A long time ago the ruler of Chiang Mai and the Lanna Kingdom, King Nu Naone decided that to raise a new temple. To find an auspicious location, they placed a chedi with a holy relic on the back of a royal white elephant and let it roam free outside the city. The elephant wandered up a nearby mountain, Doi Suthep, and when it reached the top it trumpeted three times and died. Deciding this was an auspicious sign, the King founded the temple of Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep on that spot, overlooking the valley and the city of Chiang Mai.
That was back in the 14th century. Today, throngs of worshippers continue to make the trek up the mountain to worship at the temple. Of course, most of them drive up (or take one of the songthaews), and once you reach the bottom of the temple complex you can now take a tram up and skip the approximately 300 steps.
At the foot of the stairs, merchants have set up, selling various Buddha images, offerings, and refreshments. There are even dancers and musicians.
The musicians play while young girls in traditional hilltribe costumes offer to let you take their picture for a small price. To western eyes, it seems quite commercial. As the musicians played, we made our way up the steps to the main temple complex.
At the top, there is an inner and outer courtyard. After passing through the gates, you take off your shoes before entering the inner courtyard, where a golden chedi sits in the middle of galleries of Buddha images. Worshipers make offerings to Buddha images, choose lots for fortune, and receive blessings in the galleries and side chapels.
Around the central chedi, worshippers carry lotus and incense offerings. They walk clockwise around the chedi, praying for good fortune.
Around the outer courtyard were bells, which people ring in succession to help build merit. Small chapels surrounded the outer courtyard, eaves flaring upward in the distinctive style of Thai roofs.
On a clear day, the view from Doi Suthep is amazing. Regrettably, there was a thick haze when we were there, though you can barely make out the runway of the Chiang Mai airport.
After paying our respects at the temple, we continued into the mountains. We went passed the royal Phu Ping Palace, and decided to continue on and see what we could find. A sign informed us that there was a Hmong village only 7 km from where we were, so we decided to follow the sign and see what we could find.
Note: When traveling mountain roads in Thailand, distances are farther than posted on any nearby sign. We aren't certain, but we think that the signs might only be telling you how long before the next sign. Regardless, as we went farther and farther along the single track road, we kept going forward, assuming that around that next bend would be the village we were looking for. We almost gave up when we reached a national park area, but pressed on when we found another road leading out (with another sign, too).
Pavement gave way to dirt, and soon we were out of rang of any roads on the GPS. Still, we saw signs of habitation and pressed on. The mountain road was barely wide enough for the 4WD SUV we were traveling in. A sheer drop on one side with a corresponding rise on the other meant that if we came upon any other vehicle we would be required to pass one or the other would have to back up--not a fun proposition.
Finally, we came to a small group of houses hanging precariously on the mountainside overlooking rows and rows of coffee plants. A small sign offered coffee to travelers (in English, even) and a red songthaew was stopped outside. We decided to go in and have a cup.
Oh. My.... I should tell you that I am not typically a coffee drinker. This was excellent. It didn't have that characteristic 'burnt' quality of coffees in so many other coffee shops. It was fresh and delicious--if I could find more coffee like this I might be tempted to drink it more often. The lady running the little roadside shop was also kind enough to let us know that the Hmong village was only another kilometer down the road. This close--we figured we would give it a shot.
Three or four kilometers later, we finally found a village (we think it is the village we had been looking for, but we don't know for sure). As we rolled into the village we stopped and asked directions--turns out everyone was out in the fields working. We did find a couple of people operating stalls--apparently expecting some little traffic to come through. We purchased a few items, fed some biscuits to the dogs, and then asked for directions to Chiang Mai. After all, we had just come down a one lane dirt road. There had to be a better way back, right?
Be careful of assumptions. Although we were told we could go through the village and the road would eventually take us back to Chiang Mai, we were in for quite the adventure. At forks in the road we generally took the one that looked more traveled. Although there was evidence of farms on the hillside, mostly we looked out into trees and forest. We were nowhere near anywhere on the GPS, and some of us were experiencing vertigo with the sheer drops.
At one point the car was at such an angle, we had someone spot while only the driver maneuvered the car. We then had to ford a small stream. A local family, who was no doubt quite amused at our situation, told us we were going in the right direction. Of course, going in the right direction and being anywhere close to civilization are two very different things.
Two hours after we had begun our journey to the Hmong village, we reached pavement once more. We came around a lake where throngs of people were gathered for picnics and parties. Eventually we hit a main road and headed up towards Mae Rim.
We ended our adventure with a late lunch at the Four Season's Resort, overlooking idyllic rice fields. After our trip through the unknown wilds of the mountains, it was nice to be catered to for a while. While rustic charm has its place, a touch of elegance--even if the rice paddies are sculpted for our pleasure--is a nice change of pace.
PS: Ellen says that we won't be doing that once we get our own car--especially if it doesn't have four wheel drive. Oh well...
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