Wat's Up?

As promised, I spent the entire day "watting" - I woke up early this morning and did all of the major wats in the old city on my own ... about 4 hours of walking in tiny little lanes (and getting lost a fair amount, since my map only has about 5% of the streets on it ...). I saw some pretty amazing temples, most amazing since they were all different. There are literally hundreds of wats in Chiang Mai. All major wats were founded by a king, and each has a relic of the Buddha in it. I am much more familiar with Japanese Buddhist temples, which are quite simple in comparison ... Thai temples are very colorful and ornate, many with colored mirrors and goldleaf everywhere. The Buddha also looks different in different parts of the country - his weight, color of his lips, etc.

In the afternoon Duke brought me to the wat at the top of the moutain - Wat Doi Suthep. Duke told me that you haven't been to Chiang Mai until you have been there (not sure where I was before then). There were great views of Chiang Mai from the top ... and en route we stopped at a monastery in the middle of a forest, which was also very interesting.

I've seen a number of westerners in my travels who are here for meditation courses ... I met a few checking in when I was on my wat tour this morning. Two or more days of intensive meditation, no talking. I once did that for a few hours in Japan and it nearly killed me (you don't get to read Oprah while you're not talking ...), but it seems like it would be an interesting thing to do. I also met a couple from Oregon who live in Chiang Mai 10 months of the year - they like the weather here. I didn't have the heart to tell them we have warm weather closer to home, but they said they really love it here (and it's about 10% of the cost of living in Arizona, I'm sure).

I'm up early tomorrow to make my way toward the Golden Triangle (more on that once I arrive there). It's about 5 hours if we drive straight, but we're stopping a few places on the way, including an elephant camp where I am supposed to ride an elephant on a trail through the jungle. As many of you can attest, I have a bad track record with heights ... I walked my mountain bike down a steep windy hill in Israel with Jayme and others, got off the zip line in Costa Rica with Alex, and walked a camel for a full day through the desert in Israel because the one minute I was up there was too much for me. I am hoping that I can get over my fear, because I am sure it would be a cool thing to do, but ... stay tuned.

I'm looking forward to getting up north. I have really enjoyed Chiang Mai but I have been promised that I won't be seeing any Starbucks, Burger Kings or KFCs when we get north, which will be great. I am pretty sure that I won't be seeing any of that until getting on to Vietnam, so I have at least 11 days of real country living.

Hopefully will get to spend some time reading soon (loving my Kindle, but so far have been reading shorter stories since I haven't been able to read for more than 30 minutes in one sitting) ... I really want to read up on the Vietnam War so I can have a greater appreciation for all that transpired in Laos and Cambodia before getting there. It's amazing how busy vacation can be, but the pace should relax once I am on the slow boat (literally) to Laos.

Will let you know how the elephant and I get along tomorrow if there is email access. Thanks so much for reading! Hope it's half as much fun for you to read as for me to write ...