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Published: July 19th 2008
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Wat Phan Tao
Teak Lanna Wat - Chiang Mai We arrived in Chiang Mai around lunchtime on Thursday 10th July and for the first time on our trip I had not pre-booked any accommodation, but despite my reservations it all went smoothly. We selected Rendezvous guesthouse out of the Lonely Planet, turned up and checked into a fan room with TV and fridge (all the air-con rooms had been taken, but we managed and saved some pennies).
Chiang Mai is more than 700km northwest of Bangkok and we were both hoping it might be a bit cooler, but no such luck it was still very hot. The old city lies within a neat square bounded by partial walls and moats and was therefore nice and easy to navigate around.
On our first night we had dinner at our guesthouse then went off to explore the local night market in the main square. A couple of waffles later (still not used to the small Thai portions!) we crossed the river into the 'new city' of Chiang Mai outside of the inner moat area. The particular street we chose to walk down seemed a bit dodgy after a while because there were scantily clad Thai girls outside all the bars
trying to get you inside.
The Wats
On Friday we followed the Lonely Planet's suggested route around the main wats (temples). We started at Wat Chiang Man, the oldest wat in the city (built around 1296) then headed south to see the Anusawari Sam Kasat or 3 Kings Monument where locals were leaving gifts in the hope of receiving blessings. After that we headed to the women's prison to have a foot massage by one of the inmates. Unfortunately the inmates were too busy to fit us in at the time so we were taken to a massage parlour run by ex-convicts instead! We both had an hour long foot massage - just the ticket with all the walking we had done! The foot massage also included a hand, arms, legs and back massage so proved very good value for money at just over 2 pounds each.
Next we travelled to Wat Phan Tao, an intricate teak wat and then onto Wat Chedi Luang, a temple complex where the monks held an individual Q&A session on Buddhism if you were interested. After that we went to Wat Phra Singh, Chiang Mai's most visited wat which was
beautiful and featured a replica of the Emerald Buddha, Wat Phra Kaew in Bangkok. We also visited 2 less popular temples on our way back. On our way around we kept bumping into an American couple and when we got talking we found out that we were both following the same route - good old Lonely Planet aka the traveller's bible.
Wat Phra That Doi Suthep
We had a lazy day on Saturday, paying to use a local hotel's swimming pool so by Sunday we were ready to see another temple. Wat Phra That Doi Suthep is a temple that lies 16km northwest of Chiang Mai on top of the mountain, Doi Suthep, a 1676m peak. We had heard that there were some great views of Chiang Mai at the top so we went along.
We hired a taxi sawngathaew (a small pick-up truck with 2 benches in the back) to take us up Doi Suthep. The roads very windy and the ride was very bumpy so by the time we got off we both felt like we had come off the spinning teacups! After climbing 300 steps up to the temple we were slightly disgruntled
to find we had to pay a 'foreigner fee' when the Thais got in for free even if is was only 50p equivalent.
At the top we admired all the temple buildings including a large golden chedi, a conical structure where sacred Buddhist objects are enshrined. Being a cloudy day though we didn't get the idyllic photo looking down over Chiang Mai.
The Zoo
Chiang Mai's zoo lies at the foot of Doi Suthep so as we were in the vicinity we decided to go in. We got to see many African and Asian animals including giraffes, zebras, ostriches, white lions, black bears, crocodiles, lizards and turtles. One of the highlights was watching a Water Monitor (a large type of lizard) cling onto a tiny branch whilst trying to catch a dragonfly or so we thought as we lined the camera up for an award winning nature shot! After a while the dragonfly flew off and then the lizard lost his balance and was clinging to the branch by his back legs before he fell off into the pool below.
When we got there we thought that it was strange that seemingly lazy people caught
Wat Phra That Doi Suthep (2)
At the bottom of the steps up to the wat. a bus around the zoo and hopped off at various points to see animals when some were very close together. Little did we know that some of the animals were nearly a mile apart via an uphill track thus our opinion soon changed to envy of those on the bus.
Muay Thai Boxing
On Monday night we went to see Muay Thai Boxing at the Thapae Stadium, the first standard boxing ring in Chiang Mai. We bought our tickets early and managed to reserve a ringside table. We watched 8 matches in total whilst sipping Singha beer and nibbling on peanuts.
All competitors were very young, ranging from about 11 to 21 years old we guessed. Two matches were between girls. Each match had 5 rounds unless there was a 'knock out'. In essence Thai boxing appeared to involve kicking your opponent everywhere and points are awarded per clear 'hit' without them ducking or dodging it. We found ourselves chuckling at the little Thai bookies who wandered around taking bets from all the Westerners - isn't gambling illegal in Thailand?
As an aside Mike and I found ourselves feeling a little uneasy watching the youngsters
fight for everyones entertainment. We feel that if they want to compete it should be done behind closed doors for their clubs until they are adults.
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