Day 34:

In our last blog, we had just visited the phantasmagorical Blue Temple. We left around 11 AM to head south for Chiang Mai. Along the road to Chiang Mai, we planned a stop at Wat Saeng Kaeo Phothiyan. This is one of the top three temples that we visited in Thailand and was built in the 2000s. It is dedicated to the monk Kubra Srivichai who taught Maitreya Buddhism or Future Budda, and to the Maitreya.  

I’m not familiar with this form of Buddhism so this may be off a bit. As I understand it, this is a form of Buddhism that focuses on the Maitreya who is a bodhisattva who lives in one of the heavens identified in Buddhism—not yet a fully enlightened buddha. The Maitreya is represented in all the forms of Buddhism. It is less common for the Maitreya to be the primary focus of a Buddhist sect.

Buddhism teaches that life is a cycle of birth/death/rebirth (Samsara which is western culture is sometimes equated with reincarnation). Within this cycle is suffering and strife resulting in unresolved karma which is what perpetuates the cycle. By following the noble Eightfold Path, a person can end the cycle of rebirth and attain a state of perfection, Nirvana.

The Maitreya is supposed to return from the heaven to teach a renewal of Buddhism during “a time of decline”. Upon completion of that work, the Maitreya is expected to achieve Nirvana and end his cycle of Samsara. Okay, so for my Buddhist friends who may feel I have severely butchered the teachings of Buddha, apologies. The point is that this wat focuses on Kubra Srivichai and the Maitreya. The largest of the statues at the wat is of the Maitreya, not Buddha.

Around the Maitreya statue is an elevated glass walkway for viewing (and for getting a serious case of the willies). The whole wat sits up on a hillside with a fabulous view of the valley and the temple grounds including the mystical garden. That garden was the first area we explored when we arrived. Picture dragons and buddhas and streams and mist and amazing tropical plants and more dragons.

At the base of the Maitreya is a neon walkthrough gallery mostly celebrating Buddhist theology. We almost missed it. We were heading down the stairs from the glass platform. One of the workers caught my attention and pointed for us to go through a door under the statue. If ever that was a place that was designed by somebody who was having a spiritual journey on magic mushrooms, this was it. Buddhas. Ganeshas. Elephants. Flying motorcycles. Toruk Makto and the AMP mech operated by Colonel Miles Quaritch. If you are Avatar fans, you’ll know what I’m talking about. The art was illuminated with alternating infrared and UV lighting. It was trippy.

We left the wat around 3 PM and headed on to Chiang Mai. We had loads of fun getting parked for the hotel. I wish I had taken a picture of the approach. Picture an alley wide enough for a single car in most places that is actually a street. Picture it twisting and turning to the left and right for several blocks. Now, put parked cars here and there along the way. Add the occasional car headed the other direction. Is that a little nook I can pull into so that this dude doesn’t smash my rental car?

Picture a turn to the right that is at a rock wall. Picture such a tight turn that it takes three or four times of moving back and forth to get around the corner. Then discover that you are turned the wrong direction to be able to park in the microscopic parking spot—the only one of the four (yes, f o u r) spots at the hotel. I couldn’t back into the spot because the street was so narrow and the car next to it stuck out so far, I would run into the wall with the nose of the car. These streets were built for carts and animals, not cars.

I spent 20 minutes going over the canal and down about a kilometer so I could get turned around to go the correct direction to park. The traffic in Chiang Mai is nightmarish right around the central downtown city during evening hours. That is the old city of Chiang Mai within its walls surrounded by a canal that originally served as a moat.

We got settled into our hotel without issue. Believe me when I say that all that driving hubbub is spice, not vinegar. Okay, maybe a little vinegar here and there. But mostly spice. I love to travel. I love the differences between my home, my city, my country and those in other places around the world. They help me to see that different does not mean bad. It means that to which I am unaccustomed.

