Fun Facts & Moments

December 30th...
I just want to note one more thing about Korea and our bond... Virtually EVERY car driven is a Hyundai! I like that! It was pretty rare to see anything other than Hyundai vehicles of every sort or some weird car brand I have never laid eyes upon in the States.

This morning I flew from Bangkok to Chiang Mai. It is the second largest city in the Northern mountainous part of Thailand. Chiang Mai is much different from Bangkok. It is beautiful-- less crowded, cleaner, and just as I pictured as far as luscious green scenery. Our guide, Jaran, is my favorite guide so far! He is absolutely funny with a great sense of humor. He is Thai, speaks 5 languages (also different dialects of Thai), & he was a monk for 5 years of his life. For some reason I can’t remember his name unless thinking about the word ‘Geronimo’ so I asked him if I could call him Geronimo, he agreed. Hahah. This monk situation intrigued me, all I know is they can’t touch women... I learned that monks have 311 rules to follow, women 227. They wear 5 different colored robes symbolizing specific things. The monkhood (sangha) is about 250,000 strong. It is extremely offensive if one shows any sort of disrespect to the king or Buddhism.

Jaran took us ladies to Doi Suthep this afternoon. It is one of the most revered Buddhist shrines in Northern Thailand. It took forever to drive up the windy mountain road because so many locals, not only tourist, were there to pay their respects specifically before the New Year. Some just got out and walked up the mountain. The shrine was a steep 304 step climb, we took a cable car up and walked down after. There were many layers within layers of statues, halls, temples, etc. I was not considered to be dressed modest enough so I had to wear a wrap/skirt. Everyone also has to take their shoes off before entering the ‘vihara’ which are the entrances leading to the very center containing the stupa pagoda, ‘Central Chedi’. It is a striking gold structure. Several people walked around the stupa clockwise while praying. Buddhist burned incense and offered lotus buds and roses to the statues while chanting or praying.

Beautiful hand painted murals along the halls depicted scenes from the Buddha’s life. There are several types of Buddha’s and meanings I can’t keep up with it all! I did have a great and horrible experience here. The bathrooms were bidets. UGH. There were huge scary spiders that hung above your head, I was thankful I brought my own toilet paper. I did not enjoy this experience so much…

Peggy says Kristina and I are heartless. Tonight dinner included Thai dancers as entertainment, it was pretty awesome! After dinner us 3 girls went shopping at a night bazaar close to our hotel. I know Baht conversion to USD well, and I have a feel for what items should cost. Kristina and I bartered hard to get a bargain, after awhile it was more like a sport to us, hence being heartless. Hahaha. I turned down offers I didn’t like and slowly walked away and had some vendors chase me down agreeing to my price. Very niceee. Before we left we encountered a baby elephant on the corner! It was four years old, so adorable, and was interesting to feel! We fed him baby bananas J