Exploring the Northwest Territory: Part 4 (The Thrilling Conclusion)

Our last day in Chiang Mai was far and away my favorite. We immediately got off to a good start by mobilizing a half and hour later than recent days. This didn’t really affect my routine at all, it just meant that Joey and I went from being late to on time. Our previous tardiness had nothing to do with an inability to get up, but the impossible task of tearing ourselves away from the buffet.

With the Ring of Power long since destroyed, we turned to a little Pixar for our automotive entertainment needs. However, Ratatouille may not have been the best choice for the day, since we were headed up the nearby mountain. I’ve always enjoyed a good set of switchbacks, especially when not on foot, but the motion of the van mixed with Remy’s wild run through Gusteau’s kitchen induced nausea in everyone else by me.

Finally, after a wild ride up the road that probably could’ve used a few more guard rails, we arrived at Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, which is nestled right into the side of the mountain itself. After two months running around this country, I’ve seen enough temples to have them coming out my bot. This one, the last we’ll visit in Thailand, blew them all away, though the epic staircase leading to the main complex itself blew our lungs away first.

The contents of this place were notable well beyond the standard array of wat décor, like the large central Buddha image and towering chedi (this one was especially shiny). For example, the enormous nipple gong (oh, don’t worry, this entry is about to get way more immature in a few paragraphs) which made a sound that literally shakes you to the core. Even more impressive than that though, was the cloudscape that surrounded the entire back half of the complex.

I believe that, in order for any travel experience to be truly considered an “adventure”, one needs to experience that singular moment that compels you to stop and, essentially involuntarily, utter the word, “whoa”. For me, Doi Suthep has now joined the ranks of the flight of the flying foxes along the Ord River, the Italian world cup celebration/riot, and my first steps onto the Giza Plateau as one of these moments. Since it had rained the night before, the cloud cover was still very low and the sky was a thick overcast. Watching all of this stretching off into the distance, I got a clear sense of why they built a religious monument here.

After staring off into space for a solid 20 minutes, we headed back down the long staircase and made our way to our next destination. Before I get into this one, I should point out that I had no idea that we were going to this place until a few hours beforehand, and that all previous blog entries were written without that knowledge. With that said, as you can probably imagine, pulling into the parking lot at the Winter Palace of Phu Ping was like Christmas in July.

I told you it was going to get more immature.

This place had some awesome signs. I think my personal favorite was the Phu Ping Police Dept., but the possibilities are endless. Once we got into the complex though, the place was as classy as one might expect for the king’s winter place. There were thousands of immaculately landscaped flower patches, including one surrounding the His Majesty’s royal satellite dish, as well as one of those dancing fountains that’s tuned to a soundtrack. Thankfully, when we did encounter hilarious signage, we were able to control ourselves.

That night, we had dinner on our own, so Joey and I promptly returned to the Red Lion before one final sweep of the night bazaar for any last minute purchases. We had to get up absurdly early the next morning (5:30?!?) to get on the road. A little atlas searching reveals that the distance from Chiang Mai to Bangkok is about the same as Boston to Rochester. However, we had to stop along the way for a tour of the coal power station at Mae Mhor. I’m fairly sure the only reason we went was because the program is sponsored by the National Science Foundation, and as such they require at least three “science-related” excursions. Around 6 hours later (it took 2 to get to the plant), we rolled back into the KMUTT parking lot, piled in the elevator, and crashed. All in all, a very successful “holiday”.