Monuments and Monks

The trip from Bangkok to Ayutthaya had a steamy start.  It had rained during the night and I was sopping wet with sweat by the time I got to the train station.  Fortunately, the rail car had "air-con" for the hour and a half journey to Ayutthaya.  The city was established in 1350 and remained the capital of Siam until it fell to the Burmese in the 1700s.  Before its destruction, it must have been a marvelous city (built on an island threaded with canals), because even today, the site is remarkable.

Four fellow backpackers got off at the station that morning and we ended up spending the day together, Becky and Rachel, from the U.K. and Jorge from of all places, Ushuia, Argentina.  We skipped on the tuk-tuk drivers offering to take us around the site and, instead, found our way on the ferry to the island where we rented bicycles.  This turned out to be a fantastic way of seeing the complex.  The distances are not so great that you can't cycle between the sites and it's a peaceful way of enjoying the ruins.

We saw three complexes before I had to head back for my afternoon train, Wat Ratburana, Wat Phra Mahathat and Wat Phra Sri Sanphet.  Many of these buildings date from the 1300s.  All of them look like a set out of Indiana Jones.

Wat Ratburana was especially intriguing because you could enter one of the central buildings by walking underneath the chirping bats on the ceiling, make your way down a steep and narrow staircase to surface below in a small room with cobwebs and painted murals.  Awesome!

Above all else, the day was memorable because our little group had a fun time together, despite the heat, humidity and rain.

That afternoon, I caught the train to Phitsanulok en route to the ruins of Sukhothai.  The ride was long (6 hours) and uncomfortable (my clothes were wet from the rain and sweat) with no air-con, just the open windows to circulate the humid air and an occasional bug.  Even so, I had a huge smile on my face as I plopped down next to the man who would eventually show me 700 photos (I saw the counter on the camera) of his recent trip and thought, how could I be so lucky.  

My trip to Sukhothai was a logistical marvel.  Hotel to train station by foot where I left my backpack (10 minutes), train station to bus station by local open air truck (15 minutes), bus station to New Sukhothai bus station by intercity bus (60 minutes) and bus station to Old Sukhotai ruins by local open air truck (30 minutes).  The return was done in reverse, all in time to catch a 1:20 train to Chiang Mai.

View from the back of an open-air truck

The ruins of Sukhothai have been designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.  They too are splendid.  I again rented a bicycle to explore the site.  However, in this case, perhaps because they are a little inaccessible, the site was virtually empty.  I seemed to have most of the park to myself which resulted in even more of a feeling of remoteness and discovery.  Despite my rising sense of "ruin fatigue", this site was definitely worth visiting.

Note the gold covered  fingernails.

While waiting for the bus back to Phitsanulok I was entertained by this beautiful little girl who liked my sweaty hat. 

Her mom was happy to leave her with me while she chatted with some of her friends.  I guess it made for an unusual site in that I found myself being photographed by several people (perhaps they wanted evidence, in case I made a run with the kid which I was admittedly tempted to do).  Adorable and fun.

While waiting for the train in Phitsanulok to Chiang Mai, I met a woman and her daughter who ended up giving me a bag of these unique fruits called rambutan.  What started with my quizzical look at the fruit ended with her insisting that I take the entire bag.  The generosity and kindness of people to complete strangers fills me with optimism.

Saturday the 5th was my first day in Chiang Mai, a major city in the north of Thailand.  My guest house is beautiful!  What $15 a night can buy in some parts of the world.  The old part of Chiang Mai is surrounded by a crumbling wall and moat, in addition to two traffic loops that run in opposite directions and are practically impossible to cross.  It is known as the jump off point for hill tribe adventures, elephant camps and rafting.  I wanted to spend my day relaxing.  By late morning I had found my way to Wat Phra Singh, where over 700 monks attend university.  Here the monks are unusually friendly and many of them spend some of their free time in the gardens practising English with the tourists. 

This is where I meet "Tiger", I regret that I never came close to correctly pronouncing his Thai name, which sounds something like "Ciu-ah."  What started as a superficial conversation with Tiger and his friend Thong about "Amelika", ended the next day with a 25 kilometer "merit earning" hike up the mountain  to Wat Phra That Doi Suthep. 

Because the only thing on Tiger's agenda was talking with foreigners (falong) he volunteered to show me some of Chiang Mai's other temples.  The most significant of these is Wat Chedi Luang.  The temple was completed in the mid 1400s, only to be destroyed by an earthquake in 1545.  For a time, this complex housed the Emerald Buddha which is now in Bangkok.  The complex looks more primitive than other temples.  I was especially drawn to the massive Nagas that protect the stairways leading up the temple.

