Chiangmai, Thailand – February 17 – 22, 2008
One of my brother’s workmen picked us up at the airport in their truck which was good because of all our luggage. Brian’s retreat center (you can view pictures at Asianleadership.com) is absolutely gorgeous and a wonderful, peaceful placc in the mountains of Thailand. He has 3 ½ acres and the walled complex is built on a hill, so there are many, many steps. Everything is beautifully landscaped, and everywhere there are lovely statues and artwork. Near the entrance is a small, open Buddhist meditation temple, Jang’s office in a separate little building, and a domed meditation chapel designed especially for chanting. On one side is a small health center with a steam room, showers, and an oxygen pool, and as you go up the stairs, there are three bungalows for guests. At the top of that side is a temple to Quanyion, the goddess of compassion, and a shrine to the ancestors where Brian has invited us all to put our ashes if we would like!
On the other side, as you go up, there is a central garden with a darling statue of the “Happy Buddha”. Every time I went by, I rubbed his tummy to bring me good luck. 😉 Then there is an outdoor porch for massage, and finally Brian and Jang’s first home which looks out over the mountains of Chiangmai. It is built on three levels and mostly open to the outside. Above that is Brian’s office and at the center of the complex what they call “the Big House.” This is just being finished and contains a spa, an exercise room, several bedrooms, two kitchens, and lovely living areas. My favorite, of course, was a 50 foot pool, where I swam my laps whenever I could. Brian told us they had 26 toilets in the complex and over 70 ceiling fans! They will use it not for commercial purposes but only for his special executive clients.
They have three dogs, a St. Bernard named “Zero,” a cockapoo named ‘Sunshine’, and a golden retriever named “Princess,” all named by Torin and Mekhala, their children. One funny thing was that a really ugly chicken which they rescued from the road bonded with Princess and follows her everywhere and even sleeps on top of her! They also have while peacocks, several beautiful roosters, and cages of other pretty birds around the complex. We ate wonderful vegetarian food while we were there and especially enjoyed Jang;s aroma therapy steam treatments. How lucky we were to have such a wonderful place to stay!
The first day Brian took us on a tour of the complex, stopping at the specially domed chanting room and sharing with us how they use the bowls to create different sounds. Then we had lunch, picked up Mekhala at school, and went to see another house that Jang was helping build. They have about 20 people on their staff and pay them about $150 per month, so labor is very cheap. However, Brian told us that they pay better than almost everyone else in the area. That evening we swam, did a steam treatment, and went in the oxygen pool.
The next day we went out to lunch with Jang’s Mom and then went for Thai massages. They cost about $10 for 90 minutes, but they HURT!!! Nancy said she kept thinking, “No pain, no gain!” It was interesting because they have you put on a kind of pajamas rather then being nude. Just before our massages, I used my ATM card for the first time. (The kids and friends have been after me to get one for ages, so Nancy was just going to tell me how proud she was of me.) I was so excited that money actually came out, that I LEFT my card in the machine but did not realize it until after our massages when we went to get some more money. I panicked because this was the one card I had not had time to copy to have the emergency call number, so Nancy helped me dump everything out of my purse to try to find it. Just then a policeman came up and asked “Card?” I was hoping against hope that they had found it, but he would not say a word. He asked which machine and I showed him and then he motioned for me to follow him. He took me through the parking lot on a rather roundabout way down to the basement. There another guard at his desk asked for my passport (which luckily I had with me), and they DID have my card-on my, the relief! God has been watching out for me this whole trip, but this was the very best example!) That evening Brian and Jang had a “welcome” party for us and invited several of their friends from the area, very interesting people. We were especially intrigued by Mona, who is Katoy (a Thai word for a “boy girl”).
We found that Thai time is quite different from US time, so it often took us a while to get out each day The following day we spent part of the day in Bantuai, a wholesale market for crafts, art, furniture, and antiques. We would have loved to have spent more time here as the shopping was “to die for!” 😉 We did find several wonderful things and then had lunch at one of the local restaurants there. For six people the bill was bout $20 US! It is interesting that I can find “Coke Zero” everywhere we have been. That night all of us ate Jang’s wonderful vegetarian dishes and we swam and did steam.
On Thursday we hired a driver to take us to see many things in Chiangmai. Our new friend, Mona, joined us for the day. The first thing we saw was Bhubing, the Queen’s Palace. It was her project for this area, so she lives there although she was not there this day which meant that we could see more of it. The grounds were phenomenal – flowers of every hue, variety, size and shape in beautifully manicured gardens everywhere. In the background soft meditative music was playing which added to the peace and calm of the whole place. We did lots of walking and saw the Guest House, the Queen’s Residence, and then to the Water Reservoir with dancing fountains. I told one of the guards that they should be very proud of their country to have such a beautiful place for their queen.
