the untamed north: trip report, part, i dunno... twelve?

Did I mention that we saw a Muay Thai fight? It was good. We got rotee afterwards (delicious). Well, here are the videos. The only real thing of interest is you can hear the goddawful band playing, its made up of the most annoying assortment of percussion instruments and what I like to call Satan's oboe. And listen to the crowd yell during the clinch, fun stuff.

the untamed north: trip report, part v

During the trip to the north, we had the fortune to have two very good experiences with temples. The first was the aforementioned monk chat. Imagine seeing monks every day: always in their saffron robes, standing out so much from the general public, and seeming to always possess an aura of calmness. But, you can never really approach and talk to them to find out what their life is like. For a westerner, it is a complete mystery unless you are well-informed, and even then, you never here the information from the monk, it is always an informer. Imagine, then, how refreshing it is to be welcomed to talk with one of these men who seem (not negatively) holier-than-thou and, at the same time, an every-man.

Many of our questions were very simple. We asked how long our monk had been a monk. He replied that he had been a novice for eight years and that he had been a monk for one. We asked him what his daily routine was: he was only able to eat once a day, before noon, and had to wake up very early, before five, to beg for his daily sustenance from the local population, he then would chant and pray, and attended a college (with regular, non-monk students). He lived a life without belongings. He asked us what religion we were. I, personally, identify as an agnostic theist, but that’s probably not the first thing they teach you in English class, so I said that I believed in Buddhists and Christians and Muslims and all of them. As I’ve mentioned before, one of the best parts about Buddhism (in my view), is the room it makes for other religions. There is no prohibiting of worshiping ancient gods in Buddhism, and there is room for coexistence and understanding of other religions (I’ll get back to this later).

He asked us what the number one important “thing” about Christianity was. I said I didn’t really know but I was pretty sure it was to embrace Jesus Christ as the son of God and realize his dying for your sins. I asked him what the one most important “thing” about Buddhism was, and he said karma.

We compared the “Ten Precepts” he had to follow as a novice with the “Ten Commandments” of Christianity: Yes, there are similarities (shocker!):

The Ten Commandments:

1. "I am the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before Me..."

This commandment is to believe in the existence of God and His influence on events in the world, and that the goal of the redemption from Egypt was to become His servants. It prohibits belief in or worship of any additional deities.

2. "Do not make an image or any likeness of what is in the heavens above..."

This prohibits the construction or fashioning of "idols" in the likeness of created things (beasts, fish, birds, people) and worshipping them.

3. "Do not swear falsely by the name of the LORD..."

This commandment is to never take the name of God in a vain, pointless or insincere oath.

4. "Remember [zachor] the Sabbath day and keep it holy" (the version in Deuteronomy reads shamor, "observe")

The seventh day of the week is termed Shabbat and is holy, just as God ceased creative activity during Creation.

5. "Honor your father and your mother..."

The obligation to honor one's parents is an obligation that one owes to God and fulfills this obligation through one's actions towards one's parents.

6. "Do not murder"

Murdering a human being is a capital sin.

7. "Do not commit adultery."

Adultery is defined as sexual intercourse between a man and a married woman who is not his wife.

8. "Do not steal."

This is not understood as stealing in the conventional sense, since theft of property is forbidden elsewhere and is not a capital offense. In this context it is to be taken as "do not kidnap."

9. "Do not bear false witness against your neighbor"

One must not bear false witness in a court of law or other proceeding.

10. "Do not covet your neighbor's wife"

One is forbidden to desire and plan how one may obtain that which God has given to another.

The Ten Precepts:

1. Panatipata veramani sikkhapadam samadiyami
(I undertake to abstain from harming or taking life).

2. Adinnadanna veramani sikkhapadam samadiyami
(I undertake to abstain from taking what is not given).

3. Abrahmacariya veramani sikkhapadam samadiyami
(I undertake to abstain from any sexual contact).

4. Musavada veramani sikkhapadam samadiyami
(I undertake to abstain from false speech).

5. Sura meraya majjapamadatthana veramani sikkhapadam samadiyami
(I undertake to abstain from the use of intoxicants).

6. Vikalabhojana veramani sikkhapadam samadiyami
(I undertake to abstain from taking food after midday).

7. Nacca gita vadita visuka dassana veramani sikkhapadam samadiyami
(I undertake to abstain from dancing, singing, music or any kind of entertainment).

