by Jodi, Aneta, Lauren, and Carl
Long Live the King: Happy New Year
Or
Women Are Evil: Don't Steal Our Monks
Section I: Long Live the King: Happy New Year
The cusp of 2007 found us at the Tha Pae gate of Chiang Mae setting the sky on fire surrounded by thousands of Thais and farangs (foreigners).
Once we got to the walls of the old city, we were greeted by an immense King's portrait surrounded by small yellow lanterns. The sky was filled with orange specks--what turned out to be lanterns set afloat like hot air ballons. An Aussie saw us yearning to set off one and gave us the lantern his tour guide had given him. We took a lighter to the wax ring, which was connected by thin wires to a wind sock. Once the fire started, the wind sock filled with air and soon we could let the lantern float upwards with the thousands of others filling the sky. Happy New Year! Long Live the King!
But that was just the finale to the end of another great day.
After a morning of errands and Internet, we split up in two groups for lunch. One went to the local ex-pat grocery store, which has a a little coffee shop connected to the front. It served an odd combination of eastern and western: ham and cheese spring rolls, coconut freeze, chicken salad sandwiches.
The second group headed to what we thought was a more authentic area. After perusing a few menus, the owner of Hell's Kitchen convinced us into giving his food a try. We were in a time crunch and we thought he, being American (from Cleveland no less) would understand our sense of urgency. His Thai wife and her sister were cooking in place of his usual staff, who all seemed to have misfortunate accidents over the holiday weekend. While they hurried to prepare nine meals--ranging from baby back ribs to red curry to home-made corn bread to noodle soup--he sat behind us rambling on about the economics of the food court, which was owned by the billionaire who owns Chang beer; his Burmese waiter who disappeared for several days during the recent uprisings; his knowledge of pizza based on his forays in Italy; and his mother's recipe for barbeque sauce. Finally, 45 minutes later, while our bus waited, the last of our mediocre food arrived.
Section II: Don't Steal Our Monks
For the afternon, we hired a tour guide, who was very excited about Northern Thailand's history. We went to three temples and learned about Buddhism, monarchies, and the struggles between Burma and Thailand. For a reference point, the Buddhist calendar is based on Buddha's death, 543 years before the Common Era began.
Our first stop was Wat Chiang Man, the first temple of King Mengrai in the 13th century. It held ancient crystal and marble Buddhas. The history behind it was very interesting and informative, despite the difficulties of names, dates, geography, and accents. Colorful, gorgeous pictures lining the wat told Buddha's story, from his material life as a prince surrounded by beautiful women; to his attempts to renounce materialism, including starving and cutting himself; to his deeds as an enlightened Buddha.
At Wat Suan Dok, the flower garden temple, we were surprised to find reliquaries of Chiang Mai royalty in place of flowers. Apparently hundreds of years ago a monk claimed to have a relic of Buddha with magical properties. The monk had a vision that it needed to be placed in a special spot. He asked several kings where to place it. The king of Chiang Mai came forward, offering his flower garden as a holy grounds for the magnificent gold pagoda.
This wat is also where we'll be chatting with monks later in the week. Our tour guide reminded the women not to touch the monks. Women provide a source of evil temptation, diverting them from their holy path. "Don't the monks," he warned playfully. "Don't steal our monks." Like most other Buddhist men, he himself had served time as a monk. When he was 21, he spent four months in a monastery, meditating, walking through the streets soliciting their daily meal, and studying Buddhism.
In his explanations of Buddhism, our guide referred to 'God' and 'Soul' - terms that carry Western religious connotations. Buddhism denies the existence of a soul and while there are 'gods' within Buddhism cosmology, there is no single overarching 'God' to worship. The guide's descriptions may have been an attempt to appeal to our Western understandings of religion, but ultimately, it seemed misleading. Take, for example, our guide's description of Mara, the emerald green goddess who tried to tempt the Buddha with material and transitory objects: Rather than explaining that the figure was goddess or her particular role in the story of the Buddha, he referred to her simply as 'god'. We look forward to Monk Chat, when we'll be able to talk to actively practicing monks.
Our last wat stop, the Wat Chedi Luang is the first or second largest pagoda in Thailand. Built in 1441 and partly destroyed by an earthquake, it still stands in its ancient glory. As in other wats, images of the seven Buddhas sat in a row, holding different poses for each day of the week. Bowls in front of the seven statues hold coins from Buddhists' required birthday donations. It's best to be born in the early parts of the month; donations are based on the day of the month you're born. Our tour guide was happy with his lot--the 8th, so he donated 8 baht.
Section III: Materialism
People ran to the markets to buy clothes for the night's festivities. Apparently Buddhism didn't make much of a mark.
We dressed in our finest and set out for the town. We dined outdoors at the Whole Earth, joined by a Korean guest and served by a dour waiter. An elephant stopped by to say hello. We tried to go to a hot highrise 5-star hotel, where a live Thai band sang Bee Gee covers and neon across the top floor proclaimed: Long Live the King: Happy New Year. But for 1,700 bhats per person, we headed across the street to a bar/restaurant, where we could still hear the music and see the band, and the drinks were cheaper. Just after 11, we headed for the festivities at the wall, where we set off our fire balloons and celebrated the New Year Thai style. We couldn't think of a better way to bring in 2008. Sa-wat-di pi mai--or, as Anna says, "swatee be my ka."
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