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Published: February 15th 2018
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Our first wat in Chiang Mai Chiang Mai was our first stop in Thailand, but first there was the small matter of negotiating Bangkok Airport security.
We think we have pretty much got the process well rehearsed by now, but Pip got stopped and her bag opened. The target was her fold away travel scissors, about an inch long. She told the guy that she had done 20 to 30 flights with them but the guy's response was "this is Bangkok" and away they were taken.
Chiang Mai, in the North of Thailand, is an old city surrounded by a moat with a large expanse of urban sprawl around it. It is famed for its wats (Buddhist temples) and street food, and outside the city for its elephant experiences - which get a very bad rap for their treatment of the beasts but there are many 'ethical' locations now. Our focus was on the first two.
We arrived late evening already having been fed frequently on the journey from Helsinki so just settled in for a good night's rest.
First day we stayed in Chiang Mai, starting with some French toast and banana for breakfast.
They say there are more wats in CM
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But inside not open than Bangkok, over 300. Over the three days we went to probably around a dozen, less than 1/2 % of them.
Some interesting points about the wats in general :-
- It is amazing to find out how old some of these are. Some translation is needed as they are on a different calender - it's year 2500 & something at the moment - but many of these date back to before England's 'dark ages'.
- They revere their old monks. Lots of pictures and figures of specific old monks, and a lot of lifesize, very lifelike wax figures. They are almost creepy but as much reverence is given to these figures almost as much as figures of Buddha.
- Talking of which, how many figures of Buddha in one wat is too many? Any number you think of, plus one, it seems. Pip said that they look like a bric-a-brac shop.
- They sure like their bling! Gold everywhere.
And SO many places to donate from offerings for sale, donation boxes and safes, bank notes on a stick........
It would be hard to believe that the Buddhist religion, as represented by its wats, is short
of a bob or two. You rarely see a thin monk!
- There are some ingenious money collection methods. At a couple of wats they were selling little squares of gold leaf which you then put onto your statue of choice, representing either your birth year - dog, cat, etc - or birth day - Monday, Tuesday etc.
Highlighting just a couple of wats from day 1
Wat Cheddi Luang - centrepiece of this temple is a huge, highly venerated Lanna style stupa dating from 1441. It was earthquake damaged in 16th C and so partially ruined. There was a wonderfully large bee's nest high above one entrance, teeming with life!
Wat Phra Singh is regarded as one of CM's masterpieces. Wonderful mural paintings on the wall.
To say we were somewhat watted out by the end of day one would be an understatement.
After a late afternoon rest from the heat we were back out for the Sunday Street Market. Boy is this big, and busy, though as is not uncommon with these things a lot of repetition amongst stalls. We resisted the temptation to buy, though Pip was looking hard to buy,
for 100 baht (40 to the £, so £2.50) a pair of those light fabric trousers that everyone wears. But she is using a 'no elephants' criteria for her selection, and in 3 days we think we've only seen one pair, rather large & baggy, so a no-sale.
One item that particularly caught our eye is the wonderful carved painted soaps, sold in a beautiful little wooden box. At most stalls the ladies were actually sat carving.
We also had our first view of stalls selling deep fried insects - crickets, silk worm larvae, and various other crunchy insects. People are buying them by the bag and eating them like crisps, but if they taste anything like they smell we will be giving these a wide berth.
And we had our first street food - a chicken pad thai for Paul, a veggie one for Pip.
Day 2 in CM and we were aiming to get to one of Thailand's most important wats, Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep, located on a hilltop about 12km outside town.
The most common form of transport in CM, probably more used than a tuk-tuk, is the songthaew. These are small,
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Bamboo scaffolding. Wonder if they have done a risk assessment? cabined pickups with two bench seats in the back - the name means 2 seats - and you think of them as a personalised bus. Hail one, tell them where you want to go, pay 30 baht each (around town and, say a couple of kms of surroundings) and hop into the back where there may be people already seated. The driver will then take you to where you want, dropping off and picking others up as he goes along no fixed route.
You can also hire them for sole use for a negotiated fee.
We used one of these to get to Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep. In fact Paul hailed one down and it so happened that the Chinese lady and her mother already in the back were going there too, for 300 baht, so the driver must have been very pleased to get another 300 for the trip he was already making. And we had a delightful conversation with the lady - her English was almost perfect - especially about our plans for 2 months in China next year.
The songthaew dropped us all at the bottom of the 300 steps climb up to the wat
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Inside one temple at Wat Chedi Luang Worawihan complex. They make you work for this one. It was very busy, tourists and domestics. This is a very important site.
It is said that the king put a shoulder bone of Buddha onto the back of a white elephant and set it free. Said elephant climbed this mountain, circled three times and dropped dead. So they built the wat there.
In one of the buildings Pip shuffled over the carpeted floor to the sitting monk. You are supposed to keep your head below the level of his, out of respect. She paid her 20 baht and he blessed her, water sprinkle and all, and gave her a Sai Sin band of string for her wrist. However, as she was not 'of the faith' a lacky sat next by did the actual tieing on. She has to keep it on for 3 days for its full powers to happen!
It was also very pretty up there. We saw our first cherry blossom, a beautiful yellow rhododendron, orchids, ferns, even a jackfruit tree, heavy with fruit.
We splashed out - is 40 baht each 'splashing out'? - on a delicious fuit smoothie (wonderful, sweet pineapple & mangoes)
before getting a shared songthaew back to town.
There are two main evening street food markets at CM, one at a southern gate, one at the north. We stayed closer to home this evening, heading for the southern one about 1km away. We were spoilt for choice. Paul had a Khao Soi, a local speciality of broth with meatballs and veg. Pip had a veggie stir fry.
The economics of food and drink here is interesting. On that day 2 in CM we spent 365 baht on teas and coffees, 265 on smoothies and juice, 34 on water, and just 110 on food - two street meals and a banana pancake. One coffee or tea in a cafe is about the same as 2 street food meals!
We took an early morning songthaew up to the other hilltop wat, Wat Phra That Doi Kham on day 3. This one we chartered for ourselves at 600 baht to take us up, wait for an hour or more, then bring us back down.
They bypass the 300 steps at this one ?. More compact and much less busy, its key feature is the ENORMOUS Buddha, over 17 metres
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Inside the main hall high. There should be a good view back over the city from there but instead it was very hazy indeed - air pollution from burning. Pip could feel it on her asthmatic chest. A real shame.
We arranged for drop off at CM Zoo on the way back, essentially because it has pandas. As zoos go it was a bit decrepit, many enclosures somewhat run down and many solo animals. But the pandas were very cute and fully on show eating their fill of bamboo. The male was very picky though, picking up some of the bamboo sticks, sniffing their length and throwing them aside.
The next best thing we spotted whilst there was a wonderful, enormous spider, bigger than anything we saw in Australia! About 2 inches body length and ~8 inches leg span, bright green stripes!!
We headed to north gate for street food in the evening. Paul wanted to get some pork from the TV famous 'lady in the cowboy hat' but the queue was horrendous. Instead we both ate at a husband /wife, mother and son stall. Pip had stir fry veg with rice - are you seeing a veggie theme here for
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Buy your gold leaf square Pip? She is worried about some of the 'meat' on show. Paul had a seafood yellow curry. He initially was ordering a red curry but the look on the guy's face convinced him that might not be a good choice. "Too spicy!" Before the meals came we were also given the most delicious small bowl of broth each. Mmmm mmmm!
Now in Bangkok for 4 days before we join our Explore tour overland through Cambodia to Ho Chi Minh City.
In the States they have special waiting areas for their military. Here in Thailand it's for Buddhist monk and novices.
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