While I was traveling with Howard in Chiang Mai, Thailand for Songkran, we decided to head to the main temple in Chiang Mai that is called Wat Phrathat. This is one of the most famous temples in Thailand. It is located on top of a mountain that over looks the whole city. There is no way that you can walk to this temple. So instead of hiring a tuk tuk or a taxi to take us to the Temple we decided there was no better way to go than scooters (the locals way to travel!)
We lined up the scooters through Julie's Guest House. They make it too easy to do things in Chiang Mai. So a rental company delivered 2 scooters for us to use for the whole day. (I think it was only about $6 to rent for the whole day). We took off without any problems. It was a lot of fun on these things. There are so many scooters on the street that we just blended in with all the locals. The only bad thing is the pollution that comes from the trucks that pass you or wait next to you at lights. I ended up having to put a shirt over my face so that I wasn't sucking down straight pollution out of the tail pipe next to me.
After finding our way to Huay Kaew Road we started to head out of the city. From there we found plenty of signs that directed us up to the top of the mountain. It took us about 20 minutes to get from the guest house all the way to the top of the mountain. We were passing trucks full of tourists and other people that were walking up this mountain.
Once we got to the top they had a little parking lot. We just parked our Scooters in between some cars and hoped that we weren't parked illegally? There were people selling things everywhere in front of the temple on the sidewalks. They were selling food, clothes, jewelry, etc. I didn't buy anything, because I knew that I didn't want to carry it with me while I was traveling. After walking in the main entrance with the rest of the tourists we came upon the Naga Stair Case. It was 306 stairs straight up. It had two huge dragons on both sides of the stair case. You had to climb these stairs in order to enter the actually part of the temple.
I was a little out of breath by the time I reached the 306th step! I definitely needed the exercise
though. There was a 30 baht (under $2 US Dollars) entrance fee for tourists. All locals get in for free...which I respect. There is also a dress code. You can't wear shorts in. It is so hot in Chiang Mai so I was always wearing shorts. So I brought a pair of pants with me to put on once I got inside the Temple.
The two main attractions in this temple is an Emerald Buddha and also the main shrine area that is called Stup Pagoda (or Golden Chedi). It is 79 feet high and 39 feet across and made of engraved gold. It is pretty cool to see, but once you travel through SE Asia you start to get burnt out of seeing temples. So we made our way through the temple pretty quick. We were able to take a couple of pictures and also see some pretty cool views of the Chiang Mai from the top of the mountain.
The Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep is one of the main attractions in Chiang Mai, Thailand. It is definitely worth the trip to the top of the mountain. It is a fun day trip to do to get out of the downtown part of Chiang Mai. Make sure to bring a pair of pants with you or else you are not getting in the temple! Peace