8. Mala ganda vilepana dharana mandana vibhusanatthana veramani sikkhapadam samadiyami
(I undertake to abstain from the use of garlands, perfumes, unguents and adornments).

9. Uccasayana mahasayana veramani sikkhapadam samadiyami
(I undertake to abstain from using luxurious seats).

10. Jatarupa rajata patiggahana veramani sikkhapadam samadiyami
(I undertake to abstain from accepting and holding money).

So, basically, we have (with differences):

6=1
8=2
7=3
9=4

Most of the other precepts refer to the rejection of possessions and ridding thyself of personal desire, while most of the other commandments refer to the acknowledgment and respect of a single God. I think you can really see how these have shaped western and eastern society (though I’d like to point out that, oftentimes, eastern society seems just as materialistic as western society, nowadays).

Later on, we found a very nice display at Wat U Mong that summarized the Buddhist mode of thinking regarding other religions, it read:

Why is it so:

Buddha Dhamma is not the religion of everyone who calls himself a Buddhist. For many are found who call themselves Buddhist, but do not conduct their lives according to the Dhamma as taught by Gotama Buddha.

Christianity is not the religion of everyone who calls himself a Christian. For many are found who call themselves Christians, but do not conduct their lives according to the Dhamma as taught by Jesus Christ.

People of other faiths all fall into this category.

But all human beings, regardless of age and sex, desire happiness, and hate and avoid suffering.

That is why they profess a religion in which they make take refuge.

This being so, why in the world [do] men have prejudices against one another—[is it] all just because of the difference of names of their religious founders?

I think everyone can agree that is pretty wise, and is agreed by most level-headed people.

Well, that entire passage serves as my segue to the second part of our Buddhist adventure. Vanessa and I got to visit Wat U Mong in the forest outside of Chiang Mai and it turned out to be a nice trip. The wat is somewhat unique; wat is Thai for temple, while u mong means “tunnel.” This wat is interesting because it is a somewhat unique style for a temple, with connecting tunnels under the Earth, as well as the traditional chedi (stupa) (…with mandatory stray dog):

Also, the temple’s tunnels are quite old, but the temple was abandoned for many years then was re-established as a temple in the 1940’s, when a guru monk of Thailand sent monks to restore the temple. The temple grounds have a great stone-paved square, with hundreds of Buddhist proverbs (in Thai and English!) nailed to all the trees. It also had great informational plaques in Thai and English (as seen above). The mood of the tunnels was enchanting and we decided to use the unique lighting and strange surroundings to take some quasi-artistic photography. Here I am outside the tunnel entrance: Note that I’m not cut-and-pasted into the picture, but rather, the only colour captured by the camera is green, so that, because of my lack of green, I look out of place. That shows you how lushly green the walls outside the tunnels were.

Here’s one of me, backlit by the natural light filtering in through the end of the tunnel:

Here’s one of me in a tunnel that was completely dark until Vanessa’s camera flash illuminated it forest (luckily I had a flashlight, too).

Lastly, here’s my ghost picture. We took it by leaving the camera shutter open, turning on the flashlight for a moment, then me moving positions, and turning on the flashlight again. Fun stuff.

Well, that’s it for part v of the saga of the north. I think there will be another with some more miscellaneous things.

Until next time!

edit: zoo jokes

I forgot to put in my zoo jokes about Thailand. We were sure that the zoo was either:

A. Going to be full of domestic cats and dogs, with "exotic" squirrels and rabbits and sparrows.

or

B. Just a fenced in area of REGULAR THAILAND. (Have I mentioned all the MONKEYS!?!?).

Okay, part five coming your way.

the untamed north: trip report, part iv

Here’s part four of the relentlessly long trip report about the wild north. This one is, basically, a hodge-podge of things that I’ve missed over the last few posts, and a location I can place miscellaneous pictures. Its all kind of muddled, but whatev. Here goes:

Cave Lodge: I mentioned we didn’t go caving, major bust. But, we made the most of it, meeting some Australians and French people there. The Australians convinced us that they were a little “off” when there was a huge bug which flew very near to where I was. It landed on our tea table, and they promptly picked it up and cradled it and so forth. I didn’t. Call me a coward. Here’s the little guy; you can tell me if you would pick him up.

