My second and third days in Chiang Mai played out much like my first. Late starts, lazy massages, stunning temples, and stunned by alcohol. I was a fairly poor tourist for a day or two, and felt even at the time I could have achieved more. But I still didn’t get the appeal of Chiang Mai, and so was content to wile away my days until my Couchsurfer travel buddy for Laos could get to northern Thailand.
As I engaged in few activities interesting enough to write about, the text will be brief, the photos plentiful.
My first stop on Day 2 was for some iced coffee in the grounds of Wat Pun On. The coffee was as excellent as the temple.
 |
| They all start looking the same after a while. |
 |
| A wish tree at Wat Pun On. |
Next was Wat Pundtow, which is a reconstructed, teak-wood temple. Despite being next door to popular Wat Chedi Luang Worawihan, the grounds were peaceful and cool, and punctuated by the occasional saffron flash of a monk strolling between the buildings.
 |
| Peeking into the atmospheric wat in Wat Pundtow |
Even under scaffolding, the monastery’s chedi looked majestic.
 |
| I feel scaffolding improving this chedi. |
The serenity of Wat Pundtow jarred unpleasantly with the jostling tour groups I encountered in neighbouring Wat Chedi Luang Worawihin. My initial impression of the wat was OK, but did not seem to justify the numbers crowding it.
 |
| Streamers and streams of tourists, not much else. |
Bemused by the frankly uninspiringly modern interior of the wat, I put my flip-flops back on, and slowly scrolled around the side of the building, knowing that in most Buddhist monasteries, the chedi and other buildings are tucked behind the primary building.
 |
| The dramatic editing sets the tone for the big reveal. |
I realised that the main appeal of the site was a massive, ancient, partially-collapsed chedi, all that remains of an earlier royal monastery.
 |
| The dramatic chedi of Wat Chedi Luang Worawihan. |
In hindsight, the temple’s name includes the word chedi, so I could have realised that it might be impressive…
 |
| There was another, silvery wat behind the chedi. |
After three temples, I needed to do some refuelling. The street stalls outside the temple fit the bill with 15B (£0.30) Pad Thai.
 |
| The street outside the temples, with food for pennies. |
The afternoon concluded with relaxing and banter back at the hostel. Plans to meet friends at the crap Night Bazaar fell through, so I grabbed a massage to fill some time, and then grabbed a mango smoothie and toastie en route to a Couchsurfer meet up.
After an initial slow start, the meet-up was a laugh. I found some cheap Songsam, the local rum, so I was happy.
...here again, my memory fails me. I know I ended up at Zoe’s again, which was closed...again.
Then I headed to Spicy’s….again.
It was crap….again.
 |
| The only photo records of yet another drunken night. |
…
My third day in Chiang Mai was low key. I had a 4h bus to Pai in the afternoon, and woke up late. I felt strangely hungover...unsure what caused that feeling.
I thought Starbucks would help this mysterious hungover feeling.
The unfortunately-hot, cream-filled Almond Croissant did not help, at all. Honestly, why ruin a croissant by yamming UHT cream-substitute into the centre of it. Why Thailand, why!
After my encounter with the devil croissant, it was time to wedge myself into an ‘airconditioned’ minibus, bound for the tiny town of Pai.
 |
| Welcome to Pai! We have rubbish, antennas, and beautiful sunsets ;) |
DSP
No comments:
Post a Comment