Chiang Mai: Sunday Night Market

As it was still early, there wasn't any of a crowd yet...

This market is like the market in Chiang Mai, an institution in Chiang Mai. It is held every Sunday, from 4pm to midnight.



Just outside Thapae Gate

This walking street market starts at Thapae Gate and runs along the length of Ratchadamnoen Road. It street is closed to traffic for easier shopping needs.

I read that most of the things on sale at this market are mostly personally made by the stallowner themselves. I didn't buy much, just a keychain and an earring as souvenir... and of course, food!
I didn't take a lot of photo as most stallholder had a sign requesting for no photograph to be taken.

No.. these did not form part of my dinner

 My dinner menu of the day was pad thai, with an egg.

The lady is stir frying my order of Pad Thai

Main meal - Pad Thai, 25 Baht

When there's main meal, of course there's dessert and somehow dessert cost more than the main meal. Haha.

The lady putting up together the yummylicious dessert

Sticky rice mango 35 Baht

 Also the magic cold drinks that makes air all around cooler. :P

Dragon Fruit Shake, 20 baht

As I strolled about, suddenly a song was aired through some PA system somewhere and everyone stood still. I took a glance at my watch - 6 pm. I think it was Thailand's national song. I had a same encouter in the past when I was in Bangkok, at one of the BTS station.



Side note: 7 days to Christmas...

Chiang Mai: Temples outside Moat Area

Ha. You don't think I've done with those temples, do you? Anyway, not that many more to go. At least the ones I went.

Wat Ou Sai Com วัดอู่ทรายคำ เมืองเชียงใหม่

I came to this wat on my walk to Warorot Market and thought, why not?

Wat Ou Sai Com is the home to the Jade Buddha. According to it's own website, the Abbot of Wat Ou Sai Com and leader of this project, found a very large Jade boulder was found in Myanmar. This boulder was then carved into a finished Buddha statue by a professional hand carver. This carved Jade Buddha statue is the largest Myanmar Jadeite in Thailand.

I remember humming a very old song of Grasshopper 草蜢 when I visit this temple after hearing the music box version of the song in one of the wat. Can't remember which temple or which song but pretty sure that song is originally a Thai song :)

This drawing on the wall, reminded me of a similar one in a temple in Alor Setar.

Bosang Temple

I know Bosang is famous for its umbrella and I didn't make the trip on purpose to see the temple there. Truth to be told, I was disappointed with what Bosang offered, I walked the whole stretch of road and even popped in to the temple, to make most of the trip.

Wat Umong

Wat Umong deserves a post by it's own but I figured 3 temple posts on a 3 and 1/2 days trip is probably a more than enough :P

Wat Umong (complete name: Wat Umong Suan Puthatham) is a 700 year old Buddhist temple in Chiang Mai. Wat Umong means "Monastery with tunnels". It needs a little travel to get there as it is located outside the city center off Cherng Doi Road.

I was silly, as I initially thought the temple  was closed by 4pm which is not the case. I saw on a website stating its phone number and call only from 8.30 am to 4 pm and mistook that the temple closes at that time. It probably doesn't even have an exact closing time as Wat Umong complex consists of 37.5 rai (15 acres) of wooded grounds.

Due to my misunderstanding of the closing hour, I almost miss going to this temple. I took a risk and went before going to the airport. Lady luck was smiling down at me, I was lucky to be able to flagged down, haggled and got on a songthaew which took me to Wat Umong, waiting for me for 30 mins and then sent me to the airport. I paid 180 baht. I asked the reception upon checking out the approximate fare to get to Wat Umong and he told me 120 baht, I don't think this include waiting time, and I can't remember 120 baht is one way or return fare. Logically, it would be for return fare. I paid 180 baht, in considering of waiting time, and the travel onward to airport.

If I had the luxury of time, I would prefer to spend more time but didn't want to miss my flight at 9.10 am. I can't be too early either as it would be too dark and I need to check out before leaving. Good thing was that I have already checked in my flight. Grin.

