Thailand time, part 2: connecting with Buddhism

Following our week on Ko Lanta, we grabbed a short flight from Krabi to Chiang Mai, located in mountainous northwest Thailand. Chiang Mai is the largest city in northern Thailand and the second largest city in Thailand. It was this region that was the impetus for extending our stay in Thailand longer than we originally planned. London had done enough research to know that we would have no problem filling our days (and nights) soaking up all that this region has to offer. We had about two weeks sketched out - starting with six days in Chiang Mai followed by a road trip north to the region along the border with Myanmar and Laos known as the Golden Triangle, winding our way back south to Chiang Rai where we grabbed a flight to Bangkok for our final handful of days in Thailand.

Chiang Mai is a bustling city with an old world feel. Though we may have known that we would be visiting a few wats (a type of buddhist temple found in SE Asia), we didn’t know (and how could we?) the degree to which buddhism and wats are central to the daily lives for Thai people and that there are literally hundreds of wats in this region and upwards of 30,000 in the country. Thailand is approximately 95% buddhist so it makes sense that there are so many temples but suffice it to say that wats are a defining part of the cities and villages we visited. It is also fair to say that we were duly enchanted from the moment we experienced our first wat on an evening stroll from the old city in Chiang Mai back to our hotel near the banks of the Ping River.

By the end of our time in Thailand, I suspect that we visited around a dozen wats and may have brought our kids to the brink - “please not another wat” was heard uttered more than once - and eventually Lon and I visited a few on our own to give the girls a little break.

There is so much going on in a wat that we decided to hire guides for a few of the larger wats so that they could teach us about the architecture, history and various symbolism. It’s also important to note that it appears that no two wats are alike so while we may have learned a ton about a few wats, not all of it carried over to the others we visited on our own - thankfully some did though.

The climb to the top of Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep consisted of climbing 306 steps

Wat Prathat Doi Suthep is located on a mountaintop northwest of Chiang Mai. For this wat, we opted for a guided sunrise tour where we were able to observe the monks in their morning ritual and provide them with offerings (food). This visit was particularly special because there were very few other visitors there at that early hour and, well, the place is spectacular. It was on this visit that we began to gain some understanding of the immense symbolism layered throughout a wat complex. The dragons, the color and type of material used to create the buddha statues, the life stages of the buddha, the carvings on the walls, - everything has meaning and we wanted to learn as much about all of this as we could while we had a guide at our disposal - our guide happened to be a former monk. In fact, as he describes it, all buddhist men in Thailand will eventually spend time as a monk. His time came when he was in his early teens and his grandfather invited him to spend time with him learning the ways of a monk. He said his mother was thrilled because it was summer time and it was a way to get him out of the house.

Paying our respects and making our offerings to the monks in residence at Wat Suthep

Over his life, our guide Tu, spent several years living as a monk - morning chants, seeking offerings from his community, eating only one meal a day, etc. His description of the food situation for a monk was particularly fascinating for our family. He says that each morning the monks will seek alms (food offerings) from their local community. Whatever is given to them they must eat - by mixing everything together in their bowls. The point here, as Tu described it, is to remove the pleasure of eating because pleasure leads to desire and buddhists believe that desire is the root cause of all suffering.

Wat Doi Suthep was particularly beautiful and peaceful, in part, due to our early morning visit. According to our guide, you visit at sunrise to see the temple and the monks vs visiting later in the day when you see all the people.

The variation in the way buddha is portrayed throughout Thailand was fascinating. I loved this one since the buddha is shown beneath a banyan tree which was where it is believed that the buddha sat and meditated for seven weeks and attained enlightenment.

South and west of Chiang Mai is Doi Inthanon National Park, considered the roof Thailand. Much to our delight we discovered this is part of the Himalayan mountains. We spent a day exploring the park with a guide (also a former monk).

One of those special moments along our journey - following a hike in Doi Inthanon with a local guide, we were instructed to hop in the back of this truck to get a short ride back to where our hike began.

On an outing sans kids, we visited Wat Huay Pla Kang, while in Chiang Rai. Behind us isn’t buddha but rather a very large statue of Guan Yin, the Buddhist Godhess of Mercy. Guan Yin is an important deity in Mahayana Buddhism. She is the “Bodhisattva of Compassion” — a being who achieved enlightenment but remained here in the physical world to help the rest of humanity do the same.

Wat Rong Khun aka the White Temple, located in Chiang Rai. This place was stunning and perhaps the most ornate of all the wats we visited.

Buddha at the White Temple in Chiang Rai

We had the privilege of visiting an elephant sanctuary in the area known as the Golden Triangle - where the borders of Myanmar, Laos and Thailand intersect. This is one of the Mahouts, the local Thai people who raise and care for rehabilitated elephants. As part of our visit, we were able to spend a morning in the sanctuary walking with and interacting with the elephants.

Our last several days in Thailand were spend in Bangkok where we enjoyed an evening Tuk Tuk tour (wild!), a food tour (delicious) and visits to more night markets (sensory overload)

Nighttime flower market in Bangkok

I went out for a walk one afternoon in Lumphini Park, a large green space in central Bangkok. I was blown away when I discovered these creatures roaming around the park - mostly in and along the parks waterways. These are monitor lizards and although they appear menacing, they apparently feed mostly on fish, frogs and turtle eggs and pose no issue to humans.

All in all, Thailand definitely found its way into our hearts - the food, the people, the warmth and the commitment to living life in the path of the buddha. Of all the things we learned about buddhism on this trip, I think one of the most memorable tidbits is that our monk guides do not consider buddhism a religion but rather a way of life. From what we experienced, this way was generous, kind and filled with wonder and compassion - all things we hope to carry with us as we prepare to re-enter our lives stateside in the coming weeks.