Doi Suthep

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On my last day in Chaing Mai, I really wanted to make it up to Wat Phra That Doi Suthep. I tried to go a couple days earlier in a sangthaew (bigger than a tuk tuk but still a crazy ride) but since it is just me it was expensive and it became cheaper to take a half day tour. It turned out to be better because this way I had air conditioning and the van was a much smoother ride than I would've had in the sangthaew. I think I would've lost my lunch on the mountain curves in the sangthaew. The tour also included a stop at a Hmong hill tribe "village." I put village in quotes because it used to be a small hill tribe village but now it is a hill tribe tourist village. There is barely anything left of their way of life. Everyone is selling souvenirs or begging. I am told that if you go on your own around the mountain, you can find villages that still generate their income from agriculture and sending their handmade goods to town and are relatively untoched by tourism.

The biggest benefit to taking a tour was the tour guide who was there to answer every question I have come up with over the past couple weeks about wats, monks, and buddhism. Needless to say I learned a lot but I won't bore you with the details. I will try to add some of the details to the photos (which can't be posted yet because apparently there are no USB ports to be found in the town I am in right now)

Wat Phra That is an important temple (possibly the most important in northern Thailand but I am not positive) on the mountain Doi Suthep. The story goes that the spot for the temple was picked when a white elephant carrying a relic of buddha wandered away from town and into the mountains. It layed down on this part of the mountain and wat was built here and the relic enshrined. Anyway the temple at Doi Suthep is beautiful, so far the nicest one I have seen. The whole compound even smells great because of all the flowers, some of which I had not seen before. It also had a great view of the city of Chaing Mai. The area I liked best was the steps leading up to the wat entrace. 306 stairs, as I was told many times, flanked by two long nagas (another word for dragons) that looked like sea serpents. I plan to post a bunch of pics (with good descriptions I hope) and will as soon as I can connect to a USB port.

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Photos

Guardians
Another Naga, this time the head of a Thai style sea-serpent the runs the entire length of the stairs leading to the temple entrance.

Chinese style naga
The dragons act as guardians

The main stupa
A relic of buddha (probably a hair) is enshrined in this stupa. The top of the stupa was damaged last year during the storm which explains the scaffolding

White Elephant
A statue of the white elephant that brought the relic to Doi Suthep.

Bells for luck
Bells hang from just about every part of every building in the wat. People buy the bells for the temple and whenever they are rung, it is supposed to bring the person good luck

Jack Fruit
It looks like Dhurian but it's not. I never expected to see something growing this way. Some of the trees had nets to support the fruit so it wouldn't break off.

Nepal flower
This is the beautiful but strange flower that came from the tree imported from Nepal. If anyone knows the significance of the tree please let me know.