Thailand May 16 / 17 / 18: Sukhothai and Chiang Mai

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 roofless mondop building enshrines a huge Sukhothai style Buddha image named Phra Achana. The brick stuccoed image is in the Subduing Mara mudra, also known as Bhumisparsha or “calling the Earth to witness”.

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

From tricycle.com:

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. 

Thailand Days 22 - 23: Phetchabun / Wat Phra That Pha Sorn Kaew & travel to Khao Yai

Greetings from Khao Yai! Hard to believe we return to the US in 5 days--I feel like this trip has blown by. Without further ado...

6/9 Sukhothai --> Phetchabun

Happy birthday, Papa G!

We left Sukhothai for a 1-night stopover in Phetchabun. I realized that I don't think I ever put a visual of our travel itinerary up, so here it is:

(linked directions for itinerary)

We got stuck in a major deluge on our way to lunch at Pino Latte, so props to our *legendary drivers* for driving up ridiculously steep roads that were sheeting water to get us safely to lunch. Those fellas are unshakeable. 

This photo does not to the rain or the grade of the road justice

Photo credit: Cory

Mr. Bird, our driver, absolutely crushing.

Photo credit: Cory

View of the wat in the storm

Photo credit: Cory

View from lunch at Pino Latte as the storm cleared

Our dessert was served first, so we rolled with it

The group enjoying the views 

After we finished lunch, we went to my favorite wat and one of my favorite sites on this trip--Wat Pha Sorn Kaew, which translates to "Temple on a Glass Cliff," in English. It was founded in 2004 as a Dharmma practice center and formally recognized as a temple in 2010. If you're a Gaudí fan, you'd love this temple. I love it more now that I've seen some of Gaudí's architecture in person. There's no clear affiliation between this Wat and Gaudí, but it's hard not to make comparisons.

I've covered Wat Pha Sorn Kaew in previous posts, so I'm going to hold off on the slinging-of-facts in this post, but it's worth doing a deeper dive on this wat because it's one of the few truly modern wats we visit on this program. My previous posts speak to the significance of the 5 stacking buddhas, etc., so I'll let the photos speak for themselves:

Wat Pha Sorn Kaew

Photo credit: Cory

Wat Pha Sorn Kaew

Photo credit: Cory

Wat Pha Sorn Kaew

Photo credit: Cory

Wat Pha Sorn Kaew

Wat Pha Sorn Kaew

Wat Pha Sorn Kaew

Wat Pha Sorn Kaew

Wat Pha Sorn Kaew

Wat Pha Sorn Kaew

Wat Pha Sorn Kaew

Wat Pha Sorn Kaew

Wat Pha Sorn Kaew

Wat Pha Sorn Kaew

From the wat, we went to the Imperial Phukaew Hill Resort for the evening. This resort is very "Shire-esque." The grounds are incredible. And it's on a very, very steep hill. 

Entrance to the resort

Photo credit: Cory

View from our room

Photo credit: Cory

View of the grounds

Photo credit: Cory

One of my favorite parts of this resort is the walk to a *weird little park* (Phukaew Peak) that's nestled on the top of an adjacent hill. Optimal photo taking opportunities:

Westminster Wings!

Annual bird's nest photo

Han looks thrilled to be in the nest

 I look like a gecko but not in a cute-gecko-way

6/10 Phetchabun --> Khao Yai

We are now at the Raintree Resort on the border of Khao Yai National Park. The Rain Tree is another crowd favorite of this trip, and it's nice that it's happening at the end of the program because it feels like a celebration of sorts. I've covered Raintree in this post previously, but here's a quick summary:

The Raintree Resort was founded by two book publishers who live in Bangkok, so each room is individually themed to an international writer/thinker of some sort of significance. It's a very kid-friendly resort (although we have yet to see a kid), with a beautiful library, dinosaur room (yep, it's got its own room dedicated to dinosaurs), a variety of science stations, and incredible grounds for neature-walking. 

Speaking of neature walks, we went for a good one today and students re-enacted the fellowship while landing the much-sought-after-but-rarely-actualized triple clip of Cory. 

Frolicking on neature walk

The fellowship heads south

The fellowship heads south

Students, if anyone has evidence of the triple clip, please send me a picture so I can post it here :)

To be fair (Chris, cue the song!), Cory pulled off an epic prank against me this afternoon. I am both deeply impressed and deeply shamed.

