My husband and I had a free day away from the group, so rather than book an optional day trip or cooking class, we decided to wander around Chiang Mai. It is possible to walk in any direction and find countless Buddhist temples. Temples are open to the public and are free of charge. We decided to combine a temple tour with an eating tour, alternating a walk through a temple with a snack or drink. Very yummy, I highly recommend this method of sightseeing.
We did this for a while until we reached the wall and moat around the old city of Chiang Mai. The brick wall consists of original intact sections, restored sections, and piles of debris where the wall used to be. The moat sections have been improved with fountains and other decorations. After following the perimeter for a bit, we turned into another neighborhood. We didn’t know where we were, but there were no tourists there at all, which was refreshing. Eventually we strolled into a food market. Being in a non-tourist area, I was forced to practice speaking some Thai. Somehow everyone managed to communicate, and we ate grandly (although we did skip the pig snouts, ears, and feet).
At this point we determined that we were lost. But we decided to stay that way for a while and see what else we could discover. We found some great Buddhist temples that were like none of the others we had seen. So far all of the temples we had seen glittered with gold and sparkled with color. They were shining jewels that stood out from the cement and traffic. Here we found two temples that were abandoned. One of them had a plaque that said it was abandoned at the end of World War II. There were huge cement pagodas with no adornments but a few offerings left by passing folks. Someone had put a small Buddha statue on one of the cement ledges. There were plants growing out of the cracks in the concrete. It was a stark contrast to what we had seen before – they looked lonely and spooky. One of the cement pogodas had a small building next to it with a Buddha statue that seemed newer or restored. Beyond that, there were no buildings, no monks in saffron robes, nothing. I found it fascinating.
Finally we decided we had to find our way home. This actually ended up being quite easy. With my few words of Thai, I was able to ask for help and get us pointed in the right direction. Everyone was very helpful and full of smiles. They especially appreciated my attempts (poor attempts, I should say) to speak their language. They were very encouraging. Eventually landmarks looked more familiar and we got back on to my limited map and made it back to the guesthouse. It ended up being a fun and adventurous day. I definitely recommend getting lost!