05:00 comes way too early, especially after packing until well past midnight. My flight wasn’t until 07:00, but my hosts had arranged a 05:30 taxi for me, somewhat earlier than I had requested.

I got into the hotel, in Chinatown, around 10:00 or so. It’s really nice. It’s called the Shanghai Mansion. Here is the view of our room door:

And the central area.

Our bed is huge, larger than a king size.

And I’ve already had a bath, too!

It was a while before I cared to leave it, but eventually we went to do a little sightseeing. First, a canal ride:

There are monitor lizards in the canals. They’re huge, about 1.5 meters. I saw one crawling up some rocks with a huge fish flopping around in its mouth. These ones were just sunbathing.

I also liked picking up speed on the river.

The boat dropped us off beside Wat Po. Wat Po has a famous massage school and also depictions of Sen lines and acupressure points, sculptures of Ruesri Datton poses, and a huge reclining Buddha.

I love the toes.

We wandered around for a little while after visiting the wat, but then I realized that I was suffering from heat stroke. We headed home, took a nap, then went for streetside dinner in Chinatown.

Thursday.
I was thinking I’d been here before, but that they’d finished renovation and the bathrooms had been upgraded. But as I sat down in the shade to write about it, I realize that I’m wrong. The mountaintop wat that Matt and I had visited had a gigantic white Buddha in the middle, or something like that. Anyway, it was all white, not all gold. This is all gold, shining very brightly on this sunny day.

On the way up. Why have a railing when you can have a dragon? 🙂 awesome!

I love the bells.

So, that little sign says don’t touch the bells in Chinese and English. I guess they figure Thais know better? Anyway, guess what all the tourists were doing? That’s right. Ringing all the bells.

On the way back down, I can’t help by being entertained whenever I see monks doing perfectly mundane tasks. It’s not like the only thing they do is meditate. Monk with weed whacker:

It’s the dry season, so there’s a haze over the city below. I could taste the air changing as I wound my way up the mountain on that little Kawasaki. What a relief. I’ve been wearing a dust mask while driving around all week. I don’t need it up here.

Yes, I’m skipping class. I’ll be skipping tomorrow, as well. I decided this when my alarm went off this morning and I was already awake.

I had a very good day yesterday, but although I think the content of what Pichet is trying to teach, both in massage and philosophy, is relevant and good for me to learn, his methods of teaching are not for me. At least not right now. He keeps saying we should listen to our bodies, and mine is telling me to get the hell out of there.

Since beginning at his school, my body is exhibiting all the signs of stress that had completely disappeared in the time I’ve been here. My hip and leg are aching all night long, waking me up with pain, I’m emotionally very sensitive, and I’m losing my ability to let minor irritations wash over me. I do not want to see Matt for the first time in weeks in this state. I want to be the happy relaxed me that the first 2.5 weeks of this trip helped restore. So I’m taking these 2 days to relax and heal, starting with an escape to the mountain air. Riding a motorcycle always feels awesome.

I forgot to get gas before leaving town, so I won’t be cruising around indefinitely. That’s fine. I’m parked in the parking area below the temple and can easily spend several hours around here. Since I should be able to mostly coast back down, I’ll make it back OK. The early warning light hasn’t come on yet.

Later. Indeed, my early warning light came on as soon as I was aiming downhill. I knew it was probably the angle of the tank, but to be on the safe side, I put it in neutral and coasted the whole way down. This had the interesting effect of making me even more aware of other people’s comfort zones in driving. Every time there was a relatively straight or flat bit, I fell far behind the cars and bikes ahead of me, but since they braked hard at every curve or steep patch, I always caught up again. And no one was behind me the whole way down, so I guess I never was slow enough to be caught up to, either.
The air quality gets worse later in the day, so already I could taste the dust before leaving the parking lot. It worsened as I continued down the mountain. I asked a kid on a scooter where to find gas, and he pointed, but it was all the way back on the moat ring, so it’s lucky that I was right about the tank being at an angle. I was damn close to empty, anyway.

I rode out to Wararot Market but didn’t find anything I needed, including food. I’d tried to buy a bamboo sticky rice at the temple, but the old lady just ignored me. She ignored my money. She ignored my, “Kator ka” and my “sawadee ka.” So I gave up. I’m not that into sausage, except dry sausage, which I adore, and that was the only other thing up there.

