The gold leaf covered pyramid near a Buddhist temple rises for two stories supporting a golden open coffin. Above it, another temple-like structure sits rising a third, maybe fourth story, protecting the coffin. The huge blue elephant head sways left and right in slow motion, its long trunk waving up and down. “People pull strings to make it move,” Aom tells us. She is a young Thai friend who spent three months in Denver working at Coors Field. She brought us here today to witness a unique spectacle rarely seen by tourists.

   Luang Pu Kru Ba In In Toe was a very famous senior monk at Wat Jet Yod in Chiang Mai. He was 101 years old when he died a few months ago. His body, covered in gold leaf has been lying in state since then in his home village near Chiang Mai. This is a Thai Buddhist way of paying respect. Today is the final day of his funeral. This afternoon, the pyramid will be set on fire.

   Richly decorated altars border the north and west sides of the pyramid, each with large photos of the senior monk and writings we cannot read. People crowd around the altars to pay their respects and to take photos.

   From huge loudspeakers drone the recitation of Pali prayers while hundreds of people, mostly women, kneel under a big tent, hands held together in prayer. A smaller number of men are in the front. Outside the tent, shoes pile up, waiting for their owners to retrieve them once prayers have ended.

   Hundreds of others mill around outside the tent with more arriving by the minute. An older man bows to me with a wai, then offers me a copper medallion embossed with a picture of the senior monk. Giving away the medallion must be a way of making merit, I thought to myself, perhaps because I am a farang (a foreigner) or because I am clearly handicapped.

   A long row of tables lines the tents to the west of the monk’s coffin. Dozens of saffron robed monks sit behind the tables accepting donations of monk robes and subsistence supplies. Each donor is given a blessing in Pali, a language similar to Sanskrit.

   Aom takes a hundred baht note from me and buys three donation packages for us at another table. They total 80 Baht, a little over two dollars. Each contains one set of robes, a long wooden pole used to hold down pages of Pali script, and a number of smaller items: a tin of aspirin, soap, a small towel, scented water.

   We approach one of the seated monks, present our donations, and receive a short blessing in return. As I get up and turn around, a well dressed woman behind me gives us a thumbs-up in approval. She has been watching us with interest. There aren’t many foreigners here.

   Leaving the funeral area, we walk up to the road to meet our ride. At tables set up across the road, vendors sell food, drinks and souvenirs. It is 11am on Saturday. The crowd is remarkably larger than when we arrived an hour ago and more are coming. Traffic police are direct cars along the dirt road. It is time for us to leave.

- Norbert

On a personal note

The weather reports on Thai television show temperatures at home of below zero and huge snow falls in the east and the Midwest. Although we don’t really miss that at all, the temperatures here are getting higher every day. The hot season seems to be upon us with 98 by the end of the week. It’s a bit cooler in Luang Prabang, Laos, where we will be heading tomorrow for just a few days. We decided not to wait much longer because I am having more and more difficulties getting around. We kind of expected that since my last IVIG treatment was six weeks ago. Carol has to teach on three more days next week and we are considering returning home after that, a week earlier than planned. But we have to see how things develop