Loy Krathing, takes place throughout Thailand and other Asian areas, releasing small floats or krathongs made of banana leaves into the river. This took place on the 6th. But Yeepeng releases beautiful lanterns called Dhammachai Lanterns into the sky. These lanterns are made of recycled paper on bamboo frame. They are about 90 cm across and contain a large circular wick which is lit from a ground lantern, or a fire pot on a stake in the ground.

First, their is a very holy Buddhist ceremony which is peaceful, tranquil, meditative. It leads us to be in touch with our inner spirit or inner light or beauty, to cleanse the being of negativity. The ceremony of releasing the lanterns is then to release that inner light and beauty outside, to the sky. There is a centre stage on which a group of Buddhist monks, dressed in their orange robes, pay their respect and homage. There is beautiful chanting throughout the ceremony.

Then 3000 people light their lanterns and suddenly they begin to float upward, illuminating the night sky. First a few  lanterns, then more, then hundreds and thousands float upward, a trail of light rising into the darkness. It was a moment of awe.

We have practised all week for this. We are on the ground with our cameras shooting up to the sky.



Lighting the lantern. A circular wick is held over the flame of the ground lantern until it is burning well. You have to be careful to hold the paper of the lantern back out of the fire. As the wick burns the lantern fills with hot air, slowly it fills and begins to float.

Reaching upward toward the sky you slowly let go as the lantern floats upward.

  

 

  Soon the sky in filled with thousands of lights.

 

The crowd disperses. 3000 people hurry back to their buses. We wait, and the payoff is great.  As the grounds empty the monks begin their thanks. They light the remaining lanterns and release them, and we have front row seats.

 

 

 

 

 Slowly we leave. We do not want this to end, the feeling, the awe, the experience.

But, we climb in our van.....           And stop at the nearest 7Eleven for beer. Oh well...

 

 

 

 

Mahout for a Day.

Friday November 7th. Day of the elephants.

I awake early, as usual, but today  it is because I am excited. We are going to spend the day at an elephant refuge. Here they have 16 elephants. They care for these gentle giants providing them a safe refuge. Elephants were once used for heavy labour in Thailand, hauling logs down the mountains and other such work. Some time ago this was outlawed. The people who owned the elephants could not care for them without the income they made from the work so the elephants were left to fend for themselves. Elephants have no stomach, they basically eat all the time and it more or less comes right back out the other end. They can consume 1/4 their body weight in a day, which would be around 500 pounds of food.

The elephants would roam into the cities and can be very destructive. Eventually the government allowed these elephant farms or refuges to adopt the elephants and operate within the boundaries of tourism. Some people object to this, believing that it is taking advantage of or mistreating the elephants, but it allows these elephants to have a safe environment where they are cared for and fed.

The Asian elephant is smaller than the African elephant and a darker color, more dark brown or almost blackish.

First we learn a little about the elephants, then we are taken to see them. We feed them bananas to get used to them, hopefully make friends as we will be riding them bareback. This is better for the elephant than the baskets you often see perched in the middle of their back, often with 2 or 3 people in one basket plus the mahout up front. The elephant farm that we visit does not allow these. We will ride alone, just us mounted on the neck just behind the ears of the elephant, this is the strongest place and the least cumbersome for the animal. They also only allow one trip per day for the elelphant.


Just a light snack before we start out. Call it bribery so they don't dump me off!










First we learn how to mount the elephant. On command the elephant lowers itself to the ground and hold up one knee for us to stand on and pull ourself up.  We settle on top of the giant animal, tucked behind its ears which hep to hold us in place. We can either hold onto its head or a rope that is around the elephant behind us. A mahout walks with us guiding the animal and ensuring we are safe.


My elephant is young. Its name is Nuun and she only wants to eat, stopping constantly to pull out great clumps of grass or plants. My mahout, Akachai, gently coaxes her along, prodding her to continue.

We make our way to the river. Here our mahout mounts the elephant with us to guide it across the river, then up the hill on the other side and into the jungle. We make our way through the jungle, stopping for lunch and to give the elephants a rest. We have lunch, pad thai and sticky rice wrapped in little packets of banana leaves tied with bamboo. The packets are treats for the elephants. When  we are done we feed the banana leaves to our elephants. There is one big male elephant. He comes to thank us for our treat and surprises us with a great big elephant kiss!



The elephants are hot and they love the mud. We give him a mud bath and massage, trying out the mud on ourselves. A free facial!

Back on our elephants, we make our way through the jungle back to the river. Here the river is deeper and faster. My elephant is smaller and the water is deeper than she is high. Since I have a bit of a fear of water (understatement) Preeda, who is in charge of the mahouts and us, climbs on Nuun with me and we wade into the rushing river. The water is over the elephants head for a second, then she swims with us on her back. Preeda says, just hold onto my shoulders and don't get off.... as if!!!  The river is not wide and soon we are on solid footing in the river. We slide off the elephants who love the water. We play, we wash the elephants, we massage them and thank them for the journey. They suck water into their trunks and spray us. It is like children in a water park. Free. Play. Abandonment. All we hear is the joy and laughter as a bunch of adults play in the water with their elephants.



We are tired, dirty, wet and more than a little stiff and sore. But it has been exhilarating, exciting and so much fun! These gentle beasts have become friends and made their way into our hearts.

What a day!