The most outstanding feature of this temple is the vivid frescos which, unlike most temples that describe the life of Buddha, describe the mythical foundation of the city and the construction of the temple itself. The frescos can be "read" from left to right and in a very iconographic way tell us that the city had an old temple that was destroyed by a flood. People were able to save the sacred scrolls and relics but they were sad for the lost of their temple. Then, they decided to build an island high on the river where a new temple will be built. The final panel shows us the huge party for the opening of the new temple on the artificial island. For the party, even a member of the royal family showed up (depicted with 7 umbrellas, a number reserved for the royal family).
The temple also has beautiful columns decorated in mother of pearl with complex designs and amazing details.
From the temple, we continued on the countryside next to corn fields and recently seeded rice fields. We also visited the McCain institute, an old leper colony where residents make handicrafts including beautiful lacquered wood bowls. We then went for lunch in a small shop where I had the traditional Chiang Mai food, Kao Soi noodles with Chicken curry. After lunch, we did more bike riding and we visited a funerary crematorium. We were not allowed to approach the funerary pyre as a person was created the previous day and the remains were still there. Although, there is a brand new modern crematorium next to the funerary pyre, the town people still uses the old pyre as it's considered a bad omen if a young person is the first one to be cremated there. They are waiting for somebody over 60 year old to open the new crematorium for business.
We then go to Wat Pupia, the old site of a temple that it is part of the old city ruins. This temple was built between the 16th and 17th century, but it was mostly made of wood, so most of it is lost. We ended the bike trip with an interesting ride on very narrow, somewhat steep back streets of Chiang Mai back to our hotel.
In the late afternoon, we went to Doi Suthep, a temple situated at the top of a mountain NorthWest of Chiang Mai. This temple was built in 1383 and it's still used as a place of worship today. The legend says that the place was chosen by putting a relic of Buddha on the back of an elephant and letting it roam until it came to rest at the top of the hill.
After visiting the temple, we had a pre-trek meeting at the hotel and we headed to a trekking shop where people were able to buy or rent what they needed for the trip (all I needed was a lighter). After the shop, we went to the famous Chiang Mai night market (a former end of one of the silk routes). At the market, we had a nice dinner in an outdoor restaurant (I had Panaeng chicken, chicken in a spicy red curry sauce with crushed peanuts).
After dinner, I went to the Thai Boxing stadium where we got ring side seats for the 9 fights of the night. Each fight starts with a choreographic dance done by the boxers that it's a combination of a warm up and a sign of respect to the other boxer, the spectators, and the sport. This dance, as well as the fight, are accompanied by Thai traditional music which adds to the excitement of the event. The fights were on different divisions, starting with very light boxers, 38 kilos (and probably not older than 14), and ending with heavy weights of 75 kilos. Two fights ended in a knock out. Four were stopped by the referee and three ended with the judges awarding the fight by points to one of the boxers.
Posts
