Our guidebook talks at length about the beauty of the Buddhist temples in Chiang Mai. So far, we’ve visited My Son outside of Hoi An and Angkor Wat in Siem Reap, but both of those sites were ruins. We had yet to visit an active temple and decided to make a day of it. We arranged a car through our homestay to pick us up at 5:30AM and drive us to Wat Phra That Doi Suthep. There, he would wait for us to watch the sunrise (no. 3 for this trip) and visit the temple, then he would drive us back to the city. On the way, we ask him to take us to the hidden temple for a pit stop and drop us at Wat Phra Singh on the far side of town. From there we were planning to walk back to see more of the city.

This plan worked perfectly and it was nice to have a private driver for the morning, even though it was expensive. It cost us 1300 baht or $43. That doesn’t sound like a lot, but when you’re paying $20/night for a hotel and $3/meal, it feels pretty steep. The other option was to pick up a songthaew in town with other travelers and tourists. We weren’t sure exactly where it picked up (somewhere near a zoo) or if they started early enough to catch the sunrise. These vehicles are also kind of rickety; they look like little pick up trucks with open air cages in the back with benches, painted fire engine red. Our private car with leather seats was certainly much nicer.

In order to go to the temples, I had to pay careful attention to how I dressed. Like at Angkor Wat, ladies are expected to cover both their shoulders and their knees. This can be tough considering that the weather reaches upwards of 90 degrees with humidity. I packed a lot of yoga pants and t-shirts, but in the slick heat, that outfit is less than ideal. Yoga pants are also apparently a mosquito magnet, they will get ya right through the fabric.

The more common way to dress is flowy cotton pants and dresses with shawls to cover the shoulders if necessary. At the night market, I bought a handmade linen dress with shoulders that falls right below the knee. Perfect for temple walking and very airy for warm weather. While it may be rather stylish for the locals, I felt pretty conservative and old fashion. AJ said I looked like a nurse in the 50s.

The temples are absolutely beautiful. The pagodas and altars are dripping with ornamentation and everything is plated with gold. It’s almost a little cheesy. After the sunrise we walked around the temple, peaked in on some sort of Buddhist chanting, and watched as people lit incense for their ancestors. Here we really wished we hired a guide. There was no information for tourists or non-Buddhists to know what to do or what was happening. It all seemed pretty bazaar to us.

One thing I knew is that monks are to be highly revered. As a woman, I am not allowed to sit near a monk (within 6-12 ft), sit taller than a monk (that’s true for anyone) and especially not touch a monks robes. When a monk walks past you, you are supposed to bow you head lower than his. Knowing this made me feel really intimidated. When the monks would walk by, I made special attention to avoid eye contact and bow my head as low as possible. What’s interesting though, is the monks seemed relatively laid back in most situations. In fact, we saw several of them at the airports, buying candies, wearing backpacks and just going about their day like any other traveler. One thing AJ wanted to do that we didn’t get a chance to see was sit in on a monk chat. It’s a dedicated hour on certain days of the week where you can sit down and ask questions or just talk about life. Maybe if we had, I would feel more at ease.

After Doi Suthep we headed to the hidden temple. We didn’t read anything about this one, the lady at our homestay just suggested we request the stop so we did. Oh my was it beautiful. Tucked away down a little dirt road as we descended the mountain, this temple was less ornate but surrounded by lush jungle. It didn’t have an entrance fee and it felt like we were the only ones there. What a lovely surprise.

Throughout the rest of the day we walk around the city window shopping, dining and indulging in Thai style massages. In a Thai massage, you are provided comfy outfits and a lady will stretch you like a pretzel and literally walk all over you. I loved it, AJ not so much. The highlight of the day was trying the Chiang Mai specialty dish, Khao Soi, which is egg noodles in curry broth with crunchy noodles on top. Truly amazing. Did I mention I love curry?