5/13 Doi Suthep Temple with Devon

5/13/2013: Devon (friend from Denver) arrived on the 12th in the evening, so Ariel and I put on our most stylish Thai outfits (Ariel with Aladdin pants and me with the super-huge shorts) and picked her up at the airport. She was slightly amused by our clothes. She'd spent the previous week in Bangkok and some of the southern islands with a tour group and could not say enough good things about Koh Tao. She was a little tired of Thai food so we went to Loco Elvis, a Mexican place along the moat.

The next morning we decided to go check out the temple on Doi Suthep. The story behind the temple (according to my Lonely Planet guide) is that the Lanna king wanted to build a temple and a chedi (monument) was mounted to the back of a white elephant. They let the elephant wander until it picked a spot. The elephant ended up part-way up Doi Suthep outside of Chiang Mai, laid down in a spot and died. That's where the temple is built. Judging by the size of the chedi (along with all the other details), I'm guessing it's a fabricated story.

We debated about renting motorbikes and driving ourselves up to the temple, but ultimately chose to hop in a songtaew (red pickup truck taxi). We survived the windy road, the girls changed into temple-acceptable clothes, and I spotted a whitish dog with eyebrows drawn on it. We took the cable car to the top and wandered around the lookout area. Ariel wasn't feeling great so we grabbed a table in the shade and hung out for a bit, and after a while Devon spotted some friends from Colorado who were obviously very surprised to see us. Val and Joe live in Perth currently and were on their honeymoon. We caught up while waiting out a rainstorm and then went inside the temple, which was very impressive. The chedi is a huge, glistening gold tower, with intricate, detailed sculptures and artwork surrounding it. We took some pictures and caught a songtaew back into town with Joe and Val.

Dog with fake eyebrows!

View of Chiang Mai from Doi Suthep temple

The chedi of Doi Suthep temple

306 stairs up to the temple

When we got back into town, Devon and Ariel and I went to a "monk chat" while Joe and Val waited for us at a restaurant. Monk chats are hosted at select temples throughout the city, and offers an opportunity for tourists to speak with a real live actual monk, and apparently the monk "gets" to practice his English and maybe do some proselytizing. "Our" monk was a 23-year old who's been monking for 9 years. He said his parents are proud that he's a monk because they don't have to worry about him getting into trouble (as opposed to his brother, who's in college and is "naughty" - meaning he drinks and associates with women). The monk chat was somewhat interesting, although he seemed to only want to talk about good vs. evil with us, which became tiresome. His limited English resulted in him pretty much just saying the same thing over and over again, and none of it was very revolutionary, or Buddhist-specific for that matter.

We had dinner at a Thai restaurant with Joe and Val, where the waiter for some reason chose to ignore me and no one else. We had more drinks at the Chiang Mai Saloon (not very Thai) after dinner, and then called it a night. Joe and Val seemed excited to get a taste of home, so they joined us for breakfast the next morning too.