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| From vietnam / thailand trip |
i got a thai iced tea with it and i was energized even in the thai heat. then i moseyed my way over to wat chiang man, which was pretty damn impressive for my first wat. it's thought to be the oldest wat in the city and is massive. there is definitely a holy feeling walking in a wat, and i think it's enhanced by me taking off my shoes. here are a couple of photos:
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| From vietnam / thailand trip |
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| From vietnam / thailand trip |
the amount of detail in all of these thai wats is staggering. everything is handmade, obviously, and no small detail is spared. like most experiences/sights/sounds i've taken in, it's difficult to capture and demonstrate the ornate and spiritual feel of these temples. i'm pretty agnostic, but walking into a wat, i feel like i'm having a small out of body moment. religion has always been the struggle between the concept of self versus a greater force, the wat amplifies the chasm.
i follow the lonely planet's lead, and head to the women's prison for my first thai massage. all the masseuses are prisoners, but they are working to save for when they are released. it was an amazing massage and blew the massages i got in vietnam away. thai massages are more like deep tissue, but with more elements of aided stretches. i exited the 'spa' feeling as good as new and happy that i didn't witness a shanking or prison break.
on to the next wat, which is one of the most visited wats in chiang mai, wat phra singh. it is similar to wat chiang man, but has a 'lion buddha'. as i'm here, a man approaches and asks me about my trip offering advice for when i get to the south. he is the second man to recommend a certain thai travel agency and warns me i should book ahead. i don't linger because he mentions they close soon and as i'm stepping out of the wat, a lady stops me and says 'you know that's a scam, right?' turns out estela is on holiday from the states and is originally from brazil. she and her husband, yves, have witnessed many of these scams executed and have even thwarted a couple, although they were threatened. it starts raining and we look for a bar to grab a beer. we rendezvous with lars at the local watering hole, i play some uke and we meet some more americans, lauren and eddie. knocking back the rice whiskey, which somehow resembles cachasa to me, we start the evening out strong, munching on some falafal from a nearby stand. lauren, eddie and myself head off to the night market and the rest of the night is fuzzy.
wat phra singh:
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| From vietnam / thailand trip |
premayhem:
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| From vietnam / thailand trip |