Of all the temples I've been in Chiang Mai, hands down, this temple has got to be my favourite of all.
It feels serene, peaceful and definitely different from the rest.

Side note: Hope this round of zz can sleep off the throbbing headache ^_^

Chiang Mai: The many temples after the first

Chiang Mai is also known as the rose of the North. I'm surprise it's not called the temple city or something given the number of temples in the moat itself.

Anyway, here goes... (in no particular order)

Wat Duang Dee

This Wat was fairly near where I had my lunch. I happened to saw a sign and thought, why not? It wasn't listed in the free map. The temple's compounded was shaded by some longan trees. It is said that Wat Duang Dee means The Good Luck Monastery.

Wat Phantao

As you walked along Phapokklao Road, the direction from 3 Kings Monument towards Chiang Mai Gate, you'll bound to reach this wat. Once part of Wat Chedi Luang, the temple got its name from the "thousand furnaces" that were used to cast the images for the main temple.

I like the waterfall near the temple, it's different from the rest of the temple, also it looks exceptionally cooling in the super hot day.

Wat Chedi Luang วัดเจดีย์หลวง

This is one of the recommended templet to visit. According to wikipedia, it means temple of the big stupa. It is obviously the bigger temple compared to the rest, on its ground, lies a ruined temple, dating from the 14th and 15th centuries. A severe earthquake in 1545 toppled part of the spire.

Wat Chedi Lung was once the home to the Emerald Buddha, the holiest religous treasure in Thailand (now kept in Wat Phra Kaew, Bangkok).

This is probably the only wat in Chiang Mai's old town that has both ruins and a temple building. I said probably as I have not been to all wat in the moat area.

I overheard a chinese tour guide saying that trees that have the cloth wrapped around them are not to be cut down.

Wat Phra Singh วัดพระสิงห์วรมหาวิหาร

This is the second wat that is recommended for visit in the moat area. It is built in the 14th century by King Pha Yu to enshrine the remains of his father, King Kham Fu. It appears that this wat may have been the first monastery to house the cultural treasure, Emerald Buddha.

Wat Phra Sing currently houses Phra Chao Thong Tip, the most venerated Buddha statue in northern Thailand. Cast in 1477, it is made of an alloy of gold and copper.

Wat Chiang Mun วัดเชียงมั่น

Wat Chiang Mun was the first royal temple built in the vicinity of Chiang Mai's ancient city, during 1296-1297 A.D by Phya Mungrai.

There are several valuable historical artifacts stored in this temple. The most significant being the white quartz Buddha image of "Phra Setangkamanee" or "Phra Kaew Khao" in Lanna style.

The other being a stone inscription written in 1581 A.D. which records histories of at Chiang Mun and the city of Chiang Mai.

Wat Khuan Ka Ma

I initially thought this wat is Wat Raiamontean (the next wat) due to close proximity to each other. I was walking back to hostel, just trying to use another road that the one I usually taken. This is along Maninopharat Road, where Chang Puak Gate is.

There isn't much information of this wat on google though but there's one of two site that mentioned of it. Of course, this is not as big as Wat Phra Singh or Wat Chedi Luang but I thought horse statues outside of the wat makes it different from the rest.

Wat Raiamontean

Just right next to Wat Khuan Ka Ma, looked up and you'll see a big Buddha statue, even if you don't step inside the wat compound. Like it's neighbour, Wat Khuan Ka Ma, there's isn't much info on this wat as well. Maybe because it is fair new, you can tell from the building that it is a "newbie" compared to the rest of the wat.

Don't you worry, these wat are only the tip on the iceberg, there are still many more wats to keep you occupy if you are a big temple fan. Grin.


Side note: Yay for Fridays! ^_^

Chiang Mai: The first of many temples

 

I woke up to a good weather day in my first morning in Chiang Mai. I was rather worry that it would rain through the whole 4 days I was there given the unfortunate event in Hamilton Island. I was glad that it was an unfounded worry. The weather was great, despite a little too scorching hot.

