Sunday, January 11, 2015  Hiking down from Wat Palad and the Sunday Market

No rain this morning, but it is colder than normal, and a bit breezy.

Here is the large chedi at Wat Chedi Luang in the very clear, breezy and slight cloudy morning.

After a morning meditation, I went to the Tamarind Village for their breakfast buffet. By Chiang Mai standards, this is expensive, but at less than $20, for very good food in a very nice setting, it is not bad at all. And the coffee is excellent!

We shall see what the day brings, but this is a very good start.

Hiking Up to Wat Palad?

I was still hoping to hear from Steve Epstein about out hiking up to Wat Palad today, possibly with some other people from the Green Papaya Sangha. Steve has not been communicating for more than two days, so I am wondering what is happening. I sent another e-mail, and shortly thereafter, Steve called. He had a bad side-effect from the dentist and the anesthetic, and is still not feeling up to the hike. He wanted to change to Monday, as some other friends of his want to make the hike on Monday as well, so I switched plans around and we are set for Monday.

The story of the relic believed to be of the Buddha and Wat Suan Dok and Wat Phra That Doi Suthep is well-known. A relic (bone) was found, believed to be of the Buddha, and a large chedi was built in an area known as Suan Dok (flower gardens) just to the west of the walled city. The temple became known as Wat Suan Dok. When the chedi was complete and the relic was to be placed inside, it split into two pieces. They enshrined one piece in the chedi, and place the other piece on the back of a white elephant and let it free to wander. Wherever the elephant stopped, a chedi and temple would be built to enshrine the second piece of the relic. The elephant (while being followed by the King and many other people) walked about 15 kilometers or more up the mountain now known as Doi Suthep. The elephant then sat down, trumpteted three times and died. Wat Phra That Doi Suthep was build there, and it is visited by many, many tourists every day, mostly Thai people, as this is a very important temple to the Thai Buddhist people.

Wat Palad was built in the jungle where the elephant stopped briefly, some say he slipped. Palad in Thai is a cliff, and there is something of a cliff by the small river next to the temple. (Maybe the elephant was contemplating how to get up or around the cliff.)

I was told that the trail to hike up to Wat Palad was clear and one could not get lost. But I do not know where it starts, only that is starts near Wat Fai Hin, which I visited a week ago. I do know where the trail ends at Wat Palad, so I decided to get a driver to go to Wat Palad, and then hike down.

Hiking Down from Wat Palad

I always love being at Wat Palad – it is peaceful, and set in the jungle, the jungle noises are heard, birds, insects, the wind in the trees, the small river and small waterfalls nearby. I was at Wat Palad a week ago, so I wandered around a bit, found the trail, and started the hike, following a group of probably high school children in a organized group of some kind. They caught up to a larger group, and were assembled for a talk or something, and let me pass by.

The trail is very clear. The jungle is much like a forest of smaller trees in the U.S., but typically, there are no stands of bamboo in our forests.

Sometimes the trail is steeper, almost like climbing stairs. This is looking back at one of those sections. going down is more treacherous because of the recent rains, so I was quite careful.

In a couple places, old fallen trees made for a slight obstacle. Notice that the path is very clear.

In some spots, the trail is quite rocky. Still a clear trail.

Looking back at the trailhead, both signs in Thai, this area is about 400 meters from Wat Fai Hin, so I knew where I was (as people had told me I would). I hiked down the road, past Wat Fai Hin, and on to Chiang Mai University, where it was east to get a Red Truck for an inexpensive ride back to the old city.

The Sunday Night Market … Every Sunday

It is Sunday, and after a dinner of Thai food at a restaurant called the Ratchedamnoen Kitchen (on Ratchedamnoen Road),

I walked around the market a bit, and then had a foot massage by Nam, my favorite foot massage lady. Nam speaks almost no English. I was explaining that I had rice (khao or ข้าว),  chicken (gai or ไก่), vegetables (phak or ผัก), and the tough one for me to remember was cashew nuts (mamuang himaphan  or เม็ดมะม่วง).

Another good day in Chiang Mai!

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