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Published: December 17th 2007
Beautiful Girl
There is a traditional native hill tribe village located about 7 km further up the mountain from the temple. I am sure this is where this little girl is from.On Saturday, Shannon and I had a great day heading up the mountain to Wat Doi
Suthep, a monastery that was built back in the 16th century. I won't pretend to understand what it's all about but I know it was spectacular. Perched 17 km up a mountain overlooking Chiang Mai City, I can only imagine the effort it took to build a massive temple near the top of a mountain. Apparently, they used Elephants to do much of the work. The bus ride up the mountain was a rollercoaster-back and forth, twisting and turning....it left us slightly queasy. After we hopped off the bus, we were greeted by a whole bunch of tourists and the always nearby Thai people selling their wares.
Once we made our way through the crowd, we walked up a few steps and got our first look at what was in front of us...306 steps that lead up to the mountain temple. The step's railings were nothing less than 500 foot dragons on either side!! 4 or 5 young Native Hill Tribe Children were perched at the bottom of the steps, decked out in their traditional outfits, posing for pictures. I approached a little 5
year old girl and asked if I could take her picture. She said, 'Many pictures." Perfect! I snapped off a few pics and was ready to say thank you and she said once again, "Many pictures." Then I realized, she was saying, "Money pictures!" Happily, I reached into my pocket and gave her 10 baht. She gave me the cutest little smile and bowed.
Shannon and I then began lumbering our way up the 306 steps, still feeling a little queasy, so we took it slow. Finally we got to the top and there was a sign that said, "Foreigners Pay 30 Baht" Fair enough. At least they're honest! We made our way in time to see a young Thai music and dance group all dressed up and performing. We got some really nice photographs of them. After that we made our way inside the temple. After taking our shoes off, we went to see the piece de la resistance, the Chedi Monument! A 79 foot gold plated monument. There were no official tours or anything, so we really didn't know its significance but it was spectacular and very meaningful to the Thai people there visiting. We observed the
Strike a pose?
These girls are earning money for their families at a young age. Seems normal in parts of Thailand. In Phuket, there was a little boy, maybe 4 or 5, who would walk up and down the beach selling ice cream all day. Hard to say no... Thai people lighting candles, burning incense and praying in front of it. People would also walk all the way around it in single file carrying flowers. There were many little rooms and enclaves, each with bells, different statues and arrangements. We saw the Buddha in many different poses. There were other gold statues of females. Every corner we turned there was something new. Even though it felt a little "touristy" at the beginniing, it ended up being very real.
After we were done leisurely wandering around for an hour or two, we grabbed some ice cream (of course!) and headed to the viewpoint. We came around the corner to the viewpoint and saw this beautiful tiled flooring, marble railing and huge flowering trees. From there we were able to lean over the railing and look down the mountain onto the city of Chiang Mai. Shannon then finished her ice cream, crumpled up the wrapping paper and hucked it over the edge into the trees. Just kidding. Had to throw a joke in there somewhere.
From here our next big plan is to go see some elephants. Elephants shows are very popular here, however, many "Elephant Parks" don't seem
to be very ethical the more we learn about them. They will often abuse or misuse the elephants. Asian Elephants are apparently an endangered species. In the past the Elephants were mainly used for logging, but in the late 80's, the Thai government banned logging entirely. That ban left a bunch of Elephants unemployed. So these parks seem to be a way for elephant owners to keep making money. However, we have discovered a nearby Elephant Conservation Centre and Hospital where they don't abuse elephants for silly shows, but instead you can go there, learn about conservation efforts and their history. Then you can frolic in a lake with them to wash them and pet them! So we are currently looking into that for maybe tomorrow. Hopefully we'll have a great time and have some photo's to show for it.
Take care and we miss you all!
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DARLENE
non-member comment
gosh
LOVING YOUR STORIES AND ALWAYS ANXIOUS TO HEAR WHERE YOU ARE AND THAT EVERYTHING IS GOING GREAT. WHAT A TRIP!!I NEED PICTURES OF THE ELEPHANTS.ALL'S WELL HEAR, GETTING IN THE CHRISTMAS MODE. WILL BE AT R AND G'S CHRISTMAS DAY AND BRINGING DAD OUT FOR THAT. WE ARE ALL HAPPY THAT ITS POSSIBLE. LOVE TO YOU BOTH...MOM