Thailand = Gold

After the plain, yet subtley elegant temples in Japan, the vibrant red ones in Hong Kong, and the multi-coloured decor of the Korean ones, I was excited to see yet another different take on what a Buddhist temple should look like. In Thailand...they seem to like gold...lots and lots of gold! On the wednesday in Chiang Mai, we took a windy journey up the mountainside to Doi Suthep...the city's most splendid temple. You approach the temple at the end of a long flight of steps...300 i think it was...but actually wasn't too bad. Doi Suthep is quite simply, beautiful. Of course some would argue that all the gold is tacky, and awful to look at for too long...but on that day with the backdrop of a piercing blue sky, and streaming sunshine, the magnificent gold temple looked stunning, and I was actually quite overwhelmed by how amazing it all looked as I wandered around.

We spent time looking around the outer areas of the temple ; the smaller shrines, a tiny museum, and the stunning view over Chiang Mai city, framed by a huge tree of hot pink bougainvillea. Then we left our shoes behind, and walked over the marble floor into the central temple area with the tourist-drawing centrepiece, the gold chedi. Of course we took numerous photographs, hoping with every snap that my sony digital camera would do justice to just how dazzling the colours were (I'm pleased with the results!). As I passed one of the rooms, I saw that people were kneeling for a blessing from the monk, and that there appeared to be foreigners as well as Thai people in the group. I decided to go in, and take part in this part of the Buddhist faith. I'm not a Buddhist, and in fact, I'm not really religious at all...but I do feel that I'm quite a spiritual person in some ways, and so was interested to observe this practice, and recieve the monk's words of wisdom and luck. After being splashed with the water that he scatters over everyone, and kneeling quietly for a minute or 2, the blessing was over, and I then moved forward to receive my 'bracelet'. There was a separate queue for women and men, as the actual Buddhist monks are not supposed to touch women, and so it would be hard for them to tie a bracelet on to a lady's wrist. So, instead, us girls had to see the 'other guy'...not sure...maybe someone who works at the temple...maybe an ex-monk...not sure...but he wasn't wearing the orange robes. He spoke to me briefly, asking where I was from, and then wished me good luck, health and happiness for my future, as he tied the piece of white string around my left wrist. It was such a peaceful and simple few moments in that room, and a great chance to soak up the atmosphere of the temple.

When we had done enough wandering, and photo taking around Doi Suthep, we headed back into the city centre, where I had an amazing lunch!! The best sandwich I had had in ages! Japan's sandwiches just aren't very good, and so I was eager to get a good-sandwich fix! I had a superb grilled chicken, crispy bacon, and salad on wholewheat bread, and was thoroughly satisfied, and ready for an afternoon of shop-wandering. I'm sorry to post the picture of the sandwich...but I do like my blog to reflect all aspects of my personality...I get excited about beautiful golden Buddhist temples...but also by a really good sarnie! Mmmmmmmmm!

In the evening, we had booked a place at the Khantoke dinner (Northern Thai-style dinner, accomapanied by Thai dancing etc). I will only briefly comment on this (becuase I have many a movie to remind my self, and so wont need to read about it on this blog!), but basically, we were all herded in like sheep...into a huge room, where we sat on the floor, leaned against fabulous cushions, and were served a feast of Northern-Thai specialities ; amazing curry, sticky rice, fried chicken, fried bananas, and some pork crackling-type stuff (which was great)..amongst other things. We enjoyed the food, watched the dancing with interest as well as amusement, and I even got up to join in with the dancing at the end! If there's a dance to do, or a song to sing...I'll do it! No jazz hands in this dance though unfortunately...but a nice end to the day, all the same!