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| Chiang Mai form on high |
For our final day in Chiang Mai we wanted
to venture up to the temple on the mountain at Doi Suthep. We hired another
scooter, met up with Seth and Nui and set off around midday (we’d enjoyed a
good lie in after our Elephant antics the day before). We were both a bit
battered and bruised from riding and washing the elephants, and the scooting
didn’t really help matters much – but the sun was out and it was a good day for
sightseeing.
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| Hawkers. |
First we drove through the University Seth
had been working at – which looked eerily like UQ back in Brisbane, aside from
all the stray dogs everywhere. Then we set off up the mountain – it’s
particularly steep and winding, especially on a 100cc single gear scooter but
at least the roads were smooth and it was two lane going up so the majority of
cars passed us fine (just the one dickhead cut us right up for no reason –
unfortunately our bike had the least threatening horn in the world).
We stopped halfway at a lookout for a drink
and some snacks – before finally reaching the temple. The road just in front is
lined with stalls selling souvenirs and snacks, as are the steps at the bottom
of the entrance. It was amazing how much cooler the temperature was up there –
just 25 minutes from the sweaty city but it felt amazingly fresh. Unfortunately
even a drop in temperature couldn’t save us from the few hundred steps up the
hill which led to the actual temple – at least we’d be getting our daily
workout!
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| YOU PAY NOW! |
By the time we reached the top I was a
sweaty mess – worse than usual as I was wearing trousers whilst we had our
laundry done. The temple itself was pretty impressive, loads of Buddha imagery
and a big shiny golden stupa in the middle. Around the outside there were loads
of little kids in (I think) traditional attire performing choreographed dances,
but to really poppy disco music – it was odd.
There is also a statue of a dead elephant –
not just any dead elephant, but the one that apparently had a relic strapped to
it’s back and wandered about the hillside for a while before stopping at this
site, which is why they built the temple there.
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| Shiny |
We headed back down the mountain and for a
coffee back near the uni – before saying our goodbyes until later that night.
That afternoon we had designs on an ex-pat place run by an Englishman who did a
Sunday roast (The Archers) – we’d been looking forward to it all weekend, so it
was pretty devastating when we arrived 5pm that they had sold out of veggies!
We consoled ourselves with a roast beef
sandwich, with chips and gravy – which actually turned out to be a pretty good
alternative.
We went from there to check out the Sunday
walking street – a larger version of the market we’d been at last night. We
weren’t as impressed by this one however – there were less food places and it
was more crowded, plus it kept raining intermittently, which didn’t help.
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| Sacred Elephant. |
At around 9pm we went to meet Seth and the
gang at an Italian restaurant for a glass of wine and to say farewell. They
were kicking on into the night, but once again we were falling asleep in our
glasses and had to pack for our flight the next day.
We pre-booked a taxi via the hotel, printed
out all of our boarding passes and were determined to make our elaborate plans
come together.
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