Day 81 - Monywa

I took the local bus headed to Monywa in the morning. I was the only foreigner on the bus, and it took about 4 hours to get there (about 85 miles). The reason for the long ride was the fact that the bus stopped a million times to pick up passengers to stuff onto the bus with all their packages and belongings. Good thing I got a window seat so I wouldn't have to deal as much with the crowdiness. I'm pretty sure the bus shouldn't have to withstand the excess weight from the people and luggage, but that's the way to do things in Asia!

Monywa was a very small city, maybe even smaller than Pyin Oo Lwin, and a lot more peaceful. There were less vehicles on the road, which meant less honking all day. After checking into my hotel, I took a walk around the city, which didn't take too much of a toll since the weather was overcast and most of the city center was near the hotel.

I visited the Shwezigon Paya, which was a large religious site with numerous shrines and stupas. It has become one of my favorite places to visit so far in Myanmar because it was so peaceful and empty. It reminded me of Wat Chedi Luang in Chiang Mai. I guess my visit was enhanced due to the fact that this city isn't really one of the touristy stops. No other tourists were around, and no honking could be heard from inside the grounds. I spent about an hour and a half just sitting there, listening to music and watching people come and go as their stopped to pray.

After dinner, I decided to come back again to see it at night, enhanced by the artificial light, which made the stupas glimmer even greater than during the day. More people were there at night. I suppose it is a gathering site for people at the end of the day.

Tomorrow I head to Pokkoku by bus, before transferring to Bagan by boat down the Ayeyarwady River.

This was offered to me as a side for my lunch...not sure what I could possibly eat from it...

Day 62 - Last Day in Chiang Mai

Spent another lazy day in Chiang Mai before taking a night train from Chiang Mai to Bangkok. Met up with my CS friend and we had lunch at Huan Penh again - this time not on a completely empty stomach, so I ordered one dish instead of three. For dinner, I went back to Aroon-Rai again to get some curry with sticky rice.

Arrived at the train station to head to Bangkok around 8pm. Even though I didn't manage to get a sleeper train out of the city, the sitting trains were spacious, and not even half-full. Most of the travelers had two seats to themselves, and I managed to sleep curled up on both seats through the night. I love Thailand transportation!

Day 61 - Lazy Day in Chiang Mai

It would be my last full day in Chiang Mai, so I decided that I would probably just lounge around in my hotel and watch a couple of bootleg DVDs (Horrible Bosses and Bad Teacher) that I purchased at the night bazaar last night.

Plans to stay over at a Couch Surfer's home fell through, but I ended up meeting up with another traveler who was in Chiang Mai for about a month. He was from India, but was in Chiang Mai traveling but also trying to market his own business of being a relaxation, yoga, reiki, meditation master. We talked a little about his work, but I didn't know too much about all these different types of therapy/life coaching/relaxation/spiritual techniques.

We had some lunch at a vegetarian restaurant and talked a little about his yoga expertise. There were pictures of him in some insanely flexible yoga poses, and he explained that it was a lot less about being flexible and more about channeling energy to get to those positions.

We watched Horrible Bosses before heading out for dinner and some bar-hopping in a backpacker area. Went to a live Jazz and Reggae Bar and danced a little. I saw this one ex-pat for the third time in 3 days...once at a Jazz Bar, once at the post office, and now, at this Reggae bar. She was full of energy and dancing the whole night. I wonder what her story is...

East Wall Entrance (Tapae Gate) to the Old City

Crispy Morning Glory Salad

Live Jazz Music

Day 60 - Motorbiking in Chiang Mai

I decided to rent the motorbike for another day since it is just so convenient to have one while in this city. I didn't have any real set plans on what to do for the day, but figured I would somehow stumble on exciting things to see.

I went to a restaurant recommended by my new CS friend. It was called Huan Penh and served authentic Northern Thai dishes. I was so hungry (eyes bigger than my stomach) and ordered three different plates. The dishes were small enough, and I almost finished everything!

Near the restaurant was another Wat, Wat Phra Sing that I visited. About a hundred or so slippers lined the steps to the entrance of the Wat and inside, the temple was filled with monks chanting and meditating. It was such an incredible sight to see.

I looked over my Thailand guidebook to see what the nearest cities were, because I wanted to just drive around and cover a decent amount of the highway. I drove to a couple cities about 10km outside of Chiang Mai called Bo Sang and San Kamphaeng. The cities is known for it's handicraft villages, which made various items like umbrellas, silverware, lacquerware, and teak furniture. It was slightly raining on my way back to Chiang Mai, but going 60kmph, it was painful, as the rain hit my face and body.

At the end of the night, I headed to the Night Bazaar to check out the merchandise again, before taking another drive around the city, this time getting lost and stuck on a superhighway about 1km outside of Chiang Mai. I was stopped by the Thai police at a random checkpoint probably because I stood out by my unnatural driving. They helped me find my way back luckily and didn't give me any trouble...

Huan Penh - Kao Soy, Kanom Jen, and Northern Style Pork Sausages

Wat Phra Sing

Wat Phra Sing

Bo Sang Umbrellas

Day 59 – Getting Spiritual in Chiang Mai

Taking advice from other travelers, I decided to rent a motorbike and head to Doi Suthep, a forested mountain 1,601m tall and 16km from Chiang Mai. At the top of the mountain sits Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, one of the most famous temples in Northern Thailand. It took a while to get there because I kept getting lost, using a map given to me and asking locals how to get there. Many of the streets in Chiang Mai are one-way streets, and people drive on the left side of the road, so I was a little nervous about getting around. There definitely were a couple times when I found myself on the right side of the road, before quickly realizing that I was about to kill myself....

