Tuesday, December 25, 2018
Preparing to Return to Thailand for a Yoga-Focused Month

I am about to return to Chiang Mai, Thailand for a month of yoga, part-time work, and enjoying the culture, sights, and food. Along the way, I’ll spend just one full day in Bangkok to see a few of my favorite sights: Wat Arun, the Reclining Buddha at Wat Pho, and the Jim Thompson House/Museum.

This will be my seventh successive winter in Thailand in what is really a yoga-focused month. I’ll be doing yoga every day at Wild Rose Yoga in Chiang Mai. The intent of this blog is to share my journey, a little of what I did each day with a few pictures of what I saw, the places visited, and the food I ate. I also want to explore the history of Chiang Mai more, the ruins at Wiang Kum Kam, the second, earthen wall (Kamphaeng Din), and some temples I have not visited previously – there is much to do, and I find my time there full and too short.

So I’ve say goodbye to the beach at Del Mar where I often walk in the morning; I will not see a beach for more than a month, as Bangkok is not really near any beaches, and Chiang Mai is much farther in the north not at all near a beach.

Del Mar beach looking southwest towards La Jolla

[The famous beautiful beaches of Thailand are in the south, along the long peninsula connecting Thailand to Malaysia.]

I have been asked why I return to Chiang Mai after having been there before. Partly the answer comes from a quote attributed to the Greek Heraclitus in 544 BC:

“No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.”

In my six previous yoga trips to Chiang Mai – I stay in the same place (The 3-Sis Guest House), do yoga at the same place (Wild Rose Yoga), and eat in many of the same places. But each trip has been distinctly different. I see things differently, experience the same places differently, and the yoga is advanced so I get a good push.

As I have said a few times, I’ll try to keep the posts short, but there is much to see in Thailand and thus, much to say.