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Published: November 29th 2009
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Things to do in Chiang Mai By May
We are still in Chiang Mai, Thailand. We’ve been here 4 weeks and have 1 week to go. It’s a lovely city. Most tourists stay here a few days, a day or so to walk around Chiang Mai and then a couple of days to do something outside of Chiang Mai. There are many travel agents and they all sell the same trips to tourists—a 3 day trek up with the hill tribes; a visit to a Tiger Kingdom; bungy jumps and zip line rides through the jungle; rafting; and visits to handicraft villages nearby. We haven’t done any of those things.
We did though do one day’s worth of sightseeing outside of Chiang Mai. We rented a car and careful driver from our apartment’s travel service. We left at 8am and had three stops.
Elephant Conservation Center First we drove about an hour to an elephant conservation center. We spent 2 hours there. We saw baby elephants and their mothers in the nursery (Ella and Jordan fed the mothers bananas, unpeeled). Then we skipped the elephant show and decided to go on an elephant ride. Paul and May rode
Baby Elephant Tickling Jordan
This baby kept reaching out and snuffling Jordan, looking for bananas. on the back of a big male elephant with long tusks. Jordan and Ella sat on another elephant. A driver sat on the elephant’s neck and we sat up on these benches that rest on the elephant’s back. We rode for an hour through the jungle, across a little river and back again. We all liked it. It was quiet and swaying.
Pubing Palace After we left the elephant center, we rode back through Chiang Mai and up the mountain on the other side. We rode up a twisty, turny mountain rode to the king and queen’s mountain palace, the Pubing Palace. The air was very cool and crisp; like mountain air in the fall, and the gardens were exquisitely maintained; like Biltmore house year round. We walked around these one laned newly paved roads up and around all the gardens. We saw some flowers we recognized and some we didn’t. We saw a huge poinsettia bush, taller than us. Muzak was piped into speakers shaped like rocks placed through out the palace grounds. The grounds crew was very busy while we were there, preparing for the royal visit in January.
Wat Soi Duthep Finally, we rode down
the mountain 5 minutes to Wat Soi Duthep, a very holy place in Thailand. The entrance up to the wat was packed with stalls selling everything from incense to candy to jade jewelry. At the end of the row of shops we climbed over 300 steps up the mountain side. At the top was the wat complex that was full of both Thai visitors and foreign tourists. We took off our shoes and walked around the complex for about an hour. There was an excellent view out over Chiang Mai. There seemed to be a circuit that the Buddhist visitors walked around the main chedi (tower). They held lotus flowers in their hands and walked clockwise around the chedi for a while.
It was a good, full day. We all enjoyed all the sights we saw but none of us are eager to go out and do more. We will visit the Chiang Mai Zoo early next week, to see the baby panda, but besides that our days fill up with walks (to the market, grocery, library, 7-11 and chicken/rice restaurant) and sitting in the apartment (writing, reading, napping or eating).
Alms Offering for 10,000 Monks Saturday morning,
Paul and May, woke up early (5:30am) to see the Alms Offering for 10,000 Monks. It supposedly started at 6:09am at a street across town. Our pick up truck taxi, dropped us, 2 other tourists, 2 monks and a Thai woman with 2 huge baskets of food off at the top of the street. The entire street was closed to traffic; it’s about a mile long. In the dark, we walked by rows and rows and rows of chairs. Each chair had a little box with a little Thai breakfast in it. These chairs were quickly filling with monks. We walked past the chairs and reached a stage with a 8 foot high golden Buddha on it. In front of the stage were rows and rows and rows of people dressed in white sitting on the street (which was covered with cloth) behind rows and rows and rows of baskets of food.
Around 6:20, speeches started from the stage. There were many prayers and blessings and speeches. Everyone who could, knelt down and prayed and chanted with the speeches. Paul and I were too big and western and stiff to kneel so we stood and watched. For about an
hour various blessings rained down over the Thai people. Some of it was translated into English. They seemed to be blessing for the offerings.
After an hour of talking, the 10,000 monks formed lines and walked down between the alms givers. The alms givers would fill the monks’ bowls full of ramen noodles, rice, juice boxes, flowers, incense, canned fruit and crackers. The monks, once their bowl was full, would turn and dump the bowl into these huge plastic bags that young men were holding. Then the monks would turn back and collect more alms. The people were gathering much merit by filling up the bowls of 10,000 monks. On the edge of the street were what seemed like 10,000 more people waiting for their turn to put food in the bowls. There was a lot of food, moving through there this morning, a lot of merit being earned.
Paul and I felt slightly merit-ful just watching it.
Chiang Mai is a good place and we have all enjoyed staying here for so long.
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bioman
a n madhavan
wow
Beautiful photos and expression! I can see places through others. Yes I felt it. Will u mention the cost of the things and activities like cottages and things , please? We can have an idea . Have wonderful days!