Driving between errands & meetings this Friday morning, in a bit of a rush but entirely self created (as only another entrepreneur will understand! 😆) I suddenly felt the press of the covid-cage bars and my feet itched, almost physically.
I need to travel!
For a cynical, frustrating moment I sat at a congested traffic light at the Charoen Muang San Kamphaeng - Superhighway intersection, and felt stuck. And then for the next 15 minutes I daydreamed as I drove & delivered... of exotic places I have never been, of temples and ancient forests, and pristine beaches and rugged mountains.
And then I remembered - again - that my sovereign-self decides every day what I CHOOSE to be. And that I can travel anytime, anywhere. And so I hastily rearranged a few expectations on my cell phone and created some space for possibility.
And then I went somewhere I've never been before. Just for an hour. And I breathed it in and savoured a new place.
Where did I go? There was - not 3 minutes drive from where I had pulled off the road - a temple I have been getting around to visiting for about 10 years now. And never made the time.
One of the problems of living with so much beauty and culture in Thailand is you actually get used to it. And so I forced myself to sit in the car for 5 mins before getting out, and WILLED myself into a travelers mindset of curiosity, apprecition, leisure and prepared myself to be pleased and impressed.
Wat Ton Pao.
It lies behind the sleepy paper-making village of Ton Pao on the outskirts of San Kamphaeng. The compound and some of the trees are about 200 years old, the resident monk on duty proudly told me.
The massive trees dwarf the impressive temple buildings.
In true Thai style, this is a living, breathing spiritual and teaching center, and they are forever building. This new teaching hall is built in the Northern Lanna style - cool and made completely from locally grown teak, and gives the feeling of being in a treehouse.
The mix of styles and building materials reflects the age of the compound, and the times of affluence. The original chedi at the back of the compound soars and somehow is a cohesive energetic point.
The temple was heavily fragrant with the Dok Kaew flowers - one of my favourite tropical Thai scents after rain; western people call it Orange Jessamine, botanically Murraya paniculata. What does it smell like? a heady blend reminiscent of maybe mango blossom and honeysuckle.
The temple compound might be 200 years old, but the proverbs, teachings and Buddhist wisdom adorning the site in the old Lanna language? Timeless.
"Person with good eyes leads the blind person. The person with good eyes doesn't arrive. The blind person leads the person with good eyes."
I walked out smiling, not only becuase I had regained the sense of my autonomous sovereign self and not just because I had been revived by the sense of timelessness and the glorious old trees. I was smiling because the temple guardian statue at the gate also neatly held the monk's umbrella.
Some people visit many places and never travel. The choice to explore curiously is always there, wherever you are.
Create your own moments.
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