Blessed strings at Wat Doi Suthep

---

While Stephanie and Kari spent their day at cooking school, I decided to head to Wat Doi Suthep, which out of the seemingly billions of wats in Chiang Mai, is supposed to be one of the most 'important' to see. The wat is about 15 kilometers outside of the center of the city, up a winding, mountainous road. Songthaews leave from the north gate of the moat when they are full. As I headed toward that area, a tuk-tuk driver offered to take me to the wat for quadruple the songthaew price. When I politely refused and said I wanted to go in songthaew he was completely unfazed and pointed me in the right direction and actually yelled over to a friend in the songthaew area who relayed me to the correct spot.

The bottom of the stairs leading up to the wat is a circus of vendors, but once I got past that and looked up the long, steep staircase, which is guarded on both sides by serpent/dragon figures, the place felt more peaceful. There was an almost even mix of Thai people and foreign tourists. This wat is special because it has a 'chedi' in the center (called a stupa in other places, such as Tibet) that contains a relic of the Buddha. This relic was apparently transported up the mountain on the back of a white elephant, who died when he reached the top. The chedi is in the center of a courtyard and can be seen in the posted photo, though unfortunately it is obscured by scaffolding right now. Many Thai families were there to give offerings of candles, incense, and flowers. Many of them were circumambulating the chedi with lotus buds in their hands. The chedi is surrounded by little alcoves with altars.

I happened into one of the alcoves where a monk was sitting over to the left side, sitting in a chair. The handful of Thai people and I were sitting on the floor (legs to the side so that our feet were not toward Buddha or the monk) and then all at once they all moved, crawling toward the monk. A man turned and motioned for me to come over, too, so I did, not sure what would happen next. Everyone had their hands in prayer position and heads bowed, so I followed suit. The monk was mumbling words which I assume were blessings and flinging water over our heads that landed in big, fat, refreshing drops on my forehead. This went on for about 30 seconds or so, and after that the monk began tying white strings around the mens' wrists. A layman was sitting to the monk's right and he was the one who tied the strings on all the womens' wrists, since the monks may not touch women. This was the first time that I had seen this process, though I've noticed the strings around peoples' wrists for a while now. especially one of my little P.1 students who always had a big collection on his wrist.

---

Photos

Scaffolding obstructed view of chedi
The devoted are circumambulating the chedi with lotus buds