Visiting the Blue Mosque, technically known as the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, in Istanbul was one of the top things on my list. Our first morning in Istanbul, we visited the mosque and I was quite happy to finally be here! The mosque was built in the early 1600s and it get its unofficial name from the thousands of blue tiles in the interior.
My first reaction was “Wow!” Then I think I uttered a few more wows as I took it all in. Unfortunately my pictures don’t do it justice.
Beckett was less than impressed but personally I really enjoyed it.
The interior:
The details everwhere are pretty amazing. You can see them a bit if you click this picture to zoom in.
Outside the entrance:
The courtyard and views of the mosque from the courtyard:
The Seville Cathedral, technically La Catedral de Sevilla, is the largest Gothic cathedral and the 3rd largest cathedral in the entire world. Construction began in 1402 and ended in 1506 and at the time, it was the biggest cathedral in the world. The cathedral is also noteworthy because Christopher Columbus is buried there.
The Giralda, La Giralda, is the bell tower connected to the cathedral but was formerly the minaret of the mosque that previously stood on the site. Construction of The Giralda was completed in 1198 and was built to resemble a minaret from Marrakech, Morocco. When you visit the cathedral, you’re able to go into the bell tower and climb to the top. Luckily the climb up is via 35 ramps which are way, way better than 35 flights of stairs.
Originally we thought we’d visit the cathedral for about an hour before lunch and then pop over to Real Alcazar for the afternoon. Boy were we wrong. When they say this thing is huge, they mean huge! The main sanctuary is massive but it was exploring all the little rooms and going into the tower that took up a lot of time. We were there for a good 3 hours and still didn’t fully explore everything!
La Giralda:
The interior of the cathedral:
Christoper Columbus’s tomb:
The views from the top of La Giralda including some great views of the city of Seville and of the top of the cathedral:
Some of the other beautiful rooms in the cathedral:
Lastly, here is some of the gold treasure that is kept in the cathedral:
Walking around the Medina in Marrakech is a real treat. There is the main square where a lot of the action occurs and there are the souks and market areas. But its also great fun to just walk around the random network of streets and alleyways.
It seems as though the streets are pedestrian only however, you realize pretty quickly that they’re used by motorbikes, donkey carts, bicycles and more. The motorbikes would whiz down the alleys so fast and many times we’d be pinned to the wall so we didn’t get hit. I still don’t know how I didn’t witness any accidents especially at the intersections of alleys as people would fly around the corners and nearly hit each other!
The people watching was awesome too.
There were donkeys all over the place!
Motorcycle chaos:
Loved all the “cave like streets”:
We found this wood carver who showed the kids how he carved wood trinkets “old-school” style: he used his arm to move a wood stick to spin the wheel and used a knife and his feet(!) to carve the patterns into the wood. We watched him make one out of cedar and then he handed it to Beckett. What a cool keepsake!
These little carts reminded me of the tuk tuks from Thailand:
There were cats everywhere:
Of course you have to have your stands with hanging meat carcasses:
Last Friday we got to attend our first real fiesta in Spain. It was celebrating Día de Andalucía, which celebrates the day Andalucía voted to become an autonomous community of Spain. I’d figured that was a long time ago, but in fact it took place in 1980.
Overall, it pretty much had a 4th of July feel to it minus the fireworks.
There was a flag-raising celebration around noon, which we missed, and then a fiesta all afternoon at a park in the heart of town. It was a beautiful afternoon with clear skies and temps in the upper 60s, so we were all comfortable. We finally got to wear shorts which was so nice – we all miss wearing shorts!
The fiesta was pretty basic – some flamenco dancing, music, beverage and food sales, and activities for the kids. And believe it or not, adults could actually order a beer without having a wristband. Those crazy Spaniards.
We hung out for a few hours, then visited the big castle in town, then finished the day with a playground and pizza. Throughout the day, we were bumping into and hanging out with our new friends, Heidi and Alan Wagoner, who moved from North Carolina to Almunecar about a year and a half ago. (They’ve written a lot about their adventures here at WagonersAbroad.com.)
A cool little building near the entrance of the parkThe park is at the base of El Castillo de San Miguel which was first fortified 2,000 years ago
Of course there has to be some flamenco!
