We began what was to be one of the most adventurous days of the trip by renting little motor-scooters for 150 baht/day. We each got our own. Mine had a Hello Kitty floor mat which made me extra special. Jealous anybody?
Driving these little things in Chiang Mai traffic was insane! Our first destination was to the gas station. Trying to find it was like trying to find the Holy Grail. It was an arduous task, to say the least. Sam acted us our navigator and with the help of his keen intellect, we found it. It cost about 80 baht for gas ($2.33).
Our next destination was Wat Prathat Doi Suthep temple. It was about a half our drive out of the city up a hill and into the jungle. Driving up that hill, I felt like Indiana Jones. Jungle all around, waterfalls, 700 year old Buddhist relics. It was literally sublime.
The five of us were racing our way upward towards the temple. Don't worry moms! We kept each other in check. The only problem was when Blake's bike somehow died and he was forced to suddenly stop. I was right behind him and had to slam on my brakes also. I almost flew into the ditch. The Lord was watching out over us. We each said several prayers throughout the day while driving the scooters.
On top of the hill there was a small market. People were selling corn, waffles, traditional Thai food, fresh fruits and juices, jewelry and ornaments. I tried some of the corn which they cooked right on a grill. It was golden (taste and color).
The temple was also golden, literally. Wat Prathat Doi Suthep (try saying that 5 times fast) was built in the late 1300s. According to legend, a Buddhist monk at the time gave the king of Thailand a mandate to build a golden Buddhist relic. The obedient king sent a giant white elephant up the mountains near Chiang Mai with a massive golden relic on its back. After traveling for a great distance, the white elephant was so exhausted that it fell down and died. Where it died, is where they placed the relic which later became a temple. That is the origin of Wat Prathat Doi Suthep. It was a beautiful temple, that's for sure. The staircase which leads up to the temple is 306 steps long and was/is used by the monks for meditation.
We met a group of travelers while up there. An Englishman, an Australian, and a Brazilian. The Englishman was really nice and gave us a lot of advice about traveling through Cambodia. Our discussion led into religion. We told him we were LDS and he became very interested to learn about our beliefs. He seemed to be a very spiritual person. Arrio and I taught him the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He was very reverent towards our beliefs, and I admired him for that. I hope that I am the same way towards people with different beliefs than myself.
While up at the temple, it began raining very hard. The rain was warm, but we bought some ponchos from a local vendor for 50 baht. We were a bit nervous to drive the scooters down a steep mountainous hill in the pouring rain, but after some discussion, we decided to descend carefully and slowly. It really wasn't bad at all to get down. The traffic of Chiang Mai is far more dangerous than the weather ever could be for American motor-scooterists.
The motor-scooter drivers here in Chiang Mai are extremely good at what they do. They form a vein through the city which allows them to get through places that cars could never go. Red lights are irrelevant, stop signs don't exist. Everybody is very defensive, and, therefore, there are fewer traffic accidents. Nobody expects others to obey any traffic norm, which gives them a sense of awareness that doesn't exist in the U.S. We became little red blood cells in that vein.
However, we were still in a foreign land. Sam, Arrio, and I got separated from Dalton and Blake who ended up getting separated from each other. Luckily, everybody made it back to Julie's, eventually.
At the end of the day, Blake and I sat next to a young women from the Netherlands named Thara. She is definitely one of the nicest travelers I have met yet. We discussed everything from the differences in culture to our future plans. She has already been traveling in SE Asia for 2 months (she spent a whole month in Myanmar) of the total 5 months she will be going. And I thought 2-3 months was a long time!
We went out for another adventurous (to say the least) motor-scooter ride through the city, and then retired to bed.
No comments:
Post a Comment