Mountains, Jungles and Ancient Hidden Temples

After waking this morning I went with a friend on a hike into the mountain jungles. Forgetting my bug spray and raincoat, which are a must on any given day in Thailand, of course I complained the whole way, as all I had to do was follow my friend. He would not tell me where we going or what we were going to see. After walking over an hour up the mountains, through the jungle, with no set path, we finally reached our destination. An old temple built when Thailand was still part of China. The ancient ruins and relics that appear out of the foggy mist are stunning to say the least and make you feel as if you walked into the past, or a movie. I expected Angelina Jolie to come out of a temple with her Tomb Raider gear and yell at us to "RUN!!!" Back to reality:  there are still monks that live up there, keeping their old ways and traditions, and you can see the children on their break playing in their little orange robes with shaved eyebrows. (Buddhist boys are sent to a monastery for 3 months out of their lives to learn discipline and religion. When a person first becomes a monk, they must shave every hair on their body, even their eyebrows, to symbolize being free from attachment.  Passing a narrow continuous row of tin houses, about the literal size of two train boxcars with people sitting out front. Probably ten families lived in those “houses.” They sit at home smoking their cigarettes while their children sell roses to tourists.