Some of what I am accustomed to back home is grossly unpleasant—I would call it bad. Likewise, some of what I have experienced while traveling I would also call bad. Most of it, I would simply call “different.” Challenging at first sometimes. And a rewarding challenge when I begin to see the cultural and historical reasons for the differences.

After getting settled, we headed off to fulfil the obligatory collection requirement. Yes, Chaing Mai has a Hard Rock Café. We availed ourselves of the Rock Shop and got a couple super nice shirts. Then we headed into the night market for a quick bite. Faith had pad Thai, and I had spicy papaya salad. The papaya salad is a common dish in the north. It is nice, sweet and super spicy. The salad has papaya juice (not chunks) for sweet flavoring with vegetables, spices and meat. I believe mine was seafood.

We made a brief circuit through the night market and headed to bed.

Day 35:

Did you hear the one about the elephant taking a bath? It was okay to watch her because she had her trunk on. Yes, a bad dad joke. But I am a bad dad, so there. We booked one of the funnest experiences I have had on our trip so far in Chiang Mai. We booked a 2-hour feed and bathe at the Elephant Jungle Sanctuary.

Most folks have stopped riding elephants for “fun”. It is mostly because it isn’t fun for the elephants who are typically tied up or chained for hours on-end, abused and otherwise poorly treated. Hundreds of Asian elephants have been rescued from riding experiences, carnivals and logging camps by various sanctuary groups. They offer experiences with the elephants that allow the elephant the choice to participate or to simply walk away.

Given that half of the experience was feeding, and half was bathing, both of which the elephants love, ours participated whole-heartedly. Elephants have an extraordinarily inefficient digestive system. As a result, they have to eat almost constantly. We got to feed them bananas to start. Then we made a set of treats with some kind digestive aid (they hate it by itself) mixed with mashed bananas and other fruit (now they lova-lova-love it). We fed them sticky balls of the fruit mix and got duly slimed by wet elephant trunks.

We got to pet and scratch them while they ate palm fronds. Faith and her fingernails, I tell you. I think she may have found her calling with one of the elderly elephants. That big lady loved having Faith scratch her trunk and…what? forehead? Anyway, that spot between the eyes and above the trunk.

Finally, we joined the elephants for a shower and a scrub. The elephant I was with laid down in the middle of the shower area and practically drooled as we bathed her. We had brushes and hoses. There were waterspouts in the concrete floor that spouted great gouts of water into the air. We got soaked. The elephants got scrubbed and seemed to relish every moment of it. It was so…much…fun. Goodness!

We finished around noon, grabbed a quick bite and headed out to do some sightseeing. The first stop of the afternoon was the Tha Phae Gate, the east and main gate into the city. The city was founded in 1296. It was constructed with perimeter walls of brick surrounded by a moat. Small sections of the original walls remain. Sections of the walls adjacent to the Tha Phae Gate are original. The gate itself is a modern replacement fashioned after the original.

We took in a couple more temples. I remember after close to two weeks in Ireland thinking, “Oh, look! Another castle. Oh, an another.” I think we were starting to run out of watts for wats. Nevertheless, the couple we visited were nice.

Wat Chedi Luang was built in the 14th and 15th centuries. The main chedi was 82 meters tall (269 feet) and housed the Emerald Buddha for a time. An earthquake in 1545 destroyed the upper third of the structure. The ruins are still impressive.

The main temple building for this wat is a classic temple structure with white columns, a red tile roof and golden décor. Inside the main temple were three large golden statues. The center statue was a gilded buddha that was cast in the 1300s. Further back on the property are a pair of chapels, one with a large reclining Buddha. Not remotely a rival for the reclining Buddha in Bangkok, but still impressive.

The final temple of the day was Wat Phra Singh Woramahawihan built in the 1300s as well. The temple has similar construction and styling. The most compelling features of this wat are the large gilded chedi. The gilding is a recent addition to the chedi overlaying its original brick structure from the 1300s.

We ended our day in a hippie Thai food eatery called Another World. It had really good food and a superior ambience.

