Meeting and Making New Friends in Thailand

We have been travelling around to various different countries since our retirement. For us, the joy of travelling is observing and learning about other cultures and interacting with the local people since the world is a big place offering so much to see and learn. We were in Thailand for about two weeks and enjoyed this beautiful country and getting to know its people.

  We had a fabulous time in Thailand and our holiday was ending fast. This was one of the nicest vacations we have had. Our experience was excellent and the best part of our travel was meeting new people and making new friends. We went to Sunday Worship services three times in Thailand, twice in Chiang Mia and once in Chiang Rai. When we went to church on Sunday in Thailand we made a new friend. He invited us to his home for dinner with his wife.

The next day, he invited us to his home for a swim. He wanted to see us again before we leave the following week. We were delighted, aslo, were curious to see how middle class and well off Thai people live in Thailand. We booked a local taxi for this visit from our hotel. Since our new Thai friend and his family live outisde of the ancient city, in a newer area of Chiang Mia, therefore, the taxi ride gave us a tour of the city as well.

Instead of seeing traditional houses, we saw many modern single detached relatively new houses with single car garages, nicely landscaped front yards. What I liked most about his house were the gazebo and a good size swimming pool in the backyard to cool off on these hot summer days.

His life style is not a lot of different from our middle class life in the west. We enjoyed a swim in the pool and then out in the neighborhood for a walk and chatted about life.

As a matter of fact, our friend's life story is truly a miracle! He has gone through so much in his life! It was wonderful to witness first hand the power of God turning one's life around. This is a great experience many of us are missing in our modern times when people are spending most of their time messaging than conversing face to face getting to know the real person. We totally love spending time with our new friends and apprecaited their great hospitality!

  We are very lucky! As Christians, no matter where we go in the world we are able to make friends at church pretty easily. Because in God's kingdom, we belong to one big family - God's family!

  RT, Chiang Mia, Thailand

  Very gratedul to have made a friend in THailand!

Why Is There Almost a Buddist Temple on Every Street in Chiang Mia, Thailand?

Religions in Thailand

  We enjoy strolling around and exploring the streets in our Chiang Mia Old Town hotel neighborhood. During our walk each day we discovered many beautiful and traditional architecture and buildings. From what we have observed in Thailand for the past two weeks, three things have stood out for me:

  1. Thai temples

  2. Spa and massage centre

  2. Coffee shops, big and small

 

We went to the massage centres three times on this trip, visited a coffee shop every day and sometimes numerous times a day. But, there are so many temples in the city of Chiang Mia that, I think, there must be at least and often, more than one temple on each street. There are as many massage centres as the number of coffee shops and temples on the streets in Thailand as the case in Chiang Mia.

  I was curious why there are so many temples in Chiang Mai? We saw not only temples but worship altars everywhere even on grounds of schools and educational institutions.

 

I tried to find out more about religions in Thailand and learned that Thailand is overwhelmingly a Buddhist country, with Theravada Buddhism as the dominant religion, practiced by approximately 92-94% of the population. It influences Thai culture, laws, customs, and daily life profoundly. The King is constitutionally required to be a Buddhist, and many Thai men will ordain as monks for a period of time in their lives. Chiang Mai is often called the "Rose of the North," but it could just as easily be called the "City of Temples." It's estimated there are over 300 Buddhist temples (*wats*) within the city and surrounding areas. There are several key reasons for this:

  1. Politics - Chiang Mai was the capital of the independent Lanna Kingdom for centuries. Building temples was a primary way for kings and nobles to demonstrate their power, piety, and merit. Each new ruler or wealthy family would often sponsor a new temple or expand an existing one to gain religious merit and public favor.

2. Sense of Community - In traditional Thai society, the temple (*wat*) was far more than just a place of worship. It served as the heart of the community, functioning as the school, hospital, town hall, community center, and even a news hub. Having a temple in every neighborhood meant essential services were accessible to all. This reminds me of the churches in Canada some of which also serve as a community centre for their community.

3. The Accumulation of Merit - In Theravada Buddhism, making merit (*tham bun*) is a core practice for a better future life. Donating money, materials, or labor to build and maintain a temple is considered one of the most meritorious acts a person can perform. This created a constant cycle of patronage and temple construction.

