Wat Tam Wua (Northern Thailand)

Well our adventures in Chiang Mai ended (for now) and we headed North to a little town called Pai.  This was about a three hour ride from Chiang Mai on a VERY windy road through the mountains.  I was warned that this was a scary drive that many people get motion sickness on.  I prepared myself and brought bags just in case.  I was a little disappointing.  The road was fine, must be all that time I spent in the Rockies and the Road Trip driving windy roads!  Nonetheless it was really beautiful!  Lots of trees and mountains.

We got to Pai around noon and stopped for some lunch near the bus stop.  From there we hopped on another bus that was headed to Mai Hong Son.  Another three hours.  But this time we were going to get off early, at Wat Tam Wua, a Buddhist monastery in the middle of the mountains.  The bus dropped us off at the side on the road near a sign and we started our Meditation Retreat!

We Got There, Not Knowing What to Expect 

Our Daily Schedule!

Welcome to Our New Home

We spent three full days here.  Eating only before noon, spending about 6 hours in meditation, and many more hours in quiet solitude.  This was an absolutely AMAZING experience.  Although definitely hard work.  We walked into the monastery and were welcomed right away.  After a quick check in and a going over of the rules we were lead to our houses for the next couple nights.  They were the bear minimum.  

This Was My Bed!

And This My Little House!

Although there was not much there, and the bugs did eat you in your sleep, it was pretty comfy.  I slept fairly well and even had my own bathroom!  Joel was less lucky and had a dorm room with several other men.  But all in all not too bad! 

After dropping off our stuff we headed to Chanting which is the last group activity of the day.  This consists of chanting for about 50 min and 40 min of sitting meditation.  Our very first experience with meditation.  It was really hard for me to clear my mind but really nice at the same time.  By the time we finished it was dark and after a talking a bit we headed to bed!

The next day was an early morning!  Up at 5 (I was up at 6) to do self meditation.  Then breakfast after offering to the monks.  The food was pretty delicious, all vegetarian and lots of rice!

The Check In Hall and Dinning Area!

After Breakfast it was time for our first real meditation session.  Here we did 40 min walking, 40 min sitting, and about 20 min lying, during this time there was some discussion from the teacher monk on how best to meditate and deal with things such as monkey mind (something I suffer from drastically, jumping from one idea to another, much like a monkey from one tree to another).  

After meditation was offering to the monks again and then lunch, vegetarian, and of course the last meal of the day!  Then back for another round of meditation (which for me always turned out to be the least successful apparently afternoon is not a good time for me to try and calm my mind!) 

Then it was free time for an hour, and hour of chores (of your choice) and then free time till 6:30 when chanting began. 

Overall it was such a cool experience, definitely hard, but worth it!  There is also a lot of down time which we spent reading some of the books provided, about Buddhism mostly, and wondering around the grounds.  The area around the monastery really is amazing and so peaceful!

Our Favorite Place in the Monestary!

Early Morning Meditation

That Was the Best Bench!

We Had To Wear Only White, and Of Course There Was A Pond with Fish

My Favorite Feature was the Mountains!

I would absolutely tell everyone to go here for some time.  You just drop in and stay however long you want.  It it totally based on donation so money should be no excuse.  Yes it is hard, but wow what a cool experience it was!  My recommendation would be to stay 5 full days (7 days including the day you arrive and leave).  I felt that we left right as it was getting good! Although I gotta say I did enjoying eating some yummy chips when we got to Pai!

Getting to the Monastery was super easy, any bus to Mae Hong Son will stop there if you ask and leaving was also very easy as there is a public bus that goes by once a day and will take you all the way to Chiang Mai if you need to!

Probably My Biggest Complaint Was the ANTS

Another cool thing is that you get to meet some other travelers, all ages.  Although many of them want to be left alone to reflect and choose to be Silent (which is an option although not mandatory!)  some are more than willing to talk about their experience and meditation!  I also spent one volunteer time working in the kitchen with some lovely Thai women who spoke little English but nonetheless were impressed with my height and size!  I am of course much taller (and bigger) than the average Thai person, let alone women!

All in all such a cool experience  but it did have to end and now we are headed to Pai for our last couple nights in Thailand then off to Cambodia!

Bye Bye Wat Tam Wua!

Chiang Mai (Wats)

We spent so much time walking around Chaing Mai looking at all the Wats.  These are the Buddhist Temples with lots of amazing architecture.  Our first and furthest stop was Doi Suthep.

Rammy Ram Made It To The Temple

Amazing Gold Bell

Lots of Bells!

View From the Inside

Amazing Temple From the Front 

After spending time up there in Doi Suthep, which is on top of the hill near Chiang Mai, we headed back to the city to explore some of the 300 temples in the city itself.  We walked around over the next 5 or 6 days and walked into lots of different places and saw all these cool amazing sights. 

