Journey to the North - Part 2

Walk like a Buddhist~

Day Three - Monday, Buddhist Lent

After having a nice tour of the city, Doi Suthep, as well as an intro to Northern Thai cuisine for lunch, as well as a trip to the Sunday night bazaar (where the WHOLE street was blocked off, tons of stalls aligned the street, and tourists like Julie spent a LOT of Baht), I decided to have a relaxing afternoon, walking around and getting a better feel of the city.

Walking around Chiang Mai was definitely a good experience, since although cars and motorbikes, tuk tuks, and red trucks were on the street, there was significantly less traffic than Bangkok.. and just, so much more of a laid back feel to it. Frequently, I felt as though I were in Japan, since the streets weren't that wide nor busy, the weather was warm, small businesses were along the street and in smaller side alleys, and smaller temples could be found randomnly if you just looked a little closer.
So, that was fun! I got pretty sweaty, though... so decided to cool off by taking a swim in the hotel, followed by a little personal spoiling of a 1-hour Thai massage... which actually turned into a 2- hour Thai massage, since I just couldn't help myself with the fact that it was only 300 Baht!! SWEET.

The masseuse was super nice, as well, speaking English pretty well, and having a pretty decent conversation with me about her upbringing in Myanmar while elbowing her might into my thighs or bending my other limbs into other forced positions, haha!

A bit anachronostic, but... going back to Monday morning...

So, this day, as usual I woke up early because I just have a tendency to do that, because: 1. I always wake up hungry and can't wait for whatever meal awaits me and 2. I like to make the most of my day.

I ended up grabbing some interesting coconut bread, Thai coffee, as well as a bologna-pizza sandwich (?! ahha!) from the 7-11 nearby, and after eating in the hotel lobby, went to the front desk to ask about possible activities to do for the rest of our stay in Chiang Mai.

My main question, though, was what type of ceremonies would be occuring for the Buddhist Lent! To which, I got some helpful advise from the front desk crew, but then this older guy came up to the front desk, too, and started speaking pretty good English to me, helping me out, too! He asked me where I was from, to which I replied 'California, around Los Angeles,' to which he remarked that he had some friends that lived in San Diego, and had been to Newport Beach before, when he visited them.

Turns out. He was the manager of the hotel!!

It was really funny, because I thought he was just this random, really congenial guy, but he reached over the front counter, gave me his card, and said that there'd be a ceremony going on at the main Chiang Mai temple (Wat Chedi Luang) around 7pm, and offered to send a hotel van for us to the temple!

SWEET.

So, I was pretty excited, since I really wanted to just see what this ceremony was like, since.. I just love absorbing as many cultural experiences as possible. And what better time to go to a temple than on a Lent day?

Although there weren't that many people at the temple when we first got there (around 6:45 pm), we already saw a few people holding incenses and lotus flowers, walking around the temple. Interestingly, the number three appears to have special meaning (for example, people kneel/bow and touch the floor 3 times in front of Buddha statues, usually, in order to respect the Buddha, the Buddhist teachings, and the monks), so the worshippers walked around the temple three times.

The monks then gathered in front of the temple, and the head monk began a speech (perhaps chanting some prayers?) after nightfall.
I love outside gatherings like this, in which the purpose is not necessarily social, but more cultural and personal, for people to reconnect with their morals, values, place in society, and most importantly, themselves.