walking walking walking

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For want of something better to do while I figure out the best ways of getting to my next destinations, I headed off to Wat Phra That Doi Suthep. Doi Suthep is the mountain that sits on the edge of the city of Chiang Mai. The wat (temple) was built in 1383 when holy relics were carried there on the back of a white elephant which then dropped dead from exhaustion. Today there was a non-white elephant outside entertaining the tourists. Behind the temple is the Doi Suthep National Park but I had no transport to get around it, so just went to the temple. I asked in the place where I had breakfast how much the songthaew would cost and was told 30 or 40 Baht. I found a songthaew and asked how much. He says 40, I suggest 30, he agrees and we're off, for about five minutes, then another songthaew pulls us over. The driver from that one comes up and goes "where you going?". I say "Doi Suthep, to the temple." He says "60 Baht". I say "no, I'm already paying this guy 30 to go there." He says 60, I say no, 30, he says 60. I can see this going on all day so I say "Look, I've already agreed 30 but I'll do 40". He says 50 so I say fine, 50, whatever. Then he says I have to change over to his car, which I start to do, then he says I have to pay the other guy first. "I'm not paying both of you," I say. "We agreed 30 for him to take me to Doi Suthep, now you've gone and put the price up. I'm not paying you 50 and him as well." Then there's an argument about it. It wasn't the amount of money I had a problem with, it was the principle. I don't mind paying a price that I've agreed on, but changing the deal after its been set is not acceptable. "You pay him 10," he says. "I'm not paying him 10 and you 50," I say. Then the first driver grabs my arm and shoves me. I give him a stern warning about why that is a very bad idea and he backs off. There's more arguing. Eventually we settle on me paying the first driver 10 and the second 40. No-one was happy. When I left the temple later on in the day there was a tourist-helping person there and she told me from the temple to Chiang Mai was 40 Baht, so I was getting overcharged. But then a woman in a tourist info place in town said 300 to the temple (I don't know what she was thinking!), and a woman in a restaurant said 70, so I don't know what the story is.

Anyway, the temple was very nice. There are 306 steps leading up to the wat from the road. That sounded like a lot, so I took the lazy option of using the cable-car which was not as entertaining as it sounded (its entirely enclosed in a tunnel so you can't see anything except the cable). I went down the steps on the way out and 306 steps isn't a lot after all. Entry is 30 Baht to the temple, 50 if you use the cable-car. The information leaflet they give you says "Entrance fee 30 Baht (except the member of all religions and children under 10 years old)" which I didn't read till after I left. How do they know if you're telling the truth about your religion? In the do's and don't's of how to act in the temple it says "Always keep clean". Very good advice too. The observation deck at the wat is, I'm informed, 1676 metres high (because it is on the side of a mountain). There was a spectacular view of fog.

I needed to do some birdwatching, so I decided to walk back down the mountain. I saw quite a few species, but only two of them were new. Still, a nice wee walk though. After about 10km I flagged down a songthaew and got a ride the rest of the way.

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Photos

Wat Doi Suthep
apparently there's a temple at the top of these stairs, but no-one who's been up them has ever come back down...