Welcome To The Jungle!

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From Ko Tao to Chumporn jump to Myanmar to re-new my visa back to Thailand for a bus to Bangkok then an overnight train to Chiang Mai... i'm talking about the road! The sleeper train was quite the experience and everything was catered for by folk who jumped on the train when it stopped to sell you stuff out of a bucket. There was no effort made to disguise the fact the toilet was simply a hole directly on to the tracks, so if you were quick enough you could take a crap and run to the back of the train to watch your turd disappear in the distance, what a game.

Chiang Mai, beloved by Thai's, the Northern capital, a keystone to any journey in Thailand. The old city where we stayed consists of a square mile bordered by a moat and partial walls filled with temples or wats so to immerse ourselves in the culture we visited a few to see what all the fuss was about. Starting off with Wat Chiang Man, this bears the earliest known reference to the cities 1296 founding and is subsequently thought to be the oldest wat and founded by Chiang Mai's founding father Phaya Mengrai. Next was Wat Phra Singh, the jock of the class, the most popular Buddhist temple and home to the most revered Buddha image Phra Singh (Lion Buddha) - they also have a 'reclining' (lazy) Buddha which is said to define the state just before ascending to Nirvana.
And Wat Chedi Luang - now in partial ruins said to be either damaged by a 16th century earthquake or cannon fire during the recapture of Chiang Mai from the Burmese - or shoddy craftsmanship, who knows. You can have a chat with the monks here and I almost mentioned reincarnation and how it is possibly a convenient embellishment of the scientific principle that the universe wastes nothing and energy is simply converted not lost, but I passed. Although all these monks walking around is mad, giving up the fruits of this life for the next. It got me thinking, if a deity truly exists, it creates life and expects this life to worship it and make offerings to please it, so in a twisted way isn't this just masturbation, and that's a sin right? So this deity is not only egotistical but also a hypocrite...
Interesting huh? Well Sian definately believes that once you've seen one temple you've seen them all.

I digress... after trekking around the city what better way to unwind than at Chiang Mai Women's Prison... SPA! We were ushered into a room and told to undress and change into prison fatigues and shortly an inmate summons you - "Mr?" - not quite what I was expecting, not so much the hardened crim but due for release in 6 months, but I was suitably roughed up and enjoyed it.

I've gotta dash, we're leaving now for Chiang Kong on the Thai/Laos border before crossing tomorrow morning and catching a slow boat for 2 days down the Mekong river to Luang Prabang, I will write more then...

How many people can you fit in a tuk tuk?...
One more!

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