13 January 2018 Saturday Visiting the Chiang Mai National Museum Today is my Australian friend Tom’s last full day in Chiang Mai. He starts his journey home tomorrow after yoga and a farewell lunch. After our exposure to a less-known part of Chiang Mai’s history with our visit to Wiang Kum Kam, Tom asked me if I had been to the National Museum next to the Wat Jed Yod grounds. I have been to Wat […]
Thursday 11 January, 2018 Exploring Wiang Kum Kam My Australian friend Tom and I decided to visit Wiang Kum Kam. I had been to a few of the sites three years ago, and I knew that Tom was interested in history. And, Tom has a motorbike, and will only be here for a few more days. Before the current old city of Chiang Mai was built by King Mengrai and his two friends, in 1296, […]
Wednesday 10 January, 2018 Hiking up through the jungle to Wat Phalad Wat Phalad (sometimes spelled Wat Pha Lat or Wat Palad, the formal name is Wat Skadagamiwanaram) is a peaceful temple in the jungle a little less than half way up the mountain to the famous Wat Phra That Doi Suthep. I will go up to Wat Phra That Doi Suthep another day and share pictures. But in the jungle, near the main road leading […]
Saturday January 6, 2018 First Walk Around the Wall/Moat Chiang Mai was built starting in 1296 as a walled city, also with a moat around it. The earth excavated from the moat was used as the foundation for the wall, ultimately covered in brick. Some, less than half, of the wall still exists, and almost all of the moat still exists. The wall is approximately square, about 1.5 kilometers on a side or about one […]
Sunday 31 December 2017 The Lanterns of New Year’s Celebrations One of the things Thailand is famous for is the lantern festival in November and also the lanterns used in the New Year’s celebrations in various parts of Thailand. And in Chiang Mai, there are hundreds of lanterns floated into the sky on New Year’s Eve. Here is a picture of a few of the lanterns in the sky – this was early in the […]
New Year’s Eve Sunday, 31 December 2017 Today was my first full day in Chiang Mai. And it is New Year’s Eve. There is much celebration as the tourists and Thai people prepare for and start their new year’s celebrations and events both inside and outside the old city. The word “Chiang” in the city name historically meant “walled city.” In the thirteenth century, King Mengrai built a walled city to the north called Chiang […]
Thursday 28-December 2017 The other half of Wat Pho While Wat Arun is being guarded by two giant yak nature-spirits, Wat Pho is guarded by two of what looks to be wise men. Not as fierce or aggressive-looking as the yaks, but they are there guarding the temple every day. Wat Pho is most known as the temple of the Reclining Buddha. That is only one part of Wat Pho. Wat Pho is also significant […]
Thursday 28 December 2017 The journey from Los Angeles to Bangkok: On my travel to Chiang Mai, Thailand, I am spending two nights including one full day in Bangkok to recover from the long travel day and enjoy a few of my favorite sights in Bangkok. Bangkok is a large and almost chaotic city with twice as many people as Los Angeles in a space the size of Los Angeles. It is winter in Thailand […]
I am returning 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 two days in Bangkok to see a few of my favorite sights (mainly Wat Arun & the Reclining Buddha at Wat Pho). This will be my sixth successive winter in Bangkok & Chiang Mai, Thailand in what is really a yoga-focused month as I’ll be doing yoga every day at […]
16 October 2017 Walking day 33: 20 kilometers Today, Monday, 16 October 2017, I walked into Santiago de Compostela and arrived at the cathedral. I made it! This is the end-point of the 800 kilometer Camino Frances. Unfortunately, the cathedral is undergoing a multi-year cleaning, and is covered in scaffolding, but this is the cathedral at Santiago de Compostela: My body is tired, my feet are tired and sore. I am stopping my 2017 Camino […]
15 October 2017 Walking Day 32: 21.5 kilometers Today was another really nice day walking on the Camino de Santiago, although it was noticeably more humid than in past days. For the past two or more weeks, the temperature at the start of the day has been in single-digits (Celsius, 38-50 Fahrenheit). Today, coming out of the hotel in Arzúa, was 18 at 8:15 AM! (64 F). Dark, but already warm and already humid. We […]
14 October 2017 Walking Day 31: 28.8 kilometers Today was a very nice walk on the Camino de Santiago. There were definitely some challenges, but it was a very nice day. The day started out in the pre-dawn darkness at about 6 C (40 F), and gradually warmed to be about 28 C (82 F) and just a little more humid than in recent days. I started again in the pre-dawn darkness at about 8:00 […]
James the Intrepid Pilgrim 