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| Doi Suthep Entrance |
Chiang Mai is the land of temples. I arrived into Chiang Mai from Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia by air. My ride between the airport and my hostel was a short 15-20
minutes (see Taxi Talk ), in that time I saw at least 5 temples go by without
even paying attention that much. Chiang Mai’s old city is encompassed in a moat
which makes the city very easy to get around. If you are at all good with
directions, you will be at ease. I
stayed just outside the old city on the north side in a pretty fantastic
hostel. I loved staying outside of the main tourist area because it made me
walk more and I was able to find plenty of things and places that no other
tourists were visiting. I even became a regular at a local noodle shop.
I liked Chiang Mai so much more than I was expecting. I had
heard good things from a lot of people who had visited before me but I always
need to see things for myself. I
extended my stay twice, something I have never done in a hostel before ( I
ended up staying for a week). The last
place I remember feeling this much at ease was Kinvarra, Ireland. It was cleaner
than I expected, the people were nicer than I expected and it was overall calmer
than I was expecting, even though you take your life in your hands every time
you cross the street. (Where do those motorbikes come from?!)
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| Spicy Thai Hostel |
After feeling particularly out of sorts and antisocial in
Kuala Lumpur, I had resolved to meet some people in this hostel. I couldn’t
have picked a better hostel to have that intention. It was one of the most
social hostels I have ever been in. It is set up to meet people. They have
different events during the week and something is always being organized, a
venture to the Sunday night walking market, a trip to the ladyboy show, karoke,
you name it. I stayed in the girls dorm and everyone that passed through during
the week I was there was interesting and willing to chat and share their
stories. It is fascinating to see what a little directed effort can do for an
introvert on the road. I made fast friends with a number of people and am
thrilled to say I would happily travel with a lot of them. I told one girl that
I am shy and she scoffed at me not believing me for a second. It’s just a great
reminder to me that I can put on the extrovert face and enjoy it. I had mostly
forgotten that since I’ve been in Southeast Asia. I still went off on my own
each day but it was a pleasant return to the hostel each night. The big table
facilitated a coming together at the end of the day. Stories of the day were
told, stories of lives were told and it was an all around general enjoyment of
friendly company. The people make the experience.
On my first day in Chiang Mai I saw six temples. I went
overboard. It was like a tourism blitz. I know by now that this is 100% my M.O.
Practically every post of a new place
says that I did something like that…again. When will I ever learn? A lot of the
temples are listed on the maps but when you arrive at number of them they do
not have the English translation of the name so sometimes it is hard to know
which ones you actually saw since there are soooo many. You could literally
temple yourself out for the rest of your life in Chiang Mai. My advice is “slow
and steady.”
I particularly enjoyed two temples. The “temple on the
hill,” Doi Suthep, and the temple in the middle of the city. Doi Suthep is a red taxi ride, or a hike away
up one of the many hills surrounding Chiang Mai. The day I visited the
visibility was about 0 but there is normally a panaoramic view of Chiang Mai.
The temple itself is reached by a set of stairs with huge dragon railings.
Foreigners pay 30baht to go in and I think it was worth it even on a cloudy
day. The main temple encompasses a large gold pagoda. People from all over the
world visit this temple to be blessed by the monks and walk in prayer around
the gold pagoda in the center. Smaller
temples exist all around the complex with their own unique
characteristics which include the resident monk who you will most likely think
is a statue for a few minutes before you realize there is a very low movement
of his chest.
The temple in the center of the city is called Wat Phra
Singh. It is a complex with a few
different temples actually. It houses a garden with Buddhist sayings posted on
trees. I took a picture of every single one. Garden might be a misnomer but
it’s a sitting area with the trees. I would think people go there to meditate
but most people were sitting around talking. If you head right around the first
temple when you walk in, you will find one in the back next to the
aforementioned garden. Upon entering, you will find people standing around
staring at something. They are staring at the stone still monks who are not
visibly breathing. There are seven total monks in this particular temple, four
on one side and three on the other. One thinks of someone mediating with their
eyes closed but that is not the case with most of these monks. They sit eyes
open. It is unbelievable. A number of Asian tourists were going right up to
them and getting really close and in their faces. I thought this was rather
rude but it did showcase how deep in mediation they were. They did not even
hint at a flinch or movement. I would even venture to say they were barely in
body at all. I have been to a lot of Buddhist temples but have never seen
anything like this before visiting Thailand.
