Chaing Mai

This is our third night here so time for an update. Our flight was uneventful, although flying an airline called Nok Air in a plane that appears to be in the livery of Angry Birds is a little unnerving. Geordie climbs aboard our plane in Mae Sot. 

But we were sent off in style by a lovely group of school children. 

I didn't take a single picture since that one until today when we took a car to the very famous Wat Doi Suthep which is on top of a mountain 16 km out of town. Our driver told us some of the history of the Wat - and at least was in agreement with our guide book that it was a white elephant who decided the location by dying on the very spot where the now stands. Doi Suthep means Suthep Mountain and was named after the monk who founded the monastery here. 

This is the chedi - it certainly gleams in the sunlight. 

Geordie thought we should start a collection of these for our balcony garden. 

There are bells hanging everywhere and many people clang them. 

Geordie's is mich bigger. 

Here's a new chedi being built for those curious to see how it's done these days. No laterite brick here. 

This is just a tiny section of a very large carved panel in a small temple building. 

This incredible nine headed Naga is made with leaves!

I love the exuberance of the decorations. 

Geordie did a little shopping and picked up two knotted bracelets. His is the purple, mine the orange. 

This is a replica of the famous Jade Buddha in Bangkok. But according to our guide book this one was carved to be 0.1 cm shorter. And was carved by a Canadian. 

Gold leaf is rubbed onto many of the Buddha images. 

People make their devotions in many areas of the complex.  I entered a hall where a monk was blessing the people with water, after which he tied a white string around their wrists. Marje and Geordie were so honoured on their last visit while I languished in a hospital after an operation. I got my white string today. 

We left our shoes outside before entering the temple grounds. When we got back they had been very nicely tidied. Ours are the red and the white pairs next to the purple ones on the left.

This man was one of several doing touch up work on the buildings. Bamboo scaffolding. 

And this one. 

We took the funicular up - but did walk down the 365 steps back to find Kan (say Chon ), our driver. Geordie posed with the Naga at the bottom of the staircase. 

It was a very nice car - an Izusu. Note the driver side is on the right. Thais drive on the left, just like the English.

A gorgeous lush hillside from atop the mountain. 

A budding lotus to end my story. They are a very common symbol in Buddhism. I read that part of the reason is that the beautiful flowers grow even from the lowliest muddy water.