Doi Suthep

We headed up Doi Suthep Mountain to Wat Phra That Doi Suthep.  We had read if you come to Chiang Mai and don’t go to this Wat you didn’t really come to Chiang Mai.  Sprinter vans and pick up truck tuktuks abounded.  People were everywhere.  To get to the mount you can climb 309 steps flanked by the longest naga balustrade in Thailand or you can do what Chinda and I did.  You can take a lift to a funicular and the cost is only 20 Baht — a little over 50 cents.  Even so, Matt, Melissa and Yves beat us to the top.   Just to the left of the top of the stairs is a statue of a white elephant.  There is a legend that a monk found a relic of Buddha, a piece of shoulder bone.  It glowed, it could vanish and it could replicate itself.  But when he showed it to the King of Sukhothai the relic did not show its magical powers.  But the King of La Na heard of the relic and summoned the monk to him.  The shoulder bone broke in half and one piece is enshrined at Wat Suan Dok.  The other piece was put on the back of a white elephant and sent into the jungle.  The elephant climbed up Doi Suthep Mountain.  When he reached the top he trumpeted three times and dropped dead.  It was taken as an omen and the king immediately ordered the building of a temple on the site.  

We took off our shoes and entered the mount area.  The beautiful golden chedi in the center of the space holds the shoulder bone relic.  There is work being done to it and gold scaffolding surrounded it.

People were circumambulating (moving around a sacred object) the golden chedi at the center of the space.   There were paper lanterns hanging, I’m guessing in preparation for their new year.  

We entered this pavilion where a monk was performing the water blessing.  He blessed our family of five with a blessing half spoken in Thai and half spoken in English. He was joyful and loving.  Yves, Chinda and I all received bracelets from the monk.  Matt and Melissa still have theirs from Wat Arun.

Every where you looked there were magnificent images of Buddha. 

We left the mount area and walked the perimeter of the wat.  Matt took this photo of the moms by a creature called a mom.  

There were more pavilions on the perimeter.  In many of them there were elephant tusks, symbolizing the legend of the white elephant.

We walked out to a pavilion covered with symbols of the Zodiac and Buddha.  

We got a view of Chiang Mai.

Back down the funicular, we met back up with Matt, Melissa and Yves to take the windy road down the mountain in search of food.  Matt suggested SP Chicken.  We waited in line to order as the chicken was grilled on spits beside us.  The smell was delicious and the taste matched the smell. 

We said goodbye to our driver because the other things we wanted to do were within walking distance.  We headed to Wat Phra Singh.  This temple is known for the statue of Buddha called Phra Buddha Sihing, which originated in India.  It has been said that the head was stolen and the current Buddha’s head is a replica.  Once a year this Buddha is removed from the temple and taken on a procession through the streets while people sprinkle water on it as it passes.  This particular shrine was swarming with visitors while the rest of the complex was relatively quiet.  

I went in to take my turn paying my respects.

The rest of the wat is beautiful, 

with sayings along the walkways.

We left the wat and found a nice place to have some iced coffee.  We stepped into an art gallery.  Melissa bought Matt a piece of art from this place back in the early days of their dating.  Matt loves the piece and was hoping to find an additional piece.  But they left without buying anything.  We walked through the busy streets past two schools that had let out for the day and found our way to Wat Chedi Luang.  It was originally constructed to hold the ashes of the king’s father.  For various reasons it took years for the chedi to be finished.  Then in the 1500s an earthquake caused it to collapse.  UNESCO and the Japanese government teamed up to do some renovations to the structure.  We paid the entry cost for two foreigners (Matt and myself).  Chinda and Melissa do not have to pay.  The first pavilion we came to houses the city pillar underneath it.  The city pillar is believed to be the center of soul for the citizens of the city.  But I couldn’t go in.  All around the pavilion were these signs.  A larger sign gave more context:  “Women are prohibited to enter because they menstruate.  It is believed that it humiliates and ruins the sanctity of the city pillar.”

Matt went inside while the rest of us waited outdoors.  I asked him if it was beautiful inside and was rewarded with a photo of the prohibited pavilion.

As we made our way to the chedi in the center of the wat we passed an area in which you could buy a small piece of gold leaf paper for 10 Baht (less than 30 cents) to place on a stuppa that represented your Zodiac symbol or the Buddha that represents the day of the week on which you were born.  I got two gold leaf papers and did both.

Next to that tent was another tent with three skeletons wearing sunglasses with a coffin between them.  Chinda read us the sign which invited you to contribute to help pay for a casket for someone whose family couldn’t afford to purchase one.  Chinda donated.

We couldn’t climb up to this chedi.  I am guessing it is unsafe.  For around 500 years it was the tallest building in Chiang Mai.  The upper base of the chedi used to be surrounded with elephants.  There are only a couple left.

This wat also houses a reclining Buddha, which appears to have been the setting for too many wedding photos.  

Another pavilion houses a statue of Buddha protected by the five-headed naga serpent.  We have seen that image in multiple locations but never before with the glowing red eyes.

Next door is Wat Phanto.  I wanted to go there because I got it mixed up with Wat Ku Tao, which has a pagoda that looks like five watermelons stacked on each other and is heavily influenced by Burmese art.  I wanted to see how different it was from other temples we have seen.  Instead we saw this pavilion made out of teak.

Everywhere on this wat were signs that said, “Beware of muggers.”  I didn’t want to hang around too long.  We got a couple of Grab cars and headed to Italics, an  Italian restaurant in which we had a reservation for dinner.  When in Thailand be sure and eat Italian food…actually don’t.  Our food was only so-so.  But my raspberry splash cocktail and the passion fruit panna cotta weren’t half bad.  

Back to our AirBnB to come up with a plan for tomorrow, our last day in Chiang Mai.  A plan in place we headed off to bed to get some rest.