The prank was cold as ice and hidden inside of an elephant made of towels.

I just did a search of my blog and realized I never really covered clipping. I reference it in this post on the Camino. Here's how it works.

1. Buy clothespins. Like, a lot of them. We brought 50.
2. Distribute clothespins to consenting participants.
3. Clip them on people without them noticing. But don't be mean about it (e.g. don't bully or target folks).
4. Body parts, including hair, are off limits. Use your judgement and be respectful.
5. Backpacks and hoodies are cheap. They're not off limits, but you have to go to sleep at night knowing that you made a cheap shot if you clip a backpack or a hoodie.
6. Shoe slips and front clips are legendary.

We're here for another day so I'll cover Raintree/Khao Yai tomorrow.

Thailand Days 10 - 11: Chiang Mai / Wat Phra Doi Suthep

(This post was started yesterday and then I fell asleep :) )I wasn’t going to write a post today because it was mostly a travel day, but I feel like I owe a penance for the fever dream I posted yesterday.

Before getting into the business of today, some contributions from our team:

Anna provided me with this translated image of one of the interpretive signs at Blue Cave. Super interesting and helpful. Thanks Anna!

Text: Blue Cave History

Start opening tourism on 25-28 September 2020

Biography of the Buddhist monastery, Buddha Gaya, Blue Cave, the construction period is more than 20 years. In the past, the Blue Cave, a large forest, abundant with various kinds of trees wrapped with vines, large trunks covering the front of the cave, you can't see that this place is a cave, which is suitable for large animals, barking deer, deer, wild boars, etc. that live in the forest in this area.

Later, there were Communists of Thailand – students who rebelled against the country and came to hide in the Blue Cave, with Black Hmong, White Hmong, and Karen volunteering to be a force, gathering and receiving a salary as compensation. Later, the villagers gave them the opportunity to surrender and report the situation as usual. The forest in that area had capitalists cutting down trees, mulberry trees, etc., so there was encroachment and shifting cultivation at the same time. The forest in this area was thus completely gone.

This blue cave, many monks who wandered through and stayed during the Buddhist Lent would leave. Later, a Burmese monk who ate vegetarian food came to stay during the Buddhist Lent and restored and improved the area, poured cement, and built a reclining Buddha in the cave, a bedroom for monks in the year 1366 (Burmese B.E.). He died in this blue cave in front of the reclining Buddha. As for the large Buddha image with a Naga covering in the open air, it was built in the Burmese art style with Phra Khru Kitti Thamankhun of Wat Ket Kaew Bunyapab. Mae Ku Subdistrict, as the head monk of the Thai Sangha and the Burmese monks who restored and completed the construction.

Presented by Miss Kanyakorn Meepan, Mr. Nares Amsri, Mrs. Ampha Meepan, Mr. Prathum Meepan, Miss Chananchida Meepan

Cory (HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!) made a more whimsical Wonka robot overlord. 

Source: ChatGPT

Look how chipper and full of whimsy it is.

Isabel sent me a fantastic photo of the finished mural at Ban Nam Hom, but my phone is all the way on the other side of the bed [that I am presently lying in], and I'll need to air drop it to myself, and all of that seems like a lot of effort at the moment, especially since I just took a third of a diphenhydramine pill to curb the relentless itching of my bug-bite-ridden feet, and I am fading fast, so it's a race against the clock to get this post up before the diphenhydramine kicks in, and I either fall asleep or see the Babadook.

Image of the Babadook
Source: The Guardian

• "ChatGPT, how many independent and dependent clauses were in that single sentence?"
• Robot overlord response: "7 independent clauses, 3 dependent clauses. Let me know if you'd like a diagram or visual breakdown—it’s a sentence with fun, chaotic energy!"

Fun, chaotic energy. LOLOLOLOL.

Oh hell. In the time it took me to write all of that, I could have painted the mural myself, let alone grab the phone that is four feet away from me. Be right back.

<grabs phone, airdrops photo> Entire process took less than 45 seconds.

Mural painted by students at Ban Nam Hom featuring the favorite animals of several BNH teachers.

5/28: Mae Sot to Chiang Mai

To borrow a quote from Gold Five during the Battle of Yavin, the goal for today’s post is to “stay on target.” First student whose family member or friend correctly names that reference gets a crisp 20 baht from me.

