More cooking, trekking and massage

Trip Start Jan 09, 2005

Trip End ??? ??, 2007

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Flag of Thailand Chiang Mai, Thailand
Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Chang Mai continued

Cooking class- We had met several people along the way that all highly recommended taking a full day cooking course. From talking around to different friends it didn't sound like the classes differed that much so we went with the one recommended by our guest house.

We started in the local market and learned a bunch about the different spices, veggies and rice types. After sampling a few different spice leaves and veggie slices we all drove to where the class was held in an outdoor room with a cooking spot for each of us. We were a pretty large group and got to choose from a variety of courses to cook so that it worked out that Greg and I cooked totally different meals to share at the end. YUM!

I was really impressed with how the chef ran the class... we always seemed to be doing something or eating some delicious meal being passed around to sample. One of my favorite parts of the class was when we heated up our woks with oil and then added some wet veggies to create a HUGE fireball. Once we cooked all of the meals we got to share and eat them and each one was delicious. I loved all the curries and coconut milk varieties. We ended the day with yummy fresh fruit- lychee's and mangostens (my favorite!). We decided to put our Bonnie fund towards this class as well and really appreciate the gift, thanks again!!

Doi Suthep- We had heard that the taxis charged so much to take you to this monastery that it was cheaper to just rent a moto and drive around all day. The drive through town and up the mountainside was really pretty and tons of fun on a moto. We somehow avoided the rain so it worked out perfect for us all day since it had been raining hard core the previous days.

The monastery sits at the top of a hill with a great look-out of Chang Mai down below. You have to climb some 300 steps to get up to it at the top and the staircase is a beautifully decorated dragon (mirror pieces mosaic style) that runs the whole length of the stairs on both sides. Inside there are tons of big and small bells hanging all over that some of the locals would ring for good luck. Greg and I decided to do a puja and bought some incense, candles and lotus flowers to walk around the dagoba and then offer them up as a prayer afterwards.

Forest Monastery- We had heard that this monastery in the forest offered yoga courses sometimes so we decided to stop by and check it out on our moto. I loved the monastery since it was just outside the city and built deep in a forest with a lake on one side of it. It was great walking around because you are surrounded in nature and have the monks prayers in the background (super mystical).

There is one area where they built underground tunnels for a previous monk who liked to wander around and could have shelter via the tunnels. At one time they were all painted with beautiful designs on the walls inside but they have since faded and are hard to see. There are several areas to pray in the tunnels which are cool to check out as well.

Just outside the tunnels is an area full of statues and I totally thought of Bonnie as I looked at all the mini statues of Buddhas, Shiva's, etc (smile). Many of the statues had been there awhile and were covered with moss which only added to the special vibe you got being there.

On our way out we decided to check out the meditation center and see if they offered any classes on yoga/meditation. It turns out you can stay in the monastery and learn meditation practices for free. This is pretty common in most monasteries though they usually require a donation of some sort (which can be whatever you determine is fair). I had wanted to attend a 10 day course in Bangkok and was really disappointed that it didn't work out for me to visit so I was beyond excited that we were invited to stay in the beautiful setting with such nice monks.

Since we got back late that afternoon our only option to buy white clothes (the attire we were told was worn while staying there) was at the night market. We spent hours going from stall to stall trying to find all white shirts and finally decided it was impossible, everything had something silk screened on it. We bought ridiculous ralph lauren collared shirts with the polo dude embroidered on it hoping it would pass.

We arrived very early in the morning and were immediately told we couldn't wear the shirts we bought because they weren't all white (grrr for being exhausted looking for them the night before! Hehe). It turns out they had white fisherman shorts (pants for me) and a white top for us both so word to the wise, the monastery can probably accommodate with clothing if you don't have it.

After a quick breakfast of eggs with pork (apparently vegetarian means you can still eat pork in this monastery, hehe) of which I just ate around, we met with the monk that teaches (he seemed to be higher up). He talked for quite some time on how to meditate and what to do but didn't have time to answer any questions so we left feeling a little confused.

We spent several hours in the morning trying to practice what we had learned earlier that morning but still felt like we had a few more questions. The morning teachings were similar to those that we had learned back in Bangkok from the other monk. As before, we were told to start meditating by walking to help quiet the mind.

To begin take a few deep breaths to get ready and slowly place your right hand in your left hand and rest them both on your abdomen. Slowly (VERY slowly), raise your right foot a few inches off the ground and say in your mind, "raising, raising, raising." As you move your right foot forward, say in your mind, "moving, moving, moving." As you lower your foot to the ground, repeat the words, "dropping, dropping, dropping," in your mind.

