Living Next To Buddhists Monks In Chiang Mai Thailand
I've been living in Chiang Mai, Thailand for 48 days now, just enough time to make some friends, get a feel for the area, discover some hidden gems and start to feel at home.
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Living In Chiang Mai
It's easy to see why people love this place. Did I mention how affordable it is, how many things there are to do, and how good the food is?
There's hundreds of YouTube videos posted online by travelers and digital nomads about living here and how affordable it is, but the best way to experience the quality of life is to come here to see for yourself.
This is the first full month I've paid rent, water, and electricity on my Chiang Mai apartment. For a place with a pool, gym, and internet included it came out to;
- $231 USD rent
- $86 USD electricity
- $1.50 USD water
- Free internet, gym, pool
- $318.50 USD Total
For another $84 USD a month I rented a scooter for transportation that gets 160 kilometers on $2 USD of gas, bringing the total to $402 USD/month for shelter, transportation, internet, and gym.
You can get delicious Thai food everywhere in Thailand for about a buck or two per meal. It's literally everywhere, on almost every main or side street. There's plenty of vegetarian options, fresh fruit, BBQ, stir fries, smoothies, coffee shops, bars, and restaurants to satisfy any taste, budget, or schedule. It's a foodies paradise.
Visiting The Neighbors
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My apartment is right next door to the Wat Jedyod Royal Temple and twice a day at 5 AM and 5 PM the buddhists begin their chanting rituals. When they ring the bell before each chanting session that notifies all the monks it's time to begin, all the dogs in the area begin to howl along with the bell.
Today I decided to have a closer look at the temple and perhaps get a glimpse of the monks. We are neighbors after all. Hearing the monks chanting everyday envelops you in a peaceful feeling of tranquility.
Monks Chanting
Here's a video tour of the place and the monks doing their daily ritual.
Thai Street Food
There's so much good food in Thailand and I will be doing a post just about the food here but here's a little taste of what's available on the street.
If you like fruit you'll love Chiang Mai as most of the fruit in the country is grown here. It's cheap, plentiful, and fresh as can be. This plate of pre-sliced fruits is only 45 baht ($1.36 USD) and includes some grapes, papaya, melon, mango, apples, pears, and passion fruit. What a great breakfast.
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If you're carnivorous there is so many meats to choose from and the marinates they use are spicy with lots of ginger and garlic. Each one of these meat on a stick delights are only about $0.30-0.60 cents each.
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There's a woman just down the street from my place that makes Pad Thai so delicious I've become addicted to it. She makes it fresh on the spot and it only cost $1.20 USD.
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I'm loving the area where I live and am getting to know more people and even met some people who are on Steemit. We had a meet up this week and I'll post about that soon Apparently, there are a lot of Steemians in Chaing Mai and we're going to start having more meet ups.
Tomorrow morning I'm flying to Bangkok where I'll be staying for a week before heading to Steemfest in Krakow, Poland. I plan to meet up with @waybeyondpadthai while I'm there and look forward to meeting her.
Steemit has changed my life and opened new possibilities and it never ceases to amaze me. If you're in Chaing Mai or will be coming here soon, please let me know and we could meet up and do something fun.
Thanks for reading my post and stay tunes for more adventures on my way to Steemfest.
Related Posts
The Royal Park Rajapruek in Chiang Mai, Thailand is a feast for the eyes and a perfect opportunity to indulge in some photography. Originally built to commemorate His Majesty the King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s Accession, his 60th year as the king and his 80th birthday, Royal Park Rajapruek is now counted as the center of agricultural research in Thailand
The Royal Park Rajapruek in Chiang Mai, Thailand is a feast for the eyes and a perfect opportunity to indulge in some photography. Originally built to commemorate His Majesty the King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s Accession, his 60th year as the king and his 80th birthday, Royal Park Rajapruek is now counted as the center of agricultural research in Thailand.
Wondering what awaits in those hills, the bike read my thoughts and seemed ready to find out. Making quick work of it as it glided along the perfectly smooth roads, the bike and I became one, racing away from the city below flying past the croaking frogs and rice paddies, through thickly forested hills and breathtaking vistas, round the winding roads and waterfalls, cutting through cool, floral-scented air pockets until we reached Doi Suthep.