So I drove to the other side of the river, and had a nice view, pleasant atmosphere, tasty watermelon juice, and mediocre softshell crab curry at the Good View cafe. My waitress was surprised when I asked for chilies. In my opinion, my taste for spicy is pretty medium, but they serve everything so mild here for foreigners, and seem so surprised every time i ask for chilies that I start thinking I’m really exceptional. It’s weird.

Anyway, the next stop was the blind massage salon, for another 2 hour session. Banya decided to get my back under control this time. Holy moly! He also worked my bad leg a lot, which was great. I could tell it still needed more, though. I will go to Lek Chaiya again in the morning. I trust that little old lady there. She’s got me exactly.

I’ve been quiet for a couple of days. That’s because it’s been a very challenging week and I haven’t gotten my head around it well enough to describe it.

However, since when I worry about logistics, my anxiety about everything goes up, I’m going to describe the logistics in detail. I found only very sketchy details when I searched online, and that brings out the worst in me.

All of these were recommended, but here is my advice.

1. Calling in advance
I read that you have to handle this very delicately, citing your experience or lack thereof, and politely asking to join. Here’s what happened when I called.

People are around in the classroom from 08:30 until 09:30, so it’s safe to call during that time, possibly earlier. I wouldn’t call later, since we start sometime between 09:30 and 10:30, and you’ll be on speaker phone. I’m not even completely sure you really need to call. I called on Thursday morning, today is Wednesday and someone called today. Friday is fine. Someone else called over the weekend, but there is no class on the weekend, so you risk no answer.

When you call, don’t be nervous. He doesn’t even want to know your name, so I doubt he cares about your experience. Maybe he cares about numbers, but we’re overfull now & he didn’t say no.

2. Showing up the week before you start
Possibly fine. There are so many people coming & going, I doubt you’d be a distraction. Maybe aim for lunch time 13:00ish or the end of the day (16:30) to be least distracting. At 16:00 everyone gathers for the closing prayers, so don’t show up until 16:30 unless you want a big entry.

I was nervous about finding the place, so I drove out there Friday afternoon, arriving between 16:30/17:00, and it seemed fine but unnecessary.

3. Bring your payment and an offering for the shrine.
Lessons are 800 baht per day. You can pay the whole week at once, or just pay each day. If you pay each day, you don’t need a new flower offering every day, only the first day.

For the offering, here is what you need. Flowers are most important. Get a couple of bunches of whatever you think is pretty. If you get lotus flowers, that’s awesome because you’ll have something fun to do while meeting people when you’re there. Classmates can show you how to fold the petals in preparation. But don’t only get lotus flowers. You’ll want something else on your offering tray as well. (You don’t need to bring a tray or basket, it’s provided.) If you get the little wrapped flowers in leaves that you see on household shrines, get 3 or 5. 3 is symbolic of Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha (Buddha, the Teachings, and the Monks). 5 includes those 3 and your mother and father, to whom you should also show respect. Placement of those in the offering dish is scripted, so ask someone to show you how. Note: these aren’t necessary at all, but if you choose them, now you know how many to bring. I brought one, which had sticks of incense in it and candles, but one isn’t appropriate. You can also bring garlands of yellow flowers if you like, but again, that’s optional.

Lotus flowers, with petals folded:

You also need incense. Look for a big wrapped package, decorated gold or silver. There’s symbolism in those colors, and while I was there, Pichet seemed to have plenty of gold ones but not enough silver. You can buy incense in the Buddhist supply stores, which I seem to see everywhere.

Finally, you can bring a package of candles. I noticed that not everyone had candles, though, so it’s up to you.

For your payment, you don’t need to buy an envelope. There are envelopes you can use. Put your payment inside and write your name on it. If you pay each day, you do this then put only the offering inside the shrine, no need for the whole flower offering (except for your first day).

As for putting all this in the shrine, this is scripted too, but your classmates can help you. At least now you know what you should bring. This picture was taken after the flowers (and the envelopes) were repurposed from the offerings.

Fruit! I almost forgot. Bring fruit, anything you like. It goes in a separate communal offering platter, and I honestly don’t know whats happened to it after that. I brought bananas and mangosteens, which I was told to put in the platter. Other people brought other things. My things disappeared but I don’t know where they went. The whole platter got presented at the shrine later.

