Thailand: Chiang Mai wonders

So we left you at the Sunday night market in Chiang Mai, where we met up with a nice English couple we met at the cooking class. At the Sunday market they sell a bit of everything. Reminded us of Carmel Market and Nachlat Benjamin back home. It's basically the same idea: cheap clothes, food, and handmade art and crafts of all sort. The price is about the same too, so we didn't buy anything.

Also, we know that we have to schlep (carry) anything we buy, so next time we'll just finish our trip in Thailand :-)

At one point we ran away from the crowd and entered an architecture exposition that happened to have a photo exposition of Paris (!) - how random is that?!

So of course, Rony had a bit of nostalgia and suddenly missed Paris, but it lasted only a few minutes.

No time to linger!

Back to the market. We had to stay focused on not losing each other (literally, not figuratively). We already lost our English couple somewhere on the way,  so no need to worry about finding each other. Anyway, we said that if we do, we meet each other at the entrance of the market.

Because of all the dishes we prepared earlier and the strong smell of (fried?) food in the market, we couldn't eat anything so we ended up having a cup of mocha/hot chocolate at a nice coffee shop. And guess what was playing when we were there? You got it: Taylor Swift! It's like she's everywhere we go. Even on magazines:

We walked back to the hotel which takes 45 minutes more or less. We exercise whenever we can :) 

Today we had an easier day. We woke up late (8:00) and decided to take it easy: breakfast at the hotel, laundry in our room (it's about time!!) and reading about the rest of our trip. And a tour of Doi Suthep and Bhubing Palace that started in the afternoon.

First, the guide we had was very funny and instructive. He told us about Chiang Mai history (it's a 714-year-old city), Thai history, and the king's life. For example, we learned that the king has American citizenship! He was born in Boston, Mass., and apparently Elvis came to sing for him in the 60's. He didn't know what song, but serenaded us with Love Me Tender just in case. Anyway, very interesting.

Doi Suthep itself is a very interesting and beautiful site. The whole site is set on the top of a mountain,  2500 meters high.  And the Bhubing Palace, the royal winter residence, is a big complex of gardens and big lodges where everything is carefully taken care of to the small details. Beautiful roses and other flowers all around, fountains, and huge bamboo trees.

After that we went to Doi Suthep itself. This temple is one of the most venerated temple in Thailand.
There are 300 steps leading to the entrance, but we took the cable car to get up. It's main distinguished feature is the golden Pagoda at the center. It is currently being renovated after being partially ruined in the 2005 tsunami/earthquake.

Pagoda at Doi Suthep

We learned a lot about Buddhism traditions. For example, a color represents each day of the week: Monday is yellow, Tuesday is pink, Wednesday is green, Thursday is orange, Friday is blue, Saturday is purple, and Sunday is red, and you are supposed to walk around the pagoda 3 times: once for Buddha, once for  karma and once for the monks.

At the end of the trip, Talia won a bracelet because she answered correctly the trivia question about our tour: When was Chiang Mai built? And the answer is: 714 years ago.

At least we walked DOWN the stairs...

We were dropped off at the night market where they sell all the funny T-shirts, and had the typical meal when you've been in Thailand for more than 2 weeks.

McDonald's and Subway :)

That's it for today! Tomorrow we'll be on a more serious tour: Doi Ithanon in the south of Chiang Mai.
We wake up at 7:00, so we've got to go to sleep now!

See you tomorrow!

Photos from this photo and up:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=15686717&l=bf2238fb28&id=906005363