 

4. Thriving Spiritual Center - The city has always been a major center for Buddhist scholarship, meditation, and monastic practice. Different temples served different purposes—some were for the common people, some were royal temples, and others were remote forest monasteries for intense meditation.

  Other religions include Islam which is the largest religious minority, representing about 5-6% of the population. The majority of Thai Muslims are Malay ethnics living in the southernmost provinces (like Yala, Pattani, and Narathiwat). There are also many mosques in Bangkok and other major cities.

Besides the Muslims, other religions also coexist such as Christianity. Christians make up just over 1% of the population. Christian communities are found throughout the country, but are more prominent in the north, partly due to the work of historical missions.

Based on data from the Religious Affairs Department and local directories, there are roughly 80 to 100 Christian churches in Chiang Mai city and the surrounding province compared to over three hundred Buddhist temples in the same area. This numbers explained why we saw a temple on every street corner in Chiang Mai! Other minority religions include: Hinduism & Sikhism, other folk religions & Animism. Even within mainstream Buddhism, many Thais also incorporate beliefs from folk religions and animism.

We often saw Spirit Houses outside homes and businesses, where offerings were made to protective spirits of the land.So, the sheer density of temples is a direct reflection of Chiang Mai's rich history as a powerful, independent kingdom where Buddhism was woven into the very fabric of society.

 

RT, Chiang Mia, Thailand

Getting a Powerful Massage at the Women Massage Centre by Ex-Prisoners , Chiang Mia, Thailand

Thai Massage is famous! When our friend from Thailand learned about our visit to Thailand, he highly recommended us to try the Thai Massage while visiting the country. I did and I loved it! Each time I got a massage in Thailand, it was a good experience. However, there was one that stood out for me - a Thai massage I received from the Women's Massage Centre by Ex-Prisoners in Chiang Mia.

I was a littel nervous making the massage appointment. What happened if that person for wahtever reason lost her temper and took it out on me while she was massaging me? Would she still be mad at the world? Would she hurt me? What kind of crimes did she commit? Would she be a violent person? All these questions and doubts filled my mind before booking a massage appointment for myself. However, understanding that everyone made mistakes in his/ her life, I stronly believed that we need to give ex-prisoners opportunites to rebuild their lives and earn a living in their community. I was determined to support these women and would do it through my actions.

What I love about Thailand - One of the World's Top Tourist Destinations

We were in Chiang Mia for a little more than a week and we fell in love with this city! Thailand is one of the most popular and successful tourist destinations on the plantet. Pre COVID period, it attracted almost 40 million tourists in 2019. Though the number of tourists declined sharply during COVID with only 6.7 million in 2020 and only 427,000 in 2021 due to strict entry policies. However, the tourists are returning fast.

In 2023, there was a strong rebound to 28 milliong arrivlas and in 2024, Thailand welcome over 35 million arrivals, almost reach the 2019 numbers. For years leading up to the pandemic, Thailnad ranked 8th or 9th in the world for international tourist arrivals. It competes closely with countries like the UK, Turkey, Germany and Mexico. Many tourists love coming to Thailand for a variety of reasons; I love Thailand for the following reasons: 1. Plants and greenery everywhere!

 

I loved the way Thai people decorated their gardens and the front of their houses with various size of plants in nice flower pots hanging from trees or displayed on shelves.

2. Nice, polite and gentle people providing good services wherever we went. ( I can’t say that about every country where we have visited. In certain European countries, we found people were cold, unfriendly and unwelcoming, Therefore we have no desire for a returned visit to these countries. ) But with Thailand, it is a complete different situation. Thailand is known as the 'Land of Smiles", its hospitality is a key reason why we will certainly return for more future visits.

  3. Safe and clean cities and litterless streets – When in Thailand, we felt completely safe! There were a couple of nights when we went out walking on the streets and we were not afraid or nervous at all. We didn't see any drunks, crazy or angry people screaming at others for no reason like we often see so often in North American cities.

 

Thai people are clean people. This was evident on Thai city streets and in their pubic spaces. Thais obviously love keeping their cities clean and are making conscious efforts to do so. Thailand may not be as wealthy as other countries. But from what we saw, Thais' mom and pop small stores were kept spotless and free of clutters. It was a pleasure for us walking by their stores and finding their creative ways of making their storefronts attractive and inviting.

