Day 5: A spiritual day
We started off that day with some mango sticky rice and a thai style omelette. I don’t know why but I was expecting the mango sticky rice to be very tasty. It was if you expected the two flavors of mango and rice. 7/10, would sticky again. The omelette was basically a regular omelette. 5/10, will probably get in America again.
Then, we took a “songthaew” to Doi Suthep, which is a really beautiful temple on the hills of Chiang Mai. A songthaew is basically the low tech Thai equivalent of uberPool. If you don’t know what uberPool is, it basically matches riders going to a similar destination and “pools” them into one car for max efficiency.
There are over 300 steps to the top. On a hot, humid day on top of having to wear long pants due to religious respect, the stairs are tough. This is why Liz has Finding Dory ice cream.
At the top, its super gorgeous. It’s elicits the same kind of emotions as a beautiful Cathedral. Lots of beautiful gold, people praying, locals preying on tourists.
Overall a good spiritual journey that I recommend you try.
For lunch, we had some squid curry and another pork dish that I have no idea how to pronounce. The squid dish was 👌💯. 8/10, squid curry is best curry.
It’s interesting, the food experience here can be as western or as “authentic” as you want. Lots of options. I also suggest getting a fruit smoothie or an iced coffee with every meal. They make them that much better, especially when they’re super cheap.
After lunch, we went to Wat Chedl Luang for a monk chat.
It’s exactly what it sounds like. You swap stories with a monk! A lot of them are learning English and want to learn more about other worlds. The monk we talked to was named “Bank” and he’s actually also studying humanities at the local university. He actually really wants to visit USA and Disneyworld is on the top of his list. Sounds like his priorities are straight.
One thing to note is a lot of Thai men “become” monks for a short period of time, especially rural ones, as it means they get to move to the city and get a cheaper/free education and room and board. Very interesting.
The Wat itself is kind of like a ruins.
It has an eerie feel around it. Definitely super majestic.
One interesting thing is some temples actually didn’t allow women in, as some monks cannot interact with women. I wish this wasn’t a rule but I guess we must respect religious customs.
We ended our day with a nice, “relaxing” Thai massage. I say relaxing because some of the things they do actually hurt. They elbow your back, pinch your neck pressure points, and twist your body around. I’d only say 15% of it was not relaxing. 7/10, would happy ending again. Also super cheap, did a 1hr massage for 300 each in a private room ;)
I’d say day 5 was a spiritual success!
