Yes, as I said before ‘wat’ means ‘temple’ and there is a cool one in the mountain, we can actually see it from our apartment in the night but that’s not enough for us, we need to see it closer, breath it, explore it.

We looked for hike routes, there are plenty available but after our own experience, I decided to create a Strava route (available here), so you guys don’t get lost on the confusing segments and also you can see some cool stuff we found and where not on the traditional routes.

 

Let’s hike

Wake up early, have your stuff ready, specially food, WATER and money just in case you want to eat something at the top, it is a temple but still there are cafeterias and stuff.

So make sure your shoes are laced and get to CMU (Chiang Mai University), we parked the bike there but you can save a kilometer and park it a little above, right after passing the entrance to the Zoo there is a small area where people usually park, you cannot miss this map:

 

Water and respect for the nature are basic things you need to remember, fortunately monks have a good method to remind us that. During your staying in Thailand and I guess some other countries, you will see trees with orange clothes on them, this represents the sacred state of the tree, basically the tree became a monk and has to be respected, meaning: no cutting, no damaging it in any form… at least nobody is supposed to do so but we all know there are people who need an orange reminder.

Right before making it to Wat Pha Dat there is a cool tiny bridge which is completely eco friendly.

 

Wat Pha Dat

I’ve been here not for a long time, I saw already some of the stuff I was expecting to see from Thailand, but yet something was missing… an ancient temple, this is the best! Right in the middle of the trees with a creek, a waterfall, statues, dragon steps, a few sphinxes, a great view, a break dance area, it has everything!

It also has a bench for our first food stop a.k.a. breakfast.

       

Modesty

While walking in a temple please be modest.

As the signs show, avoid wearing sexy clothes, ‘specially but not limited’ to women 🤔

Avoid shorts, sleeveless tops, cleavage, jumping with an unplugged electric guitar just to mention a few examples…

Fortunately, Alex rented for 20 baht a fashion piece of cloth that makes you modest almost automatically.

  

 

Anti-modesty

At the end… we are all humans and nature calls, here some evidence of the joy of life.

 

 

Let’s continue with this beautiful eyes… oh and exploring the temple.

There are plenty of statues of Gautama Buddha, some semi-consumed by the nature temples that give the stone a great green tone, we found three butterflies on the floor posing of us, so there it is our windows wallpaper to the world, also part of the temple seem to be carved in the stone, it looks not recent at all.

             

Low ego

An important message for the false Messiah, also for Narcissus.

 

[I need to find some pics of the monk’s dorms.]

 

Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep

We made it to the main temple, from the back side, through the monk’s dorms, that was unexpected and we saved us like 60 bath, this is also part of the Strava route, you are welcome.

The level of detail on the temple is almost baroque (an equivalent at least), you can keep the flame lit by just pouring oil, but make sure you donate some money for the temple, specially to the day of the week you were born on, yes they have special donating boxes for each day.

Admire and respect the parts of the temple where you need to remove your shoes, hats, caps, be on your knees, do not point people or things with your feet, etc.

Vamos a buscar las esferas del dragon

On our way back we took the steps down, we were supposed to come in this way, but trust us, its cooler from the back side.

So Shen Long wasn’t here at the end (joke for Dragon Ball fans).

Shooting day

On our way back we stopped again at Wat Pha Dat and we saw this beautiful and cute girl modeling, her traditional clothes, kind smile and attitude was perfect for a shooting day, specially in that location. She agreed to quickly model for this picture.

 

What’s next?

Maybe a lot but for now take a deep breath to enjoy the view…