Thailand Day 3

Doi Suthep Temple:
When we got to our hotel in Chiang Mai it was still too early for us to check in so we checked our bags and went to get something to eat. We ended up having Spanish Omelets nearby the hotel. I am surprised that there doesn't seem to be any breakfasty Thai food available. We will either have to buy American snacks or full American since curry is a little too heavy first thing in the morning.
We ended up having to haul ass at our hotel since we only had about 20 minutes for both of us to shower and clean up. Our tour driver was a very pleasant friendly woman named Minnie (like Minnie Mouse she said). My only complaint was that she was a little overwhelming with the amount of facts that she showered us with. Over all I found the temple tour very enjoyable. Minnie showed us a book that tells you what day of the week you were born on. I was apparently born on a Thursday and Masha was born on a Wednesday. Every day of the week has a particular Buddha position assigned to it. Mine was the meditating Buddha which means (according to Minnie) that I am very smart and my profession should be teacher, lawyer, or governor. (I guess I am in the wrong line of work). Masha's, Wednesday, Buddha position was Buddha giving alms and Minnie said that Masha must be very good at eating :). We watched Minnie pray and do the whole candles (Buddha), incense (Buddha’s teaching), and the lotus flower (monk) prayer bit. It's kind of interesting. She also taught us the proper prayer form and had a monk bless us with holy water.
We found out a little about the imagery in the temple. There are beasts in the front which are a mix of crocodile, snake and dragon and they protect the temple from evil. The dragons at Doi Suthep temple had seven heads. The more heads the beast has the more powerful he is in fighting off evil.
The story goes, that the beast in question wanted to become a monk really badly but only humans were allowed to be monks so he made himself look like a human and went to the Buddha to become ordained. The Buddha, being a pretty sharp guy, saw through the beast's disguise and decided to teach him a lesson. "Go down the (306 according to Minnie) steps and wait for me. When I am done meditating I will come get you.” The beast waited for hours and hours and still the Buddha didn't come. Finally he went to sleep and changed back to his original form. Now he stands guard at the foot of the stairs to the temple.
There are also lions at the top of the staircase as a second tier of protection. The lions are not commonly used in the south because they were brought in as part of Burmese influence. We also saw another protector beast which was a combination of elephant, pig, fish, salamander, and dragon. Apparently the Thai like to create mutants J
On our way out of the temple we checked out the Jade factory. Apparently jade doesn’t only come in green but goes through the whole spectrum of colors (I still like green best). We were also taught how to spot “jade” that’s really plastic or glass. The museum was interesting but really overpriced…. Oh well.
Random facts about Thailand that we know because of Minnie:

1. The royal palace was built out of teakwood. Every new king would level the old palace and build a new one. The wood from the old palace is usually donated to build a temple.
2. Thai people don't like to live in old houses because they are haunted. They constantly rebuild so that their house doesn't have a bad history. I tried to ask if this was for wooden houses only or for concrete as well :) but I don't think I was understood
3. Temples are used as places of worship, places of meditation, tourist attractions, and hospitals. The monks have an herb garden and create different combinations to make people better. A blessing can also be performed when all else fails.
4. There are 2 different types of medical plans:
• Insurance - 50% of the cost is from taxes, 25% from your job, 25% from you
• No insurance - "yellow card" get charged 30 baht (1 dollar) every time you go to the hospital no matter what you go for
5. Most tour guides are women because they are more gentle and pleasant, although now the lady boys are starting to crop up more in those positions.

Current Plans:
Go get Thai massage with Masha and then go to a dinner show. More to come later. Stay tuned.

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Masha and I ended up getting a very lovely hour long massage for about 5 dollars each. The Thai massage is different. They have you put on these weird pajamas and massage you through the pjs. No oil or lotion used. Thinking back on it, the massage might have been a bit rougher than I wanted. After the massage we just had enough time to get ready for our dinner and a show. I have to say that the food wasn't great at all, show was pretty cool. We saw the peacock dance, the sword dance and a bunch of other village dances for weaving and building. Not too bad overall and we took a bunch of cool pictures. By the time we got back to our hotel we were both pretty tired and went to bed early.