An Overnight Train — The Central Train Station is one subway stop away from our hotel in Chinatown. We exit the subway and stop across the street from the station to get carry out to eat on the train.

It took longer to drink a beer and get our carry out than expected and we get to the train moments before it pulls out of the station.

Cornelia and I have a couple of seats facing each other that convert to a top and bottom bunk. It’s a challenge to stow the luggage and we settle into our simple carry out dinner – ginger chicken stir fry and pad thai.

The porter comes by to make up the beds shortly after the train starts. Once that is done there is only one option – so I climb into the upper bunk for the night. The lights stay on in the train car all night, so I pull my curtain and the rocking of the train puts me to sleep quickly.

Elephants — We arrive mid-morning and grab a quick breakfast at our hotel before heading out to the Chiang Mai Elephant Sanctuary. It sounded close, but turnsout to require a somewhat harrowing 2-hour ride in the back of a pick-up truck up into the mountains – some of it on rollercoaster dirt roads.

The animals at the Sanctuary are rescue elephants — either retired from performing or rescued from logging operations. There are 7,000 elephants documented in Thailand — 5,000 in conservation shelters and 2,000 remaining in the wild. We get to meet one older elephant (47), and three younger – all female (the males are kept elsewhere and brought over occasionally). Each elephant has a handler. The animals are all very gentle — we are taught how to feed them, give them a mud bath and then wash them in the river.

Chiang Mai Temple – Back in Chiang Mai we head to the top of a nearby mountain to visit Wat Phra That Doi Suthep to hear the monks chant in the evening. We drive up to the parking lot and take a funicular to the top of the Mount Doi Suthep.

We arrive in time to hear the evening chant as the sun starts to set. After the chants are finished, we have the opportunity to receive a blessing and have a string tied around our wrist for good luck by one of the monks. We sit on the floor shoeless and come forward one at a time on our knees as the monk sprinkles a little water on us. Women must keep their eyes down and avoid eye contact with the monk. The monk drops their strings on their left wrist from above and the women tie them on themselves – a monk cannot touch a woman. The monk ties the string on the right wrist of the men and gives the blessing and sprinkles a little more water.

We are reminded that monks have 229 separate rules they must live by. Lay people have 5 things: don’t take a life of a living thing, don’t take anything not freely given, be truthful, abstain from sexual misconduct or overindulgence, and avoid intoxication or loss of mindfulness.

Wat Phra That Doi Suthep is one of the most sacred temples in Northern Thailand. Founded in the 14th century by a King to house half of a relic of the original Buddha – a piece of his shoulder bone – that broke in half. The King gave one of the halves to a sacred white elephant that then carried it as he wandered in the forest until he died. The King built this temple on the spot where the elephant died to house the relic.

The Story of the Buddha — the Temple has a wonderful set of murals depicting the story of the Buddha. Cat, our leader, takes the opportunity present a simple version of the story for us.

Siddhartha Gautama was born in Nepal in the 5th Century BCE. He was the son of a king and destined to be a king. One day as he was passing down the road he encountered an old man, a sick man, and a dead man for the first time and realized there was suffering in the world. He then encountered a holy man whose asceticism inspired him to follow a similar path in search of freedom from suffering.

Siddhartha stole out of his palace and devoted himself to a life of asceticism. He spent the next six years attempting to conquer human appetites for food, sex and comfort. Near death from starvation, sitting under a banyon tree, he was visited by the demon Mara who brought a stringed instrument with her. She tightened the strings as tight as they would go and produced a sharp sound, then she loosened the strings completely and produced a very dull sound. Finally, she tuned the strings to a middle position and produced a mellow and pleasing sound. A young girl gave him a bowl of rice. As Siddhartha sat under the “Bodh Gaya” (place of enlightenment) he realized that pure asceticism would not produce spiritual liberation, nor would pure hedonism, but rather each person must find a “Middle Way” of balance rather than extremism. He became “the Buddha” (“the enlightened one”) and set out after 7 weeks to teach others. After wandering and teaching for 45 years, he died at the age of 80 and is believed to have achieved Nirvhana.

The exit from the Temple is down a staircase with magnificent Naga (serpent) balustrades and 306 stairs.

More to Come — Another day in Chiang Mai — a bike ride through the countryside and lessons in agriculture. A trip to Chiang Rai and the White Temple. Leaving Thailand.