Sunday, December 3, 2023Walking to and along the Mae Ping River Mornings are cool, suggesting that winter is coming. By late morning, the heat is back, continuing well into the evening and making my usual after-dinner walks less comfortable than I remember. I wanted to get out for a walk today, having been reminded of a quote from John Muir (American Naturalist, Writer, Founder of the Sierra Club 1838 -1914) “I only went out for […]
Friday, December 1, 2023Walking West to Wat Suan Dok Today will be a very busy day. Because the morning is fairly cool, I wanted to get out for a walk and decided to walk out to Wat Suan Dok, one of my [many] favorite temples. Then I have scheduled yoga practice at 2 PM at Wild Rose Yoga, and then a Tok Sen session at 5 PM with Nun at Wat Sri Suphan. Chedi at […]
Monday, November 27, 2023Wat Inthakin South of and adjacent to the Monument to the Three Kings is a very old temple, Wat Inthakin, or more formally Wat Inthakin Sadeu Muang. This is where, it is said, the city pillar called “Inthakin” was erected in 1296 by King Mengrai when Chiang Mai was founded. “Wat Sadeu Muang” means “Temple of the naval of the city” reflecting its central position in the old city. The Inthakin pillar […]
Monday, November 27, 2023Wat Umong Mahatera Chan Across the street from the back entrance to Wat Pan Ping is the entrance to Wat Umong Mahatera Chan (not to be confused with Wat Umong east of the old city). In the Thai language, there are no spaces in a phrase or sentence, spaces delimit sentences. So it is often natural for a translator to run the words together in English, as seen in this sign. This […]
Monday, November 27, 2023Temples in the Neighborhood After the long travel to Thailand, the hot & humid day in Bangkok, a long walk around the perimeter of the old Chiang Mai city, and perhaps some vestiges of jet lag, I thought it best to have a less energetic day and explore some lesser visited temples in the neighborhood near The 3-Sis. This will be in three parts to keep the posts of reasonable length. I […]
Tuesday, November 21, 2023Favorite Temples in Bangkok My plans for today echo almost exactly my one full day in Bangkok last year in early December, so this post will be quite similar to that from last year, and years past when I only had one full day in Bangkok. I arrived in Bangkok on Monday, very tired after the long journey from Los Angeles. Wednesday (tomorrow) I leave for Chiang Mai shortly after breakfast. Today, […]
Wednesday, February 1, 2023A short walk on my last day Today is Wednesday, February 1, and my last day in Chiang Mai. The day started fairly normally with breakfast and then my last yoga practice at Wild Rose Yoga with instructor Annie. I said goodbye to Rose and John after practice, and went back to See You Soon to finish packing and mentally prepare for the long journey home. The flight does not leave until […]
Monday, January 23, 2023Third temple on this Monday After walking through a few sois and finally getting to Hussadhisawee Road, I continued south, into a familiar area and near Wat Santitham. The last temple I visited, Wat Chiang Chom, was a little uninspiring, and it was odd to see not a single person there. Nevertheless, I soon arrived at Wat Santitham. As I mentioned in my previous post, why Wat Santitham is not on Santitham […]
Monday, January 23, 2023Visiting a second temple this Monday Being up north of the old Chiang Mai city, I perused the map and decided to visit a temple I had never seen, a little closer to the old city. I would still need to get a ride because crossing the busy highway can only be done at major intersections, and in either direction that would mean walking 2-3 kilometers out of my way. Wat Chiang […]
Monday, January 23, 2023Visiting three temples on Monday I will be leaving Chiang Mai and returning home in just nine days. I have been in the Kingdom of Thailand for 50 days now. As is often said, time flies by when you’re having fun. And I am enjoying my time here in Thailand, mainly Chiang Mai. I am comfortable here, this being my tenth yoga-focussed visit to Chiang Mai. I have Rose (the owner of […]
Thursday, January 19, 2023Returning to visit Wat Lok Moli Yesterday, Rudy, my friend from France whom I met at Wild Rose Yoga, and I had a hike up the Doi Suthep mountain. It was a long and tiring but good day hiking on unfamiliar trails, mostly up hill (or so it seemed) in the jungle/forest on Doi Suthep. Today started at the O2 Gym for a strength training session with Ning. After that I was […]
Thursday, January 19, 2023Butter is Better and Wat Sri Don Chai Several days ago I went on line to find the best cinnamon rolls in Chiang Mai. There are good ones at Blue Diamond, but they are have a bit too much icing, overpowering the cinnamon flavor of the roll itself. Mentioned on many lists were the cinnamon rolls at Butter is Better, a restaurant owned by a former New Yorker who wanted to create […]
James the Intrepid Pilgrim 