We did walk around a bit. Luckily we survived… and I don’t say that just because we had to walk across this: (a very crappy bridge obviously built over the REMAINS OF A CONCRETE ONE)

I say “luckily we survived” because of our encounters with lots of bugs. Big spiders… like the one here, pictured in front of rice fields in what I like to claim is a very National Geographic-esque photo:

We also saw nasty large red ants on a fence that would actually follow the movements of my hand in front of them with their mandibles. Of course, there were also lovable characters like miniature frogs and this caterpillar (view full size to see just how detailed the pic is!):

We also saw some wildlife when we went to the zoo in Chiang Mai! It cost us a little over a dollar to get in (a pretty good deal!), and they actually have a pretty good selection of animals. We were impressed that the animals all seemed pretty well taken care of—to be honest, we weren’t expecting it from Thailand. The only bad part, it is so spread out and large, it is hard to walk around the whole thing!

Has anyone else noticed that storks’ legs bend the other way? Eep.

Well, this wasn’t much of a post, but oh well. Number five, coming soon.

the untamed north: trip report, part iii

After our adventurous trek in the wilderness, we decided we needed a break from fun but unsophisticated modes of transportation such as walking and elephant riding. We opted for perhaps the most fun mode of transit other than hang-gliding, hot air ballooning, fan-boating, gyrocoptering, and beaming (for all you Trekkies)... the noble scooter.

Here’s a picture of my western attire for the ride—the bandanna serves as a pollution and bug-in-mouth cover, or as a wind noise reducer.

Yet again, it is very hard to capture the beauty of the landscape we traveled in. We ended up traveling almost 250 miles in two days, all by 115cc scooter. We started in Chiang Mai, and, getting out of the city, went to Pai, where Tyler and Laura stayed, while Vanessa and I continued to Suppong. The roads between Pai and Suppong were nothing short of miraculously curvy and steep. Filled with beautiful vistas, we often had to use first gear to make it up some of the extremely steep roads. There aren’t many pictures that could really capture the atmosphere, but here are my attempts:

In the second photo, you can see the road in the lower right-hand side of the photo.

People ask me if I’m afraid of driving in Thailand. To be honest, it’s a lot easier than driving in America. Instead of a bunch of rules you pretty much use your best judgment. I may have seen 10 or 12 speed limit signs in all my driving here (over 500 miles). If you’re afraid you’re going too fast, you probably are. Oh, and you should be on the left side of the road… that one is important. If there are curves… slow down. If you can weave in between traffic to get to the stoplight—go for it! Its fun! And terrifying! Sure there are things you need to worry about (read: dogs on the road, cows on the road, monkeys on the road, etc…), but all-in-all its not too bad.

Well, you remember how I said you can’t really capture a lot of that in a picture? I thought perhaps a video would be more appropriate. So, here’s what I did. I rigged up my camera on my tripod in the front of the scooter, fastened it appropriately, and used the newfound (and very useful) “time lapse” setting to create a video of three legs of our journey. I set the camera for one picture every second and made a video. I then selected appropriate music (read: DRAGONFORCE and THE SUICIDE MACHINES), and added cool transitions and effects.

The first leg is from the Cave Lodge (where we stayed) to Suppong. We had planned on caving, but the Cave Lodge was kind of a bust for us because we needed 4 people to do a proper caving adventure (with a guide). The road was small and rocky, and I had to steer out of the way of a lot of holes. Hence, the rocky and shaky camerawork. Note the car pulling over to let others pass (it was a small road). The music is by Dragonforce. Unfortunately, the compression of Google Video really destroyed this video, I will try to post it on my personal ISU web-space later. It looks good in full res, I promise!

The second video is actually of the third leg of the journey. The second leg was the mostly uphill section from Suppong to Pai, while this (the third leg) is the mostly downhill section from Suppong to Pai. You can really see the curves in this one, and how far I had to lean to make them. Its very fast and disorienting, and the second leg is actually better at showing the road, but I couldn’t find any suitable music for it. I’ll post the second leg later, as you can see how the steepness of the road regulated the speed of our scooter, and how we go very slow uphill, only to speed up suddenly downhill. Anyway, I’ll show it later. Again, this one is destroyed by uploading to Google Video, sorry. Music is by The Suicide Machines.

Well, more to come later on this lengthy trip. Hope you enjoy the videos, will try to get higher resolution ones available.

the untamed north: trip report, part ii

As promised, here’s the lowdown on our upland mountainous jungle trek.

