So Brian and I decided to change up our plans a bit, and are now sunbathing (and sunburned!) in Phuket rather than tooling around Kuala Lumpur. This weekend we head off to the Philippines for a couple weeks, then Singapore, and then to New Zealand for some late-summer hiking. And then I think we'll jump back on course with our original plan and head to India, etc. Neither of us wanted to see any more freakin' wats (see below), plus burning season has started in the fields here, so now I have a chronic "Thai cough", blech. It turns out the Japanese know what they're doing with those masks after all! "I think I'm turning Japanese..." :)
We had planned part of our stay in Chiang Mai around being in town for the large annual Flower Festival, which did not disappoint. There was a huge parade with flower floats and bands (similar to the Parade of Roses in CA, except much hotter outside), flower competitions, performances every night, and a beauty contest. My favorite float was the one with the purple and white pandas. :) Here are a few more pics:
Since it was our last weekend in town, we strolled through the Sunday Walking Street market again to pick up a few more goods to send home. I also was finally able to get a picture of one of the bands made up of blind street musicians, and an orchestra of students playing the Saw-U, a traditional Thailand string instrument made from a coconut.
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And last but not least, we ventured down the street from our B&B to Wat Chedi Man, where I had heard rumors that there were creepy life-size wax monks in boxes, and sure enough, it did not disappoint! (see pic) This Wat also had one of those fortune teller machines that gives you your fortune and lucky number for a small fee (usually we see them at carnivals in the US), and a number of "gift shop" tables inside. Brian and I haven't really been able to discern any "sacredness" around any of the temples we've visited - they've all just been gaudy buildings with giant gold Buddhas that are used to convince the Thai people to constantly give donations in exchange for "good luck". We've seen horrible animal abuse at the Wats - monks kicking dogs, birds trapped in tiny baskets that you can pay to release for good luck (see pic)... and the Thai form of Buddhism certainly doesn't encourage vegetarianism! From what I've read, the rampant prostitution and infidelity here is also largely due to Buddhism's lack of a social ethics. I guess whatever works for them, though... it isn't like we don't have some pretty kooky religions ourselves in the US! I think we'll pass on the Wats from now on, though.
So Brian and I decided to change up our plans a bit, and are now sunbathing (and sunburned!) in Phuket rather than tooling around Kuala Lumpur. This weekend we head off to the Philippines for a couple weeks, then Singapore, and then to New Zealand for some late-summer hiking. And then I think we'll jump back on course with our original plan and head to India, etc. Neither of us wanted to see any more freakin' wats (see below), plus burning season has started in the fields here, so now I have a chronic "Thai cough", blech. It turns out the Japanese know what they're doing with those masks after all! "I think I'm turning Japanese..." :)
We had planned part of our stay in Chiang Mai around being in town for the large annual Flower Festival, which did not disappoint. There was a huge parade with flower floats and bands (similar to the Parade of Roses in CA, except much hotter outside), flower competitions, performances every night, and a beauty contest. My favorite float was the one with the purple and white pandas. :) Here are a few more pics:
Since it was our last weekend in town, we strolled through the Sunday Walking Street market again to pick up a few more goods to send home. I also was finally able to get a picture of one of the bands made up of blind street musicians, and an orchestra of students playing the Saw-U, a traditional Thailand string instrument made from a coconut.
And last but not least, we ventured down the street from our B&B to Wat Chedi Man, where I had heard rumors that there were creepy life-size wax monks in boxes, and sure enough, it did not disappoint! (see pic) This Wat also had one of those fortune teller machines that gives you your fortune and lucky number for a small fee (usually we see them at carnivals in the US), and a number of "gift shop" tables inside. Brian and I haven't really been able to discern any "sacredness" around any of the temples we've visited - they've all just been gaudy buildings with giant gold Buddhas that are used to convince the Thai people to constantly give donations in exchange for "good luck". We've seen horrible animal abuse at the Wats - monks kicking dogs, birds trapped in tiny baskets that you can pay to release for good luck (see pic)... and the Thai form of Buddhism certainly doesn't encourage vegetarianism! From what I've read, the rampant prostitution and infidelity here is also largely due to Buddhism's lack of a social ethics. I guess whatever works for them, though... it isn't like we don't have some pretty kooky religions ourselves in the US! I think we'll pass on the Wats from now on, though.
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