4. Food and drink
You don’t need to pack a lunch unless you prefer to. There are cheap little eateries serving pad thai, khao soi, and various other things. Other students brought fruit to share, which you could also do if you like. Pichet has water, coffee, tea all there for you to drink as well.

5. Getting there
Here is what I read online before coming:

To get there:  Go to Chiang Mai gate (the southern central gate). Across the street from the market (on the other side of the street) you’ll see a yellow songthaew (yellow pick up) on the corner. That pick up is probably going to Hang Dong.( ask the driver first). Take the yellow bus for about 10-15 minutes, it will first pass the Old Medicine Hospital, then continue past the airport, and then it will begin going down a wide boulevard with a divider island down the middle. You will pass a large SONY billboard on the right. This will continue for about 8-10 minutes more. At this point you should look for a big blue/white “American Standard” sign on your right (on the opposite side of the boulevard). When you see the American Standard sign, you are about ½ mile away from the stop. Ring the buzzer on the bus, or tell the driver you want to get off at “Baan Chang Kam”, which is about 1 block before a wat (temple), which you can see on the other side of the street.  Get off, and on your left, just past a little woodworking place, you’ll see a dirt road that winds past a field on your left. In the distance on the left you’ll see a few banana trees. Pichet’s house is right there, at the end of the block, before it curves to the right.. If you get lost, just ask for “Ajahn Pichet” or  “Baan Chang Kam.”

I didn’t take a yellow pickup, but I think it’s pretty accurate. Others took them and didn’t seem to have any trouble. I rode a motorbike. Here is what was different, or relevant.

It is basically a straight shot south from Chiang Mai gate or Suan Prung gate, on route 108. There are no turns until the very end, onto a narrow road. It did, however, take longer than that description says. It took me about 40 minutes, and I was not going slowly, nor was I passing everyone. I’m not familiar with the Old Medicine Hospital (rather, I know of it of course, but haven’t been), so I didn’t notice it in passing. Further, I did not see the Sony billboard. I did see the American Standard sign, which looks a little bit like this, but not really. I include this as reference to the lettering.

At the American Standard sign, be prepared to turn left. (The sign is on the right, as is Baan Chang Kam, a nice-looking guesthouse directly across from the turn off to Pichet’s.)

I didn’t notice a woodworker, but that’s possibly because the corner stall was closed this week. Anyway, it’s the very first left turn after you pass the billboard. It’s a narrow, paved road. You will pass this on your left, shortly after turning onto it.

And Pichet’s home is just after you pass the field. You will come straight at it, and his name is on the wall to the left of the drive. Pichest Boonthumme.

So that’s how you get there. Now you know!

6. What to wear
My understanding, before arrival, was that long flexible pants and something with sleeves are appropriate clothing. I wore a pair of fisherman’s pants and a short-sleeved T-shirt, which is what I usually wear for massage. But here’s something I didn’t know, as a non-Buddhist: DON’T WEAR BLACK!!!

Preferably, wear white, or a very light color, to symbolize your openness to learning. If you don’t have white, any color except black will do. If, like me, you don’t own much of anything that isn’t black, buy something. Otherwise, in addition to learning it during the “welcome” talk, you will hear about it from several of your classmates, who apparently didn’t think you were listening, since you haven’t changed yet.

As for bare shoulders and shorts and such loose pants that you’re flashing everyone any time you’re being a practice model, hey, go ahead. Apparently, it’s just color that’s important, and not how appropriate your attire is to what you’ll be doing.

7. You don’t need a notebook. Some people had cameras and made videos, but I don’t think that’s very useful. Up to you.

Thank goodness for an engine to ride.
I had a nice wander about after class today. I needed it. Found some nice gentle curves and picked up some speed. On the way back I saw a big Buddha from the road, & went for a photo. Sorry for the quality.

And after that, I went home, showered, washed my hair, then went for food.

I remembered not particularly liking khao soi last time I was here. Its a regional specialty, and our guides the first few days had taken us to try it at their favorite place. I wonder why I didn’t like it. This was amazingly delicious! I also ordered fried wontons, but I filled up super fast, barely finishing my khao soi and only a couple of the wontons.

