Chiang Mai, Wednesday December 16, 2010

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Chiang Mai, Wednesday December 16, 2010

We’ll we made it to Chang Mai. It was 12 hour train ride and we did most of it sleeping. We were so exhausted when we got on, I think the both of us were out in about 15 minutes.

Chiang Mai is the 2nd largest city in Thailand, and it’s about 700 km from Bangkok. It’s very green and mountainous up this way, and the pace is much different than Bangkok. The people here seem a little more relaxed, and the vendors and cab drivers don’t seem to hound you at all up here. A lot of the tourists come up this way for trekking trips, Thai boxing lessons, and cooking classes.
We’ve only got 2 days, so we’ll be doing a one day trek which will include elephant riding, visiting a village, waterfalls, and a river ride on a bamboo raft.
This evening we went to Wat Suan Dok. I probably should have mentioned this before, but Wat means temple in Thai. At this temple they offer something called “Monk Chat”. It’s an opportunity to sit down and chat with a monk, asking him whatever questions you might want, and in return, they get the to practice their English. The name of our Monk was Karipiya, and he’s from Burma. He’s 23 years old, been a monk for 3 years, but has been practicing since the age 11. It was quite the experience, and we both really enjoyed it. Karipiya was really well spoken (his English was better than mine), and extremely enlightened. He invited us back anytime, and next door they have a university where you can just walk in and sit in on the daily teachings. Maybe one day, I mean it wouldn’t hurt.
Definitely the highlight of the day!

Off to sleep for some rest!!

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Comments

[John Carvalho]

Thank You
Thanks a lot I feel like I am there with you this means a lot to me. Ps were are the pictures

[Rui Pereira]

For u, the world pops! Glad you're enjoying!!