The Death of Predictability – Day 3

 

You can’t say you have visited Chiang Mai without visiting Doi Suthep. At least, that was what I inferred from the conversations I made with the locals.

Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, one of Thailand’s most sacred temples, represents the epitome of Thai reverence. Many of the locals continue to visit the temple to pray for good health and fortune, as well as to worship and pay respects.

It was surprisingly crowded to me. I had expected a quaint little temple on top of a mountain, but instead we were swamped with tourists and locals alike. However, this did not diminish my appreciation and gratitude in visiting this sacred site.

I felt that I witnessed a glimpse of how the locals lived, something raw and organic, instead of the touristy facade that I had seen in the first few days. Looking back, maybe that was because the hotel was located in the middle of the tourist district.

It was a surreal experience, and I took every opportunity to take in the mood and atmosphere of being in a sacred temple up in the mountains of Chiang Mai.

But first, we had to climb 306 steps, flanked by Naga (Serpent) mosaic, up to reach the pagoda. We could have taken the option of riding the cable car up, but our group was determined to brave it through and experience for ourselves how climbing up the steps were like. Climbing these steps represented a way to accumulate Buddhist goodwill. It was a rather exhausting climb – Several of my groupmates were huffing and puffing by the time we reached the top.

When we reached the top, we entered a terrace, which gave off an aura of calm and pleasantness. It was really peaceful at first – Until the flood of tourists came pouring in. Some of the kids made a ruckus by ringing the bells, which in turn resulted in onlookers sending in annoyed looks.

However, it was still rather serene, and I enjoyed walking around the pagoda. While I did not personally participate in the process of getting blessed, I took the opportunity to film several of my friends and groupmates experiencing the process.

There was certainly an air of something spiritual in the air, and I felt a sense of inner calm and peace as I walked around the pagoda. The scenery would have been breathtaking; unfortunately it was a really cloudy day, so I couldn’t view much.

After spending time at Doi Suthep, it was supposed to be OTOT time, aka free time. However, being the hard workers we are ahem, we chose to visit the shopping malls in Chiang Mai to continue our fieldwork.

It turned out to be pretty productive, as we managed to secure several important interviews and footage with several smokers in Chiang Mai. It turned out that smoking has some sort of hidden stigma in Chiang Mai, which was somewhat surprising to us. Apparently, smokers received looks of disgust from others, which I thought was pretty similar to how things are in Singapore too.

Of course, we didn’t spend our entire free time doing interviews and fieldwork. We finished up our interviews about 3pm, and we decided to split up during our free time. Some of the others wanted to go for a Thai Massage – I wasn’t really interested in because I didn’t want the massage oil to potentially irritate my sensitive skin (Thanks eczema). But we weren’t sure of what to do.

“How about we just walk around the city centre and see if there’s anything interesting?” While it didn’t seem appealing at first, we soon warmed up to the idea.

I took this chance to truly explore the city of Chiang Mai, along with a few others, and we wandered aimlessly into the old city centre. But I thought it was an amazing experience, especially experiencing the joy of discovering something completely unexpected, and the spontaneous nature of it really made things exciting and unpredictable.

For example, we came across a wood carver’s shop, and I managed to purchase a handcrafted wooden box, which I thought would be a meaningful gift to my dad. The shop owner was kind enough to let us observe the wood carving process, and we lingered around to marvel at the handcrafted goods.

We also stumbled upon a really picturesque, charming side market street, which was really quiet but relaxing to walk about. Fresh fruit and food stands flanked the sides, with gusts of the chill evening air blowing past us.  We got a bit lost while adventuring around the city, but luckily we got caught a songthew (The cab) to rejoin the others. While it wasn’t as adrenaline-inducing or action packed like what some other groups were doing, I thought it had a certain charm to the act of unplanned wayfaring.

Sometimes in life we often have plans or goals for what we want to achieve, trying to make our lives as predictable and orderly as possible. But sometimes I do enjoy the feeling of being spontaneous; the thrill of not knowing what is going to happen next.

This is especially true while travelling, to be away from the predictable world of order and rules. There is just something magical, alluring of discovering something completely unexpected, immersing oneself in the atmosphere. Sometimes, it’s easy to forget that we need to take the time to slow down and just simply enjoy and appreciate what is around us. And that is something that I hope to achieve more in the future.