They had this cool inflatable soccer arena for the kids which was free! Yes, free!
They were also making a HUGE paella. They added ingredients and cooked it over a fire for an hour or two, then served it up. 3 Euros for a plate – had to give it a try!
The park also has some Roman ruins fenced off. This was a fish salting facility back in the day.
There were also old folks playing bocce at the park which is pretty typical here.
There was also this dog which had nothing to do with the fiesta but we loved his little wheelchair contraption. He was a total cutie too!
The primary dates of the Loi Krathong and Yee Peng Festival spanned Saturday November the 16th through Monday the 18th this year and each day was very eventful. On Saturday, we went to the Sky Lantern launch near Mae Jo University, and then we went into town on Sunday and Monday nights. This post covers Sunday night, and we have Monday night’s parade in Part 2.
We met up with some friends near Tha Pae gate and walked down to Narawat Bridge, which is the heart of the action. It’s closed off to traffic (mostly) and you’ve got a huge crowd doing all sorts of crazy stuff you shouldn’t do in a crowd.
Along the way, we saw some ladies dressed up for some sort of exhibition, lots of hanging lanterns, and stopped at a wat to launch another lantern.
Traditional Thai clothingMonks lighting and releasing a lanternYou can write wishes on the lanterns so we each wrote a message then launched it into the sky
At the bridge, the first order of business was to buy and launch a krathong in the river. Krathongs are little floating containers, often built of leaves and natural materials, that also have a candle and a few sticks of incense. You light the incense and candles, then cast your krathong off into the river to send away your worries, anger, etc.
As you can see, krathongs come in all shapes and sizes. The ones we looked at ranged in cost from 20 to 150 Baht ($0.65 to $5.00).
These krathongs are little turkeys.
There are a lot of people making krathongs right behind the tables where you buy them. Neat to see them get assembled.
After perusing several tables, we made our selections and were good to go!
From the tables, we headed down to a small dock along the river that was PACKED with people trying to launch their krathongs. As a bonus, there were several idiots shooting off fireworks right near there. One of them shot onto the dock right under someone, but thankfully it didn’t blow up. Once we reached the river, we each lit the candles and incense on our krathong (well, attempted to light, as they kept blowing out), and sent them down the river.
After that, we decided to head onto the bridge, where the biggest crowds were. It was certainly exciting and festive, but dangerous and noisy as well.
There were more people shooting fireworks off the side of the bridge, plus there was a stiff breeze so the sky lanterns were often blowing sideways into the crowd or getting stuck on the telephone wires. Beckett got overwhelmed and really wanted to leave. Unfortunately for him, his pleas were ignored as we took the scene in for a few minutes and grabbed some photos of the sky and river.
Persevering paid off for us, because around 8:45 they shot off big fireworks down the river. Seeing the explosions in air set against a sea of drifting sky lanterns was super-cool. The video below is a pretty good representation of the scene.
After a few snacks on the way back through town, we decided to stop for a late-night foot and leg massage for the whole family. 30 minutes for only 80Baht each (<$3). The Thai ladies really loved Beckett and laughed at everything he said!
At the top our list when we decided to come to Chiang Mai was attending the Yee Peng festival. Once I saw the pictures and video of this event from fellow bloggers, I knew I had to attend. In fact, this festival was one of the reasons we stuck with our plan of doing 6 months in Chiang Mai when we arrived instead of traveling around.
Yee Peng is a festival celebrated by the Lanna people of Northern Thailand. It’s a religious ceremony paying homage to the Buddha. The sky lanterns — known as khom loi — are released into the sky while making a wish. At the Mae Jo event we attended, everyone releases their lantern at the same time.
It was very hard to get accurate details about this event. They don’t release the actual date til a month or so before the event, there isn’t much about it in English, and what you can find in English is unofficial. I’ve been a bit stressed about it for the last couple of months trying to figure out where the best event was, what date and time, was this the same as the other Yee Peng festival being held in the city, etc. In the end, we got it all figured out and attended one of the coolest festivals on the planet.