[Editor's note: I did, in fact, not stay on target.]

We left Mae sot around 9am and drove *many hours* north to Chiang Mai, one of my favorite cities in the world. Actually, one of the only cities I actually like. Not a city gal. Cartagena and Pamplona probably round out my top 3.

(this is where I fell asleep)

[written on 5/29] Okay, picking up where I left off yesterday. We arrived in Chiang Mai around 3PM and got settled into the Eastin Tan Hotel, which is located in the Nimman district, a super hip and trendy part of the city that is also experiencing tons of growth. Lots of young professionals noodling around, fun shops and markets, and many, many places to grab food and drink. Where we are staying is also about a mile away from Chiang Mai University, which is a comprehensive research university and one of my favorite places to run while in Thailand. 

After some very long and hard days in BNH, our visit to Chiang Mai is deliberately less programmed. We tend to have 1-2 structured activities a day and then offer free time so students can explore on their own. During these free time periods, Han and I will often together or separately offer various things we like to do. and students can choose to join us (always welcome!). Han took a group of students on a short walking tour of the Nimman area. 

View of the intersection where our hotel is located. Source: nomadnotes

One Nimman plaza. Source: nomadnotes

I started with the tour and then decided that baking in the sun was not my jam, so I invited any interested students to join me at the Artist Spa, my favorite place in all of Thailand to get a Thai message. I had planned on booking an appointment for later in the afternoon, but when Lily and Isabel joined me, we decided to be spontaneous and get the massage right then and there. And they served us post-massage watermelon, tea, and cookies! Treat yo'self.

We left the salon only to discover that it was monsooning outside, so we raced back to the hotel to get our rain gear before venturing out to dinner. I'd put an open invitation out to the entire group to join me at Tong Tem Toh, a restaurant that I have featured many, many times on this blog:

• May 20 2022: The restaurant that I found, Tong Tem Toh, served what was hands-down the best meal I've had on the trip so far
• May 27 2022: I was able to convince Kathryn and Han to join me for a return trip to Tong Tem Toh, the restaurant that still holds the #1 slot for best meal in Thailand for me on this trip.
• May 18, 2023: 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.
• May 19, 2023: The students and I had dinner at Tong Tem Toh, my favorite restaurant of the trip that features northern Thai cuisine (Burmese influence) before visiting the night bazaar.
• May 27, 2023: Afterward, the students suggested eating lunch at Tong Tem Toh (my favorite), so I didn't argue with that!

So...to be clear...Tong Tem Toh is my favorite.

Some sort of delicious minced pork dish, Northern Thai style pork in curry, stir fry chicken, pork in curry (second order), and I think we had morning glory in oyster sauce floating around somewhere as well.

In my happy place doing what Soda refers to as "the sunflower pose"

**not pictured** is the FAT RAT that scurried behind our table, it's inside/outside seating and it had rained all day so it was an understandable rat. 

After dinner, I said goodbye to the twins and went to do some homework (yes, students, we do actually read your journals :) ) while listening to live music in the Nimman plaza. At this time, most of the students had joined Han at Chiang Mai's famous Night Bazaar in the old city. 

After reviewing all of my old posts to see if I'd given any background info on the night bazaar, I apparently have not, but after looking at available resources already published on the internet, Catmotors.net does a much better job explaining the night bazaar than I ever could, so check it out.

Students, if you have pictures from the night bazaar, please send me a few so I can post them.

To close the evening, Han and I met up and made our annual pilgrimage to our nightly debriefing spot in Chiang Mai. We were elated to find out that our friend James was still working there--we met him in 2022 and he remembers us every year! The timing was perfect as his last day is Saturday. He will be missed, but we are excited to visit him at his new professional digs.

5/29: Wat Phra That Doi Suthep

I started off the morning with the first portion of my half Chiang Maiathon, which is exactly what it sounds like. Bianca joined me for the first three miles, and we ran to Chiang Mai University. Read about it here. I gotta pick up the pace because it's after 1AM our time, the diphenhydramine is kicking in, and I'm worried the Babadook is on its way.