It’s like that little taste of free time Friday gave me a bug. I’m super tired. This weekend seemed long and draining. I’m pleased with everything I’ve done, but I’m happy that I’m done with all the certificate earning for the trip. Here’s the last one:

After class today, I had a little rest at home. I didn’t really want to shop again, but there were a few things left on my shopping list, and today is the Sunday Market, and my last fun market day in town. So I went. I walked one of my normal routes to the far end.

I didn’t try anything particularly interesting, so no pictures of food there, but here are those mangosteens I told you about. You eat the white bit around the seeds in the center. Ideally, there aren’t any seeds there, but I don’t know how to choose them yet. Because the purple part is soft and I was curious, I also tried to eat it the first time. Yuck. It’s bitter.

Here are my new friends, the self-massage tools. I’ve already put them to good use. These will not be shipped home. Instead, I will continue to use them.

And sadly, that’s all you get today. Maybe I’m feeling just a bit sad already. This is my last week, and I’m saying goodbye. Of course, now it’s time for a new hello. I’m off to study with Pichet for the coming days. I’m looking very much forward to this.

I had a late start this morning, and even so was way too early for class, which started at 09:00. It was the first day of the Pregnancy Massage course. As many of you know, in have already been massaging clients in their 2nd and 3rd trimesters, with doctor approval and after much independent research. However, until now I had not taken a course. I wanted to learn more about contraindications, things to avoid, why, and to be able to ask questions. For this, I am perfectly satisfied. It’s not much in the way of new techniques, more focus areas and positioning tips. I’m happy, and it is therefore really easy.

The course is at Spa Mantra, which is ITM’s partner spa. It’s gorgeous inside.

Quite posh. And who were my classmates? Bianca and Tatiana, both of whom I’d met at ITM a couple of weeks ago! Bianca is the Dutch woman living in Antwerp, my lunching companion. Anyway, it was nice to see them. And Bert joined us for lunch, at a lovely vegetarian place nearby that Tatiana recommended.

After class, I rode back home, changed bags, and left for the Saturday market. It is much the same as the Sunday market, except a different street and a higher percentage of Thai people, although I think many of them were also tourists.

Here is something I ate, which got the usual questions from nearby tourists. An old lady was preparing it and it smelled good. It turned out to be sticky rice with red beans, topped with coconut and sugar. Yum!

And for your entertainment, I give you…
Zwarte Piet? What in the world?!?!?!

I have just realized that the only massage I’ve had today was practice in class. Damn, what was I thinking?

Riding the bike around town is a totally different experience, especially after buying a bijillion things at the market! Thank goodness I borrowed that bungee cord!

My one and only free day has been wonderful. Ahhhhh. As I write this, my feet are soaking, before my herbal foot spa, which I imagine is basically a spa pedicure. Works for me. My feet have seen better days.

I put my earplugs in last night, and woke up around 8. Well, truthfully, I still heard the host family in the kitchen, but it was muted and only woke me up a couple of times.

I met up with Pepijn, Pear & Navin at 9:30, and we drove first to Mae Sa waterfalls, which were a nice break from the city. On the way to meet them, I passed a marriage equality demonstration, hurray! (Psst… Yes that’s P, P & N standing together there watching the other family play.)

After the falls, we drove up up up, and enjoyed a beautiful view over the hills.

On the way down, I got motion sickness, as I did last time I was here as well. But we finished our trip with lunch at a lovely garden cafe somewhere just north of Chiang Mai, and I felt better.

After they dropped me off, I picked up a Kawasaki Ninja 250 at Tony’s Big Bikes, where I had stopped in to chat on my first or second day. Nice English guys, really friendly. They gave me a discount on a week rental as well as a full face helmet for free (usually 50 baht/day) and a bungee to borrow.

I spent about 2 hours riding around. First I just drove around the city walls, to get a feeling for traffic, then I aimed out in the random direction of Pichet’s school. Since I hadn’t actually taken the correct route, I got slightly lost, but I was still able to locate myself on the map, and corrected it.

Pichet’s house is located only 20 minutes from my guesthouse, according to Google. It took me over an hour. I almost turned around, but then saw a sign pointing to the Night Safari, which I’d seen on my map. I knew I had to go much further than there, so I continued until I saw, as promised, the American Standard sign on the right, then the woodworker’s, then the small road. And, as luck would have it, there was a very tiny, very smiley old man walking on that road. I greeted him and asked him for Ajahn Pichet. “Yes! Ajahn Pichet!” He pointed down the road. Yay!! I smiled and went that way, hoping it was obvious.

