Chiang Mai - Part 3: Temples & Poo

Our last full day in Chiang Mai, we met up with Noot, who graciously offered to show us around and gave us some background about Chiang Mai and Thailand culture.

We began our day at the Wat Phra Singh Temple, built in 1345.  A “wat” is a Buddhist temple.  In Chiang Mai there are over 300 wats and within the old walled city, which is roughly a square mile, there are 36 wats!

The walled city was constructed in 1296.  The king put 10,000 men on each of the four walls, gave them a shovel, and had them dig the moat, which is still used today.

At this time Chiang Mai was part of the Lanna kingdom, which consisted of the land south of China including modern day Laos and Myanmar (Burma).  The Lanna kingdom was its own country and not part of Thailand (known as Siam at the time), which was to its south. In 1892 the Lanna kingdom was colonized by Siam but was free to rule themselves.  Overtime the Lanna kingdom merged with Siam and in 1949 Siam officially became known as Thailand.  Thai New Year is celebrated in April because this celebrates the Lanna New Year and combining of the two kingdoms.  During Thai New Year the two Buddha images in the Wan Lai Kham temple are removed and paraded through the streets with the Thai people showing honor the statues by sprinkling water on them.

Kids in front of Walled City

Monk at the temple in front of were the important Buddha statues are housed.

While pure Buddhism did not involve idols or images, modern Buddhism in Thailand today includes much symbolism.  Today’s Buddhism in Thailand is a combination of the superstitious religions of Brahmanism (traditions, dates, and zodiac) and Hinduism.  In addition to Buddha images, which are illegal to use on merchandise, for decoration or tattoos, and cannot be exported out of the country, there are other sacred images.  The elephant is important in Thailand because it is believed to uphold the Buddhist religion.  The Narca, a mythical dragon-looking creature believed to be the ruler of the underworld (but not hell), symbolizes guarding and protecting.  The Sacred Fig tree, often called the “Bo” tree, has heart-shaped leaves and is thought to be the tree that Buddha sat under when he achieved enlightenment.  The lotus flower is a Buddhist symbol representing the stages of the soul as this flower begins below ground in the mud and rises through the water in order to ultimately bloom above the water because of its overall strength.

The chedi at Wat Phra Singh

Close up of the Phrathatluang chedi, a Narca lining the steps with elephants in the background.

Look closely, this is not just a Narca, but is actually 2 animals and the Barca is being spit out! It represents the desire to be free from the occupation of the time

Wan Lai Kham is the main attraction of the Wat Phra Singh complex as it houses two important statues of Buddha.  This building was built in 1345.  The pictures on the walls of this temple read as a story telling the life of Lord Buddha who is considered the perfecter of Buddhism, which existed before he was born.  Lord Buddha is Indian but he was born in Nepal in 624 BC.  He was a prince but was not satisfied with life and sought to have a deeper understanding of fulfillment.  When he was 29 years old he left his wife and child and wandered and fasted for six years searching for answers to being content, the purpose for suffering and the goal of life.  During this time of simplicity and searching he wore a robe/cloth that was used to bury the dead.  These cloths were often bloody and difficult to clean so they would be dyed with tree bark.  This is why the Buddhist monks we see today where saffron colored robes.  Roughly at the end of his six years of searching, he sat under a tree and many of the answers he’d been searching for came to his mind and he attained enlightenment which strives to be middle of the road in just about everything.  After one goes through nirvana they are free from the cycle of reincarnation.  Because Lord Buddha is now free from this cycle, it is predicted that another Buddha is coming, just as there were Buddhas before Lord Buddha. There have been about 40 in total, but a few are not universally accepted.

A significant amount of effort is given to earning merit in the Buddhism religion.  There are twelve different stupas in Thailand, one for each of the twelve years of Buddhism (cat, rat, dog, etc..).  The most significant merit one can make is to go on one’s birthday to the cheti that matches the animal of the person’s birth year and to make an offering.  

Another way to earn merit: 7 Bowls for each day of the week's offering (two for Wednesday) along with 8 Buddha
poses (each position shows a different attitude that has significance).

