Chiàng mai

Dear travel journal,
Well the overnight train was an adventure. It actually wasn't too bad comfort wise. It was quiet and I had more room then expected, although I do feel sorry for tall people cause it was just enough space for me. It was just quite warm and stuffy and i , like most of the group (except Dana - cause she can sleep anywhere) didn't get a good solids night sleep. I opened the curtains in the morning and just lay there watching the country side go past which was awesome. Then up at 6 to turn the beds back into seats and I went off to the toilet. Which was interesting because the window was open so you could see outside completely while sitting on the loo. Lol. After we got off the train we jumped onto rot daang ('red cars') which is just a red truck with bench seats in the back and a cover, no windows, doors and seat belts and drove to our hotel. After check in we all headed into town for a wander. We first stopped at this cute little cafe /hostel and had breaky which was really nice and then we headed into the old city and explored. We visited lots of smaller temples along the way and visited wat phra singh and wat chedi luang which had old ruins on the site (restored) which look amazing. Then we headed over to the Lanna folk life museum. Interestingly Chiang mai apparently speak a slightly different dialect to the rest of Thailand and although they mostly speak Thai as well they are like their own little section of the world. This area is known for its Buddhism and beautiful temples and for its copious number of rice farms. Rice farming is huge in this region. Our tour guide Jane was telling us that she grew up on a rice farm and when they weren't at school or sleeping they were working on the farm. They plant their rice at the start of the wet season as they need the rice to be submerged in water for the better part of three months and then its usually ready to harvest in Nov/DEC. A lot of farmers still farm by hand but some have moved towards using machines. There are two main ways of planting rice. You submerge the grains in water and wait for them to start germinating and then you can plant them until shoots, tie a few shoots together and replant them in the fields in rows which is better for long-term crop maintenance or just disperse them all and let them fall where they may. The processes at different for the different types of rice (egg// sticky rice). After the museum we headed back into the old city (which has some still being built buildings, its just the site of the original city with the corner stone walls and canals surround them will in place). We had lunch at a vegetarian cafe (Dana is vegan) which was tasty and caught a rot daang back to the hotel. We had a couple of hours down time, were i was boring and did some washing and lay around and then at 4pm we pilled back into a rot daang and headed out of town and up some epic windy roads which was fun. Think mount tambourine in the tray of a ute, but more tame, lol. We stopped at a look out point on the way up and saw Chiang mai from a height. It was pretty cool. You could see lots of green patches and lots of houses but no high rises like you saw in bangkok it was quite pretty. Then we continued up the hill until we reached wat doi suthep. It has a lookout that looks over the whole city, which was pretty at sunset and better at night. It shows Lana art and architecture and the gold-plated chedi which is huge. While there I partook in the old tradition of shaking a cup with numbered sticks and which one falls out first is your fortune. Mine was the ancient Chinese prophecy (wat inthakhin saduemueg #8) - the 8th number tells that you are lucky in everything. Be careful in your speaking and acting. Immuse from illness. Which actually is pretty much how I'm feeling at the moment. And then we sat and watched the monks do their initial rituals and start chanting. They sit and chant for 1 hour. We didn't stay the hour but it was very cool. Men can choose to be monks and choose what time frame they want to do it. Anyone under 18 is a novice and then over 18 they become monks. Novices only need to follow 10 rules of the Buddha where as monks need to follow all 230 odd rules. They must wear the orange robes and shave off all hair from their face and head (including eye brows). Women especially are not allowed to touch a monk even just their robes so we all have to be extra careful when walking around to not accidentally bump into one. Most Thai people follow Buddhism and try to follow the 5 main rules as a guide to life. No killing, harming, adultery, alcohol (most people fail this one), ,,,__. Females can become nuns and can follow the 10 rules of the novice but they have separate areas to monks and wear all white. There are temples known as inscription temples where the walls are filled with history and stories. Women are not allowed into most of these temples as we are considered dirty or unpure because we undergo mensuration. Its all very interesting. After we explored we headed back down to the hotel and headed off into the night markets for dinner. We ordered in a food court and all sat and ate together. Then Jane said goodnight and the rest of us explored the markets. I brought some more hippy pants (because its soo hot and muggy here!) Which I only managed to get 10ba off the price. But then I managed to get a top from 260 to 150 ba. So $4.50 isn't too bad for a nice hippy top that I can pretty much wear as a dress lol. The markets where busy and bustling and there were people everywhere, but apparently its still quite and its the first night they are open since the kings passing and there was no music in the stalls or bars because of the mourning period. It would be so different to see Thailand in full swing I think. Then after we all shopped we headed off to bed cause we have early starts tomorrow.Read more