Chiang Mai, Part IV

Sunday morning I decided to sleep in after a night out in Chiang Mai. I took advantage of being a tourist town by eating a western breakfast consisting of nut pancakes, fruit, and actual coffee. After my brunch, I grabbed a tuk tuk and headed off to the Three Kings Monument. Next, I visited a wat, although I'm not quite sure what it's name is because I have seen too many wats!

Then I stumbled into Wat Chedi Luang; which I thought was one of the most interesting wats I have visited. This wat was built in 1441 and is now in ruins due to an earthquake in the 16th century.

My tuk tuk driver brought me to Wat Jet Yot next. I liked this wat a lot too. It is quite old, built in the 15th century, and has many shady trees.

My last stop of the day was Wat Suan Dok. This wat had many small, white-washed chedis behind the wat. I was quite surprised how much I enjoyed all of the wats I visited on Sunday because I thought I was all "wat'ed out," but the wats in Chiang Mai were actually quite unique.

At the end of the day, I headed back to Phitsanulok on the bus. On the ride home, the man sitting next to me talked to me for at least an hour...all in Thai. To say the least, I didn't have much to say back to him.

Chiang Mai, Part III

Saturday Ba-Ouwan, P-Kik, and P-Yoo all headed back to Phitsanulok, while I remained in Chiang Mai. I decided to spend part of the afternoon at the Night Safari. The Night Safari is similar to a zoo, but a little nicer. It is located on the grounds of Doi Suthep National Park. I enjoyed a beautiful walk around Swan Lake observing the many animals.

Next, my tuk tuk driver took me to Wat U Mong. This wat is very old and located in the forest. I really liked this wat because it is totally different from every other wat I have seen in Thailand (and that's a lot of wats folks). I also liked this wat because it was sort of creepy; located in the woods with moss growing over everything. At this wat I met Mary. She from France and is travelling all around S.E. Asia by herself!

While in the wat, Mary and I saw a sign pointing towards a zoo located in the wat. Mary told me that her friend had mentioned that there was a zoo in Wat U Mong, but it wasn't advertised to tourists. I confirmed this, as there was no mention of a zoo in my Lonely Planet. After wandering around the woods and not finding a zoo or any animals, we came across some deer. The deer were quite close to us with no fence or anything. I figured this was ok, being from Wisconsin I am used to seeing deer up close. We followed the professional looking signs written in English to the nature trail. Just around the corner we ran into some bull-like animals; again, no barrier between us and the vicious animals. We stopped to talk to some French boys who had also found the zoo. A few minutes later, one of the animals started walking towards us, and we started to walk away...then is started walking faster towards us and we started walking faster away. Before I knew it was last in line running away from this horned animal. It was a terrible experience. But we survived with no scratches. I know that this animal is probably vegetarian, but I read "The Hatchet." I remember how the boy in that story was beat up by a moose, who is also vegetarian. Anyway, I would not recommend that anyone follow the signs towards the "zoo" at Wat U Mong.

"The animal" :

Later that evening, Mary and I met for the Saturday night walking bazaar (which is not as good as the regular night bazaar). Then we thought we'd meet Mary's friend from Colorado, who was playing at "Guitar Man" Pub. But of course, not one tuk tuk driver had ever heard of this pub. Finally, we found a tuk tuk driver who knew what we were talking about, or so we thought. This tuk tuk driver took us on the craziest ride! He quickly took us to every bar in Chiang Mai with a man playing guitar, while his Thai music was blasting through his homemade speaker system. Amazingly we survived (again) and eventually he found the right bar!

Chiang Mai, Part II

Friday morning Ba-Ouwan, P-Kik, P-Yoo, and I rented a car to explore the greater Chiang Mai area for the day. Our first stop was Maetamann Elephant Camp! We signed up for an elephant ride, an ox-cart ride, and a bamboo raft ride. This was every-one's first time on an elephant! I would definitely recommend everyone visiting Chiang Mai to visit one of the elephant camps. It was so much fun. Sadly though, we learned that our bamboo raft driver was only paid 80 Baht per day ($2.40) and that he must work everyday. If he misses one day of work, then he is fined 20 Baht ($0.60).

After elephant camp, we stopped by an orchid and butterfly farm:

Next we drove to the top of the mountain in Chiang Mai to see Wat Phra That Doi Suthep. We climbed a cool 306 steps to get there!For dinner we ate Korean food, which is not as delicious as Thai food. After dinner, we were back at the night bazaar. After more shopping, we visited the "Good View" restaurant for a few drinks.

Lamphun & Chiang Mai

Thursday morning I left my apartment at 6am with Ba-Ouwan, P-Kik, and P-Yoo. We drove about four hours to the small town of Lamphun for a ceremony held at the eight hundred year old Wat Phra That Hariphunchai to retire a handful of pharmacists. Unfortunately, we were 45 minutes late for the ceremony and missed the whole thing! However, we did show up in time to receive a free umbrella and snacks. After exploring the wat, we hopped back in the car and headed off to Chiang Mai.

For our first night in Chiang Mai, we stayed at the beautiful, tourist filled Empress Hotel. After checking in, we visited Wat Phra Singh. This wat is home to the "lion Buddha" image. At this wat, we used this contraption to pour some water on the Chedi behind the main temple. P-Kik explained to me to make a wish and if I was able to get the water to the top and successfully poured on the Chedi, that my wish would come true. I succeeded of course!

After visiting the wat, I got to take a nap back at the hotel, while everyone else attended a meeting (all in Thai of course!)

I was glad to have napped, so that I could shop at full strength at Chiang Mai's famous night bazaar.