Temples, temples and more temples

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Today was our temple tour of Chiang Mai. The plan: Wat Phra Singh – Wat Chedi Luang – Wat Prathat Doi Suthep.



So we walked over to Wat Phra Singh first of all. It was lovely and peaceful. We walked past one of the rooms and didn’t enter because there was a row of monks all meditating opposite the doorway whom we didn’t think would appreciate the disturbance. However as we wandered past a second time we saw a Chinese lady inside, so thought we would go in since someone had already gone in and they didn’t seem upset by her. Embarrassingly, it wasn’t until the last moment on entering the temple that we realised they were wax figures of previous resident monks… No wonder they didn’t mind the disturbance.

After a peaceful 20 minutes wander around Phra Singh and having read most of its inspirational signs hung in trees, we left to see Chedi Luang. Not really knowing where we were walking we actually got into the grounds via a side entrance which exposed us first to the 700 year old chedi. While it is in a pretty rough state and being worked on by builders, it is still an awe-inspiring sight. Although I can’t decide which I preferred; the old chedi or the interior of the temple. I can’t put my finger on why but I much preferred the temple to others we have visited so far. I felt very comfortable there to sit and think about things.

Upon leaving the temple grounds, we got to chatting with a guy who is visiting from Bangkok. He told us about a religious festival going on in the evening at 5 – many monks coming here to pray. So we decided to go to Doi Suthep sooner rather than later so that we would come back in time.

Once we had rather upsettingly walked all the way to the bus station, we accepted that it was gonna cost 500 baht between 2 of us for a return trip. Halfway up the hill on the way to the temple, a Chinese couple of friends joined us and I instigated a one sentence Chinese convo by asking the boy’s name in Chinese but quickly abandoned the idea when he replied in English, clearly having no faith in my language skills. We were then further ripped off by buying flowers and incense at the bottom of the stairs for 40 baht when the same was sold at the top for 10 baht. However, this was definitely the highlight of the day – such a peaceful temple with more pilgrims than tourists. The atmosphere in this temple was so much nicer than the others. We even joined in the merit-making ourselves offering Buddha flowers, incense and candles as a mark of respect and thanks for the teachings he gave us. After we had given our offerings, we were then blessed with holy water and given holy cotton wristbands by a monk which was a great experience. The temple also offers great views over all of Chiang Mai – just a shame the cloud was sitting quite low.

On the way back to Chiang Mai, we asked our driver if he’d mind taking us to the waterfall near the temple. I meant the big waterfall that has a big sign and you have to pay admission for… missing this fact, the guy took us past that one to a little natural area with a little running stream with a small waterfall. We went and took some nice pictures anyway and it was nice… oh well I’m sure there are more waterfalls to be seen!

After a little rest in the hostel and some food, we walked to the temple that we were told would have a ceremony at 5pm. There was a guy hovering at the entrance who advised us that if we had time we should return at 8am when there was a ceremony…
‘So nothing is happening tonight?’
‘Oh you know the festival?’
‘Yes a man told me earlier that something would happen tonight?’
‘No… just the usual chanting at 5pm’

So we went over to the monk chat area where you can sit and talk to a monk, ask him all the questions you want so he can practise the English he learns at university. It was really interesting to learn about the monks and also get some questions answered about Buddhism. He told us he supported Man City – Len later accused him of being a glory hunter… haha. We then watched the chanting for half hour – more than enough for us. The most fascinating part was how long the monks were… from 10 up the monk told us. And at heart it was a bit like school assembly – fidgeting, itching, giggling or chatting. It was nice to see a human side to monks who are normally nothing but fully composed.

To finish our day we went and enjoyed some Turkish food with a group of CouchSurfers and came home to rest for our cooking course tomorrow! Night =]

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