my wand3rlust: Day 59 – Getting Spiritual in Chiang Mai

Taking advice from other travelers, I decided to rent a motorbike and head to Doi Suthep, a forested mountain 1,601m tall and 16km from Chiang Mai. At the top of the mountain sits Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, one of the most famous temples in Northern Thailand. It took a while to get there because I kept getting lost, using a map given to me and asking locals how to get there. Many of the streets in Chiang Mai are one-way streets, and people drive on the left side of the road, so I was a little nervous about getting around. There definitely were a couple times when I found myself on the right side of the road, before quickly realizing that I was about to kill myself....

I found myself lost at the Chiang Mai University, but thankfully, most of the people there spoke English and I was able to drive through the campus and onto a main road, quite close to the bottom of the mountain.

At the bottom of the temple was a 304-step staircase with nagas (dragons) on the sides used as handrails. Once at the top, I had to take off my shoes to enter. The temple was beautiful, with a gold-plated stupa right in the center, similar to what I had seen at the Grand Palace in Bangkok. The temple itself was not very big, was grand nonetheless because of the shiny gold shining brightly against the sunlight. I purchased some incense, a yellow candle, a stick of garlic, and a lotus flower as offerings to Buddha. I'm not too sure what the stick of garlic is used for, but I stuck it next to the burning incense...

On the outside of the temple were temple bells that people ring for good luck. There were also scenic views of all of Chiang Mai near the back of the temple. One unique monument that normally isn't seen at typical temples was the White Elephant Monument, which represented a white elephant that marched up the mountain, turned three times, and died. This was a signal to the king at the time to build a temple on top of the mountain.

Heading down the mountain, I stopped by a national park and took a mini hike through one of the trails, following signs written in Thai, in hopes that it would lead me somewhere interesting. I saw a small waterfall and ended up at another scenic view of Chiang Mai. I took another route down, where I met with a Thai man who happened to walk up the mountain, pray to Buddha, and walk back down. It took him 2.5 hours to get to the top. He said he was doing this, asking Buddha to grant his wishes in exchange for him walking up and down the mountain.

Afterwards, I biked back to the Old City in Chiang Mai and stopped at a bunch of temples. There are so many temples here, that you would expect to see at least one for every block you walked down. One of my favorites was Wat Chedi Luang, which had a main temple where I was able to see a group of monks meditating and chanting. In the back was another older temple that resembled something you would see at Angkor Wat. The entire area was so peaceful, and my experience was probably enhanced because it was overcast and the breeze was perfect at that time at dusk.

At the end of the night, I had dinner at an Anthony Bourdain recommended restaurant that served North Thailand Curries called Aroon Rai, and met up with a Couchsurfer at a Jazz Bar where there was a jam session that night. The bar was a mixture of Expats and locals, and I got some great advice on where to get some good food in Chaing Mai. I'm definitely going to check it out tomorrow.