Chiang Mai’s known for its ancient temples, many of them older than even the city itself (which is already 700+ years old!). We left on a sunny morning to visit the most famous of them all, Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep. It’s about an hour outside of the city by tuk-tuk, and the ride up the windy road is quite beautiful itself (although a bit bumpy).
Half way up the hills, our tuk-tuk driver stopped on the side of the road to feed some stray dogs. He was prepared with a bag of pork bones that he picked up in the city, and knew exactly where the dogs were. The unexpected gesture was very heartwarming.
The bottom of the temple is an area where you can find many vendors, where you can buy food, drinks, and plenty of souvenirs. I highly recommend these chicken skewers and fried quail eggs.
You have the option of walking up about 300 hundred steps of stairs, or taking a short ride in a gondola.
When we arrived at the temple, the first descriptive word that came to my mind was bling-bling. I’ve seen my share of temples in China, Japan and Korea, although they were still grand, a Thai temple will outshine any of them, including Kingakuji in Kyoto.
The statues were gold, the pagodas were gold, the bells hanging from the roofs were gold, and the adornments on the walls were gold!
But somehow they still manage to make it look elegant and beautiful.
According to legend, a white elephant was tasked with finding the perfect spot for the temple, which would be built to house a magical relic. When the white elephant arrived at the spot for the current temple, it trumpeted three times, then died on the spot.
Although the temple was full of tourists like me who were there just to admire the grandeur of it all, there were plenty of Buddhist disciples worshipping and giving offerings. You can buy lotus flowers, candles, or hire a monk to walk around the temple and pray for your wishes to come true.
In one of the smaller temple rooms, I found this monk who is sitting so still he almost looked like a wax statue!
While it’s all just interesting culture to most tourists, don’t forget to show respect when you are in a temple! The few things to remember are:
- Cover your shoulders and knees (yes, even when it’s 120 degrees out). You can also rent coverings at most temples.
- Take off hats and shoes.
- Never show the bottom of your feet towards the Buddha or the monks. This means you should always back out of a temple instead of turning around (I fail at this all the time).
Don’t leave the temple without going around to the back, where you can see this beautiful view of Chiang Mai from above.
And before you go, say hi to the happy monks hidden in the trees!
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