Our next stop was , one of the most famous temples in Thailand, Phrathat Doi Suthep monastery. We took many pictures of the hundreds of Buddhas in every size and shape. Many people were there because it was a holiday of the full moon called Macha Buccha. They carried incense, candles, and flowers and sometimes gifts of food and walked three times around the stupa. (We did the same thing later in the evening at a local temple.) The stupa has a cone-shaped from with the point reaching to heaven, symbolic of a conduit for spiritual energy. The artwork and decorations on the temple buildings were mostly in red and gold and very well maintained. OF course we had to take off our shoes before entering any of the temples as a sign of respect.
We then drove to the Hill Country tribes which was my favorite part of the day. It cost 500 baht (about $18 US) which was more expensive than any other of the attractions; however, it was a very worthwhile donation. There are four different nomadic tribes. This one was Hmong. Brian explained that at least one of the tribes smuggle in their goods from Burma, and if they get caught, they are shot. They then come to these huts and try to sell their goods in order to get currency because their currency in Burma is worthless. When they finally get enough money, they then are accepted into the Thai refugee camps. We loved the wonderful workmanship of the goods they had, and we certainly helped several families grow their savings!
We were especially intrigued by what they called the “Long Necks,” girls with many solid brass gold rings around their necks to stretch them, some having up to 18 rings. Even the little girls had them as they are a symbol of beauty in their culture, and many of them had them around their knees as well. We picked up one of the neck pieces, and it must have weighed 30 pounds! We wondered how they could hold their heads up and how they could sleep with so much weight. They seemed to want us to take pictures, so we were able to photograph many beautiful women with VERY long necks!
The huts were made out of branches and the roofs were leaves. All the women were weaving with looms, but we saw no men. There were very fruitful gardens with a wide range of crops and tiers of rice paddies. It seemed that the men were in charge of the agriculture and the women the crafts. It was a very simple but productive life.
Just down the road was the Maesa Elephant Camp which was our next stop. We got there just in time for the last show of the day. On the way in, we bought a bunch of bananas and a bundle of sugar cane for 20 baht (less than a dollar) to feed the elephants. The show was amazing! It began with the young elephants and they danced, played soccer, threw darts at balloons, moved logs, did a relay race, and the most impressive of all was to see them painting with their trunks. There were seven different elephants painting, and each one had a particular style, from sunflowers to tulips to daisies to a bonsai tree. People were able to purchase the paintings afterwards.
After the show we fed the elephants our treats (they ate the whole bunch of bananas at once!), and then we walked down a back way and found that we could have our picture taken sitting on the elephant’s knee with his trunk around us. The elephant even gave us a little hug with his big, hairy trunk! Then, as we were leaving, the elephant took the trainer’s hat and put it on each of our heads and then thumped it with his trunk which really surprised both Nancy and me because it was NOT a light pat! Mona nearly fell over laughing at our expressions.
Mano, our driver, then took us to a restaurant which was located right next to a lovely waterfall with beautiful flowers and scenery all around us. We laughed because the sign in front was advertising steaks when we were in the hill country of Thailand, in the heart of vegetarian country! We had Singha beers and wonderful Thai food and really enjoyed the peaceful atmosphere.
The last part of the day was spent seeing three different temples in the city of Chiangmai. The first was the oldest temple in the city. The next one was the home of the marble and crystal Buddha. A woman there was selling birds in cages on the front steps of the temple. For 100 baht you could set two birds free, and for 200 baht you could free several little ones. Mona had a soft heart and set two baskets of birds to their freedom. The last one, Wat Jedee Loung monaster, was known for the emerald Buddha and was quite old as well. We found some beautiful carved soap flower candles here and were tickled by a sign that said “Monk Talk – free.” You could ask any questions you wanted from several monks who were seated at tables under umbrellas on the temple grounds.
As we made our way home, Mona, who is from Australia, exclaimed that we had done more sightseeing in a day than she had ever done in her whole life! After one of Jang’s wonderful vegetarian dinners, we met several of Brian’s friends to go the watt for the Macha Buccha ceremony, the holiest Buddha day of the year. Because there were so many of us, most of them rode in the back of the pickup truck. It was one time Nancy and I were glad to be the “older generation” because we got to ride inside! One of the things they did when we got to the monastery was to tie a multi-colored string around our wrist which had been blessed by the monks. You are supposed to wear it until it rots off as a sign of good luck for your future. We toured the caves they dug out of the mountain at this watt to house the “Mad Monk,” who was clairvoyant, even though deranged. They said many people came to him for advice. Hundreds of people were there for the ceremony, including many westerners, and we were delighted to join in. It was a lovely experience to take our incense, flower, and candle and walk three times around the stupa with many other people, a fitting end to a very interesting and blessed day!
