Francesca and Henk-Jan's Backpacking Trip!

On the 1st of February, Henk and I decided to investigate the ‘Monk Chat’ program and meditation retreat we had heard about. Thus we ended up taking a sawngthaew to MCU (the local University of Chiang Mai) where we found Wat Suan Dok. We wandered through the University campus unsure of where to go until we spotted a sign directing us to a small building filled with orange-robed monks. Since we arrived there just before 6:00 pm, we were invited to stay a bit longer to speak with some of the monks. We discovered that a lot of them were from neighboring countries, Laos or Cambodia, and some from hill tribe groups. But sadly, we had to rush off – we were scheduled to have a traditional Northern Thai Khantoke dinner that evening. For this treat, we headed to the Old Chiang Mai Cultural Center.



A ‘Khantoke’ dinner indicates that the meal will be served on a ‘toke’ or a small tray made out of teak wood. The tray will then be covered with small bowls of delicious food. Ours consisted of a never-ending supply of: Fried chicken, a delicious pork curry, fried bananas, crispy fried honey-noodles, both fresh and stir-fried vegetables, fried pork-skin chips, some sauces and rice. For dessert we were brought sliced pineapple and rice cakes – we were so full by then it was hard to eat more!





At this point, we had changed our seats, moving slightly forward so we could have a better view of the stage where the dancing was taking place. We witnessed the famous Thai fingernail dance, where the women have long fingernails they wave around while dancing. Next was a dangerous-looking sword dance, performed by a brave dancer who gripped them between his teeth. One of the more impressive dances was a colorful dance where the women dressed up like birds. This was followed by the now-familiar bamboo stick jumping done by little children, which I guess is the Thai equivalent to double-Dutch.









After the dancing, Henk and I walked with the others to the pavilion outside for a lantern ceremony. Sky lanterns are released during Thailand’s Loi Kratong festival by lovers and couples. The lanterns are believed to be symbolic of troubles/problems/worries “floating away.” According to Wiki: “[They are]… constructed from oiled rice paper on a bamboo frame and contain a small fuel cell composed of a waxy flammable material. When lit, the flame heats the air inside the lantern, thus lowering its density causing the lantern to rise into the air.” Pretty neat.



I grabbed one of the large paper lanterns and waited until someone came to light the flame inside. While we waited, we watched others releasing their lanterns – they blew quickly up into the sky, some barely missing nearby trees! When ours was lit, I made sure to hold on carefully until we were ready… the building heat was making the lantern very eager to fly away. Finally, I released it and Henk and I watched as it flew quickly up into the sky, joining all the others. As the lanterns got further and further away, they began to resemble stars in the sky.





Next we moved on to a short performance of hill tribe dances in a second location. The Mien held their fluffy red clothing ornaments out and danced with them, the Akha and Lahu did some of their circle dances for us as well. Many of the dances were done by children -- which, while cute to watch, didn't really provide a skilled performance. But we have many more chances to see the traditional hill tribe dancing so no worries. Once these were over, we caught our ride back to the hostel with fireworks being set off by the dinner show in the background.













On the 2nd, we decided to visit the Kalare Night Bazaar. There was nothing too special about the market itself, but we did happen to find a place for me to get my eyebrows done. A lot of agony later, we were sitting down to an Indian dinner with my new eyebrows. After food we continued our walk, pausing to watch talented artists turn favorite family photos of foreigners into sketches and other works of art. We didn’t return back to the Old City until nearly 11:00 PM. But we were glad we returned when we did! Luck was on our side, and we scored an awesome picture of an elephant being driven by a mahout through the town between regular city traffic! Look at the tuk-tuk driving by, with all its passengers just staring at the elephant.











The morning of the 3rd was a day for temples. We started with Wat Phrasingh, where a live monk meditated amongst numerous monk statues! Next we ventured towards a Wat made of wood, one of the more traditional Lanna-style temples of Northern Thailand. The Art & Culture Center was next, sitting behind the Three Kings Monument. However, after paying our fee I started to feel hungry so Henk and I left to grab some burgers at a little place to eat on the corner nearby. After refueling we returned to the Center. We learned from the Center that Thais used to think of cities as “living entities,” in their own right and would give offerings/perform ceremonies to the city as such.



















Chiang Mai has been an independent state from, “the time when King Mangrai founded Chiang Mai city in 1295… until it became a tributary state during King Bayinnuang’s reign in 1558” according to signs at the museum. We learned about various hill tribe groups and their proficiency at growing opium, which I’ll discuss later when I tell you about them specifically. After reading a bit about the founding and growth of Chiang Mai, Henk and I walked through some life-sized displays of traditional houses and shops. We finished at the center around 1:00 PM and ventured out further to get a closer look at the famed city walls. The walls surround the city, with the entrance into the city available through four gates – the most popular being eastern gate of the city which is known as Tha Phae Gate. (The name means “raft landing,” since that was the original activity at the gate.) We stopped for a bit of a “photo shoot” at the walls. Tell me if you like our photos!











Next we made our way to Wat Chiang Mun. By now, Henk and I had walked all over the city and gotten a great overview by now. Our second Lanna-style wooden temple had a really unique ceiling – complete with stars and animal designs. By now we had discovered that “Lanna-style” temples have T-shaped “pointy” roofs, which made them a bit different than the average temples we had become used to. Wat Dokeung was next with large “cartoonish” colorful and modern murals on the walls. By now another hour had gone by, and we were getting exhausted of walking. Our feet were aching, and we happened to pass by a travel agency that had fish-foot massages on offer. We took them up!









After a quick peek into Wat Dokkham (which was very golden!) we passed Tha Phae Gate to reach Wat Saimoonmuang. By now, the Wats were all starting to look similar and we realized we had reached the maximum-Wat-per-day overload point. Thus we headed towards our final two Wats: The first was Wat Chedi Luang – a huge hall with an electronic Buddha that tells your fortune for a coin. No joke! We popped one in and got our fortune… but unfortunately for us it was in Thai! But talking Buddhas aside, I was most impressed by the ceiling decor. The cluster of strange shapes on a brown background made the image look as if it came straight from a Louis Vuitton bag! (Or a knock-off, rather. This is South-East Asia after all!)













Henk had a little surprise for me next as we ended our day at a chocolate shop across from the temple. One Banana-Chocolate and one White-Chocolate shake later (oh, and some delicious chocolate cake of course) we had our energy back enough to make it to the final Wat of the day. I’m not quite sure why there were random stupas made of large bamboo baskets all around, but they looked pretty cool. Henk had a bit of a headache by now and wasn’t feeling too well so we headed back to the hostel to rest. What we thought was just heat sickness didn’t go away however, but I’ll let him tell you about that.







Francesca