Despite leaving pretty early, we hit a bunch of traffic going to the event and when we finally got nearby, we couldn’t find parking. Cue major stress. But then we found parking near the first gate. Best 100 Baht I’ve spent to date. We then had to walk about 1 km or so to the main event gate and we were finally inside – much later than we wanted but inside nonetheless.
We stopped to buy 3 lanterns then walked into the venue just after 6 pm as the event was just getting started. After finding a teeny tiny spot of lawn to call ours, we waited and listened as it got dark. The ceremony consisted of asking the Buddhists to pray, some quiet meditation time, and other activities that I didn’t quite understand. There was also chanting by the Buddhist monks, which was really cool.
After the prayers and chanting (about 7:45 pm), it was time for the big launch. There are a few thousand candles on 3-foot high stakes driven into the ground throughout the venue and they told everyone to light those first. Then, they announced for everyone to begin lighting lanterns and hold onto them for a few minutes as they fill with hot air. (Note: They do directions in English and Thai on loudspeakers, so it’s easy to know. But even if you don’t understand, just follow the crowd!)
We decided to let everyone light their lanterns first and just enjoy watching the first wave float into the sky. There was no way I was missing the “big moment”.
When they gave the signal, everyone released their lanterns into the air all at once.
It was breathtaking!
I took so many pictures but often just held the camera away from my face so I could watch in real life and not behind a camera lens. I just stood there in awe and was overwhelmed by the beauty of all of these lanterns in the air floating off into the distance. I actually started to cry at points because I was so overtaken with how beautiful it was, and how grateful I was to be able to attend this festival. I felt so fortunate just to be there. It was a moment and a feeling I don’t think I’ll ever forget.
The kids were oohing and aahing as well and even Chuck had this look of amazement on his face.
After a few minutes, they launched fireworks into the sky.
After letting the people near us light another lantern, we decided to light ours. The kids were so into this part; especially Beckett. He was the perfect height to hold the lantern but also peer underneath to watch the flame as it fills. The look on his face while lighting each lantern was priceless. Apparently we weren’t the only ones who thoughts so, as people kept coming over to photograph him. No lie, he attracted so many people that it became funny and I took a picture of all the people taking his picture (see below).
Beckett’s first taste of celebrity status. There were a few photographers on the other side, t0o.
We talked to one of the photographers and they sent us this picture of Beckett.
We lit 3 lanterns and watched them float off into the sky.
After that, we went around and helped other people. The lanterns are quite big and tall and it takes more than 2 people to hold it and expand the top so it fills with air without catching on fire. People seemed to love having the kids’ help and sometimes Chuck and I would take their photos.
Once most of the lantern lighting was over, we strolled around the grounds. We were able to get up close to the Buddha, torches, and other decorations that we couldn’t approach when it was so crowded before.
We were on the grounds until about 9 pm, when they turn off the lights. Even though it seemed most people had left well before us, it was a complete traffic jam of people walking the 1km back to the gate. Took us about 50 minutes. Since we were moving so slowly, we stopped off to buy krathongs (floating lanterns) from the Mae Jo University kids (they were so fun and nice!). Beckett picked his out first (for 20Baht – $0.60) then walked down the water where they lit the incense and candle and helped him place it on the canal. Mara then picked out one and set it floating down the canal. I of course couldn’t resist, so the kids picked one out for me and off it went down the canal.
Upon getting out of the gate, we saw traffic wasn’t moving so we found a mini-mart and bought some snacks and drinks to hold us over while we waited. When we went back to our car, we noticed 2 cars had an accident pulling out of the parking lot. And by accident, I mean there were 2 cars barely touching and it didn’t even look like there was a dent or even scratched paint. However, they left their cars there blocking everyone in. The kids were still eating and traffic wasn’t moving so its not like we would’ve left for a while anyway. Eventually the kids were done eating and went to the car to go to sleep (about 10:40pm at this point) and traffic had cleared out. Finally common sense prevailed and one of the drivers came over and asked if we wanted to leave (um, yes!), so they moved their cars and everyone was able to head home.
Accident!
This festival is definitely one of the coolest things we’ve ever done. I am so grateful that we were able to attend it and witness the beauty of the lanterns floating off into the sky. If you happen to be in Chiang Mai around November, this is a must-do as the pictures and commentary do not fully do the reality justice.