After learning about Buddhism and the temples, we headed outside of the city to the Elephant Poo Poo Paper Park.  The boys really wanted to visit this place to see all of the products that can be made out of poo.  It was interesting to learn about the process and to get to help stir the poo, add some to be beaten into pulp, and make sheets of paper with it.  The kids enjoyed making a craft afterwards with some of the paper and found the concept of this place entertaining.  As a business this is brilliant because elephant poo is everywhere, virtually free, and really has no other uses.

G stirring a patch of elephant poo!

The princess and the poo!  Poo needs to boil for 7-8 hours.

Elephant poo ground into pulp for making paper

Cuties with dyed poo-pulp balls!

Making large sheets of paper with the elephant poo pulp.

Screens of paper set out to dry

We then went to lunch where we devoured amazing food and salads from an organic garden grown alongside the restaurant – what a treat for us travelers who don’t often get to enjoy greens due to being health cautious!

We learned so much and enjoyed visiting with Noot and continuing to learn about her life and ministry.  We are grateful for this connection in Chiang Mai and for her willingness to give us an insiders perspective on life in Thailand.  Thanks Garborgs! 

Chiang Mai -Part 2

Realizing the benefit of space and interacting with different family members, we decided to have a guys day and a girls day.  The guys headed out to find bikes and see what sort of trouble they could get into. Their first thought was to find some mountain bike trails in the nearby hills and so they peddaled uphill until a child cried and then enjoyed the ride back down. 

The joy of arriving somewhere but no idea where - note the sign

Around lunch time they rode to a local burger joint only to learn it was closed that day so they settled into a cafe for lunch which turned out to be an excellent spot. Next the thought was maybe they should play golf - why not, having not swung a club in over 6 months? So they rode to a local country club and explored. Here, the course had woman caddies but no childrens clubs to rent, so they wandered over the driving range and hit some balls experiencing something never seen before (an auto-ball-tee-er-upper). Following golf, the guys decided to take the long way home and rode around the outer ring of half of Chiang Mai. 

Why not hit some balls in Thailand?

Meanwhile, the girls had some shopping to do!  Mom and SJ hopped in a tuk tuk and headed across town to a boutique shopping street where they had fun wandering around and stopping at for some snacks.  Chaing Mai is known to be a creative hub and so it was interesting to find some goods that were different than the items sold at the endless markets.  Of course, as is typical on our girl dates, we also had to stop at Starbucks, but the electricity went out in the store right as it was our turn to order.  We waited around a bit and decided to move on, only to have the electricity go back on right as we were leaving!  So we grabbed our coffee and hot cocoa and hopped in another tuk tuk to head to the next stop.  Here we found some interesting tribal items made in the many villages around Chiang Mai.  We started to get a bit tired, so rested while we had our feet massaged.  Then we ventured out a bit more before meeting up with the boys for dinner.

Relaxing foot massages!

After dinner mom and the older two boys headed to the night market to pick something up quick, but ended up having an unfortunate run-in with one of the sellers.  We later learned that many of the sellers in the market actually work for other people and are not from Thailand, which explained why this man was didn’t care about losing face as he lied and yelled at us.  Thankfully, the night ended with a sweet lady telling our oldest that she appreciated it bargaining skills and maturity, a much better experience!

We’d read on a fellow traveling family’s blog that they had had their teeth cleaned while in Chiang Mai, and it was a good experience for them.  We’ve all been feeling a bit fuzzy, and we knew SJ had a cavity that we’ve tried to get fixed the last few months but couldn’t get in anywhere.  So Thursday morning we headed to Dental World. 

Dental World, Chiang Mai, Thailand

Much to our dismay, we ended up spending 7 hours there and still everyone had not been seen!  While it was a knowledgeable and clean place to be seen, some of the tools used seemed not to have silencers on them and we missed the comforts of our home dentist.  Unfortunately SJ didn’t just have a cavity, but in fact needed a child’s version of a root canal and crown.  We scrambled to use Skype in a new way to call our Dentist back home. His wife thought we were a prank when we mentioned we were calling from Thailand at 11:30 at night.  Thankfully he agreed to take our call and confirm that it was the best way to proceed.  She was put in a straight jacket and mom held her to a wooden board while this 45 minute procedure took place.  It was awful, but in typical SJ fashion, once the Novocain and shock wore off,  she braved the pain just fine and even was proud of her new silver tooth!  Thankfully the dentist was able to fit the rest of us in to finish up our cleanings and work the following two days, so our teeth were in great shape before we left Chiang Mai!

