Saturday - Part 1
I know I said I was going to start writing this post like RIGHT after I posted the last one, but it turns out the slow internet upload speeds and some other stuff got in the way of that. We are now 3 days out from the big family gathering and I’m going to do by best to put it all in words.
After making the trip up to Phrao (my mom’s birthplace), and then getting checked into the retreat center, we took the morning pretty easy on Saturday. Breakfast was included in our stay, then we got to take a lovely trip to some local hot springs. I’ve never been to any kind of hot spring before, and honestly I didn’t know what to expect other than to get wet, be warm, and possibly be repulsed by the smell of sulfur. Turns out only two of those were reasonable expectations. Out of all the hot spring pools at Nong Khrok Hot Spring, only the first one had a strong sulfur smell to it, and that was because people were actually hard boiling eggs in it.
The place were visited had a pretty neat set-up. There were multiple pools of varying heat levels, then there were also private cabana-like areas where people could lounge and enjoy an area to themselves. Miriam started in one of the warmer ones, then ended up in a much cooler one a bit later, partially because there was sweet Thai family in there who had snacks they were sharing. The little boy in the family had on an adorable Moo Deng outfit, which was an indicator to us that the sweet little pygmy hippo we all saw on the internet and fell in love with a few months back didn’t just capture the hearts of Americans, but she captured the hearts of Thai folks as well…she was actually a global sensation.
One other kind of interesting note about the hot springs: they were surrounded by a wall that had a giant serpent on it. If you know anything about me, you know that this is a feature I’m not a fan of! Turns out depictions of serpents with multiple heads are pretty common in Thailand (you’ll see it show up again in the set of photos after this one), because these are carvings of the Naga Serpent, which is an official symbol for Thai culture.
After the hot springs, our guide (Net) took us to a really cool temple called Wat Tham Dok Kahm, which was where a famous monk reached enlightenment and where many monks reside today. The parking area to see the temple is at the bottom of a hillside covered in steps (with the Naga on both sides), with a large resting buddha about half-way up. The temple itself sits at the highest point of the steps, and it’s built into a cave. We are slowly learning about the ways of the buddhist tradition while we are here, and it’s an honor to get to be in such a sacred space.
Once we explored the inside of the cave, we took a short, mosquito ridden hike around the other side of the cave. From there we got to see an incredible view of the area, and we got to stand at the feet of one of the large, gold buddhas we often saw dotting the landscape from a distance.
After this short exploration, we all packed in our bus/van thing to get some lunch and head to the family gathering. We were to be at the gathering at 1:00, but we realized we were short on time. Because of that we had to stop at a small restaurant that served mostly noodle dishes to eat very quickly. Our guide told us that was kind of like the equivalent of Thai fast-food. Miriam and I shared a bowl of Tom Yum, and after we all scarfed down our food we hit the road to take the fastest showers of our life before heading out to meet family.
