They’re going to battle it out on the following points:

Safety & personal security

This one is easy, in Thailand you can pretty much wander anywhere you like day or night, with cameras, phones and everything else on display. In Latin America, every city seems to have no-go zones, the bus terminal areas are like the Bronx, you just can’t trust taxi drivers, and something you hear more often than you’d like is “Es muy peligroso”.

Winner: Thailand

Cost

This one is hard to judge as there is such a variety in costs across Latin America. Nicaragua, Bolivia and Peru are vastly cheaper than Argentina and Chile. That being said, the average local meal in Thailand is about US$1, in Latin America it is probably about US$2. And travel is generally cheaper in Thailand.

Winner: Thailand

Friendliness factor

Thailand is known as The Land of Smiles which says it all really. The moment you step off the plane in Bangkok, you’re made to feel totally at home with welcoming smiles wherever you go. BUT, and it’s a rather large but, is there a superficiality factor at play here? Are the smiles genuine, or dare I say just a clever ruse to empty your wallet?

There’s no doubt that it’s more a case of “what you see is what you get” in Latin America

Winner: Draw

Landscape

Thailand has some unbeatable beaches, some amazing jungle and some interesting mountains. Latin America has smoking volcanoes, 6000 metre Andes peaks, tropical beaches, the Amazon and of course a plentiful supply of picturesque Spanish colonial architecture. Say no more.

Winner: Latin America

Historical interest

Thailand has Sukhothai, and a couple of other ‘ancient centres’ dating back a few hundred years. Latin America has its Spanish colonial heritage, many UNESCO World Heritage towns, and of course it’s dripping in pre-colombian cultures like the mysterious culture of San Augustin in Colombia – an archaeologist’s wet dream.

Winner: Latin America

Food

Chips, beans, chicken, rice, savoury bananas, chips, beans, chicken, rice, savoury bananas, chips, beans, chicken, rice, savoury bananas, chips, beans, chicken, rice, savoury bananas, f**K I’m bored…compared to possibly (along with India) the best and cheapest food on the planet in Thailand.

Winner: Thailand

Music & entertainment

Repetetive Karaoke poop vs. Latin Rhythms, Salsa, Samba, Spanish influenced classical guitar, pan pipes…ahh just listen to the music!

Winner: Latin America

Language – Ease of learning the language

Spanish versus a strange tonal language that sounds like a cross between someone being strangled and animal noises, and is almost impossible to learn to read and write.

Winner: Latin America

Passion

How do the people express themselves? Do they get excited? Do they argue, debate, put their true feelings across? Do they kiss their lovers passionately in public? In Thailand, the natural response to anything whatsoever is to smile sweetly, and of course they wear their jeans and long-sleeved tops in the sea which is utterly ridiculous. In Latin America, the blood is hot.

Winner: Latin America

Conclusion

It’s a hard one. Latin America wins more outright points, but the food is stodgy and dull, it’s a bit more expensive and frankly it some places it’s downright dangerous. If you like safe and easy travel, Thailand is your place, but for the shear scale, diversity of landscapes and archaeological sites, and passion of the people, Latin America wins hands down.

Yesterday I finally got around to editing together some of the random audio snippets I have had on my computer since I left Thailand. This sound compilation contains radio clips, sounds recorded in our street, animal noises, music recorded at our local temple and lots more.

The final song, although not Thai, was ubiquitous in Thailand for the first two years I lived there. It will also conjure up a few memories for a some special friends. You know who you are .

This video shows the spectacular celebration of Loi Krathong in Sukhothai Historical Park in 2007.

According to tradition, Loi Krathong originated in Sukhothai, the first Thai capital about 700 years ago. It is therefore fitting that Thais hold this memorable festival in the atmospheric ruins of the ancient city. Highlights include displays of lighted candles and fireworks, folk dancing and a spectacular light & sound presentation.

Loy Krathong or the ‘festival of light’ is possibly Thailand’s most beautiful festival.

