Day 6: Wat Phra That Doi Suthep

Wat Phra That Doi Suthep (วัดพระธาตุดอยสุเทพราชวรวิหาร) is probably the most famous and well known of all the temples around Chiang Mai. Legend has it the temple was founded in 1383 and contains a relic of the Buddha (his shoulder).

There are 309 steps in the stairs leading up to the temple from the car park. Although there is a cable car taking tourists all the way to the top, and our driver/guide had already purchased cable car tickets for us, I elected to climb the 309 steps.

Close to the Entrance Gate at the base of the stairs are a small pavilion featuring a multi-armed Buddha (the temple has many elements of Hinduism as well as Buddhism), a bell, a large Buddha statue, a golden statue of a monk, a wheel surrounded by deers, a gong, and other artefacts. There is also another pavilion with what looks like a Hindu multi armed god. Climbing the stair, I noticed the two seven-headed serpent statues that greeted me at the base.

The temple itself consists of an outer courtyard and an inner sanctunm consisting of the chedi and many statues of the Buddha, including various golden ones, an emerald one, a silver one, a reclining one etc. There are various structures arranged in the four compass directions surrounding the inner sanctum.

As the temple is about 1000m above sea level, there is a magnificent panoramic view of Chiang Mai from the south eastern courtyard. The temple grounds are also adorned with bells. In some of the chambers surrounding the inner sanctum, I saw monks providing blessings to visitors.

We took the cable car back to street level. Here there are many shops selling food, souvenirs and clothes. I found one selling fried insects but was too squeamish to try some.