Our Day with the Elephants... Guest post by G

Guest post by G.....

In Chiang Mia the thing to do is go for an elephant ride but we were not doing that exactly, we were being mahouts for a day.  Mahouts are the people who care for the elephants.  Here are some basic commands for the elephants when you’re just walking with them:

•   Ma = go

•   Ha = stop

•   Melon (me-LAWN) = lay down

•   Look (luke) = get up

Here are the commands for when you’re riding them:

•   So = let me up your leg

•   Cumpot (KUUM pot) = let me up on your trunk

•   Huey (WHO ey) = go

•   DD (DEE dee) = be nice

•   Yahna (YAH na) = stop eating

The most common command was “Huey” during the ride.  You would always be hearing, “Huey! Huey!” the whole time.

We were riding bare back, which is much better than the seats that some people have on the elephants.  Some people tie these seats with a rope around their tails so when they are going down the chair does not slide forward, and they do the same with the neck and a rope for going uphill.  Also there is a rope around the stomach to keep the chair from falling off the side of the elephant.  This rope is constantly moving so it cuts the stomach and then keeps on rubbing the already cut stomach.  As this is all happening, this is mixed with constant work hours and not much food, the elephants actually try to make the tourists fall off.  Riding bare back has no ropes so it is much better.

Many elephants that are near the city are dying because of contaminated water from the factories that dump waste into it.  When the elephants eat, which is pretty much all day, they want to drink after that. When the elephants drink the contaminated water they get constipated and do not eat or drink.  After 3 days they die of constipation. The only way to prevent this is putting your hand up their rear and pulling the poo out.

Elephant poo is actually used for many things including paper and cigarettes.  The people who take care of the elephants smoke elephant poo with a little tobacco wrapped in a banana leaf and they say it helps them not get a cough.  If you can imagine elephants have a lot of poo and pee!

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The first thing we did was washing the elephants.  This was fantastic!  We had to get them thoroughly wet, then scrub them down, then get them wet again.  Each elephant had a mahout.  My elephant’s caretaker would hold his trunk and I would pour water down it and then the elephant would blow it all over itself.  Riding the elephants was amazing!  We sat up on its neck, but the guides didn't really care how you sat, so us boys would lay down like we were riding a road bike.  We went through the streams and then stopped for lunch. 

Mahout pouring water down elephant's trunk

Our family with elephants after bathing them

Mom, Dad & SJ's 1st time un on the elephant!

G & mahout riding on the elephant

G riding on his elephant

Oldest son riding on the elephant

Mom, Dad & SJ trekking along

After lunch we served the table cloth to the elephant -  it was a leaf and the elephants got all the “leaftovers.”   Then we went swimming with the elephant.  She lifted us up on her trunk so we did the sexy pose while being lifted up on the elephants trunk, it was awesome! Then we did some more riding.  I would pick leaves and put them in front of my elephant’s eye and she would lift her trunk up and eat them. Elephants eat basically everything green; bamboo, sugar cane, and a variety of different leaves.  All the elephants were female.  My elephant’s name was Chabaka though I called him Chewbacca.  My middle brother’s elephant was Maman though he called his “My Man.”  Mom, Dad and SJ’s elephant was named Cosoy and my oldest brother doesn't remember his elephant’s name.

Lunch time

Family swim with the elephant

Boys on the elephant

Sweet elephant pose!

Here come Mom, Dad & SJ!

Oldest giving his elephant a snack

Middle brother loving his ride

This was one of the things I was really hoping to do in Asia.  So I was really excited to have the unique experience of bareback riding elephants.  My favorite part was when the mahout would hold my elephants trunk and I would pour water down it and she would spray the water all over herself.

G with the baby elephant!

Chiang Mai - Part 1

Our first day in Chiang Mai was a bit of a weather shock, having flown in from Koh Samui, a tropical Thai island.  We arrived to a temperature in the low 60s and rain.  We were only spending one night here before we headed to the treehouse, so we were staying in a cheap hostel that was on the outskirts of town.  Staying in our room would've been incredibly dreary, but we didn't have many options of nearby places to go.  

