Two days ago was the 3 week anniversary of our arrival in Chiang Mai. I celebrated in a fairly unique way: by taking Ginger for a hike in the woods.
I have found it very difficult to walk her in our neighborhood. Our compound is very small and does not lend itself to more than about a 10 minute circuit on concrete streets with nothing to see and little more for a dog to sniff. As it is on a very busy street, there is little space to go off the property either, and when you do "leave the reservation", the neighborhood or "Soi" (street) dogs are another problem. I have found myself really missing our walks on the beautiful pathways of San Marino Bridge! It will be better once we move to the other house next month but in the meantime, desperate for a solution to help Ginger get more physical and mental exercise, I Googled "hike with your dog in Chiang Mai" and found a website by an expat, inviting others to meet him with his dogs for some hikes in the surrounding hills. It sounded really wonderful so I contacted him and we made a "date" to meet for a hike.
After a 20 minute drive, I met Jamie and his dogs at the base of Doi Suthep, the mountain where one finds Wat Prathat Doi Suthep, one of the best known temples in Thailand and the largest Wat, or temple in Chiang Mai. We started up The Pilgrimage Trail which leads to Wat Doi Suthep, our destination being halfway up at the Buddhist temple of Wat Pha Lat, which in northern Thai means "monastery at the sloping rock".
Very early on, we came across this: buddha statues stuck into a termite hill.
My new friend could offer no explanation for that.
We saw some very unusual plants as we walked:
Jamie mentioned that occasionally you will see the orange robed monks on the trail, making their pilgrimage. Along the way, a number of trees had orange sashes tied around their trunks. My understanding is that some of it is to mark the trail, but some of it is in the interest of conservation: the orange sashes indicate that a tree has been "ordained", is sort of an honorary monk and the tree is to be left alone (read: not cut down for fire wood).
Close to the top.
It only took us about 25 minutes to reach the 650 year old temple grounds of Wat Pha Lat. It is still a functioning monastery and as I am yet unsure of the protocol for when one should or should not photograph religious sites here, I kept my picture taking to a minimum.
There are numerous buildings on the site, including the cave containing the nine stone Buddhas. The statues within are about 1 1/2 times life size, robed in the traditional orange.
Another shrine on the site:
The view back down to Chiang Mai and the valley was really beautiful.
A tired dog is a good dog: Ginger slept quietly in a corner for the rest of the day and evening after our little outing! Jamie has a few more trails that he regularly hikes with his dogs and he has offered to share them with us. We are really looking forward to it. Many people have asked me about the heat here and I, in turn, asked Jamie if this, April, truly is the hottest month. Will July and August be cooler? He said that yes it is; the rainy season will start soon and it will be cooler for the rest of the summer. I was so happy to hear that because if this is the worst it gets, then this is great! Now, don't get me wrong, it gets to 37C often (104F), but it is that all so important dry heat. It is nothing like a humid Shanghai summer, or Kuala Lumpur, or Singapore. In my opinion, truly hot is when you want to change your clothes by noon because they are drenched with sweat, but all you've done is gotten in and out of the car a few times, doing errands. Often I don't even have the air conditioning on in the house all day. It's even better than I expected.
So many good things to find in The Land of Smiles. Go ahead, make your reservations to visit us because it's not too hot. And bring your hiking boots when you come and we will share these wonderful trails with you as well! Hugs to you all~
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