Logistics:
The Yee Peng festival we attended near Mae Jo University was a separate event from the Loi Krathong/Yee Peng festival being celebrated throughout Chiang Mai. The Mae Jo event was held Saturday, November 16, 2013 and the Loi Krathong event also kicked off on November 16, 2013 and ran (officially) to Monday, November 18, 2013.
We attended the Loi Krathong/Yee Peng festivities in downtown Chiang Mai on Sunday the 17th and and Monday the 18th and it’s different than the Mae Jo event, but also great fun.
Information about the date is hard to find and usually not announced til a month or so ahead of time. The event is is based on the full moon and lunar calendar and I *think* some years its held in October instead of November. I found out about the date from the Facebook group “Chiang Mai Events” and also from ChiangMai City News which posted the date less than a month beforehand.
If you want to get a decent view of things, I’d aim to be inside by 4:30-5pm. That was our original plan, but we got a little bit of a late start, and it also took us much longer to get there than planned.
Route 1001 goes North from the city and it’s not too far to Mae Jo, but the lights at the major cross streets caused big delays. Once you pass the University, you U-turn and make a left, then drive about a mile until you get to the spot where you walk down to the entrance. We got to the turnoff from 1001 about 4:30 pm and it took about 45 minutes to inch our way back to the parking and dropoff areas.
It was after 5pm as we got close to the first entrance and unfortunately there weren’t any parking spaces left on the side of the road so we started stressing out. Luckily, just past the main gate, someone had opened up a parking lot and we pulled right in, parked and forked over 100Baht happy as clams. At about 5:30pm we were parked right near the first main entrance.
And by main entrance, we mean the point from which you have to walk about 1km down to the real entrance!
There are food vendors set up all along the walk with the usual Thai street market fare. There are also a gazillion vendors selling lanterns. Do NOT buy one! You aren’t allowed to bring them in, and must buy the ones inside. The cool side effect of this was a steady stream of lanterns being released from the gate area throughout the entire evening because people had to light them or leave them.
The walk from the first entrance gate to the main entrance
Once inside the official gate, there is a place to buy the lanterns for 100 Baht each. We bought 3 which worked out about right.
From there, you walk another few minutes to the grounds and pass a restroom facility along the way.
There isn’t any food or drink sold inside the grounds so it’s best to buy that along the walk and cart it in or bring your own from home. We ate on the way and threw a few sandwiches in a backpack.
We got to the grounds around 6:15pm and by then it was PACKED. We found a tiny patch of grass that was kind of in a path at the back and claimed it. Unfortunately we were near another lantern buying stand and about as far away from the front as possible. Eventually we got our patch big enough to sit down and the entire walkway behind us filled in as well.
It turned out to be a decent location because once the lanterns were released, it was all in front of us in one big panorama of lanterns. If we were in the middle, there would’ve been lanterns all around us in a 360 degree circle which would’ve been cool as well, but maybe not been as amazing of a photo op.
It was also great because I was able to sneak out to go to the bathroom relatively easily. And while returning to my spot was a problem, I didn’t have to go far. Forget about that if you were in the middle somewhere. If at all possible, make your last bathroom run at 5:30 or before.
FYI, there is a 2nd set of bathrooms on the other side of the grounds (left side when facing the front) which were clean, Western and stocked with toilet paper, AND there was no wait.
They announce everything in Thai and English so you definitely know when its time to light your lantern and when its time to release. Please wait for the announcement – its very clear – but some people didn’t.
As mentioned above, we stayed on the grounds till nearly 9 pm when they said they were going to turn off the lights. Once we got back to the main entrance gate, there was a wall of people barely moving. It took us a good 50 minutes to walk the 1km back to the first gate. Traffic was creeping forward at this point so we found a mini-mart right near the gate (~50-100 meters to the left) and picked up ramen, yogurt and milk. The restaurants there were closed (so they said) and I wasn’t able to locate a toilet nearby.
By 10:45pm, traffic was pretty much gone so when we left, we drove right on out to the main road and cruised on home.