The name comes from Loy meaning ‘to float’ and kratong meaning a lotus shaped boat. A kratong by tradition contains food, betel nuts, flowers, candle and a coin. The ritual is simple just light the candle and make a wish and let it float away carrying all your troubles of the previous year with it.

Having released your kratong, watch it carefully as it floats away. If the flame continues to burn it is believed to signify longevity, you wishes will be granted and you will be released from sin. It is a romantic night; couples that make their wish together are thought to stay together in the future.

As you will see on the video there are also Krathong competitions to make the most beautiful khatong.

Sukothai is definitely worth a visit during Loi Krathong. Enjoy

Wat Umong was built about 700 years ago and has a several unique features. As you walk into the temple grounds firstly you’ll see that the monks have written various wise proverbs on placards attached to the trees, written in both English and Thai. Some of these never fail to amuse me. Look out for “The mad dog hates water; the sex crazy man hates Dhama.”

Underneath the grass area housing the main Chedi, are a set of tunnels which give the Wat its name. Legend has it that a king built the brick-lined tunnels for a clairvoyant but sometimes eccentric monk named Thera Jan; paintings dating back to about 1380 can still be seen decorating the walls, and if you’re female and really lucky you may find yourself cornered by a rather ‘excitable’ monk. Tina was.

Close to the temples is a curious collection of Buddha heads and other relics from various temples in Thailand. This odd collection started when one of the temple’s supporters rescued some broken images from an abandoned temple in a nearby province and bought them here. Now, apparently, when people run across such relics or have a broken Buddha they want to replace, they bring them here.

Informal Dhamma discussions are held at Wat Umong on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays between 1pm and 3pm, and on Sundays between 3pm-5pm.

Getting there

Wat Umong is the blue marker on the left on this map, and Chiang Mai’s old city is on the right:

View Wat Umong, Chiang Mai in a larger map

Tina left Thailand a week ago now, and on her last morning in Chiang Mai we drove to Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep to get a blessing from the monks there.

In this podcast recorded at the temple, we discuss her reasons for leaving Thailand and the highs and lows of her time in Thailand, then get covered in water during the monk’s blessing.

In February and March this year, Tina and I decided to do CELTA courses with ECC in Chiang Mai. During our courses (we did the CELTA separately on two consecutive months) Tina and I kept an audio diary of our experiences. You can listen to this below.

CELTA stands for Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults, and it’s a highly intensive four week course resulting in an internationally recognised English teaching qualification. CELTA is one type of TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) qualification.

For information about the CELTA course we did, along with its costs, please see my previous post from March.

In Tina’s last week in Chiang Mai, we went to Sabai De Ka Thai Massage to do a one day oil massage course with a lovely Thai lady called Kloy. We had a really memorable day and wouldn’t hesitate recommending it to others. You can listen to the podcast we made during the day by clicking the play button below. And yes, I’m shamelessly pimping my oily girlfriend in the picture below .

The details

Sabai De Ka Massage is located at 93/3 Moonmuang Road (just North of Tapae gate – the East gate of the old city) in Chiang Mai (see map below). You can contact Kloy by emailing her at sabai_de_ka@hotmail.com, or by telephone on 081-8813697 or 053-326529. A one day oil massage course cost 1100THB per person.

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Tina and I have just returned from the meditation retreat organised by the Wat Suan Dok Monk Chat program in Chiang Mai. The retreat groups depart from Wat Suan Dok at about 2pm every Tuesday.

You can listen to the ‘Meditation Podcast’ Tina and I made on the retreat by clicking the play button above.

This meditation retreat is intended purely as an introduction to various Buddhist meditation techniques, as well as an overview of Thai Buddhism and culture – and it’s facilitated by the Chiang Mai Campus of the MCU Buddhist University.

Having just returned from our retreat, we’d both thoroughly recommend you do the course during your time in Chiang Mai. Although we have spent several years in Thailand, we still found that we learned a lot from the informative presentations and discussions we had with the monks. Plus we’re feeling pretty chilled out and mindful which is always a bonus.

