We find ourselves in northern Thailand. Chiang Mai, to be precise. Chiang Mai is a very popular place among backpackers. The cheap prices, beautiful temples and vibrant markets have attracted foreigners for a long time.

Here you can do plenty of things. We explored a “sticky” waterfall. So we rent a scooter again and go there. Unfortunately it was an hour away. An hour of riding the busy, loud and dirty highway. We were burning to a crisp in the sun and had to stop for a cold drink in between. Just when we are ready to explore the area it starts to suddenly rain. You can only laugh this off. This is a mere joke of life. A small test of patience. So we hunker down After thirty minutes it luckily stopped and we can explore the waterfall. Going on the waterfall goes against every instinct we know. Your brain is conditioned to think it is slippery. Every step you shortly hesitate. You then have full grip! You can even run around! How strange is this?

On our way back we found this desolate temple in the forest. No one was there and we indulged on the inviting stairs into the forest. We didn’t know what we should expect at the top. At the last stair our jaws drop. There is a massive cave connected to the stairs. We take a few steps more and this massive golden Buddha is smiling down on us. We can’t believe what we are seeing. Wow this is an amazing place and no one is here. We couldn’t believe the stillness of this place.

Thailand’s biggest sport is Thai boxing. There are many matches you can watch. We decided to check one out as well. We didn’t know the rules but it was still fun to watch. These fighting machines hitting each other. There was even one German one competing. We were cheering him on. He was so fast the round didn’t even last and the opponent went to the ground in 50 seconds. For me it’s clear. This is not my sport. I rather hit those waves.

Driven by the many Buddhas we have seen, we are driven to learn more about Buddha. So we visited a monastery to learn about Buddhas teaching. Here a monk taught us about impermanence and enlightenment. He started with a meditation. After the meditation he taught us about small nuisances. Like traffic, or noise, or something that bothers you in a moment. He proceeds to explain about impermanence. The mind can always be annoyed, be angry, furious or in any other mental state of unhappiness. He proceeds to explain how this is an impermanent state of the mind. The mind also often creates desire. “Things make you happy for a while, but then you chase the next thing”If I get this one thing I will be happy”. When the thing comes around it creates impermanent happiness for a short time until the mind moves on. We live in an impermanent world, though. This would create an endless loop in chasing the next thing and the next after that. To free the mind from this desire, is to stop this viscous cycle and be contempt’s and happy how you are now.

The Path to Enlightenment is a purification of the mind by training the mind, reaching a point where the mind experiences only peacefulness, calmness, serenity, and contentedness with joy – the Enlightened mind

https://www.buddhadailywisdom.com/

From here we go to Chiang Rai. In Chiang Rai, there is supposed to be more beautiful temples. Here we rent a scooter and check out the white temple. It is one of the most beautiful temples I have ever seen. The white color with the shining glass shards is supposed to resemble the purity of the Buddha and Buddha’s wisdom. For me it feels like being in an air temple of avatar.

After that we also visited the blue temple it is to represent the the lack of materialism of the Buddha. We cruise onward with our scooter. I took this beautiful shot. We didn’t stay long though and we didn’t find the blue temple as impressive as the white so we carried on.

From here we go further to the next temple. We cruise to the goddess of mercy. It is supposed to be a 9 story high statue. We cruise through the green landscape with it’s chaotic traffic. The statue is visible from far away because it is so huge! The massive statue is smiling down on us once we arrived. The white dragons invite us to climb the stairs. This place is so peaceful and quiet. It was not even

From here we went back to Chiang Mai to catch the night train to Bangkok. The night train was really comfy and an absolute showcase on how traveling can be. But once arrived in Bangkok, we were struck by the noisy, dirty and smelling city. We were staying in an old wooden Thai style house. Sounds beautiful, I know. The only problem was the missing air-conditioning, so we were sweating like crazy. We booked a flight out of Bangkok, but we had to kill a few more days. We didn’t want to see more temples so we just explored the city and watched the sunset on the river. While we were sitting and enjoying the sunset a literal queue of people standing there to take a picture was growing. We were just watching with amazement, how people would wait half an hour to take the same picture the other 50 people did before. Humans are crazy sometimes..

After the two days in the old Thai style house we had enough of Bangkok. It was not worth to go somewhere else, though so we rented a room with a gym. This was the best decision we made. We were tired of Bangkok and this was a good solution. We just trained with the Thai people. Some were Thai boxing, others just lifting weights and some were on the treadmills. Another evening we went out to a rooftop bar. Here you can see the city from a quiet perspective. We enjoyed the sunset and let the city turn from day to night with all the crazy lights.

When we went down again we noticed how quiet it was up there. Meanwhile the contrast of the city couldn’t be any heavier coming from a rooftop. With the expensive roof top and the ground completely different. All the restaurants and street stalls that are advertising with it’s smells together with the smog and the noise, that never seems to stop in Bangkok. What a crazy city. You have the locals, the tourists and the crazy mix of the markets. The rich and the poor, the homeless, the fisherman, the street foods stalls, the tuk tuk drivers. They make the life in daily Bangkok. Here are a few more Impressions

Until next time! Cheers.