One more note, respectful clothing is necessary as they won’t let you in wearing tank tops and short shorts. Mara and I wore a t-shirt and capris while Beckett and Chuck were fine in a nice short sleeve shirt and shorts. Fireworks and alcohol aren’t permitted either and they have a lot of people at the gate checking out what you’re wearing and what you’re carrying.
As far as taking kids, it would probably be tough to take kids younger than 6 due to the crowds, long wait, firecrackers (along the walk only), and potential inconvenience of having to hit the bathroom at an inopportune time. However, I know plenty of folks took very young kids with no issues so you really need to be the judge. Our kids were grumbling a bit, but I think at this point they’re conditioned to being dragged around to stuff! We had also done a practice launch the day before, so they were motivated to hang in there until the big release.
One final note, there is also a paid version of this event put on for tourists a week after the ‘real’ event. They are 2 separate things. The one we attended is the ‘real’ event, which is free and a religious ceremony for the Thai people. The paid one is just for tourists and costs $100 USD. It looks more comfortable, less crowded, and dates are set far in advance, which is great for planning. More info on that at http://yeepenglanna.com/
Chuck went to the meditation retreat the week before I did and had such a good experience that it seemed like I should go too. So the following Tuesday, off I went.
At the beginning, you sit in room and learn about Buddhism and some basics on meditation and how the two go together. The monk used some really great analogies in explaining things. For example, when he explained the different types of Buddhism (Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana) he said its like if you’re trying to go to Bangkok, you can go by bus, train or plane. All will take you there a different way, but they all get you to Bangkok.
One of my favorite things he said (and frankly it was an epiphany) was when he asked what would happen if we didn’t shower for a week or a month. Well, our bodies would get dirty and people wouldn’t want to be near us because we’d smell bad. So what happens to our mind if we don’t “clean” it regularly? Well it gets stressed and overwhelmed and chaotic. Meditation is just a way of “cleaning” our mind and fits into taking care of your body.
As an American, its not acceptable to say you’re working on your mind. It’s considered weird or that you must have mental issues or its seen as a sign of weakness. But for Buddhists, meditation is just taking care of your mind on a daily basis. It’s not a negative but a positive. You clean your body, and you take care of your body by eating right and exercising (or at least knowing you should do those things) but we don’t take care of our minds!
For the first time ever, feeling stressed or being mentally exhausted was no longer a negative. It was just a symptom of not caring for your mind just as a broken leg would be a sign to rest and take care of your body.
As an aside, you don’t have to be a Buddhist to meditate. Anyone can meditate. Meditation doesn’t have a religious bent to it so while the monk teaching us was Buddhist and we learned about Buddhism, he wasn’t converting us to Buddhism or changing any of our thoughts or beliefs.
After the 1:30 introduction, we road 45 minutes to the meditation retreat. We paired up with someone else and had some time to change into our white clothes before we started the actual meditation practice.
We began by learning a walking meditation. You begin by standing, arms clasped in front of you or behind you, eyes open and focusing on your breathing. Then he’d repeat, slowly, “Standing” 3 times. Then he’d say “Intending to walk”. Then he’d say “Right foot, touch” at which point you’d slowly move your right foot forward and touch it to the ground when he’d say “touch”. Continue on for the left foot and you’re on your way. It seems a little silly when you start (and reading it probably sounds pretty dumb) but its actually not. You focus on your breathing and your walking which clears your mind. I actually found the meditation like this to be the easiest because you can concentrate on your body and the feeling as your foot hits the ground.
We then learned the sitting meditation, standing meditation and even a lying meditation. Over the 2 days, we practiced each type as a group but were also given lots of free time where we could practice whichever meditation we wanted. We also practiced outside and were free to wander the grounds (silently) and practice wherever we felt comfortable.
I found the first day the easiest. I would start to meditate and focus on my breathing and whenever I noticed I was thinking about something else, I’d yank my focus back to my breathing.
The 2nd day started at 5 am and if you know me, you know I don’t do mornings well at all. Surprisingly I did ok, at least at the beginning of the day. We started outside in the dark and did some meditation and even some yoga as the sun rose and lit the sky.
