Chiang Mai - Wat Chedi Luang, Wat Doi Suthep, and Hmong hill tribe

I started my day by heading to the Warorat Market which is a short walk from our hotel.

Sights along the way:

Inexplicable poodles in headbands and dresses. There was also a matching poodle on the sidewalk. 

Warorat is a huge market with flowers, produce, and basically anything else you might need. No tourists here. 

I then stopped by Wat Phan On, a smallish wat in the old city built in 1501 in the Lanna style. 

Buddha all to myself

I then headed to Chedi Luang, one of the more visited wats in the Old City. On my way, I found Wat Phan Tao. A very small, but interesting teak wood wat likely built towards the end of the 14^th century. It's one of my favorite wats of the trip. 

Monk clothes drying:

Note the still shrink wrapped gift basket offering behind Buddha. 

Roof covered in thousands of leaves:

Right next door is Chedi Luang. Construction also started in the 14th century, although it was reconstructed in the 1990s. It was originally three wats and it's quite large. 

Huge tree next to the wat

Crumbling brick similar to the Old City wall:

Smaller reclining Buddha:

Fat Buddha:

 

Temple dogs here have sweaters. 

  

Several different depictions along one wall, here's three:

A school group was visiting so lots of children's shoes on the shoe shelves. 

Children praying with a monk leading:

I then took a guided tour to a hill tribe (Hmong) village and Wat Doi Suthep. The village tour was actually just a market tour with a dusty thatched roof museum. I did shoot these arrows though and hit each fruit on my first try. 

The market consists of several steepish tunnels on the hill side. 

The tribes used to grow poppies for opium until the government banned it in the 70s because it was destructive to the forests. 

The tribes also grow coffee. 

 

Giant bamboo and pointsettias:

 

We stopped for real coffee on the way to Doi Suthep (instant coffee is popular in Thailand but real coffee seems easily found in Chiang Mai). Here's the view from the coffee shop:

Doi Suthep is the top Chiang Mai destination. It photographs really well and sits atop a very steep hill with a view of the city. The city itself is about an hour away from the mountain. I did like it, but felt like it might be oversold a little bit by Lonely Planet. 

We took a funicular up the hill, avoiding the 300+ steps. 

Orchids on the Sala tree:

Elephant symbols are popular. 

Jackfruit tree:

Monks are very tech savvy. One temple had a giant QR code plaque on the outside. 

Closeup of the wood pillars in the previous photo:

There is a Buddha for every day of the week. The day of the week you were born correlates to a specific Buddha and personality characteristics. 

Tomorrow - elephant sanctuary!