Chiang Mai

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After returning from the trek there was time to make a tuk tuk excursion to a temple situated on a hill some way outside Chiang Mai. This is the "must see" temple in the city. The legend associated with the temple is that a white elephant carried a Buddha relic to the top of the hill and then died. This was treated as a sign and a temple was built on the spot. In this temple around the back were some amusing plastic figures displaying perhaps the Thai sentimentality and sense of humour, for example the monk with glasses (photo). In the evening the monks chant at 6 p.m. And we stayed and listened for a short time. From the viewpoint I saw the square shape of the old city of Chaing Mai surrounded by a canal and city wall. My explorations of the temples and the shops were all inside the walls. My first stop was Wat Pra Singh. This temple is famous for its Buddha images, but for me the amazing feature of this temple was the monks. The temple has a large monastic college and it is clearly a thriving community. In one of the temple buildings Thai art students were sitting on the floor drawing the monks. The monks were sitting perfectly still in slightly different meditation positions and not moving an inch, not responding at all to the girls talking. I do believe though that these were real monks, and not models though there are plenty of the models too in the temples. In the temple grounds notices were attache'd to the trees with "good sayings" for example . My next stop (after shopping and lunch diversions) was Wat Chedi Luang. This temple has an old partially ruined Chedi and a few of the stone elephants which decorate it have survived (though it is difficult to know what is original and what is reconstructed). Nearby I visited a teak constructed temple before heading back to meet the groupfro catch the 5 p.m. night train.

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