We walked down the road and grabbed some Tom Yum soup and then headed towards a movie theater because we couldn't find any transportation.  We were SOAKED, but ended up catching a ride for the last part of the way in a tuk tuk, getting ripped off on our price, but we didnt care at this point. We saw Star Wars again, this time with the girls.  At the start of movies in Thailand, everyone stands to pay honor to the king and country while a short film of the king’s life plays.  After the movie we caught a Songthaew, which was the first of several rides in this type of transportation vehicle, which is basically a pickup truck that has a covered section added to the bed and seats built into both sides so that riders face one another as they are driven to their destination. It's sort of a cross between taxi and bus as it may stop to pick up others along the way. The word Songthaew literally translates to "two benches" and this is one of the types of “taxis” offered in Chiang Mai. 

Traveling songthaew style!

Staying dry in the songthaew!

After the movie we had dinner at the #1 restaurant (according to TripAdvisor) in Chiang Mai, which happened to be near where we were staying.  It was a beautiful setting and we were thrilled that they had shawls we could use to keep warm with.  We had picked this place because they seemed to serve some comfort foods that we were familiar with.  We were pleased that the food and service was very good as even the owner stopped by to chat with us a bit.

The next morning we were picked up for our treehouse adventure which we have already written about.

After arriving back in Chiang Mai after two nights in the treehouse, we settled into our Airbnb place, which was very spacious yet a bit on the outskirts of the city.  The kids were thrilled that it had a pool table although the size was smaller than a typical table and bumpers were lower which resulted in the balls rolling off of the table more frequently than they should! Additionally it had a consider slope which took some maneuvering to learn to play. All that aside it provided hours of entertainment or distraction from school depending on which way you view it. 

TG at our place in Chiang Mai

We spent our first full day at the Chiang Mai Zoo, which was great to walk around and see the animals up close.

Someone wasn't so excited about the giraffe coming close!

G & SJ in front of the panda

These bears put on quite a show!

Kids at the Chiang Mai Zoo!

That evening we met some friends of one of our YL committee members back home for dinner.  Noot and her husband JJ run two childrens homes around Chiang Mai and work for Seed International, training students to share the gospel and be leaders in their professions.  Noot is also running a food tour business and so it was a treat to have her order some traditional Thai foods and get to sample different things.  It was a treat learning about their ministry and meeting their children.

Dinner with Noot, JJ & family at a restaurant specializing in Northern Thai cuisine.

On Sunday we headed towards the closest, English speaking church we could find, and our driver got lost along the way, so we walked into service about a half hour late.  This church primarily consisted of expats and missionary families.  Mom realized that one aspect of realizing our family has been away a long time, is that being surrounded by English-speaking-people, it became apparent how short our family is!  We’ve been fitting in with the shorter Asian culture quite well, that we had never noticed this!  After service the kids played soccer with the other kids and then we started walking towards the closest mall for lunch.  Humorously, one of the church families drove by in their station wagon and offered us a ride, so our whole family hopped in their trunk and graciously accepted the transportation to lunch!  We found a fun Korean BBQ place at the mall where we enjoyed grilling our own food at table grills.

Enjoying cooking our own lunch at table grills!

After an afternoon of resting and school, we headed to the Sunday Night Market only to realize we were at a smaller market, and the notorious larger market was a separate place.  For the most part they all sold similar items, many elephant themed products, wooden games, and other handicrafts.

Can't find a haircut, buy a Thai headband!

Cute dog on a RC motorcycle at the Night Market

The artist who punched these beautiful elephant artworks made from cowhides.

Monday was a school day for the most part and that evening we had a unique opportunity to take the oldest and youngest child to dinner while the middle two stayed behind to do school.  We really enjoyed this change in dynamics and getting to spend more concentrated time with two of the children seemed so much simpler.  We had a wonderful dinner on the riverfront with great conversation – it was a treat for all of us.

Dinner with oldest & youngest on waterfront!

SJ traveling tuk tuk style with a little seat next to our driver!