Finding Religion

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  Chiang Mai, Thailand
Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Although nearly 95% of its people are Theravada Buddhists, Thailand has no official national religion.  This policy supposedly reflects the county's spirit of religious tolerance and respect for all faiths.  I have another theory, however, to explain the government's lack of action.  Trying to make Buddhism the official religion of Thailand would raise the specter of another deity in this county -- a faith as powerful and pervasive as Buddhism itself.

That's right....I'm talking about shopping.

Here in Chiang Mai, the Thai people have found religion.  And God is carrying a Motorola phone and wearing knock-off Prada pumps.

Indeed, Thailand's national religion may well be shopping

Watch This Video!!

.  And, for those of you keeping score, its national passion is motorbikes, its national obsession is small dogs, its national sport is smiling, its national pastime is eating, and its national shame is the child sex trade.

Confession...I'm not a shopper.  But I am awed and overwhelmed by the sheer volume of goods, the variety of wares, and the low, low prices!!  And while shopping is popular with tourists, it is unquestionably a local phenomenon.  My suspicions were confirmed when I left the Western shopping district and headed to Warorot and Lam Yai markets, just east of the Mae Ping River.  Of the thousands and thousands of shoppers, I was the ONLY non-Asian there.  I had stumbled upon the proverbial Batcave of Thai shopping.

So, it's clothes you want?  How about beautiful cotton handcrafted shirts for $2, and Birkenstock sandals for $10?  Maybe you're hungry?  Sit down with a full pad thai dinner with tofu and prawn (seventy-five cents), wash it down with fresh squeezed orange juice (sixty cents), and top it off with coconut ice cream (fifty cents).  You can get a sixty-minute traditional Thai massage (think acupressure combined with assisted yoga) for $5.  Or you can get a more "creative" massage from a gorgeous local for $10 ("happy ending"?...no thanks, just window shopping....)

Tae Pae Gate

.  From antiques and furniture to fine art and electronics, if you're a bargain shopper, I dare you to spend just a week in Thailand.  I guarantee you won't get through one-tenth of what's here, and you'll save twice as much as the cost of your airfare.

But here's the really amazing part.  This is an undeniably spiritual city, and you can be shopping one moment and praying at one of the city's hundreds of Buddhist wats the next.  Those same shoppers were at Wat Phra Singh with me yesterday, still holding their bags of bargains, praying and giving offerings of incense and flowers to Buddha.  It's true yin and yang, the most integrated juxtaposition of God and....God-DAMN what a deal! that you'll ever see.  And all you Christians out there, you can try to compare going to midnight mass after your last-minute Christmas Eve sale at the Fashion Barn, but it just ain't the same.

After splitting my day between shopping and praying, I napped the remainder of my jet lag off and headed out for New Year's Eve.  Of course, there was a street market spread out for literally two miles in the old city, with food vendors, crafts of every kind, music, and homemade firecrackers (you might have heard they make a few of these in Asia).  There was the most incredible New Year's spectacle I've ever seen, with thousands of Thais and "farangs" (foreigners) releasing handmade paper lanterns, propelled by open flame, into the night, lighting up the sky like a million stars.  And by midnight, I had made it back to my guesthouse, watching the fireworks from my rooftop and meditating in the New Year.

It's been a wonderful ride thus far, and it's just starting.

Love to all of you,

Steve

Post your own travel photos for friends and family More Pictures

Praying at Wat Phra Singh	Offering a Prayer	More Prayer at Wat Phra SIngh	Wall Painting
Wall Painting II	Wat Grounds	New Year's Eve on Ratchadamnoen	Lighting a Lantern
Street Vendor- New Year's Eve	Moon Muang Soi

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