Chillin’ In Chiang Mai

Sorry for the delayed posts – I’ve been volunteering the last two weeks (a subject for a future post) with limited free time and even more limited wifi access. But I’m back in Thailand – this time in the northern part of the country…Chiang Mai. It is actually the second largest city in the country, second only to Bangkok. And the two cities couldn’t be more different – Chiang Mai is chill and relaxed – totally opposite to the crazy chaos of Bangkok! This is a city with an amazing coffee culture (the coffee beans are grown in the nearby mountains) and temples are on every block. But the highlight of my time here was not in the city, but rather the nearby mountains.

Doi Inthanon National Park

This stunning National Park is home to Thailand’s highest point – which I had the chance to see. It was a chilly 15C (about 60F for my American friends), the Canadian in me wanted to go without a long sleeved shirt – but after 3 months in a tropical climate – I needed to put on a jacket. This does not bode well for my eventual return to Canadian winters 😂 Of course I saw waterfalls on my trip inside Doi Inthanon National Park and enjoyed a 2 hr hike through the jungle – where I did get to see my first venomous snake. I didn’t want to look at it — but the guide made me (it was super tiny and about 2 meters off the hiking path – so I was in no danger 🙄). The highlight of the hike was emerging from the jungle onto a rice terrace. The shade of green of rice fields is truly spectacular – my new favourite colour.

And of course, a post wouldn’t be complete without a video of the waterfall that we came across half way through our jungle trek.

More Temples!

So many temples! Chiang Mai is roughly one tenth the size of Bangkok, but has just as many temples – I must say, at this point some of them are starting to look the same. So I will try to keep my pictures to the more interesting ones. The other cool thing is that around the world there are Buddhist temples that have been dedicated to the 12 Chinese zodiac years, which are represented by animals. Many of these temples are in Northern Thailand and my birth year, the year of the Ox, has its temple about an hour from Chiang Mai. So of course I had to go on a day trip to see it – Wat Phrathat Lampang Luang – the last picture in the set.