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Doi Suthep
Steps up to temple - over 300 Dear friends and blogbrowsers,
These are the last few days of our visit to Chiang Mai. I think that if I am reincarnated, and can't be Australian, I would like to be a resident of this charming city. It has such a homey feel, the people are so friendly and sweet. The touting is much gentler than in Patong Beach. And people generally seem healthy (ie barely on overweight person) and well-adjusted.
We decided to visit the Doi Suthep, the temple on the hill overlooking the city. We found a sawngthaew driver by the name of 'Matthew' who waits outside the Top North guesthouse (Soi 2 Moon Muang Rd). He was wonderful. If you're ever there, say hello from us! He took us up the mountain. He explained to us that it was World Buddha Day, and there were many visitors and market stalls. The previous evening, thousands had walked up the mountain in a 4 hour procession. Missed that one!! Anyway, there must have been food stalls lining the road, because there was rubbish all the way up. A team of at least 200 workers were collecting the rubbish in energetic fashion with lots of shouting and running
- a sight in itself! Of course the temple was fascinating, but we only had an hour to spend there. Later that day we visited the Wat Chedi Luang. Fascinating. They were getting ready for a World Buddha Day ceremony, but the heavens opened big time, and we had to retreat home.
The next day we had booked a trip to see a hill tribe and try a bit of white water rafting. The hill tribe village was interesting, but as soon as they saw us coming they ran to don their costumes and man their stalls, saying "hello, hello, hello" incessantly and poking the produce on their stalls. Then followed a short elephant ride. We were somewhat spooked by this one. The seats were not nearly as secure as those we'd ridden in Phuket, and our Mahouts had a very lackadaisical attitude. I was on a large bull, which, mahoutless, decided to climb a tree to eat a large fruit. I think Thailand needs a system of accreditation here! Allan got confused by his mahout's instructions and found himself riding on the head of his elephant. We walked a treacherous path to a waterfall and had lunch in
Traffic in Chiang Mai
Lanes? What lanes? Those lines on the road are just for decoration!! a village hut by the stream. The white water rafting was fun and well organised. On our return we ate at the top of the Porn Ping Tower - 20 stories up. This is not good for those suffering from vertigo. I couldn't imagine how the pot plants, trellis and cooking hut didn't just blow off in a storm. But the view was great. After dinner we strolled through an unexplored section of the Night Bazaar.
We had teed up with our friendly sawngthaew driver, Matthew, to transport us to the station today. I had been suffering from a blocked ear, so he took us to the hospital first. Wow, the Thai could certainly teach our hospitals a lot about running outpatients!! It was so well organised, I was in an out in about half an hour. Turns out I had fluid leaking into my middle ear and it was inflamed, but not infected. The doctor wondered how I'd been able to fly without pain. He subscribed anti-inflammatories and antihistamines. Lucky we were travelling back to Bangkok by train, not plane.
We said goodbye to Matthew outside the beautiful Wat Chedi Man. We then explored the north east
Police blitz on motorbike helmets
They do actually enforce some rules - aparently! corner of the walled city, including the location of the Sri Pat guesthouse we'd originally booked. The guesthouse looked great, but I certainly preferred the area we'd stayed in, with its quiet soi, lots of little restaurants, internet cafes, laundries, massage shops and even a neighbourhood tailor who did a fantastic job fixing some cheap clothing purchases that had frayed!
We had a delicious lunch at "The Gallery" which is riverside, and caught another sawngthaew back to the station. The kids were quite excited about the train; their personal tables, the fold down beds and curtains. They were not so excited by the open-to-the-track toilets! The trip was more pleasant that we'd expected; no chooks, no unpleasant smells, nice dinner, reasonably comfortable bed.
We arrived in Bangkok next morning in "Thai time" as promised; 1.5 hours late!!
We've been in Bangkok a few days now, but that will follow in the next blog - except to say that if you can only visit one city in Thailand, go to Chiang Mai rather than Bangkok!
TTFN
Esther.
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Reet
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Isnt Chiang Mai the best!!
Loving the blogs! And glad someone else loved CM as much as I did! It really is one of the best parts of Thailand! Glad to hear your train wasnt as smelly as mine! Looking forward to the next instalment! Reet xxxx