It was supposed to be an early breakfast, but Pennie and Wiki slept in, so we got started a tad later. I did some reading while I waited. Had some breakfast next to the guesthouse, then went to explore the city some more.
I had checked out a couple of the local wats the day before, and we headed back to what I thought was the best one. It’s got two rooms with monks encased in glass. One looked pretty real, the other not so much, but I was still fairly sure they were real. There was a a “Monk Chat” where you can sit and chat with a monk and ask any questions you want, so I asked if they were real, and it turns out their wax. A shame. Apparently one of the guys whose image is in use is still alive in the jungles of Thailand somewhere – so he’s probably happy it’s just wax.
We looked into some treks for the following day so, after waiting for Pennie and Wiki to get some of their Vietnam Tour details sorted, we booked the trip. It’s a private company so it should be good, we hope. Wiki says she’s pretty sure it’s the company she had recommended. It’s two days, so we get to sleep in a hill tribe village tomorrow night.
We hired a songthaew to take us to a few wats that were a little outside of town. Doi Suthep was the furthest, and sat atop a mountain in the National Park. Visibility was poor, so we couldn’t see much of Chiang Mai, but it is definitely bigger than it feels. It started to rain for the last two wats, so we ran about pretty quickly. The final wat was all white, which was pretty nice.
Thankfully the rain didn’t last long, and we were able to head to the night market. I made it through without buying anything other than a strawberry shake, which I thought was pretty good.
