Temples, temples

We had 14 hours sleep straight through on Thursday night making up for lost sleep on the flights. We had a good brunch in a cafe nearby which looks like it will be our haunt for the duration of our stay here as its good food and cheap. One of the staff had a Man Utd shirt on but complained that it was old and that he now supported Leicester!

Over the last 2 days we have visited many temples and some good museums which have explained Lanna culture and temple artefacts etc.

In the first temple there were 4 buddha statues and a monk sitting amongst them - really still. I am conscious of females having to respect the monks ( one rule is they are not allowed to touch us) so I didn't stare. But I did feel a fool as I realised that these are lifelike models not real monks in a transcendental state! In a temple later in the day there were 3 people worshipping at the feet of a model monk......oh but then he moved so he was real, I give up!

We chatted to 2 novices (they don't become monks until they are 20 years old) - they love to practice their English.

Near one of the temples was a lovely garden with a beautiful cherry tree in flower. I thought we were seeing our first cherry blossom of our trip (we are hoping to hit the blossom season in Korea and/or Japan) but on closer inspection althought the tree was real the branches of blossom were artificial.

A bit disturbed to see people sitting on the steps of temples with tiny cages containing 3 birds in each. If you pay to release them you will receive good luck and happiness. How cruel but some tourists were paying.

Tonight we went to the Saturday night market which was full of craft and food stalls so our dinner cost about 75p each. At one point some music was played over a tannoy and everyone stood stock still - it was the national anthem.