Chiang Mai

Post Bangkok madness, we dithered a bit as to what we should do. We'd decided to pass up the teaching work (and after giving it some time, I'm still convinced that was the right thing to do), so it was decided to catch the next bus to Chiang Mai, a very pleasant and popular launching point in the north of the country. Most visitors come for hilltribe trekking, Thai cooking lessons and the like - it's also host to a fine selection of vegetarian restaurants and 2nd hand bookshops. We also decided to take some time off the sauce, as Dan rightly pointed out this trip was turning into one long Saturday night.


It seems our timing was uncharacteristicly good, as we arrived just as the Visakha Bucha period was beginning - a national holiday traditionally on the first full moon of May (the 12th in this case). This is a Buddhist holiday celebrating the birth (around the 5th century BC), enlightenment (at 35) and passing (80) of the Buddha Sakyamuni. Chiang Mai has a host of temples (Wats), so this is an excellent place to observe the celebrations and customs of this time - many Buddhists believe that this is an ideal time to engage in good deads and raise their karma, increasing the chance of a favourable rebirth. No meat is eaten on this day, in fact there is a strong vegetarian theme overall, with captive animals being set free and donations for strays.

We visited the Wat Chedi Luang in the evening, one of the larger temples in the area - unforunately I'd missed a lot of the proceedings during the day because I was sleep deprived and couldn't drag my carcass out of bed - Dan managed to go and investigate it properly though, and has a very good writeup on his blog. I'm afraid I didn't enjoy the close company of the aggressive, gold digging, bone-headed disease bags that make up the local dog population - so I declined to donate to the Spongerels at the temple (though later relented at the market). However, it was a very pleasant atmosphere and a new perspective on a country that continues to intrigue. Later on in the week a good proportion of the old, walled section of the city turned into a huge market, with local musicians treating us to some sounds of Old Siam.


The inside of the THC rooftop bar - the same decor as a thousand Head Shops from here to Brighton - groovy !