 

 

I helped myself to the complimentary toast and a cup of coffee for breakkie. I was later joined by a German traveller who "communicated" to me in sign language in locating the toaster, as well as the spreader knife which was either non existence, or neither of us could find it. He was going on a hike tour that day, while I had a temple visiting day planned.

 

There are a lot of temples in Chiang Mai. So many of them that you'll arrive to one even if you don't plan to. In fact, you will arrived at one at every street you turn into. However, the one temple that most people go to is Doi Suthep.

 

Wat Phra That / Doi Suthep, วัดพระธาตุดอยสุเทพ

 

 

Truth to be told, I am not thrill about haggling for transportation.. cos I am terrible at it. I usually try to find out the approximate price, just so I know I'm not being fleeced or asking for too low a price. I don't remember where I saw but if I just made up the figure but there were some who commented it was 30 THB one way and you'll need to find other means of transport for your way done. There was also comment that they paid 200 THB including waiting time of an hour. Those were about a couple of years back as well.

 

Anyway, I paid 100 THB for a return trip to Doi Suthep via a songthaew. The fare included a 90 minutes waiting time for us to walk around. There were six of us in the songthaew. I am pretty sure the rest of the passengers who spoke in Thai was charged lesser, as the driver seem to give them some change, though I can't say for sure how much they paid the driver.

 

It was probably not the smartest thing to do but I handed over 100 THB for a return trip, despite there was no way I could confirmed that the songthaew will still be there for the second leg. A Caucasian couple got on the songthaew but refused to pay the 100 THB, insisting that they would only pay the remaining 50 THB on the way back but was scolded by the driver, ended up with the driver asking them to get off the songthaew. On hindsight, it was a smart move by them of not paying the return fare just yet. There wasn't much I could do as I had already parted with the 100 THB, and I guessed I was betting on a little more faith. ;)

 

I read that one could get a songthaew to Doi Suthep from the small market area at the corner of Manneenopparat and Chotana Roads, just outside the Changpuak Gate (outside main gate of CM Uni to Doi Suthep). I tried to flag down a couple of songthaew as I walked towards Changpuak Gate from hostel. Those songthaew quote me a price of 500THB, to which I have politely declined and they went on their way. This songthaew which I took was parked in front of the market area, as said above.



View from songthaew

Doi Suthep is the said must see temple in Chiang Mai. In actual, the temple is called Wat Phra That, but it is simply referred as Doi Suthep by most people due to it's location near the top of Doi Suthep (Mount Suthep). One can take a tuk tuk or songthaew up the winding road  to Doi Suthep is about 15km.

 

Built as a Buddhist monastery in 1383, it is still a working monastery today. The songthaew driver dropped us off at the entrance of Doi Suthep, the staircase entrance. Actually, I did not realise the lift up to the temple till after I walked around the temple.

 

 

There are many food and souvenirs stalls at the bottom of the temple. The couple who rides in the same songthaew as me bought and enjoyed some deep fried chicken while waiting for the driver, smelled so good that I was tempted to try some.



 

 

A carved mythical Naga Serpent Staircase can be found at the start of the stairs. I could never get a picture of the serpent without anyone standing in front of it, so I ended up just taking the side view of it.

 

 

There is an entrance fee of 30 THB for foreigners, but nobody seems to check the tickets though.

 

I suspect the other reason to the fame of this temple was it's location on top of a mountain. It also doubles as a lookout point to Chiang Mai city. Hazy view for me though. Grin.

 

An hour and fifteen minutes later, the driver sent us back downhill to Chang Puak Gate. A Thai traveller hopped off and I followed suit.

 

Chang Puak Gate

I continued on my temple day itinerary and to tick off Khao Sui off my 'to eat' list. From Chang Puak Gate, I walked towards Phapokklao Road and reached the 3 Kings Monument.

 

 

I coincidentally met the Thai traveller who shared the songthaew earlier with me. This moat area can't be that big eh. I also got lucky with my Khao Sui :)

 

Heaps of condiments, no such luxury in Australia...

That, was my pork Khao Sui lunch (35 THB), with iced black coffee (20 THB).


Side note: Best way to finish up Greek yoghurt? Pear and banana smoothie ^_^