Wat Phra Singh Chiang Mai

Hello All,
After two quick introductions of Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, we set off on a jetplane to Thailand. Specifically, northern Thailand in the city of Chiang Mai (In thai means New City). Our first stop in Thailand is particularly important because it is one of the main reasons why Kristen wanted to visit Southeast Asia. This would be my …

Today we explored Chiang Mai. We wandered around Wat (temple) and monk spotting, though the game got a little boring as there are hundreds of both around. The main Wat is Wat Phra Singh which is highly decorated with gold and ornate embellishments covering ever inch. Chiang Mai is generally relaxed and a breath of fresh air after the manic life in …

We arrived in Chiang Mai a night before planned since we had taken the bus and not the train. With no hotel plans we took a tuk tuk to one of the guest houses recommended by the Lonely Planet book. (worthless by the way) Nataly wasn't a big fan of the area and there wasn't anybody around when I went to ask if they had a room, so we went …

My 8th country in 5 months (and I'm including Tibet as a seperate country to China) and it has flown by! I'm finally on the home leg of the trip, AND MY DAD'S HERE!! I'm seeing Asia through a new arrivals eyes again. I'm so used to orange monks, massive temples, dogs on motorbikes and cheap food that I've started taking it all for granted, so it's …

Flew up to Chiang Mai on Friday morning having discovered much to my dismay that other people actually wanted to get there an all the overnight trains were booked out. Also discovered that my suitcase was 30kg while Lisa's was now conveniently 25kg. Suspicious to say the least.

Stayed at the Yindee Stylish Guesthouse - just a little step …

Pronto! (That's hello in Italian, I'm learning so many languages!) This weekend was Irma's last weekend in Thailand :( She is leaving on Thursday to go back to Italy, so we decided to head to Chiang Mai for the weekend. Anne and Glenn were nice enough to give us Friday and Monday off from volunteering so we could do more. Turns out Anne and …

Chiang Mai is more what we didn't do than what we did do!!!! So to summarize we went on an overnight train, trekking, elephant riding, white water rafting, attended a cookery school, visited local markets, local wats (temples) and many a street vendor (which resulted in the first case of Bangkok belly x 2).

So the slow train was an event …

Heute hatten wir endlich genug Zeit um auszuschlafen. Nach einem weiteren Ham and Egg Fruehstueck machten wir es uns im Zimmer gemuetlich um die Reisefuehrer bzw den Stadtplan zu durchkaemmen. Wir checkten unsere Emails und lasen die Kommentare zu unserem Blog.
Wir spazierten durch die Stadt um den Wat Phra Singh zu besuchen. Es war ein …

Zaterdag 21 Januari kwam ik aan in Chiang Mai tegen einde van de middag. Na een lange tuk tuk tocht kwam ik dan toch eindelijk aan bij de wijk waar mijn hostel lag. Het blijkt dat het hostel in een wijk ligt met allerlei rijke lui en dat kon je ook wel zien aan de grootte van de huizen.



Toen ik aankwam viel me al gelijk op hoe …

Sorry for keeping quiet last week or so, I just haven't had the time to write anything on here! As I write this I am in Laos so I have a lot to update you on!

After Ayuttaya, I caught an overnight train to Chiang Mai (which was surprisingly good!) I managed to get around 8 hours sleep and arrived feeling quite fresh, and also a nice …

... day to kill before the night train to Bangkok. We started out by heading to a Wat, Wat number 1 as it turned out to be, Wat Phra Singh. This took all of 10 minutes and it was still only midday so we decided to go daring, hire a moped again and head to ...

... are usually quite pretty and you can wander around and not spend any money.  So we decided to head over to Chiang Mai U. The university is about 3 kms from the city center, so we caught a tuk-tuk.  He dropped us off right in the ...

... one moment and praying at one of the city's hundreds of Buddhist wats the next.  Those same shoppers were at Wat Phra Singh with me yesterday, still holding their bags of bargains, praying and giving offerings of incense and flowers to Buddha.  ...

... much more decorated.  This is where the Emerald Buddha (now residing in BKK) used to live. Travis wanted to go to Wat Phra Singh, but it was being outfitted for Songkran, so we eventually decided to go to Wat Suan Dok and have ourselves a monk ...

Chiang Mai, Thailand - The train ride to Chiang Mai was pretty brutal! The chairs were at odd angles, the air con carriage turned out to be four fans, the train moved very slowly and very little sleep was had. The train was full of travellers and we were ...

... north on a main road and tried to look for somewhere to eat.  We came upon the last Wat we wanted to see, Wat Phra Singh.  There were numerous small temples, all different in design, as well as one large one.  One small temple housed a ...

... upon Chedi Luang, an enormous ruin in the process of being restored to its former, pre Burmese invasion glory. At Wat Phra Singh we sat respectfully while a large number of saffron robed monks chanted brief afternoon prayers. By this time I had ...

... er maar metteen van geprofiteerd en een prijs afgesproken voor heel de namiddag privé-transport. Daarna heeft hij mij naar de Wat Phra Singh gebracht, geen probleem, maar daarna wou ik nog naar de Foreighn Cemetry. Er stond in mijn boek dat het een ...

... , many of them have had failed attempts at restoration.   We were able to visit Lam Chang, Wat Chiang Man, Chang Puak Gate, Wat Pa Pong, Wat Phra Singh, Wat Pan Tao, Wat Chedi Luang just before dark before settling in for a beer at “The ...

... Martin at the internet cafe - 3 hours and he hasn't moved an inch.  Huh. I continued on to Wat Phra Singh, which is Chiang Mai's most visited Buddhis temple.  Impressive, though I have to admit that I was more captivated by the mating dance ...