Our first morning in Chiang Mai and we woke up to a lot of rain. Not a drizzle, but a proper tropical thunderstorm! The rains created an overcast in the sky and this prompted us to change our original plan for the day which was to go to Doi Suthep. An attraction of Doi Suthep is panoramic views of the city and we did not want to miss that view. Instead, we decided to visit other Wats around the city and further ease into Chiang Mai!
We sat in our room and watched the beautiful downpour. Once the rains abated, we went for a walk around the hotel to see the city before the hustle-bustle started.
Wat U-Mong
After breakfast, the hotel staff got us a Tuk tuk to take us to Wat U-Mong which is situated in the forest just outside of Chiang Mai in a lovely and unique setting: The stupa of the Wat is above the ground, but the shrine is underground in a cave. When you look at the Wat from above, it seems that there is only a stupa and no shrine.
The Wat also has a statue of the Buddha in an emancipated state where he must have meditated for a long period since you can see his veins and bones.
Behind the main Wat, there is a forest conservation area and we found the hut of a monk who has been living there for 23 years (as of 2007). We spent some time chatting with him about his life in the jungle and he also gave us some of his writings and drawings. We also saw some of his drawings that he had hung up on the wall and they were really lovely.
We then proceeded to visit the main Wat. There was a little kid over there who, made himself our guide and was showing us around. He was really sweet and gave us quite a bit of information about the place (although, I haven’t verified the accuracy of the information, I’m just going to trust him).
Outside Wat U-Mong we spotted an Ashoka pillar. We were so excited to see it since we’d read about these since childhood and only seen these in India. Ashoka had created these pillars when he professed his faith in Buddhism and his resolution to spread it around his kingdom!
All photos of Wat U-Mong are here.
Wat Phra Singh
We took the tuk-tuk back to Chiang Mai and our next stop was Wat Phra Singh. It is common belief that the Wat name (Singh) refers to lions (and the fact that lion statues guard the entrance to the Wat does not help) but in reality the name refers to the Buddha statue that is inside the Wat: Phra Buddha Sihing.
The Wat complex is very beautiful and we entered a rather quiet building with a monk. A few locals were performing a ceremony with the monk: You bow to the monk and he sprinkled water on you and recited a prayer and tied a white thread around your wrist – this is quite common in temples in India and we both partook in the ceremony. The monk tied the thread on my wrist, but asked me to tie the thread on my wife’s wrist since Buddhist monks are not allowed to touch women.
All Wat Phra Singh photos are here.
We spent some time sitting in the Wat and it was past 1 pm. Across the street was a Thai place called Henry’s and we just walked in and ordered some Khao Soi and fried rice. Khao Soi is a Chiang Mai specialty: Coconut curry with noodles. The food took almost 45 minutes to come. I was really tired and took a good 20 minute nap while we waited for the food. The 45-minute wait was absolutely worth it because the food was outstanding! Years later, this Khao Soi remains our gold-standard each time we eat Khao Soi anywhere.
After lunch, we had some really good Thai iced coffee from a place called House of Thai Thai coffee.
We then walked across the main street of the city and saw a saloon and I decided to get a haircut (actually, my wife decided I should get a haircut). It was one of the best I’ve have in years and my wife thought I look more Thai now – probably a good thing, I’m blending in!
After the haircut, we went to Wat Chedi Luang. The main building is closed since it was damaged in an earthquake and is unsafe for people to go inside. Outside this building was a place where visitors could talk to monks and we spoke to a monk for a while about his life and why he wanted to be a monk. It turns out he was from Luang Prabang (our next destination) and eventually want to go to India to get a masters in Buddhism. It was really nice to talk to him and learn about what hardships monks face and their outlook to life. It is something I will not forget for a long time to come.
Immediately after, the rains came back and we took shelter at a café. When the rain subsided it was getting dark but we really wanted to finish seeing the last Wat on our list: Wat Chiang Man. By the time we got there, it was dark and so we could not take any photos. We still walked around the Wat. It was very quiet and peaceful, which allowed us to spend some time in silent meditation. We loved it.
Afterwards, we decided to go to a Lonely Planet-recommended Indian Vegetarian place. At this point, I have to say, Lonely Planet was sorely disappointing when it came to restaurant recommendations; not only did the place not exist and we were so hungry we picked a place that seemed similar and advertised Indian food. The food was not exactly cooked Indian-style but was alright. Definitely nothing like what one would expect from Indian food. We swore to not trust Lonely Planet for their food recommendations here henceforth.
After dinner, we took a tuk-tuk back to the hotel where we ate a fresh Papaya. Fruits in Thailand were delicious and bursting with flavour! It had been a long day and Heena fell asleep very fast. I spent some time writing in my journal, whilst listening to Hindi music and the rain pouring outside our room… Happy times.