Call me crazy but last week I flew to Bangkok, Thailand with nothing but a camera, half a suitcase of clothes, my trusty laptop, and an incurable case of wanderlust for new adventures. While that may seem impulsive to my close friends and family, some who've made their opinions concerning my sanity very clear, to me it's perfectly normal. Home is where you feel at home and for me, that's almost everywhere.
Just west of the Chaing Mai University at the the base of the Doi Suthep mountains is the Chiang Mai Zoo and Aquarium, a 200 acre (81 hectares) zoo established in 1977. I'm not a big fan of zoos but when I was having lunch at a nearby place and heard a lion roaring in the forest my curiosity got the better of me. I spent a day visiting the place and snapping pictures.
Strolling through the Huay Kaew Arboretum in Chiang Mai, Thailand I imagined saving the world one forest at a time and stood in amazement under new-to-me trees, basking in hungry curiosity for this novel biosphere. Most of the trees in these parts are hosts to a wide variety of orchids growing on their trunks
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@annabanananz is in Chiang Mai too.
Wonderful to see that You're enjoying yourself so much! How did you first find your rental there? And you would recommend the area you're in? Just thinking for future maybe😊
I hear you about friends and family thinking you're crazy haha we get that all the time. I just think it's jealousy and envy because they don't have the guts to do it too 😊
I researched a bunch of places on YouTube and Google before coming here. Narrowed it down to eight places. Looked at all eight the first day and moved in the next day. This area is the newer part of town but transportation is easy here. The Old Town is more touristy but I'm only 3 miles away from it. I'm in the Nimman area near Maya Center Mall. You can't go wrong either way really, Old Town or Nimman.
Lovely having @Luzcypher in town, he gets around LOL! It was nice to meet you the other night man, great stories and laughs. I just mentioned you and included our group selfie.
Let's chat about the Chiang Mai meet ups once you get back. Also love your related posts format, inspires me to pimp my own promo footer. Hey also my friend @Bkkshadow loves Steemit, food and I'm sure would be up for a beer while you're in town.
🤘😈
It really was a pleasure meeting you and your family. Let's do it again son. In Bangkok right now until the Steemfest starts. I'll be back in Chiang Mai on the 17th of November which is also my birthday.
Ok great, perfect timing! 👍
Great overview and starter guide!
It is not expensif when you are a digital nomad and work there.
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Buddhist monks do not smoke weed or drink or do any intoxicants at all. They're high on Buddha. No, don't have any plans to visit Nigeria. Why do you ask?
Monks do all kinds of things like people, anyway, they are people. Long ago I was shooting a documentary about a controversial place (Temple) where people come to stop drugs. I was surprised to see how many monks were there to stop drugs. From what I know only the brown robe monks (U Tong) do not make things like that because there are the only one who is following the rules. I spent days with both kinds of monks and I can guarantee that the brown monks are the real deal.
That sounds like an interesting documentary. Can we see it somewhere?
The documentary date from 2001 and was an order from UN, I have no clue if it is public or not but you can find some doc about it on Youtube just make a search "Wat Tam Krabok" it is kind of shocking even more when you are there looking at the scene. When we shoot the doc there was some controversy about patients dying and also murder inside the temple by CIA, a strange place.
Weird they don't. I've always wondered what those guys do for fun.
There's a big steemit community here and it'll be totally awesome if a heavy hitter like you drops by. You'll get to experience a new culture, wat our food and hopefully I'll introduce you to the best weed on earth.
Dude, I'm from California. This year my friends are pulling is stuff like this. And it's legal there.
Its beautiful 😭😭
Dang! your friend might as well get on smoke.io hahaha ;) Totally a place for him to be :D
WOAH! Can I be the friend of your friend?
You know what, I think some monks do. They just don't tell you LOL My ex was a monk once not so long ago and he said, they really did (not him, of course :D)
Hahaha. I'm going to Bangkok tomorrow. Will be there until the 6th. Let's meet up.
Dang! already tomorrow. I'm always here and most of the time free to meet. Already talked to a few but one that might be able to meet easily (he's also quite busy) is Sam (@travelling-two). He's free on weekdays.
Can't wait to meet. Actually wish it were today so we could go out for halloween!!! See you soon! :) Don't forget to add me on LINE :)
What is your LINE ID?
Hahaha you never checked discord T^T Cryyyy lol
tangtangtangmomomo
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