She'll be coming round the mountain...

Up and about early again today, our last full day in beautiful Chiang Mai.  Lewis picked us up again and we were on the road to Doi Suthep.  Doi Suthep is a mountain that sits 1600 metres above sea level and overlooks Chiang Mai.  There is a small village at the peak, but more importantly to the locals it is home to yet another temple <insert groan> called Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep.  The first Chedi to be built in this province way back in 1383 still sits there.  Lewis told us a little bit of the history around it - it involves a monk who had a dream about searching for a relic and then finding a bone that was believed to be Buddhas shoulder bone.  To cut the long story short, part of the bone was tied to a white elephant and it was set free in the jungle.  Apparently this elephant climbed to the top of the mountain, trumpeted three times and then died - this was considered to be a sign and the then King ordered a temple be built on the site.  Buddhists are quite big on the number three, and while at the temple we saw lots of references to that number.

To get to the Temple grounds there are 309 steps to climb

Or like most white people you can take a cable car both ways..no prize for guessing which way we went.

The Temple grounds are quite an eclectic mix of Hindu statues and many different Buddhist effigies from at least 2 branches of Buddhism practiced here - Theravada and Animalism.  There is a very heavy Burmese flavor to the place which would be expected as Burma ruled (after they invaded) this area for a few hundred years. 

The air at the temple was cool and seemed thick.  There were quite a lot of low level clouds so it made viewing the city below a little difficult.

Of course the standard things you see at a temple were there; the Naga, the prayer bells, the ornamental statues and the very detailed lacquer work.

The current Abbot has put a lot of the local boys to work.  They have become sort of the caretakers for the temple.  They keep it absolutely spotless in exchange for food, lodging and an education.

The central part of the temple has a huge gold Chedi.  Its in a walled area that had hundreds of different Buddha images, often in their own separate alcove.  Lots of candles, incense and flowers adorn the area so the smell was quite intense.  Worshippers walk around the central chedi three times chanting and waving their flowers as part of their prayer ritual.

While we were inside the central area I sent Nate into one of the little alcove rooms to take a photo of the huge gold Buddha within.  Taking photos here is certainly allowed as long as you either kneel or sit while taking them.  Nate was very serene as he sat there setting up his photo.  When he finished, the monk who had been sitting silently in the corner gestured Nate over to him.  After Nate got the visual permission from me (as he always does when hes not sure) he went over and knelt in front of him.  The Monk gave him a blessing and wished him a long and fruitful life as he sprinkled him with water and tied a blessing bracelet on his wrist.  What a wonderful experience for him.

Someone of course needed to look after our shoes while we were inside as it was a no shoe zone as usual.

We wandered around for a little bit more and then said our farewells to this holy place.  We went back down the mountain which certainly was much faster than going up. We were able to get a better view of the city on the way down.

Next stop was supposed to be the handicraft village but we got hijacked to go look for remote control helicopters at the Big C shopping Centre which was in the vicinity of where we were, well sorta.  Poppa had been talking about getting a helicopter since leaving Australia and finally his wish had come true - for the price of 1100 baht (about $33).

Next was off to the handicraft centre.  Chiang Mai is well known for its artisans and the places we stopped at were fine examples of that  The first stop was "The Worlds largest Jewellery Store".  Tony and I used our smarts and left our money/credit cards in the van, which in the end worked a treat.  There were some amazing rings and pendants in there and I'm sure had we not pre planned we would have purchased.  Next up was a home wares store where we had a 15 minute demonstration of how Kashmir hand knotted rugs were made.  They were quite incredible - the rugs changes colour from the direction you look at it.  It also takes about a year to hand make each rug to an ancient family pattern.  The third and final stop was to a Thai Silk place.  We got to see silk worms in action which was fascinating.  This stop we shopped, couldn't resist it any longer.  The silk was incredibly cheap - Tony bought a black silk dressing gown and a red power tie for about $100 all up.  The tie itself would have been around the $70 mark at home.  Nate of course was the star attraction at each stop - so much so that at the gem store he had Tony pick him up so he could get some peace.  When we were leaving the silk place the manager ran out to us in the bus to give Nate an apple....maybe it was the blessing doing its work already.