We then offered rice to the monk then had breakfast (Thai vegetable soup with rice and toast which was delicious. I seriously need to start eating this soup for breakfast!).
All the meals were supposed to be eaten silently and Chuck’s group followed that direction. However, some of the people there (there were 25 of us total) could not help themselves from talking despite being told repeatedly to eat in silence. It was still much quieter than it would’ve been if talking was allowed. All the meals were vegetarian and quite filling and seriously delicious!
We were given 1:30 to practice our meditation after breakfast and by this point my mind was exhausted. I was too tired to yank my thoughts back and after about 1:15 of practice, I gave up and went to my room.
Next up was a discussion with the monk. This turned out to be one of my favorite parts of the entire weekend. We were allowed to ask the monk anything and everything and so we did. I also found out that others felt exactly as I did: the walking meditation was the easiest and we all did better the first day but did horribly on the 2nd day.
Then he said something that changed it all for me: The goal is not trying to have no thoughts, the goal is to notice the thought you are having, acknowledge the thought, let it pass and return to focusing on your breathing. So instead of yanking my thoughts back to my breathing everytime they strayed, I started saying “I’m thinking about X” and then guided my thoughts back to my breath or gave the thought time to float away. It became a much more fluid thought process and was a lot less exhausting. No longer was I concentrating so hard at not thinking but just noticing and being mindful.
After a lunch of potato curry eaten in not even close to silence, I went to find the monk to ask more questions. Since we’ve been in Thailand for so long, I’ve noticed a lot of things around me or in wats or in the culture but I didn’t understand them. I sat by the monk and started asking him everything from why I see one Buddha image for each day of the week at the wats but an extra one for Wednesday Night, can my family give alms to the monks in the morning and if so, how/when/where/what.
Most of the group came and sat behind me and listened in. It was such a great experience – I know and understand so much more about Buddhism and even the Thai culture and understand more about what is happening around me. Buddhism plays a MAJOR role in the daily lives of the Thai people so you see these things everywhere and all around.
I also learned that meditation can be adapted to your personal life. Maybe sitting on the floor doesn’t work for you but sitting in a comfy chair does. Or maybe you want to informally meditate doing a different activity. Its all good.
In the last sessions, I actually meditated the best and had some epiphanies about some things which are too personal to share here.
Eventually the day came to a close and we all headed back to Wat Suan Dok and I was happily greeted by my kids.
Its too early to say (only 24 hours later) if this was a life changing experience for me or just a really cool experience. I’m not sure I’m going to formally meditate every day but I do plan to informally meditate more often. I also have a new perspective on some things and some things I viewed negatively I can see positively now. I realized that I need to take more time for myself, take better care of my body and my mind and be kinder to myself. And needing that time isn’t because I’m weak but because my body and mind deserve to be treated better.
If you’re in Chiang Mai and want to do the retreat, more information can be found on the Monk Chat site. The 2 day/1 night course is 500Baht (about $16USD). You can purchase a t-shirt and white pants for 150Baht each ($5USD each) when you arrive.
Bring your toiletries, a towel, toilet paper, hand soap and, of course, your white clothes and an open mind. Water is provided whenever you want it however a water bottle is nice to have so you can fill it and have water in your room.
Warning: On the morning of the 2nd day you’ll do yoga. He asked if anyone ever did yoga so I raised my hand and next thing I knew I was standing in front of everyone and being asked to lead the class. I was so confused at first that he called someone else forward and they led the class thru a yoga session. SO, if you don’t want to teach, don’t raise your hand!
To make a reservation, email thaimonkchat@yahoo.com or you can call or stop by in person.
For years, I’ve been intrigued by meditation. I’ve heard about the benefits, including relief from anxiety to better sleep, but never really knew how to start.
Well, where better to try it out in Thailand? There are many different meditation experiences here, but I went with one organized by the local Buddhist university.
Every Tuesday, they hold a 2-day meditation workshop for anyone interested in learning. You arrive at the office at 1 pm and sign in, then a monk gives you some information about how the retreat will work, plus an introduction to meditation and Buddhism. One of the most interesting things for me was learning that Buddhism isn’t really a religion, in the sense of worshipping a God of any sort. The Buddha was a human, who just happened to be the first “enlightened” one and he is honored for being a great teacher, not for any status as a higher being.