Further information

Normally the meditation retreat lasts approximately 24 hours – from Tuesday lunch time until Wednesday lunch time, although during the last week of every month the course lasts from Tuesday lunch time until Thursday lunch time.

Full details of the Meditation retreat workshop program are available from the Monk Chat Meditation Retreat website.

The Meditation Retreat program is funded purely through donations, and as a guideline we suggest you leave a donation of somewhere between 200THB and 1000THB per day that you attend the program – depending of course on how wealthy/generous you are.

Map to Wat Suan Dok


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Listen to the extraordinary sounds of our Thai cat Pudsey going into labour.

Last week I headed to Mae Sot for a few days to conduct a training course and catch up with some friends. On Saturday, five of us decided to hire a pick-up truck and head 150KM North up the Thailand/Burma border to Safe Haven Orphanage.

It had poured down in Mae Sot at about 2am on Saturday morning, and the rain showed no sign of abating. We arrived at Safe Haven at about 3pm on Saturday, and dashed between muddy puddles for the nearest house to avoid another soaking.

Tasanee and the children from Safe Haven Orphanage moved onto their new land shortly before Christmas. The land is located next to the river marking the border between Thailand and Burma, and when I made the trip there with my sister during our motorbike epic last December, Tasanee was frantically directing the assembly of the first wooden house so that the children could move in by Christmas.

This time, there were 4 or 5 mainly wooden Karen-style structures in various stages of completion – the beginning of a new settlement. All the buildings were raised on wooden stilts, with leaf & bamboo roofs.

At about 4pm on Saturday afternoon the rain really started hammering down, and seemed to be flying past the valley sides with an almost horizontal trajectory. We didn’t think too much of it at this point – it was more of an inconvenience because it meant we couldn’t play with the children outside. Looking for something to do, we decided to head into the neighbouring village to buy some sweets for the children, and 15 minutes later discovered the road we had entered the village by had been blocked by a falling tree and power lines it had brought down.

We eventually found an alternative route out of the village, and back to the Orphanage. As we pulled onto the orphanage land, we were forced to brake violently as two or three live electricity cables had fallen blocking the entrance. We left the truck where it was, and careful to avoid the cables, walked the remaining 100 metres back onto the land. Tasanee greeted us with her usual grin – looking like a mildly psychotic Batman with her waterproof poncho flying out behind her – “No Electric City!” she exclaimed.

At this point I’m sure we all thought we’d rather be somewhere else other than stuck in a field 150KM away from Mae Sot, with darkness approaching and caught in a rapidly worsening storm. The shelter/hut that that had been designated ours for the night was about 5 metres long, wooden, standing on stilts and with only 3 walls. We quickly huddled there whilst some of the older orphanage boys clambered on the leaf roof trying to secure it with additional bamboo poles. It seemed that it was only a matter of time before one of the increasingly violent gusts of wind removed the roof entirely.

As the winds increased, and sheets of corrugated iron were hastily hammered onto the hut to strengthen it further, I started looking more closely at the rain passing the neighbouring hills. Having been a keen sailor, I estimated that the winds were probably approaching storm force 10 on the Beaufort Scale. This roughly translates as 55-63mph. I have no doubt that during some of the larger gusts the wind speed would have been approaching Hurricane force.

As night fell, we huddled in the hut by candle light as the winds howled past outside. Numbed by a couple of drinks, we fell asleep, only to be woken a few hours later by a large family of goats sheltering underneath us.

On Sunday morning we headed back to Mae Sot – the sun had come out again, and the only reminder of the previous night’s storm was the stream of road workers who were cutting and dragging all the fallen trees from the road. This only lasted for about the first 50KM south of the orphanage, at which point the damage seemed less obvious.

As we arrived in Mae Sot, we soon heard the news that a tropical Cyclone had hit Burma and there were an estimated 230 deaths. My first thought was that if the Burmese regime were publicly declaring 230 deaths – the actual figure would end up many, many times higher. Sadly it seems that the death toll is soaring and now stands at 22,000 dead and 41,000 missing (BBC news) with some media organisations speculating that it could end up as bad, or even worse than the 2004 Tsunami.