Walking Walking Walking

(This should have been posted Sunday, February 11, 2007, a week ago.)
I think I walked for 7 hours yesterday.

The first half of the day was spent writing that last enormous entry. Then, I decided to go hunting for Wat Chedi Luan. The story behind this temple is that it was to be built “as high as a dove could fly”. When I got there, it appeared that this large temple was once as high as a dove could fly, but began crumbling to the ground some time ago. Though it had deteriorated substantially over time, this Wat was still very impressive.

After exploring Wat Chedi Luan, I found a nice family spot across the street for a lunch of vegetables, rice, and iced tea (cha yin is the fabulous Thai iced tea that you get in restaurants that, over here, is the beverage of the day). Then, I proceeded to get lost within the old walls of Chiang Mai, wandering in and out of temples, sifting through goods for sale, watching the sunset behind a bhodi tree, smiling at people; I found myself kind of in a walking meditation. I really didn’t have anywhere in particular I was headed, I just kept walking.

I walked so far, in fact, that I found myself on the other side of the walls amidst what would later become the Night Bazaar. I made a note of it and headed back to my room for a much needed shower… with coconut milkshake in hand. These are delicious. The stall woman cracked a young coconut open right there, dumped some of the juice in with some of its flesh, a little milk, a little sugar, and some ice in a blender, and I was in too-much-walking-cured heaven.

I later retraced my footsteps to the Night Bazaar. This is an endless night market of well… a lot of the same stuff. Every stall out of the hundreds had the same t-shirts for sale, the same hill tribe doo-dads, the same mulberry paper, the same everything. There were a few unique spots and I had some interesting bargaining experiences. I walked away with some pretty paper Christmas light thingies and some incense for my future CELTA home, as well as some gifts and yummies.

The next day, today, began with packing up all my belongings, and preparing for the move to my new home for the next month. When I headed downstairs for breakfast, I overheard some chaps talking about tests and vocabulary and such and I found out that they were also doing the CELTA. I took a seat beside them for some relieving chitchat and gossip spoken in English. One of them had just finished and the other one was going to be in the course with me. More CELTA folks began to join us and I started to liken the whole experience to MTV’s Real World… 12 strangers picked to live together in Thailand and become English teachers.

I had one more Wat to see before I left and was happy to have the company of my newfound friend, Max. Max and I walked on down the road to a Wat I had spotted late the night before. I was intrigued because it seemed very sparkly (even in the dark), and I swore I saw Donald Duck in the front yard. When we arrived, the Wat was more sparkly than ever in the sunlight and yes, Donald Duck was indeed standing in the front yard eating a bowl of noodles. When Max and I walked inside, there was a monk who very kindly blessed us both, sharing a bit of string that he tied around each one of our wrists. We soon had to head back to the guesthouse to catch our cab. With blessing on wrists, we were ready to go.




Our taxi showed up with room for four, though we had five. We piled our stuff up in the back and then piled ourselves up in the seats, four guys in the back, me in the front. Hey, I’m the girl.

It didn’t take too long before we reached our destination. And what a destination it is. Tucked in the back jungles just south of Chiang Mai, this lovely little resort exceeds my expectations. (The rooms just keep getting better and better.) I have hot water with serious pressure in an enormous green tiled shower, huge windows with lovely views of lakes and jungle, a king-size bed, a powerful ceiling fan, a/c, a flat-screen television, a fridge, an enormous closet, a western toilet, and lots of space. When I first walked in I immediately knew I could stay here for a while, a month, even.

So, now I settle in and prepare to go back to school tomorrow.