Walking around the city with Tiger was a phenomenal experience.  I wish I could report that I found a solution to life's problems.  Unfortunately, it was hard enough communicating about the most basic concepts.  What I learned was mostly factual.  For example, the five rules that are applicable to humans in general are (and these may sound a little familiar):  1.  no killing; 2. no lying; 3.  no stealing; 4. no sex (except with your wife) and 5. no drinking.  For novice monks, the list grows to ten and for full monks, the list expands to over 200.  He didn't feel like he could even explain any of the additional 200 so they must be more conceptual and less practical.

To the lay person, a monk's robe seems rather complicated.  Tiger looked at me quizzically when I made that statement and he said, "No, not hard."  The external portion is actually one large piece of material that is folded and rolled to the appropriate size.  To demonstrate respect when entering a temple, most monks will remove the robe from their right shoulder.  However, when they leave the temple, the shoulder is again covered.

Tiger became a novice when he turned 15.  I believe this path was chosen for him by his parents.  Before becoming a novice, he was very good at Thai boxing.  As a monk, exercise is not permitted.
Monks rely on the alms from devotees to sustain them.  People visit the monasteries daily to deliver food to the monks, or the monks might walk in the street seeking donations.  Monks simply believe that food will be provided.  (The embodiment of a "neither purse, nor scrip" lifestyle.)  Since occasionally, food is not available, they are appreciative for every instance when there is enough.

Because monks and novices do not eat after 12:00 noon, adjusting to that negation can be challenging.  Tiger laughed when he thought about being hungry as a novice and also how angry the senior monks became when one of the novices would sneak some food after the permitted time.  Sticky rice is a good antidote for hunger because it fills the belly and lasts all day.

Because Sunday was also a day for practicing English.  Tiger asked if I would like to walk with him to the Wat at the top of Doi Suthep.  Not only would Tiger earn merit for his devotion, but he would have the opportunity to practice English all day long.  It sounded great to both of us.

Nifty elephant carving made from exposed tree roots.

We met the next morning at a little after 7:00 and caught an open-air truck to the base of the mountain where we began our 25 kilometer mostly uphill hike.

Along the way we learned vocabulary words and practiced pronunciation.  We also stopped at waterfalls and picked figs from trees at the side of the road. 

Tiger says that Thai's believe that figs are good for making a person clever.  He laughed as he would say, "We so clever, but we so poor that we eat food on the roadside!"  We joked at the busloads of tourists and locals who passed us on the way up, many staring at this odd couple.  I learned a Thai term given (affectionately?) to foreigners, falong key noke, which means "foreigner bird poop".  Everyone who passed us in a big bus or smokey truck was quickly identified as either falong key noke or Thai key noke, as applicable.

His faith in divine intervention was absolute.  Ours might be also if we were entirely dependent on the generosity of others.  This brings me to the lady who gave me the bag of rambutan fruit at the train station.    As I packed my day bag for the hike up the mountain, I threw in some cookies, pastries, candy bars and the remaining rambutan fruit.  Tiger didn't like chocolate, but loved the rambutan.  When I explained to Tiger the story about how I had received the fruit days before from a woman in a train station, he said without hesitation that the woman acted by the will of heaven because she sent fruits with me (a complete stranger) that would be delivered to a devoted monk on his climb to Wat Phra That Doi Suthep.  When you think about it, it's not a bad explanation.
Other instances of divine intervention included the cloudy day, which was requested the night before so that we would be out of the sun, no rain (even though this is the rainy season) and even a different fruit he had received for breakfast at the monastery (which happened to be a type that he had unsuccessfully tried to find for me the previous day).  It was no surprise to him that it showed up on his plate that morning so he brought it with him to share with me.

It was a relief to finally arrive at the temple about four hours after we began our climb.  Happily we made it with 20 minutes to spare before the 12:00 noon cut off for lunch. 

One of the peppers on that plate left my lips, mouth and throat reeling for about 5 minutes.  Hot!

Wat Phra That Doi Suthep is sacred to Buddhists because of the large golden pagoda which houses a bone fragment from the Buddha.

The temple is beautiful and the setting on top of the mountain more so.  Despite the throngs of worshipers, it remains a peaceful location.  A word of caution as you approach the temple, you will still need to make it past what has to be the best tourist trap in Thailand.  I failed miserably and gladly spent the 40 Bahts required to get past these hucksters.

She held her position for about 15 seconds while Tiger tried to get the shot.

After visiting the temple, we hiked an additional four kilometers to visit Phuping Palace, the King's summer residence in Chiang Mai.  The mountaintop location is beautiful as are the many gardens adorning the same.

Sculpture carved from tree trunk.

Stands of giant bamboo.

We returned by walking the four kilometers back to Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, where we gladly caught an open truck back to the city. 

The day was full of memorable feelings and expressions.  Perhaps the most heart warming was Tiger's frequent exclamations, "I so happy", "I so lucky", "We so clever" to which I could only shake my head gratefully and respond  "I so happy", "I so lucky" "We so clever."