We headed into Chiang Mai for the day on Sunday morning. We got to town a bit early before church so we stopped at a supermarket. It was very nice. Lots of brands we are used to seeing and typical foods. Great produce section. I could shop there for sure. For people in COS, it is a bit smaller than the Safeway and a bit larger than the King Soopers on Powers.
We went to an International church for Easter. There must have been 200+ in there service and was quite good. Lots of singing and a good message.
Then we went to a Holiday Inn for brunch. It was Ben’s birthday and the staff brought him a small cake with a candle and sang Happy Birthday to him.
After lunch—we were stuffed— we went to a Buddhist temple at the top of a mountain on the edge of Chiang Mai. We went up about 3,000 feet on a steep winding road. Amazing enough, there were cyclists climbing the mountain in the heat, the smog, and the traffic.
The temple has an interesting story. There was a statue of Buddha that caused trouble wherever it went. So, the statue was strapped on the back of an elephant and it was set loose. It went most of the way up the mountain, turned around a few times, trumpeted, laid done, and died. They built the shrine on that site. The picture on the right commemorates that story. I remember it being in 1929.
It was quite a walk to get there. Lots of steps and it was hot. I, for one, was soaked by the time I got to the top. There were tons of people—tourists, locals, and Buddhists there to gain merit. Merit is a bit like a deposit in a bank account. When you do something bad, you withdraw from your bank account. That is a hugely simplistic view. As you can see from the link, Buddhism is as complicated as Christianity in the number of branches and doctrine.
Here are some pictures from the temple.
The steps. The temple with the statue of Buddha.
Gaining merit. Buddha did not claim to be a god so The temple was very ornate.
they are not supposed to pray to Buddha, but to the
teachings ( the Dharma)
To enter this room to see the Buddhist priest you had Two Buddhist priests. Randy says they are fun to talk with
go in on your knees. Even the King of Thailand would and eager to learn. They survive on donations from the
have to do that. people. They eat one meal a day, but we did see two of
them drinking a coffee in mid-afternoon.
A view of Chiang Mai (on a clear day it would be spectacular).
After the visit to the mountain, we went to the walking market. It is about mile long, jammed with stalls, and even more jammed with people. It was quite the experience. I’ll post a couple of pictures later.
It was a long, but fun day.