This is completed for each foot as you slowly walk forward several feet/meters. Once you come to the end of the room both feet should be next to each other. Without moving the right foot off the floor, move the right foot 90 degrees to the right (while lifting the left foot and placing it next to the right) so that you are facing half way around. During all this you are saying "turning, turning, turning." Repeat the whole process that you have now done a half circle turn and are now facing the direction you came from.

Basically you repeat the entire process over and over for at least 15 minutes before taking a break and moving on to sitting and meditating. Sitting down and meditating is much harder since you aren't moving and distracting your mind, you are just staying in one position trying to focus on your breathing. Whenever your mind eventually starts to wander and think, bring it back in by listening to your breathing and internally vocalize whatever is distracting you (ie. If you hear a bird and are listening to it, repeat bird, bird, bird).

This is pretty much what we did all day long. Crazy! We had lunch, our last meal of the day, around 11:30 and had the opportunity to talk with a different (and much younger) monk after eating. We didn't expect to have mastered meditation in just one day but we did want to understand as much as we could. It seems that the purpose of meditation is to clear the mind and focus on breathing. Essentially our mind is "naughty (as the monk termed it)" and tends to wander and create anger, stress, etc. which only harms us.

As the monk said, the only person affected by your anger/stress/etc is you and the outcome is generally the same- meaning that you can have all the negative feelings you want but it doesn't change anything and you end up suffering in the end. The purpose of meditating is to help you focus on filtering out all those negative thoughts (by focusing on breathing) and get you more in tune with your body and way of thinking. The idea is that the more you meditate, the more in tune you become with yourself and thus can have more control over your emotions, reactions, etc.

We had the chance to talk with someone else who came to meditate as well and it was really interesting hearing his thoughts on the whole process. The idea behind not speaking, reading, listening to music, etc for 10 days is that each time you break your concentration it's that much harder to get back into meditating and focus. While we spent the majority of the day meditating, there was a 1.5 hour break in the late afternoon and after talking with Greg I had a really hard time meditating in the evening. I can see the benefit of taking a full 10 day course and participating in all the rules of not talking, etc and look forward to doing a full one some day. :) I loved our experience in the forest monastery and highly recommend trying it.

Thai Massage- We had put off getting a Thai massage because we had heard all kinds of horror stories about how painful it was and how they dig into your muscles and tendons. After our excruciating foot reflexology massage in KL we were a little scared to try a full body massage. Since we were coming to the end of our time in Thailand though, and we had just gone on a pretty strenuous trek for 3 days, we decided to try it out.

As with any massage, the experience always depends on the person giving the massage and what techniques they use. Greg and I lucked out and had really good masseurs and didn't really experience too much pain other than the typical burn of stretching.

I would compare the Thai massage to a yoga workout with someone doing the moves for you. The petite woman used every part of her body to work me and stretch me out. She would lean with her body against one leg and use her feet to push against the other to get a good groin stretch. The whole body is pulled and pushed the whole time and besides the back, isn't really massaged so much as stretched.

We somehow found the cheapest Thai massage place in Thailand ($4.50US, wahoo!) and it was really good- right next to Miguels on the moat. I wish we would have tried the massage earlier because I would have gone back and tried the oil massage which I hear is also really good too.

Night Market- We had heard about the night market in Chang Mai for quite some time from fellow travelers. I think we were a bit spoiled after having gone to the huge weekend market in Bangkok because when we got to the night market in CM we thought, "this is it?"

The night market consists of one long street with covered stalls lining the sidewalk and an inside square area filled with stalls as well. The majority of the stalls sell clever t shirts with funny sayings/designs on them, jewelry, cute lamps, traditional garb, food, skirts/dresses and a few trinkets here and there. We kept putting off visiting the night market because we were always too tired and ended up going on a night we were super exhausted so I'm sure that tainted our perception a bit.

The only thing I got at the market was the stupid ralph lauren white shirt because the shirts I liked didn't come in my size and I didn't feel like dealing with the whole bartering process for the other things. Since I know we are coming back to Bangkok at the end of our trip and plan to hit up the weekend market I didn't really search anything out though everyone I've met loves the market so it's worth checking out.

PHOTOS:

Chang Mai, Cooking class and Jungle Trek

http://www.flickr.com/photos/greggoodman/sets/72157620628874260/

Crossing the Thailand/Laos border

http://www.flickr.com/photos/greggoodman/sets/72157620987413316/

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VIDEOS

Monks chanting in the rain at Wat Umong, the Forest Monastery in Chang Mai,

Thailand

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAfp8yozfiA

Chang Mai Jungle Trek Carrie does a Tarzan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxufkFVkG3Y