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In 2003 Mary Ellen and I left for our first "leave the husband's behind" adventure. We flew into Bangkok with a wonderful group from the University of Wisconsin, Wausau. We visited Bangkok, Ayudhay, the old capital, Chaing Mai, where I was almost left behind at the Queen's favorite palace. We trekked to the Mog Fha waterfall, thought we were going to die on the mountain walk to the Karen village and had an elephant ride through the jungle and rice paddies.
One of the most fascinating stories of Thailand is the history of the Golden Buddha. In 1955 a monastery needed to move their 10 foot clay Buddha which dated from the 13th century. Confused as to why the crane operator was having so much difficulty, they labored until dark, dropping the statue at the very end of the day. Discouraged, the monks covered the statue with a tarp and retired for the night. As the rain continued, one monk returned to check on the statue. Peaking under the tarp his flashlight picked up the treasure that had been hidden below clay surface all these years.
The Burmese had invaded, killing all of the monks, leaving the clay statue unattended. Over the years the monastery came back to life, but 700 years would pass until the statue of Buddha was revealed to be made not of clay, but of solid gold, 5.5 tons of it. All of this coming to light in 1955 when a crane operator couldn't figure out why this little statue was so very heavy.