Day 36:

We took in the final two wats of our trip on December 3. Wat Phra That Doi Suthep is a sprawling complex setup on a mountainside high above the city. The drive up was a hoot and a horror. I call the Thai mountains “sudden mountains.” They are super steep and seem to start suddenly. As such, the road up and back was super windy, super narrow and—yes you guessed it—super steep. And that’s it for the supers. For the moment anyway. And the readers say, “Super!” Couldn’t resist.

As we were driving up, crews were working to trim back trees and brush all along the roadway. Every kilometer or so, they would have a lane blocked. No flaggers. No lights. Just cones and traffic from the other direction coming headlong into our side of the road. Fortunately, our side had two lanes for slower traffic. Unfortunately, the crazies coming down meant that we had to poke along behind the slowest traffic. The blocks on the other side randomly appeared around corners as did the crazy drivers bombing down the hill. Did I mention that driving in Thailand was spicy? Like habanero spicy on occasion.

Back to our former programming about Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, already in progress. “… and a nice deck overlooking the city.”       Just kidding.    Though there were a couple nice decks, and they did have great views of the city. Getting up to the wat was a climb. Phew. About ¼ of the way up there was a market. We did a bit of shopping. No, we weren’t already tired from that tiny set of steps. We weren’t sweating and panting. I didn’t ask for oxygen. We wanted to shop. We did 😉

It was a fun market with perhaps 20 vendors. We got one nice souvenir there that we hadn’t seen elsewhere and then made our way up the rest of Mount Everest…that is to say the rest of the steps up to the wat.

Hey kids! Here’s a fun story. Have you heard of a funicular? They are these cool trains that go up the side of a mountain pulled by cables. Guess what we discovered AFTER we climbed to the snowy peak—Oh, now stop interrupting me. No, there wasn’t really snow. There! I said it. Are you happy?—Now where was I? Oh, yes, I was discovering that the big metal roof we saw going up the side of the mountain hid a funicular. We could have ridden to the top in the lap of luxury.

The wat at the top of Mount Everest (just stop, dude!) was a lovely affair with gilded chedis, a wat with gilded columns and a large standing Buddha. It also had an expansive deck with phenomenal views of the valley below including the city of Chiang Mai. And we rode the funicular down the hill to the parking area in style and ease.

Our way down the mountain was easier as well. By the time we left, over half of the road crews had finished.

We headed to the last wat of our trip to Thailand. No wat visits in Phuket. I liked this last one best of the five we visited in Chiang Mai. Wat Umong Suan Putthatham had more of an authentic, ancient feel to it.

The wat has a towering chedi that was build in the 1300s. The are as set of tunnels adjacent to the chedi that have little shrines, folks in meditation, little Buddhas, falmers, skeleton archers, draugr overlords…uhm…hold on a moment. Those last three are from the video game, Skyrim. The tunnels totally had the feel of a wizards-and-warriors type of video game. And folks are saying, “Boy, speak English, will you?” And to that I reply in my best Texan, “We don’t speak English in these chere parts. We speak ‘Mercan.” And my long-time Texas neighbors give me a baleful glare.

The property is a wooded park with a pond that is several acres large. And they have fish food. And there are catfish and koi. And insane pigeons that love to eat the fish food. We had a hoot of a time feeding the pigeons and the fish.

Day 37:

We were flying to Phuket in the afternoon and were out of ambition. We slept in, ate breakfast and packed up slowly. We hung out at the hotel until it was time to checkout at noon. We grabbed a quick bite of lunch at a highly rated (but mediocre) café near Buak Hard Park. We hung out at the park for about 45 minutes taking in the last few minutes of our time in Chiang Mai.

We hit the night market once again and found a few more fun souvenirs. For a Tuesday night, the night market was hopping.

We arrived at the airport a good 3.5 hours before our flight. That ended up being just fine. It took some circling around the airport before we could find the spot we were supposed to drop off the car. And it took a long time to get through the baggage drop. We finished a gourmet meal of Burger King and within just a few minutes, walked on to the plane for our flight to Phuket.

- See you in Phuket –