Sunday, November 17, 2024

Doi Suthep in Chiang Mai

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:


Take off.

The long farmer's fields north of the capital.

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.


Starting the climb of 300+ steps.

This dog was pretty chill.  He was still lying there when we came back down an hour plus later.

The main set of stairs:

Yup, we're going up there Naomi!

A cool set of dragons to start the staircase.

Up we go...

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.


The entrance at the top.

Paying some respect before entering.

Note the monk on the left hand side.

They do like their gold covered stupas.

I thought it would be a great task for the TV show Amazing Race...count how many Buddhas there were in this temple...over a hundred for sure.

Naomi getting a blessing from a monk.



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.


Naomi loved these little girls on their devices.

Outside the main temple:

A cool structure at a viewpoint.







The Chiang Mai air

MOM!

I couldn't understand why the sign for the Women's bathroom had to show a pregnant woman as well...

Oh, good to know.  I just saw this sign in the nick of time.

This dog's owner must be inside as he was fixated.

On our way back down.  I counted most of the way down and yeah, it is around 300.

Of course there are shops at the bottomw selling souvenirs.

Naomi asked these monks if she could take their photo in a juice bar.  They thought that she wanted to be in the shot...but no, she just wanted to capture them.

Yummy!  No, we didn't try them...we'll save that for Vietnam.

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.


By the main gate of the old town.

These guys were playing some lovely classical music.



The city is getting geared up for the lantern festivals.

Dinnertime!

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.


Some "high fashion" at a store we passed by on our way to the temple.


The Wat Chedi Luang:

What a massive tree!




Good to know!



What a cutie pie!  Naomi asked her mom if she could take the photo...she's looking over at me in this shot.




Nice gong...

Bang a Gong! (sounded so great in real life):

This was quite a large, and old, structure.

Another lying Buddha.

Naomi thought this was ironic with me in it for some reason...it says "No Take Wedding Photo Here".

I’m glad we chose to check it out before we headed home for the night, a great way to finish the day!

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