We spent five days in the northern city of Chiang Mai, Thailand during which we took many walks around the city and visited numerous Wats (over 300 exist in the city!) when we were not cooking or hanging out with large animals. Chiang Mai provided us a nice introduction to Thai culture and allowed us to meet some of the super-friendly Thai people. The city is in a more mountainous area and many people who visit do a lot of trekking; however, the heat and humidity precluded that for us - we were fine with walking throughout the city and then returning to our great guesthouse for a/c breaks (not to mention the fact that we walked so much in Vietnam and Cambodia we felt we deserved a break)!
We spent our time exploring the Old City, surrounded by a moat and remnants of a city wall to explore many of the Wats and enjoy the city sights. With so many Wats we simply chose various paths throughout the city streets to wander the many sois and popped into Wats we saw along the way. There were those recommended on the walking map we picked up and others we just happened upon. Join a mini Wat tour of your own through our photos!
We stumbled upon this Wat when walking outside the Old City area and touring Ta Phae road and heading out to a major electronics plaza well known for super deals. This was our first day exploring our neighborhood during which we also found the large Night Bazaar area and a great supermarket where we stocked up for the week!
We explored Wat Chedi Luang to see the Chiang Mai City Pillar and the ruins of the Great Stupa in the center. It's right in the middle of the Old City, so was a convenient stop as well. As we walked around the compound, we passed by a stall selling books where a group of monks sat at one end and beckoned for us to come and have a Monk Chat. These chats are a great way for the monks to practice their English and for travellers to learn more about the monk's life and Buddhism. We spoke to a couple monks who just wanted to work on English before our final monk came over to have the more traditional monk chat. When we finished, he asked if we could take a photo together so we each have a memory of our visit. This was also the first Wat where we saw a large reclining Buddha (this pose represents Buddha's final passage into nirvana).
This Wat is the major temple for Lan Na art and architecture in the Chiang Mai province. The temple complex is large containing a school, library, and monastery along with the other structures (Viharn, where the Buddha resides, and chedis and ubosot - we are still learning the various names for the areas within a Wat). We met another group of young monks here who requested to speak with us for a few moments and practice their English, so we had another nice chat during our visit. When we entered the Viharn, we were immediately struck by the meditating monk sitting before the Buddha. We kneeled for a bit as we marveled at the beauty of the space and the peace of the meditation. In a courtyard within the Wat (which we saw at other Wats as well) is a quote garden where Buddhist quotes surround the beautiful greenery and serene setting. The quotes send a very important message to all (please remember, they are translated so the English is not perfect).
Two Wats Whose Names We Do Not Know
While walking along the outside of the Old City on our final day we stumbled upon these two Wats right next to one another. We did not see any Latin characters to let us know the names of the Wats and since our Thai reading skills are non-existent, we simply call them Wat 1 and 2 on Sripoom Road! Each had more of the stunning architectural elements that keep us returning to visit Wats whenever we see them! What's most interesting is how different and unique each is from the next - with the variety of various Asian influences and styles there is always something new to see, yet still there exist enough similarities to represent their Buddhist connection.
Beyond the Wats, the animals, and the Thai food, we found the Night Market (okay, well there is a lot of Thai food here and some animals and even a few Wats nearby...) and spent a few hours on several evenings perusing the stalls. It's a fairly large complex covering several city blocks and including two inner shopping complexes and a full food street. Considering we have come to the end of our round-the-world tour, we suddenly seem more inclined to pick up a small souvenir here and there since we don't have to carry it as far! We've committed to only buying items we can use to decorate our home and represent the local culture/area so we still focus on art that we wonder where to hang. However, we planned on picking up a Buddha statue for our home and fell in love with the lanterns, so went on the hunt for these. Fortunately, as it is promoted, Chiang Mai is the place to find great Thai and general Asian items. We also managed to pick up very low cost flip flops that are sold for way too much money elsewhere (they are just plastic flip flops that happen to have a brand name label) and saw expensive designer handbags for less than $5 - too bad ginnie doesn't think many of them are attractive and we really have no space to carry them anyway. Chiang Mai also has a street filled with used book stores which was perfect for finding a good read to have for our upcoming pool and beach time during the next portion of our journey. We also took advantage of our time and took care of some important errands - ginnie got a free eye exam and 1-year supply of contacts at one of the numerous opticians (there may be as many of these as Wats!) and Anthony could no longer stand his long hair so we found a good barber who gave a nice trim. We debated dental cleanings since they are so affordable, too, but ended up running out of time.
It was a challenge to determine where in Thailand we would make our stops since we had only 11 days remaining and previously booked 6 of them in Bangkok with the timeshare (yeah, we saved the luxury stay for our last week abroad as a special treat - and it is so worth it!!) so with only a few days, we opted for the north when we heard such good things from several travellers we met along the way and we are so glad we did.
ความสงบและความรัก!
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