Greetings from Chiang Mai, the largest city in northern Thailand and the country's second-largest city behind Bangkok. Before delving into our experience in Chiang Mai, I'll back up a few days to when we left Petchabun en route to Sukhothai.
I'll put a disclaimer that we've been "all-gas-no-breaks" for the past several days in terms of travel and activities, so I'm gonna rely on the internet to help contextualize some of the sites we've toured in the last 72 hours because my brain's ability to process 13th century history is feeling a little low at the current moment. In outdoor education, we have a term, "hot brain," that refers to one's mental state after being exposed to elements (generally heat, as it were...) for an extended period of time. It's hard to make decisions or type up thorough blog posts when one has hot brain, so bear with me.
We got to Sukhothai on the afternoon of the 16th and made a quick stop to visit Wat Si Chum, a thirteenth century wat located on the northern end of the historical district.
Phra Achana
Han providing context for the Buddha's position
From renowntravel.com (sorry, probably not the best source):
[Wat Si Chum is] known for its mondop with a large image of the Buddha partly visible from outside. The name of the temple translates to “temple of the Bodhi tree”. Bodhi trees are found in many temples around Thailand, because it was a Bodhi tree that the Buddha meditated under when reaching enlightenment.An ancient stone inscription found in the mondop of the Wat Si Chum gives information about the founding of the Sukhothai Kingdom.
The 13th century temple comprises of a mondop and a viharn. The viharn or assembly hall, of which just the base and rows of pillars remain, stands in front of the mondop.
The Phra Achana is the largest Buddha image in Sukhothai measuring 15 meters high and 11 meters wide. The Sukhothai style image wearing a serene facial expression occupies the total space of the mondop’s interior. At the center of the mondop is an opening diminishing in size towards the top through which the image can be seen from the outside.
Phra Achana translates to “He who is not frightened”. The image’s name is known from a stone inscription that was discovered during excavations at the Wat Si Chum. The right hand of the image is covered with gold leaf, put on there by Buddhist devotees who come to pay their respect to the Buddha. The image was restored by the Thai Fine Arts Department in the 1950’s.
After touring the wat, we settled into our hostel, Le Charm, and a few of us snagged a Thai massage and some pool time before turning in for the evening.
The next morning, we did what most students expressed to be a major highlight of the trip--touring historic Sukhothai by bicycles. And somehow I managed to get zero pictures of the group on bicycles...
The bell-shaped structures in the background are called chedis
More chedis
This 20-minute video does a really nice job of providing an overview of historic Sukhothai. And thank you to our students who watched this video in preparation for touring!! Helps to know what we're looking at!!
After Sukhothai, we hopped back in the van for a 4-hour trek to northern Thailand. At our lunch stop, I had some amazing Tom Yum (this version was prawn and lemongrass) and realized that I am completely dropping the ball on food photos (sorry, Nathan and Jill), so I promise to do better from here on out.
And now we're in Chiang Mai, one of my favorite stops on the trip. After getting settled into the hotel, Han and I offered an optional walking tour of our district (Nimman) and a group of us got Khao Soi at a local restaurant. Khao Soi is the signature dish of northern Thailand, a noodle soup typically made with the following ingredients: Hand cut rice or egg noodles, coconut milk, curry soup base, a stewed chicken leg. I will definitely eat Khao Soi again on this trip and I promise to take a picture.
Today (5/18) we started the morning off with a visit to Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, located about 11 km outside the city and up a mountain (about 3,400 ft). Students had an opportunity to receive a blessing from a monk, and Noi and Lek showed us the practice of circumambulation as a form of paying respect.
Students making an offering after circumambulating the pagoda
The main pagoda at the Wat
Circumambulation, the act of walking in a circle around an object of veneration, is common to many of the world’s religious traditions. Buddhists circumambulate to show devotion, pay tribute, cultivate their minds, and accumulate merit. Although the practice predates Buddhism, the Buddha mentioned it several times over his teaching career and said it purified negative karma and ensured a favorable rebirth.
We left the wat to have lunch at Boat, where I finally took a picture of food. I had another version of Tom Yum (Thai-style noodles with pork and fish balls).
Tom Yum
After lunch, we toured the Umbrella Making Centre and a Thai Silk factory, where students got to see another similar (but not the exact same) process of weaving silk and also learned about different qualities of silks and how to spot/feel artificial silk.
Learning to smell the difference between real and fake silk by...lighting it on fire!
Hand-made umbrellas
I bought a green scarf and immediately wanted to wear it <shrugs>.
Free time now. Tonight, we are headed to my favorite restaurant of the trip (Tong Tem Toh) and the night bazaar in the historic district.
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