Temple Tour

We see sooooo many temples (Wats) here on a daily basis, and Chiang Mai has definitely upped the ante. There are over 300 temples within the Old City walls, and over 1000 in all of Chiang Mai. About 93% of Thailand is Buddhist and they are very devoted. 

Our favourite and the most impressive temple is Wat Chedi Luang. It was built in the 1400’s and hasn’t been in use since the 1980’s, due to stability issues. In 1545 there was an earthquake, which caused most of the top dome to collapse, and it has had multiple re-buildings ever since to try and restore it. This first picture shows a replica in front of how it looked in all it’s glory. There were only a few elephants left around the edges, most had crumbled unfortunately. 

On the same grounds are 2 other temples: Wat Ho Tham and Wat Sukmim. Wat Ho Tham has unbelievable intricate gold details and many Buddha statues inside. 

The other temple was for men only, and this is the sign explaining why. Click on it to enlarge. After reading I was a bit indignant; I didn’t choose this life, it chose me 🤷🏼‍♀️ lol. 

I was able to ask a bunch of questions about Buddhism to a cab driver we had named Kenny, who spent 3 years being a Monk when he was younger. Here’s what I’ve gathered about their religious habits: Most Thai people attend temples on Buddhist holidays, which happen about 5-6 times a year, and 4 of those line up with the lunar cycles. These are bank holidays, where they don’t work and they don’t drink alcohol. These are usually big celebration days. The more devout also stop by a temple to worship any other time or day they so feel. They meditate and focus on their spiritual well-being and improvement. They also have Lent, a period of 3 months where they refocus their devotion to their religion and meditation. Monks and the more devout Buddhist hike up a large hill to a specific temple on a mountain, and they remain there from 6pm to 6am. They don’t eat or sleep, they just meditate and pray. Then in the morning, they hike back down and return home to eat and sleep just to repeat it again. Kenny said the throngs of people walking up and down the hill is incredible and the numbers of people never wane. They do this every day for 3 months!! What dedication. 

Also becoming a Monk is seen as an important rite of passage to becoming a man. Most young men give some of their time working as monks, it’s not mandatory and you can decide how much time you want to give - months or years - it’s up to you. Kenny said his mother begged him to go devote 3 months of his time, he did it to please her initially, and then next thing he knew it was 3 years and the best experience of his life! 

Here are few more beautiful temples we have come across, for your viewing pleasure. I won’t name each of them, but if you’re curious about a specific one, leave a comment and I will try to answer the best I can 😃

We certainly do not understand everything about this beautiful religion yet, but trying to respectfully find out more as we go. I do know I appreciate the individual beauty and peacefulness of these temples - large or small, ornate or plain. 

 

Chiang Mai

We flew to Chiang Mai, about 700 km north of Bangkok, and the second largest city in Thailand. Chiang Mai was founded in 1296, and was once the capital of Lanna, one of the founding kingdoms of Siam. There is some interesting history here, including over 300 temples. The coolest thing here is the Old Town area, the geographical center of Chiang Mai city which was originally surrounded by a tall city wall and a 20 meter wide water-filled moat. Some remnants of the ancient brick wall still remain. 

Like I mentioned, northern Thailand has had unusually high rains and experienced some of the worst flooding it’s had in over 30 years. Specifically the Ping River, which winds through all of Chiang Mai. We delayed coming here a good week or so, but water levels receded and cleanup has mostly been completed here now. There is still evidence of the flooding - large piles of garbage and furniture from homes that were flooded, and some streets still have a layer of mud.  

True to fashion, we’ve already walked a zillion steps around Chiang Mai. 

Two things that are just next level here are pigeons and rats, haha! 🐀🐦‍⬛

Regarding the pigeons, I tried to get that video of a hilarious business scheme that some locals Thai’s do. They sprinkle down some rice on the ground so all the pigeons come land close by you. Then as you walk through, they make a loud noise to scare the pigeons so they’re all flying up, as they take your picture or video. They charge a couple dollars and keep busy doing this for tourists all day long. It makes us laugh, these Thai people are always hustlin’.

We also went to a Muay Thai fight and it was an extremely different cultural experience. There was about 11 fights of varying levels and genders. Mostly Thai fighters but a few foreigners (from China, Belgium, France, and US).  What I personally loved the most was before the fight began, Thai fighters would do a very calm ritual - bowing at each corner of the ring and in the middle, stretching, posing, etc. It seemed so calm and methodical and almost religious? in a way. Definitely not the way westerners hype themselves up for a boxing match. They are a very humble people and it shows in situations like this. 

At the end of each match, it’s customary for each fighter to cross the ring to the opposing fighter’s corner. They bow to the opposing ring coach, and the coach in turn gives them a drink of water. It happened after every single fight and it was just a touching gesture to me. 

We have a few fun plans coming up, including temples and elephants! Until then, stay humble 🙏🏻 

Potato, PotAHto, Pattaya 🥔

 As you know, we couldn’t decide where to kill some time before heading North….We landed on Pattaya and just went with it! 🤷🏼‍♀️

It’s a great city, lots to see! As you have already gathered by the name of our blog, we love to just walk around and see the sites. It’s not uncommon for us to go 12-14 km each and every day. So we definitely saw a good chunk of Pattaya wherever our feet would lead us. The temples were beautiful and the food amazing. The beach line goes for miles, with a boardwalk along. The bay is filled with anchored sailboats, yachts, sea-doos, and tour boats. Also tons of people are parasailing in the same bay; from the shore it looks like they might bump into each other, yikes. This is definitely the most touristy place we’ve been yet, and the least we’ve had to use Google Translate.

