Another day in Thailand

Chiangmai internet down...busy days...

Wednesday:
As I sit to reflect on the past 2 days, I am accompanied by the cacophony of stray animals around our little street. In Chiangmai there is no shortage of stray dogs and cats. Many of them have owners but wander the streets, many live at temples whose residents respect animals as humans and are happy to accept them as part of their community, and many just roam endlessly through the bustling city. Occasionally they will converse about one thing or another and keep me awake at night above the sounds of night clubs and my clunky ceiling fan. Or, like last night, I may be kept up by the Muay Thai fight one street down and the hundreds of cheering (or jeering) patrons. At least the weather is - what's that word?? Oh yeah...Perfect. With a capital P. Cool enough to sleep, warm enough for shorts and a tank top, but not humid or sweat inducing, unless, like me, you're doing 3 hours of yoga and 4 hours of massage class a day.

Yesterday I started my morning Ruseri Dat Ton class, 15 hours of study in the next 5 days. We, myself and Angel, the other student, are learning the first 50 poses broken down into 10 per day. That doesn't sound like a lot, but the Ruseri Dat Ton style allows for plenty of meditation, warm-up before and between postures, relaxation, and repetition. Each pose we do 3-5 times, sometimes on each side of the body if it's a side bend or single leg asana. We get it done in exactly the 3 hours allotted with one break for fresh fruit and ginger tea. The pace of the practice is directed by each inhale and exhale which are very slow, controlled, and usually held for 5-10 seconds. After doing the Saturday class, I have a little feel for how a 1 1/2 hour practice or class should flow, so it's good now to learn the poses step by step with a thorough teacher.

Back to Juicy4U for lunch followed by a strong, short Americano and a few minutes to read in the shade before afternoon massage class. We continued studying supine positions on the lower body and abdomen, completing about 40 basic massage techniques in 2 days, many of them repetitious but used on different body parts. A few minutes to 6pm I walked the long 10 steps back to my guest house where I devoured a small plate of fried rice and a glass of fresh fruit juice for dinner, which, by the way, is getting cheaper every time I eat there. It pays to know people. Another tuk-tuk and I was back at Wat Suan Dok, the temple outside the western gate of the Old City. I met Liem again who gave me a Theravada Buddhist chanting book in English and taught me a few basic chants. He and his friend graciously showed me around the temple grounds and as we passed the great hall, we walked out to one of the most glorious sights I've ever seen. The central pagoda was refurbished a few years ago and is now covered in gold and surrounded by royal stone tombs. It sits just behind the traditional hall which has an unmistakably Thai style rooftop, intricately carved wood bedecked with shining stones and dragon carvings. As we rounded the far wall of the great hall, the evening light had just faded into a soft navy blue and the golden apex of the giant pagoda caught the light of the shining crescent moon directly above. A handful of twinkling stars completed this decadent scene. It was breathtaking.

After my long walk home around the outside wall of the Old City, I was struck with a stark contrast to this quiet beauty. As I passed bar after bar, scantily clad Thai women - and girls - sat and stood in the doorway offering massages, drinks, and I honestly don't wish to know what else to all passersby. On the one hand, these woman have jobs and hopefully make and keep their own money. It seems that homelessness isn't a very big problem here, just from what I've observed. On the other hand, I'm always sad to see the extent to which this trade exists, especially in the tourist areas. Oddly enough, just outside these same bars, restaurants, and massage parlors is an alter to the Buddha onto which every morning are placed offerings of flowers, food, incense, and prayers. These two extremes seem to co-exist harmoniously.

This morning was more of the same, coffee, baby bananas and rice for breakfast with Lex, then 9am yoga with Angel and Napa, my instructor. We begin each morning with a chant to the founder of Thai healing and an invocation of healing in ourselves to help others. Then meditation, slow, gentle warm-ups, a bit of review, and 10 new Ruseri Dat Ton poses. Angel and I are both yoga teachers so it's nice to be approaching this new practice from the same place. I invited Angel to lunch after yoga and we went back to my favorite organic, vegetarian spot for cashew mixed veggies with brown rice and carrot, lime, ginger juice. We had a nice long talk about our backgrounds learning and teaching yoga, traveling, and how we happened to be in Thailand. Like most tourists I've met here, she is staying about 3 months. I'm a little jealous of these long-term travelers since I have to go back to work in 1 1/2 weeks in cold, Korea, but it also makes me excited for my next long excursion after my contract is up in August. Many were right when they warned me I won't want to leave Thailand. Life can be good for an ex-pat here. Very good.

Day 3 of massage school and we moved up to upper body. Hooray! Some difficult practices for me with side massage, but good to know for modifying positions and getting into tight hips. My big 'aha!' moment today was that therapy doesn't need to hurt. I really like my physical therapy in Korea and I know it's doing a lot of good for my back, but it hurts like hell every time. This is the Korean way. One day I said to my doctor, "I hate acupuncture! It hurts!" He replied flatly, "Everybody hates it." So I either just deal with it or quit. I'll meditate on that while I'm here, do some more Thai massage, and see how I feel when I get back to Korea. I've paid through 3 more treatments, anyway. I could just come back here for a month of intense therapy, pay about the same for living and treatment as I'm paying just for therapy in Korea - which is still 10 times less than I'd pay in America - and not have to be afraid of just how much my 1 1/2 - 2 1/2 hours of therapy will hurt as I leave school 2 days a week.

After massage class I was flat out exhausted. I wandered aimlessly looking for dinner and settled on spring rolls, veggie wonton soup, and Thai iced tea a few streets down. There's a nightly meditation at a temple in the city that I thought about attending tonight, but I needed a night off! I'm on vacation, after all! Time for some relaxing yoga and bed.