Chiang Mai… You are healing my soul and my body.

We arrived at the station in the morning. The landscapes totally changed. Green, stuff who looks green and green things everywhere. I took one of these strange truck who are similar to the police vans bit smaller. They are opened in the back and there is two benches facing each other. I was with Tiffany and we dealed the price like professionals. I didn’t like doing that in the beginning because we were often just talking about few coins but it is actually really funny and the pride that you get to succeed having a good price worth 5 minutes of smile and talk with a taxi driver.

Chiang Mai is the second biggest city of Thailand and has a lot to offers in terms of temples, massages, relaxing terraces and coffee shops, night markets and crazy parties at night (but not too crazy, there is a curfew at midnight and the tourist police is only nice in the train stations).

First stop, my hostel… The kind of place that you don’t want to stay in more than two nights… I don’t know when they build the bathroom but they probably didn’t cleaned it since then. Whatever, for 100B (£2) I was not going to start to be a pussy. I met Raja, from Pakistan who has been adorable and shared with me all the tips ever to have a nice time in Chiang Mai. We had the chance to talk about his country. This is one of the best part of being a backpacker. You always meet people from around the world who share with you the deepest thoughts and informations about how it is to live somewhere else and be born in another country than you.

  

I started to visit the city with 3 boxes of tissues in my bag. I got a cold somehow. Or maybe it’s the malaria’s pills side effect. Or maybe I caught a strange tropical illness… You don’t want to check the travelers forum on Internet while you are abroad and have a spot on your elbow or you start to caugh. I got so scared that I thought I needed to take a ticket back home.

Well obviously I did not!

  
  
  
Instead, I took my 3 boxes of tissues as I was telling you, and I visited some temples. I even had the chance to speak with a monk under a tree for about two hours. I’m, I think, in the good way to find the enlightement! Buddhism has always been a religion I felt close with. I naturally found myself in a lot of values and ideas it expresses. I like the concept that everything happen for a reason and if you understand why you have the choice to decide how to react and deal with it. It’s why I’m here. If you want that something change in your life, make it happens, you are your own savior. “Buddhism is compassion and freedom” said my new friend the Monk. I asked a lot of stupid questions and he always answered with calm and patience. For exemple, I asked if they were some women Monks. Yes. He explained to me that women and men were equal but had differences and if I understood well, didn’t have the same role on earth. In some temples tho, I found myself forbidden to enter in because of my gender. I still didn’t understand why… I also asked about reincarnation. He didn’t really liked that term I think and talked about rebirth and cycle of life. If you die without finding your peace and accept that life is life, you’ll end up coming back (if I have the same kind of life, I think I wouldn’t mind!). Then, I asked if monks were allowed to stop being monks. And my dear mates, the answer is yes! He reminded me that everybody had their own way to find the enlightement and that Buddha said it was ok to stop being a Monk if you find some other way to find heaven. Actually, even if you don’t want to go to heaven anymore, it’s your own problem dude! He told me that they were two universes, you, the sensible part of your body and your soul, that you an change and transform,  and outside, that you only can describe without really affecting. If your life need to be change, if you have grievings, if you’re angry, it has to be changed from inside  with three simple steps. First, you need to want this change. Listen, think, act. Secondly, you need a lot of meditation. Third, it’s the acceptation and the understanding. You can learn everything in books and through somebody else but the most essential part is to experience it. We ended up the conversation with the subject about Good and Bad. He explained that sometimes when you want to do good things, you do bad things for others. Better try to find the enlightement, do the right thing and have compassion. Buddhism propose some keys that you can follow or not. It’s up to you. I really need to check out closer about this as maybe I said a lot of idiots things!

  
  
 In the afternoon, I’ve been in this really nice place hold by ex inmates. Yep. No kidding. . . I’ve been massaged for one hour by a very strong little Thai woman who has been in jail for I-don’t-know-what-reason-but-I-don’t-care. For 200B (£4) you can have your body completely destroyed… Ah no, sorry, ENERGIZED. Deep tissu massage were accepted with difficulty by my sore body but I really don’t regret the experience. Specially the moment she put her leg  on my shoulder and cracked all my back bones at the same time. That noise… It was so loud that I think the echoes of it are still singing in the mountains of Chiang Mai…