Even though I am now home as I type this, there are still a few sights and activites that I'd like to share with you. Our last week was wonderful and busy and lazy, all at the same time, so I just didn't manage to get to the blog.
Last Monday was our final day in Chiang Mai. There was only one place more that I wanted to see before we left, which was Wat Doi Suthep. This is a particularly important temple in Northern Thailand. The story behind it says that a white elephant, which is highly sacred, was discovered in Thailand and a relic of the Buddha, a bone, was placed in a shrine on the elephants' back. The elephant was then set free. As the story goes, the elephant eventually died on the top of a large hill outside of what is now Chiang Mai, so in the late 1300's the Buddha relic was installed in a memorial on that spot. In the early 1900's a monk gathered support to build a temple around the memorial, and we now have Doi Suthep.
One of the more notable features of the temple are the 305 stairs that bring you up to it. I loved the beautiful green scales of the two dragons that line the stairs.
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| Dragon heads |
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| Stairs up to the temple |
The sky that day was amazing, moving from slightly stormy to bright sun while we were there. This lead to some great photos. I had such a hard time picking just one or two to share with you, so I'm sharing a bunch!
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| Entry at the top of the stairs |
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| The central stuppa, darkened by storm clouds |
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| One of many shrines |
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| Prayer bells lining the roof |
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| Central stuppa after the sun came out fully |
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| Incense and lotus flowers left as offerings |
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| The incredible view of Chiang Mai |
After Doi Suthep, we headed to the train station to catch the night train south to Bangkok. The night train is a very comfortable way to travel, since they have a full dinning car and you get a full bed to stretch out on. The landscape outside of Chiang Mai is beautiful, and we were lucky enough to see an amazing sunset before turning in for the night.
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| Train travel |
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| Sunset over a rice paddy |
Stay tuned for more of our last week!
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