Oh, to be in cool fresh air again!

01/31/2010 at 10:32 AM (Uncategorized)

What an amazing day!  I woke up early and started my usual walk to town but it was still early enough to be cool.  What a refreshing start, especially since I over walked my turn and had to back track, I wasn’t heat stroking when I was turned to a “Red Taxi”.  The taxi took me to where the “Yellow Taxis” (same set up as the red just yellow, how simple once you get it) were stationed and ready to head towards Doi Inthanon National Park.  I got in and comfy for my 60 km ride to Chom Thong not knowing what to expect.  I guess I had that deer in the headlight look because the guy sitting across from me started to ask where I was from and what I was up to, was I going to meditate? Sure.  Sight see? Sure.  Did I know what I was doing?  Sure, no, not really.  He invited me to join him and and his family to meditate in the wat (temple) in Chom Thong,  guess he figured I could use a little head clearing.  What I didn’t realize is that there is a meditation center at Chom Thong and there was a start of another retreat.  Bummer!  That would have been a cool thing to set up, especially because some of the locals have questioned if I am a nun.  Since I didn’t know what I was doing and this guy and his family kind of knew they showed me around the center and the wat and talked to the locals about a ride up the mountain.  It is amazing to see people bargain and if they don’t like the price they just walk away.  I am learning, I can tell my people pleasing skills are starting to shift and I am learning to say no.  So they got the price negotiated to a reasonable price, the family went to meditate and I headed up the mountain. 

As I got further up and the air cooled, I got more and more homesick.  I can tell that being in a place where language is a barrier, being inundated with new information every turn, and having restless nights, I am a little more vulnerable to the sadness that goes with homesickness.  And yet I was able to have my feelings and experience the beauty around me too.  There were coniferous trees!  Can you believe it, in Thailand?  I was so excited to see pine needles on trees.  And right around these coniferous trees were white petal flowers that looked so tropical.  It was great!  So we climbed up and up and up to 2565m (about 8415 ft).  I brought only my light tropical clothes and thank goodness my blood is still thick because it was cool up there.  The people riding motorbikes up had winter hats and jackets on, it was pretty cute to watch.  I am such a mountain girl that I was the tourist without my coat, not the other way around, as my mind thought. 

Looking up at the sky I watched the clouds curl and shape themselves into the next curl, I felt so close I could touch them.  There really wasn’t a wind I could feel but the clouds were moving with that windy speed, it was good to be up high. 

I guess I stayed up there too long because my driver came looking for me, oops.  So down we went, thank you mountain for giving me a breath of fresh air…literally!  My driver was going to take me to a tourist stop but I told him to continue on.  We did stop at a market place, I think the drivers get a bit of commission if they stop.  I looked and watched, got a couple of trinkets and told him I was ready to go.  I don’t think he was completely ready though, he got some corn, sampled some of the sweet foods, and talked story with some vendors.  I had to laugh, most of the time it is the other way around, not with this mountain girl.  The next stop was another one I needed to help recharge me, a waterfall.  As we wove back into a village this cascade of water looked like liquid silver on the dark rock behind.  I jumped out and and meandered my way back through this beautiful park of flowers, little resting huts, and rocks to the waterfall.  Again, I was able to just rest in the peace of the place and know no matter what, I belong in the mountains, the country, in nature.  I can try to be urban but my heart is happiest when I am in the thick of green, rocks, and AIR.  The flowers were so fun to walk through because there were butterflies everywhere and they didn’t mind me at all, I was able to get these great shots of them just sunning themselves, what a treat.  And all along my walk there was running water so the sound just soothed my ruffled feathers.  When I felt like I was a little more Becky Sue style I walked back to the truck and told the driver I was ready to go back down. 

 

 

 

There were a couple more touristy spots but I was done.  I received what I needed from the mountain and I gave to the mountain what I came to give, I didn’t need to feed the merchant aspect.  I could feel the heat seeping back in to my body too and realized I didn’t want to be out in the heat anymore either. On the 60 km ride I gave myself permission to close my eyes and just listen to my breathe, the the people chatting around me, the sound of the truck, the road noise, all of it.  I ended up dozing off a couple of times, which I needed but, I was able to really be present in a crowd as well.  It feels good to expand my mind and heart a bit more.  When I got back to the city I went straight to a wat and sat again.  I chose one with bells on the eaves and it was so good to have that quiet sound beckoning me back to Chiang Mai.