January 9, 2016

A Walk to the Wat Palad Trailhead

I have slipped into a pattern of sorts. Every other day, I make a long walk, around the wall, out to Wat Suan Dok, over to Wat Kate Karam, etc. And basically every day I am doing yoga with a variety of teachers at Wild Rose Yoga. All have something to offer, and they are all interesting in their approach. And in the afternoon, I do some work, and try to catch up on this blog. Catching up on the blog is the most difficult, because I have too much to say about what I did and what I saw, so my challenge is keeping the posts short.

So, today, Saturday seemed a good day to walk to Wat Fai Hin, and then find the trailhead for the hiking trail through the jungle/forest to Wat Palad. On Google Maps, those two appear to be on different roads, but my memory is that they are on the same road. I am going to walk all the way to Wat Palad, but I’m resisting the urge to do too much too soon, and ease into these longer walks.

Wat Fai Hin is out past Chiang Mai University, and I will pass Wat Suan Dok again, one of my favorite temples. I know I have taken dozens of pictures of Wat Suan Dok in the past, and I’ll be taking more – it is interesting, artistic, and beautiful, and I will take more pictures.

On the walk out to the western side of the wall, I passed a very interesting vine-like plant, all purple in the bright sun. I do not know what it is, but it is quite striking.

I continued walking, and finally made it to Wat Suan Dok, about 1.5 km (a mile) or more from the 3-Sis guest house, my home in Chiang Mai.

Reconstructed Viharn at Wat Suan Dok

At the back area of Wat Suan Dok was a smaller viharn. Last year, it was completely under

reconstruction. This year, it is finished, and brightly painted. It almost looks too new.

I looked in, but did not go in. One must remove their shoes to enter a viharn (worship hall). since I am wearing my hiking boots, it is a little more trouble to untie and unlace, and then re-lace and re-tie after leaving the viharn.

On the side entrances are these thewada (basically like angels in western religions). Depending on the artist, the thewada, which have no gender, will look very female or very male. On the front side entrance doors are these very male looking thewada, guarding the doors, almost looking intimidating with their swords or clubs (or whatever they are holding).

And on the back side doors, these thewada look more neutral or even a little female. These look much more peaceful and not ferocious at all. Same viharn, probably the same artist group, but a very different depiction. I am sure there is a reason, or a story, or an explanation. No time to research that now, I’m off to Wat Fai Hin and the search for the Wat Palad hiking trail trailhead.

On the way out of the Wat Suan Dok campus, one more shot of the large gold chedi. It never disappoints — tall and reverent.

Following the road past Chiang Mai University and continuing on, I stopped at what looked like a group of students, pointed up the road to a right turn and said, “Wat Fai Hin?” They all said yes, and one said about 1 kilometer and uphill. I knew it was uphill, and it is fairly steep, and soon I made it to Wat Fai Hin. I remembered the road. It is a small road, but paved. Almost no traffic, cars, trucks, or motorbikes.

I continued up the hill, and voila! the trailhead appeared, just as I remembered.

I resisted the temptation to go on up the trail to Wat Palad and headed back towards Chiang Mai and the 3-Sis.

When I got back, my fitbit said over 16,000 steps, quite a walk. The good news is that my feet are fine with the good wool socks I got, and the hiking boots are working well. No blisters, no other pains of problems. This is good.

Dinner at Street Pizza

After getting cleaned up, checking e-mail, and resting a bit, I headed out to return to Street Pizza for dinner. I was remembering the watermelon smoothie from my last visit, and another pizza. So off I went down Tha Phae road towards the Mae Ping River to Street Pizza.

And I ordered the same thing as I had before, watermelon smoothie, a balsamic salad, and a hawaiian-style pizza.

The salad and the watermelon smoothie.

And the pizza.

I was hungry. I could not wait to take a picture and took a bite first. The pizza is awesome!

The complete name of Street Pizza is Street Pizza and Wine Bar. So this chandelier is very appropriate, made of about 80-90 clear wine bottles. It looks better in person than in this picture. It is made right here in Chiang Mai. I asked the waitress if she knew how many bottles, she did not, but said I could count them if I wanted. Maybe next time. It has been a long walking day, and I am a little tired.

Next: Returning through the forest to Wat Palad