November 12th, 2024
After another session at the massive breakfast buffet at the
extravagant hotel in Bangkok, we hopped on the airport rail link to Suvarnabhumi Airport, a 40
minute ride, for a mere 45 baht (less than $2!). The plane was full and when I had booked our
tickets a few months prior, I couldn’t find two seats together, but at least we
both had window seats, with Naomi 3 rows in front of me. The flight was slightly delayed, but we still
arrived in Chiang Mai around 2:30 pm.
The airport in Chiang Mai is right in the city so it was a quick Grab
ride to get to our boutique hotel called Wannamas, in the old town section.
In Suvarnabhumi airport in Bangkok:
Flying over cumulus clouds to Chiang Mai...I never get sick of this.
After checking in, our plan was to head up to a temple which
was high up on a mountain overlooking the city called Wat Phra That Doi
Suthep (do means mountain or hill in Thai) . We could see it from the airport walking out
from the plane (well I could, as Naomi didn’t have her glasses on). From researching online, I found out that
there was a meeting point about a kilometer from our hotel, just outside of the
square perimeter of the old town of Chiang Mai which has the remnants of a moat
running around it. It was 3 in the
afternoon and fairly hot, so I got some grief from Naomi that it seemed a lot
further than a kilometer. The main type
of taxis in Chiang Mai are red pickup trucks with a covered box with a couple
of bench seats which can pack in 10 people.
Luckily, we only needed a minimum of 6 tourists to head up to Doi Suthep
and we were joined by two couples of Polish tourists who were already waiting.
It was a windy road up the mountain, but a fun drive. After arriving, we knew that we would have to
climb 300 steps to get up to the temple, but it really wasn’t that bad,
especially having recently ascended over 1200 steps at a temple in Krabi.
After paying the small foreigner entrance fee, we walked
through the main entrance to the temple.
It was a square space with a large golden spire in the middle, a pretty
typical Buddhist wat (temple) layout.
Proper etiquette in temples is to dress modestly (shoulders and legs
covered) and to be relatively quiet. You
can hire a sarong to cover up if need be, but, although I was wearing shorts
that I could zip on pant legs, I didn’t bother as I saw many other tourists
walking around in shorts. Just inside
the temple area, many people were talking normally and the loudest person was
actually a tour guide! There were many
donation boxes around the temple and I guess the monks put up with these
indiscretions as it could affect the bottom line.
We wandered around for 20-30 minutes and then went to check
out the view of the city from a few platforms.
We were facing east and the sun had already set behind the mountain, off
to the right behind us, but the evening glow was nice and I enjoyed watching a
few planes take off from the airport.
An hour and a half later, we met the Polish group at our
taxi truck and started the windy drive back down the mountain in the dark
before heading out for dinner. Naomi was
pleased as with all of her planning she had done for this trip, she wasn’t sure
where she was going to fit in this excursion…which we did, and it was well
worth it.
Returning from Doi Suthep, we walked back into the old town
and headed towards a restaurant that was recommended to me by a former
paragliding student, Kevin, who visits Chiang Mai frequently. Unfortunately, the place was empty so we
continued on and eventually found a British pub type place for an okay meal.
On our way back to our accommodation, we were passing right by a temple that was on Naomi’s must-see list called Wat Chedi Luang, which was started to be built in the 14th century but wasn’t finished until over 100 years later. She had planned for us to visit it and another temple in the morning, but it looked amazing lit up in the night.
I’m glad we chose to check it out before we headed home for the night, a great way to finish the day!
cool cool enjoy guys
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