6:00 am. I slowly awaken. The gently lilting of the train and the constant hum of the wheels on the rails have lulled me to a great night's sleep. I feel more rested than I have been all week. There is something very relaxing about crawling into my berth on the train, pulling the blue satiny curtains and curling up with a flashlight to read a book as the train chugs into the night. It reminds me of being at summer camp as a teenager, without the sneaking out to chase boys part.
My berth is right by the door so at every stop I hear the sound of the brakes on the tracks, the door opening and closing and people stumbling over our bags stacked in the narrow aisle.
Yet I have the best sleep I have a had in a while.
We arrive in Chiang Mai at 8:15. Chiang Mai is in northern Thailand. It is much smaller than Bangkok and does not have the hectic pace of Bangkok. While Bangkok have 10 Million people Chiang Mai has only 400,000. It takes us less than 20 minutes to our hotel, a welcome change. It is hot but not with the extreme humidity of Bangkok. A slight breeze feels refreshing after a night of sleeping on the train in a closed in space.
The train is washed before it leaves the station and again when it arrives.
Chiang Mai from the hotel window.
Nice big roomy room.We meet up at 2:00, our first photography class, the we are off the Wat Suan Dok Temple to photograph the complex as the afternoon sun fades and twilight begins to ascend. This temple came from a dream in which a monk had a vision that showed him where to find an ancient relic. When the temple was built a miracle occurred, the relic mysteriously duplicated itself. One of these is housed within the temple. The other was placed on the back of a holy white elephant who climbed the nearby hill and is said to have chosen the site where the second relic would be located.
Wat Suon Dok, or Flower Garden Temple, was built in 1370 by the King of the Lanna Empire. It is a complex of white buildings and a mausoleum with a stately golden pagoda, or 'chedi' which stands 48 metres high in the centre of the complex. The chedi is said to hold the holy relic. The mausoleum holds the ashes of the past members of the Royal family.
The gold part in the middle is called a chedi and it holds the holy Buddha relic.
The top of the mausoleum.
As the moon rises over the mausoleum. This was our first assignment with night photography.
This temple is used by the Buddha monks and it is common to see them busily scurrying around it. At 6:00 every evening they have Prayers. As they began to chant every dog within range began to howl in unison with them.
It was a good day.
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