It was. In fact, there was no way to surreptitiously check location and flee, as students were leaving, so I got off the bike and went in to say hello. Now I knew where it was, I drove back to my guesthouse directly. Even in light traffic, it took me nearly 45 minutes, so I will plan accordingly.

I checked with my hosts how they want me to park, then I drove off again in search of gloves. Tony’s only had one pair, too big for me, but although I found a store (the one with guitars and helmets), they only had one size, also too big, and 3x the price for poorer quality. When I declined, the woman asked me how much I’d pay, and I said that for the quality, I’d pay half the price of the ones at Tony’s, but that made her angry, so I laughed and left. Making friends, you know.

It felt so good to be back on a bike. It’s so much easier to navigate traffic while in it, rather than walking. Still, I parked it, showered, and walked to Chiang Mai gate for market food before coming here for a pedicure.

Here’s my new friend for the next 7 days.

By the way, today is a public holiday, the day of Buddha’s enlightenment. There is lots of activity in the wats. I also saw lanterns floating up to the sky all over. Here’s one wat’s decorations.

And here’s the Chiang Mai gate market, where I eat often.

That phrase applies to several things today.

It feels like forever that I’ve been in Chiang Mai, although it has only been 2 weeks today. Obviously, I have only explored a tiny part of the city, since I’m mostly in classes, but the ones that I have explored feel like home. I see many of the same faces every day on my walks, and we greet each other, as you do in many small towns. I have favorite places for breakfast, for quick snacks, for lounging with WiFi. I know what I should pay for a tuktuk, as opposed to what the driver will ask.

Of course all this changes this weekend, as I’ll be renting a motorcycle to get to the next 2 locations. I will discover new routes and new convenient places.

I felt a little nervous this morning, calling Ajahn Pichest (teacher Pichet) about attending his classes next week. I’ve heard so many things about studying with him, and I had originally planned to do my first week with him, in case I decided to stay with him for all 3.5 weeks here. My plans changed due to schedules of the other courses I wanted as well, and he’s been relegated to my final week. I think 1 week will not be enough, but I usually feel that. There is always next time!

I would also like to return to Loi Kroh school in the future. I feel very at home there, very welcome, very much like family. I also feel like I was able to learn very well from both Coocky and Napa. They were excellent teachers, for one thing, but also, I feel like what they have to offer really speaks to me. And I like their senses of humor. They are both good to joke around with too, as is Pare, as are all the other wonderful people I met there. I’ve only spent a total of 9 days there, but it feels like forever in a really good way. I felt sad to say goodbye. Maybe I’ll stop in for a visit before I leave. If I can! Otherwise, next time for sure!

This is the shrine there. Napa tells me that the reclining Buddha is the Tuesday meditation pose, for people born on Tuesdays. I’m a Tuesday child. I’ve always hated this position!! 🙂

Here is a detail of the shrine. This is Dr. Shivaka, the founder of ancient Thai massage. Yes, there are 2 of him there. No, I don’t know why. It’s always like that, duplicates. I keep meaning to ask someone, but I always forget. Good reason to go to a monk chat one evening.

These are my classmates.

Next to me, Chiya, who was my partner today. This girl is crazy strong (in that she can take a lot) and crazy hungry all the time. Beside her, Coockie, the awesome teacher. Beside Coocky, Kei, who had a lot to juggle this week and amazingly never seemed to get crabby. In white, Keiko, the monk. Apparently, she’s on a travel pass and can dress “freestyle.” She was wonderful. The girl front center is studying foot reflexology. I think she is French. I never met her. We were all getting silly.

Ta da! My certificate:

For the most part, my goal this trip was to deepen my understanding of Thai massage. This was the exception. This was the only course I’m taking for new techniques. And I think it was a very good decision. I learned far more than techniques.

After school, I had an iced tea and exchanged a few messages with Pepijn. He and his wife Pear, and their absolute charmer of a little boy, Navin, are up from Bangkok for the weekend. We made plans.

It seems like forever since I’ve seen Pepijn, but he pointed out that we actually hung out about a year ago when he got stuck in Amsterdam on the same day as Matt’s birthday party. Funny!

Dinner was great, I’m in bed. I have a free day tomorrow and I’m going to spend it with those guys. 🙂