Doi Suthep
Posted in Alex's Blog on September 6, 2010
Doi Suthep overlooks Chiang Mai, the mountain is 3000ft high and from my balcony in the city you can make out the golden Chedi that stands at the centre of Wat Prathat Doi Suthep (A Wat is a temple, also any temple preceeded by what Prathat means that it contains Buddha relics, and boy did this one have plenty of those), and today that was where we were headed. The route up is approximately 15km of winding road that snakes its way through the jungle to the peak of the mountain. The adventurers today included Dennis from France who spoke all of 12 English words, he would be riding with me, Eric my mate from Canada via Qatar had a chain smoking Frenchman named Julian who also acted as Dennis’s translator riding with him, and there was also Adam a decent bloke from England who had been travelling Asia the past few months and finally a quiet lad named Tim from America, and so our happy little group set off.
At the base of the mountain we passed Chiang Mai University, then a fitness park that I have yet to explore, and finally Chiang Mai Zoo before the steep climb began. The road wound up the mountain with either side alternating between dense jungle and increasingly steeper drops into more dense jungle. The ride up was certainly fun if not quite dangerous (it seems these two factors often go hand in hand) due to the fact that you could not really tell how sharp many of the bends were until you were half way around them, a sudden downpour of course added to the fun of all this. We made our way to the first lookout point that was perhaps not as stunning as it could have been given that the view was mired by the rain. Once the rain had stopped we hopped onto our now soaked bikes and finished the journey to the Wat. One of the final turns before the Wat is perhaps the sharpest of the lot and in typical Thai fashion is not preceded by a single indication, so after nearly crashing into a tour bus accompanied by shouts of “oh la la” from my french companion we made our way up the final steep strait at full throttle and breaking all of 5km/hr.
At the foot of the temple was a buzz of food stalls and souvenir vendors. We parked our bikes and followed the crowd up a steep flight of steps beneath and large archway to what we presumed was the entrance to the temple, well its turns out that initial flight of stairs was only a prelude to a much steeper and larger set of steps (306 in all). The steps were lined with two impressive dragons which just happened to both be regurgitating 7 additional dragons so you might say the temple is well protected. We first walked around the perimeter of the temple along a wet marble floor that reflected the sky above, and it appears that there are 2 principle things Thais like to include in their temples. Firstly Bells, the larger and more numerous the better, and secondly gold, everything possible must be painted, plated, dipped or dashed in gold. Following this we removed our shoes and proceeded into the interior of the temple where the impressive copper Chedi resided forming the centre and holiest part of the temple, this was surrounded by a square formed by 4 corridors lined with Buddhas (golden of course), at the centre of each corridor was a small off shoot of a room filled with golden relics, statues adorned with flowers, scripts, and burning incense and candles. Thais knelt in prayer at the entrance to each room with buring incense sticks in their hands, at one of the rooms those knelling shook narrow boxes of sticks as they prayed. Apparently they continued their praying until one of the sticks fell out upon which was a number that referenced a script that could be read in an adjacent book. Other Thais lined the the corridors praying at shrines, lighting candles and incense, or offering flowers, these people were boarded by a flocks of foreigners chatting nosily, ringing bells, and getting pictures of every statue, painting, and monk they could get their hands on. Upon the realization that I was apart of this crowd and that two very separate cultures were clashing in this environment I immediately felt uncomfortable and left the temple.
On the way down I was struck by a sudden urge to run my hand down the entire length of the dragons lining the steps and so I did.
Once everyone returned from the temple we hoped back on our bikes and ventured up the last 4km of road to the highest point of the mountain, and to my surprise hidden at the top of this mountain sat a village. The village surrounded a central square where we parked our bikes. A handful of empty stalls lined the square, and a lone boxing bag hung at the far end which upon our return Eric faked a pretty hilarious drive by kick. We followed a slippery path through the trees to a lookout point, and look out we did. On the edge the only thing directly in front of you was the massive expanse of clouds that overhung the rolling jungle that lay thousands of ft below. It was one of those views that make you realize just how small and insignificant you are in the face of nature. The 6 of us stood transfixed by the view, for how long I could not say. What I can say though is that I will definitely be returning to that spot by myself to watch the sunrise and get lost in the beauty of the world.
We left the spot one by one lost in our own thoughts. The trip back down Doi Suthep involved putting our bikes into neutral and letting gravity take care of everything else. I cant describe the pure bliss of rolling for 40 minutes down a mountain with the wind in your face, good company, amazing views and the realization that you are exactly where you want to be in life.