View while running on campus 

Fountain in the center of campus

Reservoir on campus with a nice trail encircling it

Nope, throwing in the towel because the next topic is our visit to Wat Phra That Doi Suthep and I really want to do it justice. I'll cover today tomorrow, although today is now technically yesterday, so I'll cover yesterday and today (which was tomorrow) today. Oh hey there, Babadook...

(Written on 5/30) 

Okay, I got all of my chorin' done (Chris, did you get that reference?) so it's time to get caught up.

Yesterday, we visited Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, a beautiful wat (roughly translates to "temple") situated in the foothills ("doi" means mountain or hill) overlooking Chiang Mai. I've written about this wat on both previous trips, but I'm excited to give it a fresh set of eyes.

The Cliffnotes Wikipedia quick summary of the Wat:

Founded in 1383 under King Keu Naone, the temple was built to enshrine a sacred Buddha relic—a shoulder bone believed to be from the historical Buddha. According to legend, the relic miraculously split in two, with one part brought to Chiang Mai on a white elephant that climbed Doi Suthep, trumpeted three times, and died, signifying the chosen location for the wat. Since then, it has become both a pilgrimage destination and a major cultural landmark, blending Lanna architecture, Buddhist devotion, and panoramic views.

The temple features northern Thai (Lanna) style architecture, notably in the gold chedi (stupa) and style of rooftops. It's one of the most revered wats in northern Thailand.

Examples of different Buddha positions

Climbing the stairs to the wat

Each side of the stairs (306 in total) represents a naga serpent, who symbolize protection of pilgrims along their spiritual path to enlightenment

The naga protects the Buddha from rain and danger

While not all wats have enshrined objects (relics) or pagodas, this one has both. There is a beautiful pagoda at the center of the wat that (allegedly) contains the shoulder bone. I'm not one to say whether it does or doesn't contain a shoulder bone of the Buddha, but one might consider how some Christian faiths claim to have relics of saints or the holy grail, etc. 

Naturally, I whiffed and didn't take a picture of the pagoda on this trip, but 2022 me took one: 

Pagoda at the center of the wat containing the relic of the Buddha

One way to pay respects to the Buddha is to travel clockwise around the pagoda three times while repeating this prayer, translated into English:

Prayer for the sacred relics of Doi Suthep:

Namo Tassa Bhagavato Arahato Samma Sambuddhassa

(Chant 3 times)

The golden chedi, the hair, the matthalungkang, the dhatu of the Varanna,

the name of the Sudeva, are worshipped by all deities of the Lord. I pay homage

to the wisdom of the Asami, the candima, the waters of the Pitaka, the teaching,

the liberation, the foundation, the freedom, the liberation, the liberation of the world.

Arahant, Sakkasopanang, first, preceptor, having given alms, having given

robes, having given birth, having come to the Sangha, asked, "Hello."

(Walk around to the right 3 times)

I am *shocked* that I don't have a post that explains the differences between the different positions of the Buddha statues. I'll save that for when we're in Phetchabun, but students, don't let me forget to do it. 

I spent more time on this visit to the wat being purposeful in my reflection and paying of respects to the sacred space, particularly as I completed my three rotations around the pagoda. Many of us also received blessings from a monk. I am hoping that I can complete the monk's trail with anyone else who is interested when we return to Chiang Mai on June 5-6.

After leaving the wat, we ate lunch as a group at Boat restaurant. I had a northern Thai noodle dish:

Lunch at Boat

After lunch at Boat, Han and I and a handful of students returned to the Artist for our daily ritual, and after getting all limbered up (holy mackerel, my therapist had the strongest thumbs of any human on the planet...), I finished up my half Chiang Maiathon for a total of 13.1 miles :) and 1) I felt great! and 2) it was really good people watching around the reservoirs on campus. Fun to see so many folks out being active, taking photos, relaxing---just living life on a university campus.

We reconvened for a group dinner at Khaomao-Khaofang Restaurant ("Imaginary Jungle") and this truly might be the most beautiful restaurant I have ever eaten at. Ever.

Khaomao-Khaofang

Khaomao-Khaofang

Khaomao-Khaofang

Khaomao-Khaofang

First Kelfie of the trip

Fix up, look sharp, students!

Khaomao-Khaofang

Khaomao-Khaofang

Khaomao-Khaofang

Everyone is very happy to be eating here :)

Great dinner and great conversations. We came back to the hotel and wished folks well as we closed our our second full day in Chiang Mai.