Over the weekend our team had to go to Chiang Mai again for our monthly staff meeting. One of my friends came to visit from Bangkok, so I took her to see one of the more famous sights in Chiang Mai: the "wat" at Doi Suthep. I went a few months ago when a teammate's friend visited our city. But this time, it looked different -- it was under construction!
I remember watching so many Thai people buy gifts to leave at the monument which they consider a sacred place (because a king-commissioned white elephant chose this spot as a resting place while the elephant was carrying a sacred Buddhist relic) and walk around this "chedi" three times in reverence and in hopes of good karma. And then I wondered, "Do the Thai people feel discouraged seeing one of their sacred symbols of good merit under construction? Do they feel defeated that this building in which they put their hope is imperfect and falling apart?"
I didn't ask anyone while I was there. But you can see the pictures for yourself.
This is what the "chedi" (or the big, gold, pointed monument) in the "wat" (or temple) at Doi Suthep looked like a few months ago:I remember watching so many Thai people buy gifts to leave at the monument which they consider a sacred place (because a king-commissioned white elephant chose this spot as a resting place while the elephant was carrying a sacred Buddhist relic) and walk around this "chedi" three times in reverence and in hopes of good karma. And then I wondered, "Do the Thai people feel discouraged seeing one of their sacred symbols of good merit under construction? Do they feel defeated that this building in which they put their hope is imperfect and falling apart?"
I didn't ask anyone while I was there. But you can see the pictures for yourself.
This is what it looked like this weekend:
This monument to the white elephant (there's the little gold relic on his back) is just outside the area where the "chedi" is located.
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