Sunday, August 30, 2009

Temple in Lamphun

(From journal written on Saturday Aug. 29th)

Today  my host family took me to see the temple in Lamphun. There were several in one enclosed area. They were amazing. So much detail, so much gold, so many Buddha figures. I can’t even describe how cool it was. One of my favorite features were the paintings around the inside and outside of the largest temple that told the story of the Buddha (Siddhartha). There was  huge gold structure that was under repair/maintenance but you could still tell it was beautiful. My tour book said that a piece of the Buddha’s hair was supposedly enclosed inside of the structure. My host mom said it was a bone of the Buddha. Who knows?

My host mom bought me a cool T-shirt with an elephant on it--a nice gesture. Then we had lunch and I ate a really spicy curry (my host mom chose it for us to share). It had fruit and tomatoes in it. Who knew you could make apples and grapes so spicy. Anyway, my host mom wanted me to finish the dish and one bite was the spiciest thing I’d ever consumed. I began to cough and cry. My nose was running and I felt uncomfortably hot. Meanwhile, a man had engaged my host parents in conversation. The situation was pretty comical because I going through the most intense eating experience of my life and no one noticed. Finally my host mom saw how much I was suffering and told me to stop eating (the first time I’d heard that). When I “came to” I felt like a new person. I was a little worn out but my sinuses were cleared. A stomach ache and headache followed.

Then we drove on the old road from Lamphun to Chiang Mai. Along the road were huge, beautiful trees. My host mom told me that they had orange cloths around them because someone had wanted to cut them down, so the trees had been ordained as monks. By law people are not allowed to hurt a monk. Genuis!

No comments:

Post a Comment