Probably the most important philosophy for me was the concept “you” are not the same as “your brain“. My paraphrasing of the logic is that you don’t know what your brain will think in the future and it often thinks thoughts you don’t want or can’t control, so it must be operating at least partially independently from “you”. You have a relationship with your body where it serves you, but also has issues you can’t control, and the same is true of our brains. We need to tend to our brains just as we tend to our body to make it function better.
With that in mind, you can view your mind as a cluttered house (because you haven’t been tending to it) and meditation is just the process of gradually sweeping out rooms and letting some air in. How much better do you feel when your house is clean and decluttered? Exactly!
Around 3 pm, about 20 of us took songtaews about 45 minutes out of the city to their meditation center. It consists of a long dormitory building, a meditation building, and some other service buildings. At the front of the grounds, near the meditation center, lies a courtyard with a big gold Buddha.
From then on, we learned about different types of meditation (sitting, standing, walking, lying) and had a monk lead us through sessions ranging from 30 to 90 minutes.
The retreat is silent, except for discussions with the monk and quiet talk with your roommate (you share a room with 1 other person).
Around 6 pm on day 1, we had a simple dinner of pad thai. Eating in a room of 20 people without hearing talking is really weird, but you kind of get used to it after a while.
We then had an evening session of meditation out in the courtyard by the Buddha statue, which was really neat.
Day 2 begins at 5 am as they ring a gong outside your door until your light goes on. At 5:30, we headed out to the Buddha courtyard for morning meditation and yoga while daylight breaks. While 5 am is obscenely early, this was an amazing way to begin the day.
We then went to the cafeteria and got a bowl of rice to offer to our monks as alms. (Monks everywhere in Thailand go out early in the morning and citizens offer them food. They only eat what is offered and get by on 2 meals a day). We then headed in for a breakfast of vegetable soup and toast.
Offering Alms to the monks
Next was a 90 minute discussion with the monks where they asked us questions about our experience with meditation and we were able to ask them any sort of question. (Most were about being a monk, meditation, Thailand, or Buddhism.) As with Kirsten, I found this fascinating and learned so much about Thai and Buddhist culture. I wish I’d done this our first month here.
The discussion was followed by another meditation session, a lunch of yellow curry with potatoes, then one more meditation session before heading back to town about 3 pm.
I was really glad I went to this! Learning to focus your attention is hard at first, but improvement comes with each session and I definitely found an easing of stress. The first two nights I was back home, I meditated at bedtime and fell asleep fairly quickly, without all the normal thrashing around my mind does while keeping me up at night.
The monks recommend a 15-30 minute session in the morning and before bed, and a couple minutes in the middle of the day if you can swing it, but there’s no requirement. But in general, the more you do it, the more skill you’ll achieve and benefits you’ll receive.
Cost was 500 Baht ($17) for the 2-day retreat plus 300 Baht ($10) I paid to buy a set of white clothes.
Note: They also have a drop-in session for talking with monks on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 5-7. This happens at the university campus and gives them a chance to demystify Buddhism and it gives the students a chance to practice English. I highly recommend it. They monks love to talk about their life and will answer almost anything. The ones who speak pretty good English tend to have a nice sense of humor!
Inside the meditation centerAnother picture of our outdoor meditation
While my mom was visiting, we finally made our way to Wat Phra That Doi Suthep or Doi Suthep as its usually called. Its a Theravada Buddhist Temple that resides on the mountain of Doi Suthep and overlooks the city of Chiang Mai.
We opted to take the cable car up (and back down) as my knees hate stairs and it was only 20Baht extra for the cable car.
Walk the steps? Um. . .no!
It was the most impressive Wat I’ve been to so far.
We were blessed by a monk and sprinkled with Holy Water. We then each received a bracelet made from Holy Cotton. Here is the monk putting on Beckett’s bracelet.The monks get their own bathroom
One morning our friends watched Mara and Beckett so Chuck and I could explore the old city and visit some of the more famous wats. One of these was Wat Chiang Man.
