Moto and Chiang Mai

After calling home and running some errands, Jacquie and I rented a motobike for the rest of our stay in Chiang Mai. For $4US and my good old passport, we had a bike with two helmets...safety first. It's usually the foreigners who wear the brain buckets but slowly the trend is catching on with locals.

Cave Temple

Our first stop was the Wat Umong - a small cave temple used by monks to escape when the outside world was too much to handle. The cave itself is located in what looks like the suburbs and there are no really tourist signs or guides...therefore hardly any people were there. I was struck by its unique isolation and the caves itself held six small worship idols and one larger one. The ceiling was only 6ft and covered in archaic paintings and so untouched.

Mountain Temple
Then we ventured up to the mountain temple to Wat Prathat Doi Suthep. For 10km we winded up the mountain side like one would through Rogers pass back home. We reached the top and I was amazed at how many tourists were here. There were cable cars dragging tourists up the mountain side, but we wondered to the back side and found a small pilgrimage stairway. We passed a couple of village huts and came up from under the temple. We walked around the main temple first. Saw the famous bells that anyone can ring - each bell carrying a note that corresponds with the chanting.
We also had the view over all of Chiang Mai and its surrounding area - so beautiful. When we realized that our eyes weren't tearing up because of the beauty but instead because of the polluting smog, we continued around the temple. We bought some items for offering (candles, incense, and a flower) and walked into the temple. The scene was quite powerful. So many statues in gold and this impressive pyramid shape, all in gold. I walked around the structure with a constant gaze at how beautiful it is.
I ignored the ignorant tourists who flashed pictures and walked aimlessly looking for a 'perfect' shot. We didn't take any pictures here; we just kept it for ourselves. I look forward to more beauty like this as I continue to Loas.