The Temple on Top of a Mountain (Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep)

Yesterday Pii Pan had to go to Chiang Mai to pick up her daughter and she was sweet enough to invite us along. Chiang Mai is about an hour and a half drive from Hang Chat, through some beautiful (and sometimes treacherous) mountains. We are always up for an air-conditioned car ride anywhere, especially with our good friend Pii Pan. We had some extra time before we had to pick up her daughter, so she brought us to the most famous wat (temple) in all of northern Thailand—Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep. It is a beautiful temple on top of a mountain overlooking the city. Jack is somewhat “wat”-ed out, having seen a dozen temples already. I agree that many Thai temples are similar-looking, but they are always very beautiful and we can appreciate the craftsmanship and work put into creating them. Besides we couldn’t pass up the trip to the top of a mountain.


Of course it was absolutely beautiful! According to Lonely Planet,

The temple was first established in 1383 under King Keu Naone and enjoys a fantastically mystical birth story. A visiting monk from Sukhothai instructed the Lanna king to take the twin of a miraculous relic to the mountain and establish a temple.. The relic was mounted on the back of a white elephant, which was allowed to wander until it 'chose' a site on which a wat could be built to enshrine it. The elephant stopped and died at a spot on Doi Suthep.

The five-tiered umbrella at the top of the gold-plated chedi was erected in honor of the city's independence from Burma and its union with Thailand.



And there are many ways to make merit, including donating to the oldsters:


Many people were praying and walking around the chedi:


In one of the smaller side buildings, Pii Pan brought me in to get a blessing from a monk. Can you spot the blonde head?

You can also buy little bells outside the temple, write your name on them, and hang them up:

Outside the temple were children dancing traditional Thai dances and playing music.


Also outside the temples were rows of bells you can ring for good luck.


We headed to the back of the temple to see the view of the city. I spotted this sculpture on the way and, I have to say, it did remind me of my mom a little (just kidding Mom!)


Can you spot the square that is old town Chiang Mai?


Hey who’s that handsome farang?


At the back of the wat:


Pii Pan brought us on the cable car for the trip up to the temple from the road, but our journey down was all stairs--306 of them!


As we made our way down, this mini-monk was making his way up with his mother who’s a nun. Pii Pan said taking the stairs up to the temple will bring you good luck.


After Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep we head down the mountain for lunch on the windiest road ever. I’ve seen Lombard Street in San Francisco that boasts the title, and though it has many curves in a short distance, Doi Suthep’s road is impressive on a larger scale. Plus in the 12 km drive up, there were several spurts of flash rain to terrify us.

Lunch wasn’t much to write home about, so I won’t write home about it 555 (the Thai word for 5 is “ha,” so 555 is their shorthand for lol, write that one down kids). Then we went to pick up Pii Pan’s daughter. She is now studying at Chiang Mai University, but she recently got back from a 3-month trip to America. She was living in Boston and working at McDonald’s. When I asked her about American people, she said she didn’t have any American friends, just Russian. 555!

Before heading home, we stopped at one more temple Wat Phra Singh in the old city. As expected, it was beautiful. As unexpected, there was a wax statue of a highly revered monk. No monk chats with this one!


And we have Pii Pan to thank for another fun-filled day!