As I sit in the airport in Chiang Mai on my way to Phuket and the southern islands, I am trying to reflect on my time in Chiang Mai. I feel very thankful for the time that I have had here. It is a lovely place: relaxed and welcoming, and it has been lovely to just hang out, meet some people and hear some of their stories and just take in the vibe of the place.
I have had quite a lot of time here and on a limited budget, I have taken some time to reflect, to think, to read, to be quiet, to be still (and of course enjoy various episodes of 'Bones' ... again!).
I did 3 days of Thai cooking classes where you get shown how to make 6 dishes each day, cook them and eat them all...yes, I was rather full by the end of each day!!!
Also in those classes I got a tour of the local market and some great explanation of various vegetables, noodles and other things that we don't have that much of in the UK. Another day, we did vegetable carving and you will now be very pleased to note that future dinner parties will include (or maybe just offer) lotus flower decorations made from tomatoes and leaves made from carrots! And then yesterday, we were shown how to made curry pastes and we got to make panaeng curry paste from scratch, which is quite hard work! I spaced out my cooking classes so that I would feel too overfull for too long.
I also went on a 3 day trekking trip into the area north of Chiang Mai which I think is called Mae Tang (although I wasn't paying too much attention to where we were going). It takes about 3 hours to get there and then we had an hour elephant rides through the jungle, which was good although very touristy.
Then we got to walk for the rest of the afternoon through the beautiful jungle with lots of uphill especially at the end of the walk. There were some lovely people in my group and it was lovely to stretch my legs. In the evening we stayed in a little bamboo hut in one of the villages and we spent the evening singing silly songs with our Thai guides. The guitar was a great aid and it was lovely to be able to sit around a fire inside (!) the bamboo hut (the nights were quite chilly). My favourite song has to be "Let it be": yes, you all know it, but the Thais sang it as "...there will be an answer, lady boy..." (Very funny!)
The second day, me and this other girl from Switzerland joined another group as we were doing 3 days and not 2. That group were good fun too and it was great trying to communicate in spanish, french and english - all a bit broken at various points! There were 4 spanish people in that group and it was great to speak some spanish with them. It was less of a hard walk that day (mostly downhill) and highlights have to be the time at the waterfalls along the way, seeing a snake eat a massive toad, and singing a spanish children's song all in a circle in the middle of the jungle!
The evening was fun up until I tried the rice whisky, which, needless to say should come with some serious health warnings! Talking about health warnings, the cigarette packets here have taken health warnings to a whole new level with very graphic photos of all the diseases you can get if you smoke...not that I needed another reason not to smoke!
The 3rd day of trekking, we only walked a little way before having a little time of white water rafting and bamboo rafting - it was quite fun, especially as I was in the raft with the spaniards repeating all the guide's instructions in spanish!
After the trekking, I spent a few days just chilling out in Chiang Mai, not doing that much really, just soaking things in, having walks around Chiang Mai, eating the local street food (red curry with chicken and rice for 50p has got to be a good thing), meeting up with the spanish guys, and taking lots of photos of temples. Of course this time also included things like pedicures, manicures, massages and such.
The space was good and through thinking about conversations I have had with people, my own reaction to various experiences (good and not so good) and allowing myself to have space and not feel like I needed to do something or see something, I have been able to work through some things. I think that we all learn as we grow and there will always be new things to learn as you experience new things and lots of us have things in us or views about the world or ourselves that are very deep seated. Lots of these things are good, but some feelings or attitudes actually stop us from being all that we could be and in sometimes quite sneaky ways. I think knowing these things and being able to understand the root of some feelings and naming them, helps us to work through them. I think that I have named some things in me these last few days. It doesn't mean I am completely free or that I know where to go from here, but it is a start. God will continue to prod me and to heal me and to work in me and knowing that I feel thankful and peaceful. Two simple statements I have been pondering these last few weeks are: "Live life fully" and "Live life differently".
I wonder what that means for you?
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