MicahJohn

This afternoon I walked around the Old City of Chiang Mai (the part of the city inside the old city wall).

There were quite a number of Wats (Temples) all over the place. I tried taking photos, but, being a bit of an amateur, I couldn’t get the sun to work with me. A few are worth looking at.

I spent the last few days at a Spiritual Retreat Center run by the Jesuits. It was a really good time.

The first meal was a little awkward. The retreat is a silent one, so there was a room of people sitting eating in silence. It was not immediately obvious how to get food, nor when it was finished was it immediately obvious what I ought to do with my plate.

After the first meal, I loved it! It was so good to step away from busyness. The gardens were good places to sit, read, and pray.

My train ride from Bangkok to Chiang Mai was enjoyable, though I didn’t do as much sleeping as I would have liked.

So far when I have traveled by train, I have always traveled second class sleeper. On such a train the seats are arraigned in groups of four. On this trip the three people completing my group of four were a woman and her two daughters. They were all friendly people.

The mother’s voice stood out to me because it seemed to have lost its volume knob. Her voice was always kind of loud (loud by Thai standards). She would be talking with her daughters and I would hear her loud and clear, I could scarcely detect the voices of her daughters over the noise of the train.

This made me wonder how often my voice is a cause of annoyance to Thai people. I am confident that unconsciously my voice is often louder than the voices of those around me.

The next group of four in the train were a group of Thai cyclists. They had ridden there bikes to the train, and they got off the train ready to get right back in the saddle. They talked among themselves about different places they had ridden. Apparently there are some great places to ride in Vietnam.

I’ll confess to jealousy. It would be a lot of fun to see Southeast Asia from behind the handle bars of a bicycle. It would be particularly enjoyable if it could be done with a group of friends.

The following are observations from my first day in Bangkok:

Being led in worship in English is a refreshing thing for me
Mexican food is amazing
It’s good to sit and talk to a friend face to face in English

Note: I do love Thailand. I love the Thai language. I love Thai food. I love Thai people.

Tonight I leave for Bangkok. I’ll be there until the 12th. From there I will travel to Chiang Mai. I will return to Ubon late the 18th. I make no promise of maintaining contact with the outside world during the next two weeks.