Doi Suthep Temple

We set off mid morning for Doi Suthep Temple, which is about a 20 minute drive from Chiang Mai. Doi Suthep is the most famous temple in Chiang Mai and it is quite enchanting. There is a real community feel about this place. We were fortunate enough to witness a family ceremony which saw a young male being ordained into Monk-hood. I only wish I had discovered this place earlier in my travels as you are able to freely chat with the monks and they offer daily meditation talks. Never mind, I'm sure there will be a "next time". To reach the temple you can either take cable car from the foot of the hill or climb the 309 steps. We climbed the steps as we had to get in our daily exercise.....actually it wasn't too bad for us, especially after our trekking expedition!! I found a little quiet area where there was a monk sitting and blessing people as they prayed to Budda. I took my place amongst the small group of people and showed my respect to Budda and received a blessing from the monk. I then received a white rope which they tie around your arm for good luck. The temple is such a serene place and I didn't want to leave, but we had too as our time was up and our driver was waiting patiently for us. On returning back to Chiang Mai we freshened up and went for our daily Yoga class which I found really tough going as my muscles were sore from the day before. After that we came back to the guest house and were recommended a place for dinner called the Riverside Bar......so glad we went there as it was really nice. They had a live rock band which was just classic - Thai guys singing western songs in very western accents, the place was certainly rocking!