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Published: February 14th 2006
Getting blessed by a Buddhist monk in Chiang Mai
What a honour! ha ha. we all got blessings from the monks whilst at the temple on the hill above Chiang Mai.Its only when leaving the grot and grime that is Bangkok that you realise how beautiful the thai countryside is, and how different it is to whats back at home.
after waking up in the middle of the night to use the surprisingly clean toilet in the middle of the night (nowhere near as evil as the ones at Leeds festival!) i couldn't get back to sleep and lay there for 3-4 hours before we got into chiang mai at 7.30am this morning. although i'm knackered (and blaming it all on the jet lag!) it was really nice to see the countryside roll past in its full-moon illuminated splendor. gone was the concrete of bangkok, and now there was hills and jungles interspersed with surprisingly well-developed towns and villages - all of which have street lighting. the 13 hour journey was all in all very comfortable and highly recommended - very affordable too at 800 baht for a full sleeper (around 11-12 pounds).
the sun rice was pretty spectacular - rising behind the hills and lighting up the paddy fields of rice and showing the first swarms of mosquitoes floating above the rivers - great!
chiang mai is
me and travelmates with a big bell
taken on the temple above the hill in chiang mai much quieter and far more peaceful than bangkok and has a small town feel about it. the hotel here is really nice too, as good as anything at home.
there are loads of things to do out here (especially trekking in the jungle to see the hill tribes, rafting and even bungy jumping) but we were on limited time, so whilst a few went off to ride elephants, i joined 6 others in my group and did a fantastic half day thai cookery course. we started off by venturing to the local indoor market to check out the amazing array of fruits and veggies that were on display - many that i have never seen before. all were full of nobbly bits and blemished (i.e. how it should be) and made a lot of our fruit and veg look like tasteless trash. the market also sold anything from congeled chicken blood to pink pickled eggs to sun-dried fish and octopus. we got all the bits we needed then headed out to a traditionally styled open-sided thai bamboo house and prepared four dishes including stir fri chicken with cashew nuts, thai green curry, noodle stir fry and a very nice banana based desert (which actually come out looking like grey gruel but tasted like apple and blackberry - very odd). the food was amazingly easy to do and very tasty. this included a free cook book with all the recipes and for 600 baht (around 6 pounds) was excellent value considering we have 4 courses too!
the weather here is gorgeous, very sunny and around 28 degrees so perfect to get you guys in the UK really envious.
these evening we are heading off to the local women's prison where we are going to get a thai massage and then venture up the hill towards a monastry to see the buddhist monks chanting for their evening service. looking forward to both and will let you know how i get on.
early start tomorrow, will be driving towards the laos border, before heading in to laos on thursday and heading down the mekong river. it may be a few days before i get in touch again, so take care all and keep me posted as to how you're all getting all. cheers, phil.
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Kiffy
non-member comment
Its alright for some!!
Im here stuck in my office Phillip whilst you galavant around south-east asia having a brilliant time. You must email me back when you get back to Blighty or when you have time so we can catch up. I tried to google you to find out what your up to. Did the same for Rod and found him still in America.I knew you had done your masters at Cambourne...what now? PhD like me?! Give me your contact email and i'll drop you a line. Enjoy the rest of your trip. I'll follow your diary with envy!