Sunday, December 27, 2015 Settling In, Getting Dinner I am in Bangkok. It seemed to take a long time to get here, and while I have often arrived in the middle of the night, there is familiarity to everything I am doing. The big question is will I get adjusted to the local time, and how difficult will it be? I got to my room in the InterContinental Hotel, and the room is familiar, looking […]
The general goal of the journey to Thailand is to do yoga and meditation, work half-time, and walk around visiting temples and other places I have come to love. I walk around a lot while in Thailand, so I’ll use that walking to break in the hiking shoes I am planning to use on the Camino de Santiago in April. I do not have very much of an agenda for my short stay in Bangkok, […]
My first visit to Chiang Mai, Thailand was in 2003 as a side trip while in Thailand for the Bangkok International Film Festival. I visited in 2006, again as a side trip from the film festival in Bangkok. In 2010, I injured my right arm, causing a dramatic reduction of my yoga practice as well as completely stopping cycling, something I had been doing for many years. In mid-2011, my arm seemed better, and signed […]
Introduction and Background Greetings! I am Jim Geier. This blog is about my fourth successive winter in Bangkok & Chiang Mai, Thailand in late December 2015 and January 2016. The intent is to share my journey, a little of what I did each day with a few pictures of what I saw or places visited. If you are interested in seeing my blog for the previous two visits to Thailand, the links are: 2014-2015: https://jamesgeiercamino.wordpress.com/category/2015-thailand/ […]
Further Reflections on My Month in Thailand Last winter (2014-2015) I have been home from Chiang Mai for six months. Reflecting on my last winter in Chiang Mai, I have similar thoughts to those I posted five months ago: (1) it was quite different than I had expected, and (2) unexpected things occurred that changed the experience; not making it better or worse, just presenting different paths and experiences. I did not have firm expectations; […]
Reflections and Impressions on Another Winter in Chiang Mai I have been home for four weeks now, and reflecting on my recent month in Chiang Mai, the first thoughts are that (1) it was different than I had expected, and (2) unexpected things occurred that changed the experience; not making it better or worse, just presenting different experiences. I did not have firm expections; my hope was that I would do yoga, visit temples including […]
Sunday, 25 January 2015 The Journey Home I am reminded again of one of my favorite quotations, a sentiment often made, and very well-said by the following, the last line in the book Up Country by Nelson DeMille: The journey home is never a direct route; it is, in fact, always circuitous, and somewhere along the way, we discover that the journey is more significant than the destination, and that the people we meet along the […]
Friday 24 January 2015 Last Day Walk Last night in the lobby of the 3-Sis Guest House, I met a brother and sister from Washington State (my home state), and I saw them again today at breakfast. They are just starting a short leisure visit to Chiang Mai after couple weeks of business elsewhere in SE Asia. I told them of my plans to visit a few of my favorite temples being that this was […]
Friday, 23 January 2015 Last Full Day (?) This is my last full day in Chiang Mai. All right, that is not quite true, because tomorrow the plane does not leave until 11:55 PM, so on one hand that is a full day, but I’ll only have a room until noon, and will leave 3-Sis for the airport at 8:30 PM. It is close to a full day, and today, Friday, is my last full […]
Thursday, 22 January 2015 A Silk Factory and A Textile Exhibition My Thai friend Jo picked me up at 3-Sis at 9:30 and we were off to the Samkampaeng area east of the old city to the Jolie Femme Thai Silk Factory. The making of silk has a long history in Thailand. My understanding is that the making of silk in northern Thailand had dissipated in the twentieth century. After the war in the late […]
Wednesday, 21 January 2015 Walking to Wat Suan Dok Again It is a bit of a long walk, but I wanted to return to Wat Suan Dok. Wat Suan Dok is a large temple out near Chiang Mai University. The term “Suan Dok” means Flower Garden. This area outside the wall was for a long time the royal flower gardens, thus the gate on the west side of the wall is Suan Dok Gate, and […]
Wednesday, 21 January 2015 Revisiting Temples Across the Street Wat Chedi Luang is across the street from the 3-Sis Guest House, where I am a staying. I do my morning meditation at the foot of the large chedi in the back area of the property (pictures in previous posts). The city pillar is also located at Wat Chedi Luang. Most cities in Thailand have a city pillar housed in a shrine. The shrine is believed […]
James the Intrepid Pilgrim 