Doi Suthep and the Old City

On September 27, we visited Doi Suthep.  We took a songthaew to go up the mountain to the temple that we saw from our apartment.

Here's the chedi, or stupa, a mound-like structure containing Buddhist relics, used by Buddhists as a place of meditation.

And the fence surrounding it.

There are many statues of Buddha.

And many bells.





Mary is always watchful for birds and butterflies and there seem to be an abundance at the temples we visited.

And there was, of course, the view back over Chiang Mai (toward our apartment).

We took a songthaew back into town and had lunch at Henry's Restaurant in the Old City.

We saw monks walking around the Old City (which has many, many Buddhist temples) and then visited Wat Pra Singh, across from the restaurant.

 

The next day we headed back to the Old City and visited Wat Chedi Luang. The construction of the temple started in the 14th century. Probably due to stability problems it took until mid-15th century to be finished. It was then the largest building in all of what is now the Chiang Mai area of Thailand. In 1545, the upper 30 m of the structure collapsed after an earthquake. In the early 1990s the chedi was reconstructed.

 The wat houses a Buddhist university attended by young monks and monk novices.  We visited with a few of the young men during "Monk Chat." (The ones who were eager to talk to us expressed an interest in improving their English.  The monk Mary spoke with said that he would like to teach in an Isaan village like we're going to do.)

Guess even monks need cash.

Time to grab a songthaew or a tuk-tuk to get back to our apartment.