I found myself lost at the Chiang Mai University, but thankfully, most of the people there spoke English and I was able to drive through the campus and onto a main road, quite close to the bottom of the mountain.

At the bottom of the temple was a 304-step staircase with nagas (dragons) on the sides used as handrails. Once at the top, I had to take off my shoes to enter. The temple was beautiful, with a gold-plated stupa right in the center, similar to what I had seen at the Grand Palace in Bangkok. The temple itself was not very big, was grand nonetheless because of the shiny gold shining brightly against the sunlight. I purchased some incense, a yellow candle, a stick of garlic, and a lotus flower as offerings to Buddha. I'm not too sure what the stick of garlic is used for, but I stuck it next to the burning incense...

On the outside of the temple were temple bells that people ring for good luck. There were also scenic views of all of Chiang Mai near the back of the temple. One unique monument that normally isn't seen at typical temples was the White Elephant Monument, which represented a white elephant that marched up the mountain, turned three times, and died. This was a signal to the king at the time to build a temple on top of the mountain.

Heading down the mountain, I stopped by a national park and took a mini hike through one of the trails, following signs written in Thai, in hopes that it would lead me somewhere interesting. I saw a small waterfall and ended up at another scenic view of Chiang Mai. I took another route down, where I met with a Thai man who happened to walk up the mountain, pray to Buddha, and walk back down. It took him 2.5 hours to get to the top. He said he was doing this, asking Buddha to grant his wishes in exchange for him walking up and down the mountain.

Afterwards, I biked back to the Old City in Chiang Mai and stopped at a bunch of temples. There are so many temples here, that you would expect to see at least one for every block you walked down. One of my favorites was Wat Chedi Luang, which had a main temple where I was able to see a group of monks meditating and chanting. In the back was another older temple that resembled something you would see at Angkor Wat. The entire area was so peaceful, and my experience was probably enhanced because it was overcast and the breeze was perfect at that time at dusk.

At the end of the night, I had dinner at an Anthony Bourdain recommended restaurant that served North Thailand Curries called Aroon Rai, and met up with a Couchsurfer at a Jazz Bar where there was a jam session that night. The bar was a mixture of Expats and locals, and I got some great advice on where to get some good food in Chaing Mai. I'm definitely going to check it out tomorrow.

Wat Chedi Luang

Steps to Wat Phra That Doi Suthep

Ringing Bells for Good Luck

Wat Phra That Doi Suthep

Wat Phra That Doi Suthep

Wat Phantao

Wat Phantao

Wat Chedi Luang

Wat Chedi Luang

Day 58 - Muy Thai Boxing in Chiang Mai

Went to the bus station to catch a ride to Chiang Mai. There were two bus terminals in Chiang Rai, so I had to take a tuk-tuk to get to the correct one. I took the first class bus, which was a double decker with a bathroom. The seats were pretty spacious, although there was a problem with the A/C condensation dripping on the two people sitting in front of me. We took the whole bus trip trying to figure out how to keep the water from dripping onto them. It was sad...and I hope they asked for their money back!

The entire bus ride was abour 3 hours, which was not bad at all. Once there, I took a motorbike to the Night Market area to look for a hotel. Settled on a guesthouse with a fan (no A/C!) in a room that resembled a 12 year old's room. It was nice, since there was an actual theme...unlike some of the other hotels I'd been to.

Walked around after settling in, and went to the Wat Buppharam where I took some pictures of the temples and stupas. I was approached by a Buddhist Monk, who brought me into the Thunjai Buddha Temple and he asked me to pray with him and wish Buddha for things I wanted. He wrapped a rod of string that was wrapped around a golden lotus (?) around my neck and I held the two strings in my hand as I prayed, and he held the strings as well and chanted a Buddhist Meditation prayer for me. It was an interesting experience as I'd never done this before. He also took a bunch of incense and dipped it in water and splashed me numerous times with it. I'm not sure what this procedure is called. At the end of the chanting, he gave me a bracelet and said to wear it for a year as it would be used as protection. He was a very jolly monk and was very encouraging and optimistic about my life. He said it was my lucky day... I thanked him and made a donation, feeling a little more confident and hopefully safe on my journey.

Afterwards, I went to the Wat Saenfang before closing and saw monks meditating and chanting in the temple. I sat for a good 5-10 minutes trying to meditate as well, unknown if I was actually successful. It was difficult to clear my head as I just continued to talk to myself in my mind... it was like I was an only child talking to myself.

Went into the night searching for the night bazaar. There was everything you could imagine to purchase there. I bought some food and got a foot massage for about $2.50 before heading to my first Muy Thai boxing match! I got front ringside seats and it was really exciting to see the fighting. It's brutal as they can use their legs and knees to kick anywhere...without padding, and the only padding is on the hands (except for the last fight, which was bare hands fighting). There was a women's fight and an international fight with a guy from France (although it looked fixed). Also, there was a filler blind boxing match and topless ladyboy dancing as well... Many of the Thai Ladyboys have already had their operations, so there were real breasts on display... I wonder if it is affordable in this country, compared to the United States? I'd think it would be a very expensive and timely process to get a sex-change in the states...

I found Disney at Wat Buppharam

Wat Buppharam

Thunjai Buddha Temple

Wat Saenfang

Pre-Fight Dancing Ritual