Thailand Day 4 – Doi Suthep & Farewell to Chiang Mai

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.