We arrived back in Thailand after another, 30 hour journey from Cambodia,early on Tuesay morning. After a 2 hr search for our guesthouse, and having to wait another 5 hours to check in, we finally landed in our room and promptly feel asleep. We woke up around 5pm and had some time in the evening to explore the town (i.e. shop ;-). Yesterday was our first full day here and I wasted no time locating the nearest yoga studio to work out some traveling kinks. The rest of the kinks were worked out by a little Thai massage...and some coconut milk ice cream. Ummmm...isnt ice cream good for stiff joints? I swear I read that somewhere... We didn't do much our first day, but did locate our new favorite restaurant which is OG vegetarian, and beautiful delicious plates fresh stir fry's and curries. YUM!
Today was more of an adventure. I have been seeing ads for tours, such as treks and waterfalls and they go for a minimum of $30. I really wanted to get out and explore the mountains, but didn't feel particulay called to spend $30 on a hike. So I decided to out-smart these tourist traps and I created my own tour. I rented a scooter and located a map. I found my way to the road leading up Doi Suthep (one local peak around 4-5 thousand feet.) As I was driving up, I was thanking profusely those trees for recycling all the air pollution for us. I have found Chiang Mai to be quite smoggy and it's been a challenge on my lungs. Anyway, just as I was starting my ascent, I saw a young man walking up the hill with a backpack on. On a whim I stopped to see if he wanted a ride. His face revealed a significant amount of relief and he ran up to accept my offer. His name was Christian and is from Switzerland. I asked where he ws going and he said "to the temple". Oh! I didn't even realize there was a temple up here! We saw a sign for the temple about 7mi down the road. I asked if he was planning to walk all that way, and wide eyed he stated he "had no idea it was that far". I was so glad I stopped to pick him up! So I decided to visit the temple too.
Inside the temple was a big golden monument. We walked with others, 3 times around the monument silently repeating the prayer we were given to say. At the end, we laid down our flowers on the alter. We lit candles and incense with our prayers and sat for some time just reveling in the sweet energy of the temple. Afterward we were blessed by a monk who sprayed holy water on us and tied string around our wrists for good luck.
We left the temple and drove up the mountain. We saw a sign for a waterfall and paid our $.35 to see it. As we drove a bit down the road we saw a trickle coming down the hill by the road. I joked saying "there's the waterfall!". After, 10 more minutes of driving on a very sketchy road, however, we realized that actually WAS the waterfall! It's probably much bigger during the rainy season.
My original intention was to go hiking, so we tried to get up to where I had heard of trailheads... But the road was really bad, and I wasn't sure we were going the right way. So we headed down.
We stopped off at another waterfall sign, but when they asked for money again, we smiled at each other and politely declined...this time a bit more saavy.
We made it down and said goodbye. One happy hiker, grateful for the luxury of a ride. An adventure, beautiful country side and sacred moments.
On the way home I found a beautiful park and took a stroll, eating some fresh pineapple and papaya and feeling so grateful for this time here in SE Asia. What a miracle every moment is.
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