Nancy’s Big Adventure

   BIG THANKS to Joel for recommending a visit to Chiang Mai, Thailand.  It is a beautiful city, surrounded by a ring of mountains, with seven hundred years of history and over 300 Buddist temples (“wats”).  Since I was only in Chiang Mai for about 30 hours (Wednesday and Thursday) I didn’t get to see all of them, but here are a few that I did visit:

Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep: the most famous temple in the area, rises behind the city and provides a dramatic backdrop. This temple dates from 1383. Its builders allegedly chose its site by placing a relic of the Lord Buddha on an elephant’s back and letting the elephant roam until it came across a place where it trumpeted and circled before lying down. The onlookers took this as marking an auspicious place to build the temple. The view of the city of Chiang Mai area is excellent from this point.

Wat Chiang Man, the oldest temple in Chiang Mai. King Mengrai lived here while overseeing the construction of the city. This temple houses two very important and venerated Buddha figures – Phra Sila (a marble Buddha) and Phra Satang Man (a crystal Buddha).

Wat Phra Singh houses the Phra Singh Buddha, a highly venerated figure, transferred here many years ago from Chiang Rai.

Wat Chedi Luang was founded in 1401 and dominated by the large Lanna style chedi (a large hemispherical mound) which dates from the same time, but took many years to finish. An earthquake damaged the chedi in the 16th century and now only two-thirds of it remains.

Wiang Kum Kam is the site of an old city situated on the southern outskirts of Chiang Mai.  The site has a large number of ruined temples.

Wat Suan Dok, (“the field of flowers temple”) What is unique about this temple is the large ubosot (ordination hall), unusual not only for its size, but also that it is open on the sides. There are a large number of chedis housing the ashes of the rulers of Chiang Mai. The temple is also the site of Mahachulalongkorn Rajavidyalaya Buddhist University.

Chiang Mai is full of backpackers and has a really laid back atmosphere; everyone here is down to earth and very friendly.  While walking in the city, I met a man from California who came to CM for a visit 13 years ago and just never left (!!) and a man visiting CM with his family who went to the UofM and now lives in France.  Small world.

The food, accommodations, and shopping are all top quality and inexpensive, and the nights are relatively cool, a welcome relief from the heat of the last few weeks.  My hotel was a few blocks away from the “Night Market”, where all the local vendors have the opportunity to display their wares.  Fun!

I boarded the train bound for Bangkok Thursday morning and arrived Thursday evening, with a few hours to spare before my flight to Shanghai.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 5th, 2007 at 9:36 pm and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.