We paid 1,300 baht (approx. $40) per person for a guided 3-day trek with lodging for two nights (on the trek, of course), food, elephant rides, some rafting, and… fun. We were paired with 4 other travelers to bring the total up to 10 people, 11 counting our guide. 2 others joined us the second day. We really lucked out and got a really great group. There were “the six Americans,” (AKA: us), 4 Dutch, and one Slovenian, bravely exploring Thailand on her own. The greatest asset to the group and the thing that really made our entire adventure was our guide, Good. I’m not saying he was a good guide; that was his name. I mean, he WAS a good guide, but his name was Good. He was our guide. *sigh*

The full group.

Anyway! Everyone on our trip agrees we couldn’t imagine a better guide than Good. Quiet at first, we were soon treated to Good’s exceptional use of the English language (with just enough language barrier for hilarity), fantastic sense of humor, great knowledge of the jungle and wildlands, and amazing COOKING skills! Oh, he can sing, too!

Good and I posing.

But I’m putting the horse before the cart a little here. The first part of our adventure didn’t really involve Good at all. We traversed the first few kilometers of our journey upon the backs of the largest land animals on Earth. As we awaited our mounts, we watched them first cross the river to get to us. It is really amazing what terrain these beasts can traverse. After Vanessa and I stepped onto our elephant, I was told to straddle the thing’s neck, instead of sitting on the mounted seat. I nervously jumped down to the neck where I frightfully rode the rest of the way, feeling every shift in the head very acutely. The precariousness of my position was especially apparent when our elephant would meander to the cliff side of the trail to munch on the dirt there! I’m not sure why our elephant loved to eat dirt so much; maybe he did it just to make me feel as if I was going to fall off every time. At any rate, when I saw the path the elephants were to walk, I felt sure that they couldn’t possibly make it through the incredibly steep and muddy slope. I was proved very wrong as our elephants incredibly walked up terrain you would swear was impassable by such an animal. The best SUV would have had NO chance against this path, but these elephants calmly navigated some amazing terrain. I thought our ride was at an end when it started to rain heavily, making the path even slippier, but the elephants had no problem with the torrential downpour. We dismounted our elephants later to begin our trek, thoroughly impressed with these incredible creatures.

This scene is pretty scary if you’re the one on the head of the elephant:

The first part of our trek was led by Good through the rain. It was miserably slippery and wet, with parts of the loosely-defined “trail” transformed into small rivers, red with clay. However, it was also incredibly beautiful at the same time, and in retrospect, I’m glad I got to experience the rain in the jungle.

After Tyler and I noticed our guide’s choice of footwear, we were quickly sure that our “trek” would be a joke. We didn’t criticize Good’s Crocs to his face, but we felt they were a sure-fire sign that the “trek” would be geared toward out-of-shape farang. As it turned out, this judgment was a little premature. The first day’s trek was nothing short of grueling, with several very difficult climbs, balancing acts, and river crossings. The pace Good set seemed ridiculously fast; I stayed with him as a personal challenge, only to be very impressed when every member of the group managed to keep up (more or less). One of the Dutch would later inform us he was very impressed with the strength and endurance of the American women. Girl power!

Midway through the trek, while waiting for the group to catch up to Good and I, I asked Good about his Crocs:

Me: “Hey Good, how do you wear those things doing this?”

Good: “… They are good… light. … but you need the fake ones.”

Me (assuming there must be something special about “the fake ones”): “Why?”

Good (looking as if he’s trying to come up with a reason): “ … They are cheaper.”

I still have no idea how he sported those through the trek without slipping and killing himself. You can witness his impressive climbing pace in this short video. Note the red Crocs. Oh, and, if you listen, you can hear the slightly eerie, slightly enchanting sound of “ching-rit,” apparently some sort of cicada or cricket that lives in the jungle. They make a noise like a cicada mixed with someone making a crystal glass sing.

After our several hours of trekking, we came upon a small path to go to our first hill-tribe overnight village. On either side of the path were fields of rice or corn, on a very steep slope. It is hard to believe that all of the planting and harvesting must be done by hand.

Tyler on the path.

The village was very secluded; I believe it may have had a terrible mud road leading to it somewhere (most likely impassable during the wet season), but most of the hill tribe villages we saw were connected only by foot-paths, and we spotted people carrying large amounts of goods on their backs and heads, and in their arms, with the help of yokes. This particular village was of the Lahu tribe. The houses are all built on stilts. While entering the town on the path, we saw a lone man working on building such a structure. Good informed me that it was the custom of this particular tribe to work alone, unlike others which will come together to raise a house. He said unless two people were needed, the man would continue to build by himself.

