December 20th - Farewell to our Tuk Tuk

Saying goodbye

Our adventure comes to an end today with a minivan transfer to our hotel arriving around late morning. We’re now a fully-fledged member of The Tuk Tuk Club!

OA was our personal driver and Yuth (in the back) was the team lead on this trip. We had so much fun with them and it was sad to say goodbye to them and the Tuk Tuks. 

A rainbow in the canal

After dropping our bags at the hotel, we walked just over a mile to the World's First Silver Sanctuary. 

 The Silver Sanctuary was built and decorated by the Silver Handicraftsmen (Lanna folk wisdom) of the Wua Lai Community, who have descended from their ancestors. The sanctuary is decorated with pure silver on the most crucial and safety parts. Aluminium was used for the decoration of the rest of the sanctuary areas, instead of using pure silver for the whole building. Inside the sanctuary, each carved wall features stories of Lord Buddha, Buddhist Doctrine, the history of Phra Jao Liab Lok and Phra Jao Prod Lok (Thai Buddha's preaching stories), Buddha's footprint, and the concept of a happy life in Buddhist belief. It took 12 years for the temple to be completed. 

The outside of the sanctuary's walls are symbols of the National Institute, Religion, and the Royal Family, 4 Lotuses indicating four types of human recognition, Personification, World's famous cities, the King's literary work, and 12 Zodiac Signs. These stories are shown for those who believe in Buddhism. 

Wat Sri Suphan is a truly unique temple originally built to serve as the main temple for a silversmith village. Stan Lee the comic book writer had recently passed away when the temple was built and there is a tribute to some of his characters in the temple's exterior decoration.

Juniper went in because she wanted to see the Marvel characters they created, but I stayed outside. 

You can also go in to the small silver studios that surround the temple to watch the silversmiths at work and buy some of their work if you wish.

Part of the old wall to the city. 

We grabbed a Tuk Tuk taxi right outside the silver temple to go to the coconut market. It was about a 30 minute ride through the city and traffic was horrible. 

Made it to the market. 

And since it is the coconut market, of course they have coconut ice cream. 

I really don’t like these rickety bamboo walkways. 

I know bamboo is supposed to be really tough but I see the broken pieces and the supports are few and far between. 

We couldn’t figure out what these were. 

HUGE slices of pomelo

A reference and backdrop for the spider 

I enjoyed a peach soda 

Interesting wash basin

The name "Kad Ba Pao" translates to "Coconut Market," reflecting its unique setting in a coconut plantation. It provides a relaxed, non-commercial atmosphere compared to larger markets and is a popular spot for both locals and tourists to explore and find unique items. After spending a couple of hours there, we ordered a Grab (uber) to go to a craft market that Bronwyn had told us about. 

It is an artist’s market with everything handmade and unusual. Really enjoyed looking at all the crafts but it was very crowded. 

The Pran at Kumuang Boutique Hotel

Foyer 

After the craft market, we headed back to our hotel to leave our backpacks and fully check in to our room. They had carried all our bags up the stairs to our room for us. What a blessing!

It’s a colorful room with wonderful amenities. Notice our towels as elephants on the bed. 

Our patio

A really nice bathroom

With a very large bathtub. 

Over the bed

The courtyard

Butterfly pea tea

We dropped off our packs and went back to “It’s Good Kitchen” for supper. We ate here when we first arrived in Chiang Mai on the 8th and it was so good, we went back. 

Thai basil chili with chicken and rice

And because we haven’t been to any markets 🤣🤣🤣 we walk back to the silver temple to go to the Saturday night market. 

If anyone’s interested, you can take a cannabis farm tour. 

A little street entertainment for you

They’ve juiced a few oranges. 

She enjoyed the tea 

The market was soooo crowded!

Hard to walk

The old South Gate to the city as we walked back to our hotel. 

Back at the hotel for the night, we get the bags ready for the journey home, because once we check out of the hotel in the morning, we won’t have another opportunity to organize before heading to the airport tomorrow night. 

The shepherds

Luke 2:8-9

I can't do an Advent study without including shepherds because I am such a sheep nerd. If you've followed any of my blogs, you know that sheep and I have a very love/hate relationship. Hiking in the UK brings you into very close contact with sheep and sheep poo. Love the sheep, not so crazy about the poo. 

No Christmas pageant is complete without its little band of gunnysack shepherds. Frightened by the angel's sudden appearance, they marvel at the good news from the angel and rush to Bethlehem to see the Savior King. As they return to their flocks, they praise God and tell all who will listen about the birth of the chosen Child. They finish spreading the good tidings, leave the stage, and we hardly give them another thought. But why did the announcement come to them at all? Why not to priests or kings? Who were they that they should be eyewitnesses of God's glory and receive history's greatest birth announcement?

 

In Christ's day, shepherds stood on the bottom rung of the Palestinian social ladder. They shared the same unenviable status as tax collectors and dung sweepers. There's that sheep poo again. Smug religious leaders maintained a strict caste system at the expense of shepherds and other common folk. Shepherds were officially labeled "sinners" - a technical term for a class of despised people.

What an affront to the religious leaders who were so conspicuously absent from the divine mailing list. Even from birth, Christ moved among the lowly It was the sinners, not the self-righteous, he came to save (Mark 2:17). 

How surprising and significant that our Father and our God handpicked lowly, unpretentious shepherds to first hear the joyous news: "It's a boy, and he's Messiah!"

As we gaze on nativity scenes and smile at those gunnysack shepherds, let's not lose sight of the striking irony. A handful of shepherds, marginalized by the social and religious elite, were chosen to break the silence of centuries, heralding Messiah's birth. Glory to God in the highest!