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Temple Run
We wanted to learn more about Buddhism so we went to a temple. The temple we went to was called Wat Phra That Doi Suthep. This is what we saw. First, we had to go up a mountain. Then, when we got to the temple there was a market with Buddha souvenirs.
We had to walk up lots and lots of stairs and we saw butterflies and stuff. Also there where dragons made of tile.
Inside the temple, there were lots of statues, spirit houses, and things made of gold.
People were bowing down and burning incense. There were monks who were bald and wore orange robes. We have seen monks quite a lot at markets or walking on the side of the road. The monks at the temple seemed older than the ones that we have seen before and their robes seemed to be more of a bright orange color.
The Bible tells us we should not worship idols. I have never seen anyone worship an idol before, but now I have. I am glad I do not worship Buddha or a Buddha statue, partly because I would not like to go up those stairs every time, but mostly because God made Buddha. Buddha is a mere man who died.
My favorite color is green, so I thought the buddha statue made out of jade was pretty cool.
I remember hearing the church bells ring at my home in America. They did not have church bells, but they did have a really big gong at the temple.
There was a platform that gave a really good view of Chiang Mai and we saw a rainbow because it was raining. We liked to watch airplanes fly by since we could see the airport.
When we were done, we went back down all the stairs and drove on to our next adventure.
I might not agree with all the things that the monks at the temple believed in, but I still really liked to see it. I think you should know about it, too, because then you can get some idea of what Thai culture is.
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Our Malaysia Trip
We went to Malaysia last month because of our visas. If you don’t know what a visa is, I will try to explain it. We are American citizens so we have to get permission from the Thai government so we can live here. When we first came, we had permission to live here for a little while, but then it expired. We needed a new one. The first time we renewed our visa we went to Burma. The second time we went to Burma, too. The third time, we went to Malaysia to get a whole new kind of visa so we could stay longer this time. When we went to Burma we just walked across the border, but when we went to Malaysia we drove to the airport and went on an airplane to Penang, Malaysia. Well, two airplanes to be exact.
To get our visas we had to go really early in the morning and wait in line. I don’t even know what we were waiting for, but it wasn’t very fun. But I am glad we got it all done quickly: just two days.
After we got our visas, we got to play in the ocean.
We stayed in a hotel room really far up and we could look far out at the ocean. We were on the 24th floor of our hotel, but they called it 23A because they think the number 24 is unlucky.
It was really fun and I am glad we got our visas so we can stay in Thailand longer. See you later!
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The Snack Shack
Our kitchen has the coolest window. It slides open and it slides shut. On one side of the window, it is the kitchen and on the other side, it is the dining room. I came up with the coolest idea: what if I served snacks from the kitchen to people in the dining room?
From there, it became “The Snack Shack.” First my sister, Selah, bought a cash register. Then my dad put shelves in so that we could pass things out from there. Now I sell candy, and Oreos, and Beng Bengs (which are candy bars that are like rice krispies with chocolate on them). And now I am partnered in association with a business called “Keim Café.” Selah can tell you about that.
For a couple of days, during math time for school, mom and I figured out how much everything should cost. We took the total price for a box, counted how many things were in the box, and then divided up the price. In my head I could estimate how much each thing cost. We have 5 baht treats and 10 baht treats. That way people could pay for it with the money we get each week for snacks.
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Songkran
It is a tradition for Thai people to go around sprinkling a little bit of water on one another to bless them for the new year. But it isn’t always just a little sprinkle, some people get a little crazy and dump a whole bunch of water on everybody. We went to the moat in Chiang Mai for the Songkran celebration and it was the biggest water fight I have ever seen. Songkran was so fun!