Tyler flirting with the locals:

We were pleasantly surprised by our dinner, prepared by Good, which was one of the best I’ve had in Thailand. I’m not entirely sure what I ate; all I caught was that there was (apparently) pumpkins in one of the two main dishes. I had a newfound respect for Good and his ability to cook! The highlight of the meal, and a story not properly conveyed through written word (but I’ll try anyway), was when Good picked up a guitar and began to sing. He has a very good voice and was singing “Let it Be” by the Beatles when Vanessa got up to help herself to some more rice. The table, listening to Good sing, fell completely silent when Good stopped playing in the middle of the refrain, and turned to look at Vanessa. Vanessa, obviously embarrassed and not sure of what to do, squeaked “Can I have some more rice?” then, without even getting any, hurried to her chair and sat down to listen again. Good, having not answered, turned to the table and continued the refrain, improvising the lyrics: “Let her eat… let her eat.” I’m afraid Vanessa is still embarrassed!

Tyler and I in our hill tribe home.

We witnessed a lot of great sights on our trek and had a lot of fun. Tyler’s string of celebrity look-alike claims grew even higher, as well! Up until the trip, Tyler had already received comments that he looked like: Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, and Leonardo DiCaprio. The Dutch added an uncanny Enrique Iglesias to that list. I think it might be the best one yet. The only thing I got was the assuring that my nose was “Greek” and that I resembled Woody Harrelson.

Well, the trek is not captured at all by pictures, but here are a few anyway:

This helicopter pad was in the middle of the forest in a clearing. I’m still unsure as to how the pad got there, perhaps a throwback from the military days of the region.

Here is our good guide Good in the water (no, he’s not defecating).

And yes, there were stray dogs… EVEN IN THE MIDDLE OF THE JUNGLE!!! Navigating the treacherous paths. Thailand is nuts.

We finished up the trek with a fun rafting experience, then some bamboo rafts after that. The best moment was when a giant water spider was on our raft and everyone was freaking out, and our seasoned bamboo rafting guide tried to swipe it off the raft. It quickly crawled up to his knee as the girls literally screamed. He jokingly “freaked out” for a moment, only to laugh and brush it off into the water. Had it been me, the river would have been slightly higher… with my urine.

Well, that’s all for now. Part iii of the trip comes shortly!

the untamed north: trip report, part i

I just arrived home from our longest and most ambitious trip yet. Tyler, Laura, Vanessa, Sophia, Rita, and myself traveled north to Chiang Mai, in which we set up our base of operations to explore the north. The trip lasted seven days and was a very rewarding experience.

We traveled by overnight bus from Bangkok to Chiang Mai (a 10-hour trip), and arrived "fresh" in Chiang Mai. On our first day, we got the lay of the land and scheduled a trek for the next three days. I was very nervous about scheduling the trek... so Vanessa did it! I was very happy to have left my seemingly permanent post as trip organizer and leader, and I was even happier when the trek turned out so well! More on that later.

We were greeted in Chiang Mai by the usual swarm of frenzied tuk-tuk drivers at the bus station, but later we saw an uncommonly greatful one:

"I love farang. No farang, No job. I die."

At least ONE person likes us!

We took the day to see some great wat (temples) in the area. Here is a photo in a very nice old teak wat. You may notice the string tied from the Buddha into an array of squares. The string is called "sai sin" in Thai and is blessed by the monks and used to protect everything inside/under/around it. We've seen it tied very far distances from one temple to another, and it is also tied around peoples wrists. It is also used in marriage and death rituals.

We also had the great fortune to decide to engage in "monk chat" at a temple in Chiang Mai. "Monk chat" is a free chance for farang to chat with a real monk. The monk gets to practice his English, and the farang has a chance to talk to a real monk about anything they want.

It was a really great experience and we learned a lot about monk life. The monks were also very interested in us. They asked us where we were from, recognizing "California" and "Washington D.C."

…

"Iowa" drew a blank stare from them.

I thought we were the greatest state?

The monks gave Sophia the Thai nickname “nang-fa” which means roughly “angel.” As we walked around the old part of the temple, we chatted with a Thai couple on a bench and they called me “tae-wa-da-noi” which, they told me, means “little Cupid.” Here’s a picture from the temple of a naga guarding the steps to the temple; these naga are very common, particularly in the north.

Will post more on our three-day trekking experience shortly!