Number 7

Today is Saturday so I went to Temple with Mark and Justin. It wasn't Temple Israel or Temple Beth Shalom, it's called Wat Doi Suthep. I encourage you to check out the photos by going to http://www.inbox.com/, clicking on email, putting in username: my-photos and password: thailand. Click on photos and check them out.

Doi Suthep was built sometime in the 16th Century and expanded and restored several times. You can see it up on the mountain on the edge of Chiang Mai from just about anywhere in the city. We took a red truck and between the fumes from sitting in the open back of the truck and the steep, winding roads, by the time we got there Mark was ready to puke and Justin and I were dizzy.

When you first arrive there are a lot of vendors selling souvenirs and food. There's an elephant that you can buy turnips for and feed, some dogs wearing clothes and a steady but orderly flow of people arriving and leaving. There are 306 steps to the top where the temple is. They have some kind of moving walkway for 50 baht, but we decided to walk. As you ascend there are groups of school kids in uniform holding signs, singing songs and asking for money for their school. The whole way up on either side there is a large handrail, on both sides, shaped and painted like a dragon's tail. Very cool. Like Jewish temples as you walk up the steps there are stones embedded in the side with the name of people who gave money and how much they gave.

When you reach the top, you buy a ticket, but you don't actually get a ticket and there's no ticket taker. When I say you buy a ticket that means if you're falang (non-Thai) you buy a ticket for 40 baht and they give you a little map. You could easily walk right in without any concern but we chose not to be "ugly falangians". It's really hard to describe all that is at the top and truly do it justice. It's somewhere between amazing, gaudy, religious, ornate, camp, artistic, peaceful, reverent and just plain cool. You take your shoes off and leave them until you're ready to go back down. There are lots of statues. There are several stations where people stop and pray, light incense, candles, put money in wishing pots, and shake sticks. The stick shaking is most interesting. You pay to get a number of sticks. Each stick has a number on it. You hold them together and shake them vigorously in front of you until one by one they fall to the ground. When there is only one left you take it to an old man who reads the number and tells your fortune.

In the center of the Wat is a large golden edifice with scaffolding all around it. People buy a long stemmed flower and walk with their hands folded in front of them (wei) around the whole thing quietly praying. Right by the entrance to where people started to walk around there was a young cat lying on her back with her feet in the air and more people took pictures of her then anything else. (I only took a few but she was really cute) There were bells to ring, huge gongs to bang, interesting trees and plants and large murals which told stories of different things that happened to the Buddha while he was incarnate. We spent a couple hours wandering around and then went back down the stairs. Justin had gotten some Thai ice cream from a vendor when we first arrived that looked really good but when we got back down the vendor had gone so we tried some pastries and Mark had a Thai corn dog. We piled back into a red truck and headed back to the house. The trip back down wasn't as bad as a light breeze was blowing the exhaust away from us.

Saturday is the one day off in Thailand so the house is quieter then usual with the Thai employees all gone. This afternoon I actually fell asleep for an hour and then watched The Impressionist with Ella and Kim. Read the Bangkok Post, cleaned up my room a little and had a chance to sit outside and play Justin's guitar for awhile. Very relaxing day, but it seems most days in Chiang Mai are fairly relaxing even when you're busy.

Mark and I walked to a neighborhood place for dinner where he ordered in Thai and I pointed and said a few words that were close enough so that I got what I wanted. I think by the time I'm through here I could learn some Thai except that I go to Vietnam in a little over a week. The "young folks" invited us to go with them to a sports bar to watch England play South Africa in rugby but there's more cricket on tonight so I headed back to the house for some Thai oranges and a little telly. Tomorrow it's full steam ahead on my project.