 We went 2 nights in a row to an outdoor Food Festival at Terminal 21 (a large mall). It was like “Taste of Edmonton” on steroids, haha! All types of foods from all countries - my favourite was a Turkish Kebab/Donair. They also had a cute petting zoo where you could feed little goats, bunnies, Guinea pigs …and the scarier snakes, owls and hawks. 🦉 

The whole city is a happening party place (the night is more alive than the day). Live music and dancing at every single establishment on every single street, it’s hard to describe. We had the “privilege” of unknowingly walking down one street that was definitely some sort of Thai red-light district. Afterwards we referred to that street as “The Gauntlet” because it sure felt like it. I’ll spare you readers from all the nitty gritties, but let’s just say it was an experience 😳 We went down to a place called Walking Street one night and watched a live band play some cover songs and even danced a bit. Overall, we were glad to stop by Pattaya but also happy about a short stay. We are more of the pool/beach/walk loving type people than the bar hopping/ladyboy type 😉

We took a bus and traveled back to Bangkok to stay one night and then catch our flight to Chiang Mai. We stayed in a capsule hotel, which has been on our bucket list for awhile. It was a space themed one and the beds were like their very own spaceship pods. It was all a big ruse though: 

1. We didn’t end up on the moon and 

2. Our 40-yr-old backs apparently can’t do bunk beds anymore 😂

Next stop is Chiang Mai! Stay tuned. 

J-Walking in Pattaya

We left Koh Chang and headed to Pattaya, which is actually a place we never planned on staying. Our plans have had to change a bit on the fly. We had wanted to do 2 weeks by the ocean, and then head up north to Chiang Mai area for most of the month of October. Unfortunately over the last month, Chiang Mai has seen the worst flooding they’ve had in over 30 years. Their monsoons have been especially bad and the Ping River overflowed. As of this week, monsoon season is coming to an end, water has receded and cleanup efforts have started. We still plan to head up there, but that’s why it’s been a bit delayed. On this map, I’ve circled all these places we’ve been, for a better view of how much further North Chiang Mai is.

Pattaya has been really fun, there is SO much going on compared to the slow island life we just experienced. We are staying in a great hotel in a prime location, right near the beach and markets and malls. The markets are just a whole different hilarious experience, but I am curating pictures for a separate post about that 😂

We made the trek up to Big Buddha! It was a 9.4 km round trip journey. The temperature outside was 29 degrees, but with the humidity that day it said “feels like 37”. Phew! We are just getting used to being covered in sweat all day every day 🤷🏼‍♀️

We were hustling up the steps to see the Buddha because it was threatening to thunder storm. Let me tell you, when it rains here, it RAINS. We have been unexpectedly caught in some serious downpours while we are out adventuring, we have no choice but to embrace it and get absolutely drenched. 

Sound on for the thunder…(and also some firecrackers in a barrel 🧐 I have no idea why). 

We rode out the worst of the downpour under a shelter with some kind temple groundskeepers, who didn’t speak one word of English. Then hiked back down once it turned back into a drizzle. Videos can’t do it justice, a thunder storm on top of a mountain is no joke! ⛈️ It was a fun experience!

🐈 🐈‍⬛

 Me: I’m traveling to Thailand for the cultural experience!

Said cultural experience: 

POV

 You’re feeling a little snacky, but also in Thailand

Beachin’

When we aren’t exploring, we are beaching  🏖️☀️🌴

 Like my favourite Zac Brown Band song, there’s no better feeling than having “toes in the water and you-know-what’s in the sand” 😊

Lined along the beaches are places ranging from 5-star resorts to shanties, and everything in between! Here’s a few pics and vids of the many cool beaches we’ve chilled on while here on the island of Koh Chang. 

 

Koh Chang 🐘

We left Bangkok on a 6 hour bus headed for Trat, then took a short ferry to the island of Koh Chang. The name translates to Elephant Island, because it’s shaped like an elephant head. We have seen a few elephants here, but they are all chained up and used as a tourist attraction. It’s kind of sad. We’ve also seen plenty of monkeys, monitor lizards, geckos…. and of course roosters and cats! 

 We’ve been here about 4 days and realizing that forcing ourselves to relax and take it slow is HARD. We have such a “vacation mentality” where we’re in a dead rush to see and do absolutely everything before the vacation ends and we have to go home. I’m sure it will set in soon that we have plenty of time! 

We went on a scooter trip around the island, about a 60 km trip. The east side of the island is far less populated, just some small fishing villages, impassable jungles, and waterfalls. Covid hit this island hard and they lost a lot of tourism permanently. It’s common to see large oceanfront resorts, that were once beautiful but now in complete abandon and wreckage. 

As you can see, we are really enjoying Koh Chang. The views are beautiful, the food is yummy, and the people here are so kind and polite. We might even stay here longer than originally planned, it’s just too perfect to leave yet.