"Softly please"
THAILAND | Wednesday, 5 July 2006 | Views [482] | Comments [1]
Sitting here late at night eating juicy lychees with the monsoon rain drumming hard outside, the phrase seems apt.
"Softly please" said the sign in the buddhist Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, 16km northwest of Chiang Mai, northern Thailand. What is it that we are meant to be 'softly' to exactly? Talking? Walking? Treading? Existing? Loving? Travelling? Or simply being? Lacking the verb, it seems to epitomise the whole country, not just the Buddhist philosophy.
This Wat was much like the wonderful Shwedagon Pagoda in Rangoon, Burma both in physical style and because it was simply so unanticipated. Additionally it was pouring with rain which meant it was relatively deserted and very atmospheric with low clouds, an erie light and lots of shiny (slippery) reflective polished marble.
The more we travel around Asia the more we become aware of the influence of India as the cultural source. Temple architecture through Burma, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, or down through Malaysia and Indonesia. Or up through Tibet and into China or across the seas to Japan.
In many ways not so much has changed since we last spent any time here in Chiang Mai: a few more cars, a few less motorcycles, and the night markets are still the best places to eat. Perhaps what we miss most are the small things: like the fact that when they now serve their sticky rice it comes in small plastic bags rather than the original cylindrical bamboo baskets, although in smaller country towns this traditional presentation probably still remains.
It's peculiar how it takes a few days to adjust back into a rhythm of travel that suits your particular needs. Now the boys are nearly 2 and 4 years old, it is slightly different to 6 months ago in Vietnam and very different to Bali when Kai was only 4 months old! Here we hire a taxi each day for 4 hours and head off to temples, elephant camps, and nearby villages, followed by lunch back in our villa and some 'quite time' where the children can rest, and then we head out to one of the night markets again about 5pm until late, by which time the children are well past it and sleep well!
This also leaves Mum & Dad pretty knackered too ... by the time we have bathed them and had a beer, we're history too.
God that bed feels great!
Tags: On the Road
Comments
Add your comments
