I love to ride bicycles. Whenever I go somewhere new I try and rent a bike and explore the area. I love walking too, but the bicycle is the best way to figure out my bearings in a new place and get exercise in too. Life at about 5mph, sometimes a bit faster and sometimes a bit slower, cycling through new cities and life.
Chiang Mai is known for it's biking culture, most guidebooks will say rent a bike for 100 baht or less (about $3) for the day and prepared to get lost in the maze. The old city was once a walled city, only some of the wall remains at the gates and corner walls. Outside of the walled city sits a moat enclosing the squared city. Chiang Mai is the old capital of the Lanna kingdom and it's layout is based on ancient military and astrological beliefs. If one pays attention to where the sun is and what time it might be then you can never get too lost. Nature always has a way of helping us find our way.
Kelly met up with me in Chiang Mai just in time for the Thai new year, a water festival called songkran. Before the festival started we had one full day exploring the city by bike, before we would got soaked and waterlogged. Chiang Mai has over 300 Buddhist temples, or "wats" in Thai. As we were biking Kelly said, in her poet stream of consciousness way; "Wat! That's like watts in a light bulb. You know, like how they measure energy in a light bulb, the watt." She is forever explaining things, as she is in her Saturn return and understanding her life in a new way. "And wats, they are like big energy sources- spreading the light." True Kelly, true.
Life is a pattern of cycles and stages. The cyclical symbolism is present all around as we fly through space on a blue sphere. There is the earth cycling around the sun, the moon around the earth. There are the cycles of days, weeks, months, seasons and years. In mathematics there is the Golden Ratio which is expressed in nature in the arrangement of parts like leaves, branches, shells, and even our cells out to our limbs and further to all growth in a cyclical nature, spiraling outward like the Fibonacci spiral. (Yes, I've been studying in my free time as I travel.) These cyclical patterns allows an organism to grow without changing shape.We are made of the same elements as the stars and we find patterns to understand our lives. We look to nature to see these patterns expressed and try to understand the changes inside and outside of us.
Songkran, the Thai new year commences with the rebirth of the astrological cycle starting with the Sun in Aries in April.The celebration is rich in symbolic traditions, visiting local temples, offering food to Buddhist monks. Pouring water on Buddha statues is an iconic ritual for the holiday and represents purification and washing away sins and bad luck. Thais will come home if they have moved far away and their are traditions of paying respect to ones ancestors Water is a great symbolism for rebirth and cleansing in many different cultures. From baptism to the imagery of the lotus rising up from muddy water, to the use of water to daily clean ourselves. We grow as humans from our mother's water and our bodies are composed of 50-60% water. Perhaps water rituals not only wash away but also reminds us of our natural human state, cycling back.
And so, for 5 days Kelly and I got soaked. I had 2 small water guns and Kelly had a big one that unfortunately after one go had a constant spray, the trigger had broken. It was a lot of fun to play fight, to become like children and interact with everyone in a big game.We also visited different wats each day and participated in those ancient rituals and we got blessed by monks. After a week in Chiang Mai we journeyed north to Pai.
Before I left for Thailand everyone told me I must go to Pai and that I would love Pai. And it's true I love Pai. They say Pai moves at it's own time and pace and lets the world come to it. If Chiang Mai was a cleansing water fight, Pai was a place to find tranquility, reflect and find a new rhythm. In face we stayed in a place called The Place of Tranquility, Thailand has some amazing names for things. Kelly had been previously in Rishikesh in India doing her teacher training in Ashtanga yoga, so she guided us daily in yoga practice and in turn I guided Kelly in meditation practice.We motorbiked through the hills of Pai, soaked in the hot springs, explored the walking market, took a cooking class and ate delicious food.And then Kelly left for the south to continue on her path solo. I stayed for another week in Pai; studying more about astrology, anatomy and my emotions and my patterns. I looked at the cycles of my life. I felt the depths of longing for something similar, something comfortable, for family and companionship all while celebrating my independence and freedom of "viajo sola" travelling alone. I looked at my insecurities and patterns that no longer served me. As I went down in this cycle, I grasped and reached and tried with all my might and tools to reflect to grow and change these patterns. I decided to head back to Chiang Mai after a week and attend a Vipassana, a silent meditation with monks at the MCU University and I decided to go to Cambodia, explore the temples there and go to a yoga/meditation retreat.
One of my favorite Buddhist quotes is "before enlightenment chop wood carry water, after enlightenment, chop wood carry water." This quote reminds me that there is not an end point to our own personal "enlightenment". It's the cyclical action of nature and growth that reminds us to stay present and at times look at those questions we might not like. Or even those thoughts that plague our minds in their hamster wheel repetition. As I celebrated Songkran I meditated on my own thoughts... how I present myself, how I stay grounded as I travel throughout the world. How do I take care of myself in new situations with people and how my thoughts effect me and my spiritual life. It's not all happiness and rainbows when traveling. I've been extremely lucky and fortunate to have this time to travel and to reflect on my life, but it most definitely does not mean each day is bliss.
For me this cycle of growth has been a long one, trying to get that forward motion and energy. Sometimes it feels like I'm slipping back, but I trust that I am moving forward. At the Vipassana our meditations guided by Phra (monk) Sinlapachai Santikaro taught us to focus on our breath. To find that mindfulness or break of karma or balanced flow in Buddhism we look at the body, feelings and thought. By focusing on our breath we can let go of those harmful attachments or thoughts or actions. Phra said to acknowledge the thoughts, identify them as just thoughts to release attachments or emotions to them, and always to come back to the breath. To let go of patterns we forgive, forget and let go and focus on the breath.The cycle of in and out, the breath that connects us to nature, to ourselves and that helps us understand patterns and cycles of life.
Today I leave Thailand. There are children screaming in the internet game shop I am in, so hopefully I'm not repeating myself and hopefully, dear reader you can understand my words. My hope in writing this post and this blog is to express my experiences, to connect with you dear reader, to let you know that you aren't alone, but you are also alone in that only you breathe your breaths. I hope to share what has inspired me as I travel, that there is beauty and nature all around that wants to help us grow. And that no matter what you believe in, no matter how you tell your story that there is something that connects us... even if it's just a cycle of breath.
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