Chiang Mai

 

More Wats to see today so decided to change it up by hiking to two of them . So glad we did, it ended up being one of our favourite things so far.

I am not sure what led to it, maybe it was the stars that aligned but the kids were at their best today. They hiked the whole 7km with 600m ascent without grumbling!! The hike was quite challenging and the trail tricky in the second half but was beautiful and shady . The first half is the monk’s trail and it leads to Wat Phra Lat. It originally was used by the monks but now has become so well known to the tourists that they have found a different path instead. The temple is not very ornate but somehow had a more serene vibe to it than the glamorous Wat Doi Suthep which was the second temple . 

Ice cream and drinks before we started on our 300 steps to the summit of the temple . 

On our way down we took the shared tuk tuk ( songthaew - red taxi ). I was sitting next to a Chinese lady who took many pictures with me as I am Indian and her son has recently befriended an Indian boy in the US so she could send it to him ( I guess she hadn’t met other Indian people before ). 

Exhausted legs and with empty stomachs we headed to the Old town for some food and a Thai massage . We all got thai massages at the Blind Massage and came out feeling so much better. Jeevan and I got our massages from blind people while the kids really enjoyed their first massages .

A little more about the Old town - we went to Wat Chedi Luang which was gorgeous in the evening . The golden Buddhas up in the ruins were so impressive and the unexpected dance rehearsals we got to see were an added bonus . The thing I did not like was a temple in there where women were not allowed as they menstruate so are dirty. I have not seen it in any Buddhist temple before and it brought up a good discussion about menstruation and patriarchy .

The day got longer than expected as Aanya wanted a certain outfit that  we had to walk around quite a bit to find, but we got to see the beautiful Western Gate along the way .

Overall one of our best days , everyone went to bed very happy .