  4. Affordable living accommodations, groceries and dining out at restaurants - Coming from a western country, we have the advantage of our currency being much stronger comparing to the Thai Baht, therefore giving us more buying power in Thailand.

  5. Delicious food

Thai cooking is famous in the world. While we were in Thailand, we didn’t venture into any western food franchised restaurants such as KFC, McDonalds, Starbucks, Pizza Pizza or Burger Kings.

There were so much good and inexpensive Thai food around, we didn’t need to go into any fast food at all. I think we have had enough Pad Thai that would last us for a long time!

  RT, Chiang Mia, Thailand

A Chiang Rai Hotel Review - A Relaxing and Enjoyable Stay in a Resort Like Chiang Ria Hotel

We visited Ching Rai, Thailand recently, a smaller city about 4 hours of bus ride from Chiang Mia. We were there for a few days staying at a hotel which was more than we expected; it was like a resort.

The ground was nicely kept and the tress and plants were beautifully manicured. However, the cleanliness of some of the public spaces such as stairs and walls could be better. The part I enjoyed the most was taking part in the zumba exercise class and swimming in the Olympic size swimming pool during our stay at the hotel. Since we were in Thailand in August, everyday the temperature was above 30 degrees, therefore getting a dip in the pool in the evening was a cool and relaxing experience. I love doing lane swim, therefore I chose later hours to swim when there were not too many people.

It was fantastic being in the pool after the sunset and doing my lane swim to my heart's content! The zumba class was fun with not one but three energetic instructors leading us in our moves. This was the kind of hotel where I could spend a few days wihtout running around the city too much for sightseeing.We started our day with our breakfast in the hotel's spacious dining room. The breakfast was served buffet style with various dishes served on long tables.

There were a mix of western style style breakfast such as eggs, sausages, toasts. milk, coffee and teas as well as Asian style food items such as congee, fried noodles and steamed buns. There was a good variety from which to choose. ">

Be Aware of Scamming Transportation Sites When Buying Bus Tickets Online in Thailand

We made a sidetrip visiting Chiang Rai for a few days and only bought a one way bus tickets for two going from Chiang Mia to Chiang Rai as we were not sure the time of our return from this city.

 

Today we were sure that we would  like to return to Chiang Mia the next day, Sunday. We went online to purchase our tickets for the Green Bus which was the bus that brought us to Chiang Rai. But strangely, we could not find the Green Bus site or any information about their buses.

But one site kept popping up, giving us information for private cars, vans and SUV's. However, the fee charges were calculated in US$ and it was a lot! It was very strange and frustrating as we kept typing in Green Bus to Chiang Mia but no information was coming up.

 

  My husband said"Well, it looks like may be the Green Bus seats are all sold out because tomorrow is a Sunday. We may have to go with one of the smaller companies' van."

  But then the charges were outrageous once we converted them in Baht, Thailand's currency . It was  almost 10X the charges. "Forget about it! We would not pay for that." We thought.

We went to our hotel concierge and asked them how to buy Green Bus tickets as we were having problems buying them online.

 " You can go to the bus station directly. Or you can buy from 7 Eleven, up the street." replied the nice lady behind the front desk.

  That was exactly what we did. We went to the 7 Eleven, a convenient store, which has many stores all over Thailand and bought our Green Bus tickets going to Chiang Mia the next day. Easy as pie and we didn't have to pay un reasonable price!

 We finally figured out the site that popped up right away was a scam always directing users like us to their site and preventing  us from getting to the real site that we wanted.

 

A word of CAUTION: When travelling in Thailand, you must be aware that whenever you are directed to a site that looks like a legitimate business site but is not the one you want, you may have to pay much much more. Lots of scams around in Thailand when purchasing things or looking for information online  these days. Consumers beware!

We were grateful that we didin't get trapped and were able to buy the tickets at the 7-11 Store and boarded the bus at the Chiang Rai Bus Terminal going back to Chiang Ria!

Happy Travelling!

R.T, 

Chiang Rai, Frustrated in Thailand

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