Temple, Temple, and Temple

From our D2 Hotel we took a tuk-tuk to the old city of Chiang Mai. The first stop was Wat Phua Singh, an old temple. Our travel guide at the hotel picked three temples for us and this was the one she recommended to go first.

Ralf told me tuk-tuck was banned in Bangkok and I was really disappointed. From the Amazing Race reality show, I saw the tuk-tuk and always wanted to ride one. I was happy to know that they still had it here in Chiang Mai. We passed the moat and went straight into the temple, it took us 10 minutes and cost 80 bahts. I forgot to negotiate the price before we hopped on and I was worried that we would be terribly over charged. Later I learned that the old man who drove the tuk-tuk did not trick us.

The main temple was covered up for maintenance. The inside was like a Chinese temple with the main Buddha in the middle and two smaller ones accompanying him on each side. We had to remove our shoes to walk inside. Locals came here also and many kneeled down and Kou Dou (touched their heads on the floor while praying). The temple was fairly big. It contained living quarters for the monks and other temples and a pagoda. Each temple was painted with two main colors, red and gold. The Thai temples had triangular pointy roof unlike the Chinese ones. They all had lions and/or dragons in front to safeguard the gods.

After the first temple, we decided to walk around for food. Everywhere we went there were temples. Most of them looked the same. No wonder someone was telling me I may be "templed out" after Chiang Mai.

Mike's gone for a Thai massage now. Tonight we will go for the night bazaar, which is right outside D2. I love bazaar and really look forward to the hagling.