James the Intrepid Pilgrim

Tuesday, January 6, 2015 – Outside the Moat to Wat Mahawan and Wat Chetawan I walked outside the old city (aka outside the wall or outside the moat) down Tha Phae Road to see what has changed. Many things change, and many stay the same, just like in the U.S. I stopped at Wat Mahawan, a temple of unknown origin date, the viharn (worship hall) and ubosot (ordaining hall) were built in the 1860s. The […]

Monday, January 5, 2015 The New Year Starts in Chiang Mai With the end of the long holiday weekend comes a return to a more normal business flow. Traffic on the streets is crowded early in the morning as people return to work and school. Some tourists here for the New Year’s celebrations are leaving, and the tourists on holiday for Chinese New Year are arriving. Chinese new year is not until February 19, but […]

Sunday, January 4, 2015 Up the Mountain to Wat Palad Part 2 This post will contain many pictures – Wat Palad is a favorite of mine, unusual, and set right in the jungle. The entrance down the hill to Wat Palad is guarded by two mythical creatures, the aponsi, half woman, half lion. Then there is the entrance to the area in which one of the open-air viharn (worship hall) are located, guarded by these […]

Sunday, January 4, 2015 – Up the Mountain to Wat Palad Part 1, Wat Fai Hin Wat Palad is one of my favorite temples, but not easily accessible. I discovered it two years ago and found it to be very peaceful, quiet, and very, very few tourists go to Wat Palad. It is a temple essentially in the jungle, just off the main highway to the very popular and important Wat Phra That Doi Suthep.  […]

Sunday, January 4, 2015 New Buddha Statues at Wat Chedi Luang I went to Wat Chedi Luang for my morning meditation, and saw that chairs and a pavilion were set up for a special ceremony. There are two trucks with large dark green statues, heavily wrapped in plastic, so I cannot see what is inside very well. I overheard one man saying that the trucks drove down from Chiang Rai early this morning. I will […]

Friday, January 2, 2015 A Lost Day I woke feeling poorly today. And my lower GI tract told me that the chilies I added to the fried rice at Kanjana last night were too much for my system. They were very, very spicy, and I was wondering what the outcome would be. So today was a rest day, something of a lost day in which I stayed in all day, slept much of the day, […]

Thursday, January 1, 2015 The New Year Begins in Chiang Mai I awoke feeling good — it is the new year, and I am in Chiang Mai. It will be a good day! Started the day as usual, with a meditation at the foot of the large chedi at Wat Chedi Luang. While I have said this previously, I love this chedi. There may not be a much better way to start the day than […]

Tuesday evening, December 30, 2014 Arrival in Chiang Mai On arriving in Chiang Mai, waiting for luggage, and getting a taxi to the 3-Sis Guest House, I checked e-mail and phones, and found several urgent messages requesting some work be done that was considered business-critical. So I signed on and got the processes started. There were two separate set of processes needing my attention. A challenge arose with the internet provider. The 3-Sis has a […]

Tuesday, December 30 2014 Last Day in Bangkok Today is my last day in Bangkok. And the goal is to see the Vimanmek Palace, a former royal palace of King Rama V, and the world’s largest golden teakwood mansion. It was built in 1900, and after the current Grand Palace was built, became a storage facility for the royal household. In 1982, on the bicentennial of the founding of Bangkok, Her Majesty Queen Sirikit asked […]

Monday, December 29 Part 3: Wat Pho (the Reclining Buddha) Was Pho is a large complex of viharn (worship halls) and chedi (pagodas). Many of the viharn are not open to the public. The large crowds here are oppressive and tiring. This is the high tourist season, and it is always especially crowded before New Year’s Day. I fell into line with the crowds of tourists to see the reclining Buddha. Wat Pho is guarded by these […]

Monday, December 29 Part 2: Wat Benchamabophit (The Marble Temple) After Wat Arun and feeling the need to get a fresh camera battery (not sure why I left it in the hotel), the journey continued, across the river on the ferry, down the river on the boat, back to the hotel on the sky train. Replaced the camera battery (put the other in the charger), and set off in a taxi to see the Vimanmek Palace […]

Monday, December 29 Part 1: Wat Arun A favorite sentiment is 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 way will be the traveling companions of our memories forever. “The […]