Amazing Scuptures At Wat Chiang Man

Found the Goat (Me....Year of the Goat!)

We Found a Wat with Lots of Horses!

Amazing Colors with the Bright Blue Sky

One of my Favorite Wat's, All the Zodiac is Hung Up

Very Old, Obviously!

Anyway at this point I can barely tell you which one is from which Wat.  We walked in and out of so many in the city and spent time looking around and taking pictures.  It was really awesome and quite beautiful!  It definitely makes me excited for the retreat we are about to go do!

Chiang Mai (The City)

So we have been in Chiang Mai for a while now and I am loving it!  I am going to blog Chiang Mai a little differently that the other blogs.  I will break it up into what we did which might no be necessarily in chronological order.  This blog will be about the city and the food!  Which is always pretty important to me!

So we flew into Chiang Mai from Koh Samui, caught an taxi to our new home for a couple days.  The Mojito Guesthouse 2.  This is a very cute little hostel with a really cool chill area.

This Is Our Nice Little Home

The Amazing Chill Area, With A Pool and Everything!

From our amazing hostel, which is in the middle of the old city, we can easily walk all around and see lots of the amazing architecture.  There is also tons of delicious food all around.  One of our favorite restaurants is called Bamboo Bee's its a vegetarian restaurant right near Wat Chiang Man.  Really cute, small restaurant, with only one chef, who does everything!  She cooks, makes smoothies, and does shopping!  The restaurant only fits about 10 people with the kitchen in the front so we can watch her cook!

Our Amazing Breakfast at the Bamboo Bee's

An Amazing Smoothie we Had

The Delicious Kitchen

Chocolate Banana Frappe!

The MAJESTIC Veggie Burger!

Our Very First Delicious Meal at the Vegetarian Restaurant. 

Amazing Orange/ Ginger/ Lemon Smoothie. 

Another Amazing Restaurant We Went To!

 We also spent lots of time in Chiang Mai going to all the markets that are around the city.  The Night Market, The Saturday Walking Market, The Sunday Market.  It was really awesome, lots of cool things and amazing foods!  We had mushrooms wrapped in bacon, sushi, lychee drink, ancient ice cream (which we called butter on a stick), Pad Thai, and Buns.  All in all it cost us less than 5 dollars a person and it was delicious!  We also bought some cool Thai Pants and our white clothing for the meditation course that we are going to take in a couple days.

Butter on a Stick!  So Yummy!

On one of our last nights in Chiang Mai the Dutch were playing soccer so we headed to the famous Holland House to watch and what we came across was amazing!

All Dutch Food!  Including REAL CHEESE!

Us Cheering them On!

So Many Dutch People!!!!

That was our overall experience in Chiang Mai!  I will also write a post about the Wat's, our Cooking Class, and of course the Tiger Kingdom!  Stay tuned!

Koh Phangan (AKA FULL MOON PARTY)

We stayed here for the mandatory 5 days.  When booking a hostel in Koh Phangan during the Full Moon Party you need to book for 5 days because literally thousands of backpackers come down for this giant party on the beach.  I think I got told it was 20,000 people, which is about 10,000 less than usual because of the unrest in Thailand so lots of travelers have opted to go elsewhere.  Well let me tell you it was still totally crazy!

Like I said we stayed here for 5 night in a bungalow, on the beach.  Not too shabby.  Although we did have some ants, and cockroaches, and no A/C which meant it was a little warm.  But still, pretty cool!

Our Beach

Collecting Dinner

Rammy Ram Enjoying the Fun and Sun (Or Clouds)

Not too Shabby

Rammy Ram and I are taking a Nap!

So we lazed around most of those days, eating yummy food and enjoying the sun (or clouds) and the pool and ocean.  Pretty cool life!  The big event of course was the Full Moon Party,  which was held on the 12th of June and it was crazy!  We met lots of people before hand and took pictures, got painted up and then headed to the beach around midnight.  When we got there we immediately lost everyone because it was so busy!  There is very little I can write to describe the Full Moon Party.  It was so many people dancing on the beach, drinking, making friends, playing with fire, watching FIFA opening match, and just having a great time!  We stayed till 6 am and then headed back to our hostel for a nice day of relaxing and recuperation. 

So Many People!

Fire Jump Rope (I wanted to but Joel wouldn't let me...Thank GOD!)

Full Moon PARTY!

Wearing Lots of Bring Colors!

Fire Sign 

We Made It Till Morning, Safe and Sound!

The next couple days we saw LOTS of people with injuries from falling, tuk tuks, and of course the fire rope.  Good thing we were careful!  Had such a blast and would totally do it again!  But not it is off to Koh Samui for a couple more days on the beach before we head North!