Wat Chiang Man was built in 1297 as the first temple of Chiang Mai. The temple is famous for its Lanna-style chedi supported by rows of elephant-shaped buttresses and also for its two Buddhas: Phra Sae Tang Khamani (a miniature crystal image also known as the White Emerald Buddha) and the marble Phra Sila Buddha.
We didn’t spend too long here but it was nice to see and we ended up taking my mom here when she came to visit us.
Women selling caged birds. You buy the basket then release the birds and let them fly away. (We didn’t do this)
For my birthday, I wanted to attend a Traditional Khantoke dinner. A khantoke is a special pedestal tray used in Northern Thailand as a small dining table for special occasions. The Traditional Khantoke dinner we attended at the Old Chiang Mai Cultural Center consisted of sitting on the floor and eating food served on a khantoke while we watched Thai dance performances.
We sat on the floor on a cushion with a triangle of cushions behind our back (there are tables and chairs in the back for those that can’t sit on the floor). Then a server brought a khantoke filled with 6 different dishes ranging from fried chicken, Burmese pork curry, fried pork skin and fried bananas. We also got little baskets of rice and sticky rice to eat along with the food, along with crispy, sweet rice for dessert. The Burmese curry was quite spicy but delicious and I wasn’t going near the fried pork skin but overall the food was good and was a nice sampling of things I wouldn’t have normally ordered.
After the meal, there were different traditional dance performances. There was the Fingernail dance, a 12 sword dance, a candle dance among many others.
Fingernail dance
Sword dance
Candle dance
At the end, the kids are invited to come up and learn a simple traditional Thai dance called the Circle Dance.
After the first set of performances are over, there is a second set of performances held outside by people of the hill tribes that surround Chiang Mai. The performances are done with genuine hill tribe people and showcase some of their dances and customs.
These shows ranged from simple songs and dances done around a (fake) campfire, fire twirling, and my favorite, the kids playing a hopping game using huge bamboo poles. Many of the performances were rough around the edges, but there’s still a charm about them
The entire evening lasted close to 3 hours and was a very enjoyable night out. The kids loved it and we even bought some long fingernails for them so they could perform their own Fingernail Dance at home.
The Traditional Khantoke dinner can be booked via the Old Chiang Mai Cultural Center website. Cost was 520 Baht for adults ($17) and they gave us a discount for the kids (maybe 20-30%?), but it doesn’t state any discounts for children on the website.
On our first border run to Myanmar, we stopped at Wat Rong Khun, aka The White Temple, on the outskirts of Chiang Rai. I’d seen pictures and it looked amazing but it is much cooler in person.
Its not a very big temple. Yet. They’re currently constructing many new buildings and over time, they’ll each be decorated just as the main temple we saw.
The temple was started by a Thai artist in 1997 and work is planned to continue for many, many years even after the artist dies. It is a Buddhist temple, but a very unconventional one.
You enter the main temple by walking over a bridge which I think is supposed to symbolize the cycle of rebirth. You cross over the pits of Hell with people reaching trying to escape. And Death is guarding the end of the bridge. Its all pretty disturbing and Mara walked over it really fast without looking.
Look at me standing over the pits of Hell
Ahhhh, safely over the pits of Hell:
Unfortunately, you aren’t allowed to take pictures inside the temple. The inside is equally unconventional – there are paintings of modern scenes such as the World Trade Center towers being attacked, The Matrix, Michael Jackson and more. It’s still very much a work in progress and we saw someone painting on one of the walls while we were there.
The bathrooms are equally extraordinary and housed in this beautiful gold building:
Inside the bathrooms
More buildings are being built around the grounds and in time, they too will be decorated.
Around the grounds there are these towers decorated with thousands of hanging metal ornaments. You can buy one, write a message on it and hang it with the rest which will become a permanent decoration on the temple property. So of course we bought one for each of us, each wrote a personal message and hung ours up.
An ornamentLots of ornaments hanging around the propertyThe kids with their ornaments“Live Beyond Fear”
The White Temple is definitely worth a visit if you come to the Chiang Rai area. I would love to see what its going to look like in another 10, 20 and more years.
Entrance is free and you can see everything in 60-90 minutes, but I’d plan on 2-4 hours to really explore and enjoy everything.
