Part 33: Wat Phra Doi Suthep.
I was still in a haze from my personal encounter with the tigers - the thought of what I just did, still hadn't quite sunk in yet.
Still it was nice to have the company, just walking around the sanctuary sharing my moment with the Swiss guy, who appeared to be equally blown away by his experience.
The grounds in which the sanctuary lay were beautiful and equally fitting of such an amazing place.
There were adorably cute cubs playing in a lovely enclosure, and also 2 absolutely huge lions in a separate area looking proud and majestic. No one was allowed in with them, which kind of seemed appropriate as they are royalty after all - that and they are more unpredictable, and harder to tame apparently.
One just looked at me, before immediately turning his massive head sharply in the other direction, in an almost arrogant snub, just dissin me - which made me chuckle and feel rather insignificant.
There was a large sign instructing people to keep their hands well back from the enclosure for obvious reasons, so any photography would have to be from a distance, although I managed a few good shots luckily.
You could easily spend a whole day here amongst the trees, chilling in the picnic area watching peoples reaction to meeting the tigers - not everyone went in.
When we met up with the Aussie couple, we walked back to the 4x4 at our leisure - unlike a tour where you are rushed, before making our way to the next destination of my mystery trip, ‪The Wat Phra Doi Suthep.
This was one of Thaliands most holy temples, and built in 1383, one of the oldest in the country.
Perfectly located at the top of Mount Suthep over looking the whole of Chiang Mai, on a slow and winding 15km trip upwards.
the road here was only built 60 years ago, and until then for hundreds of years it was only reachable on foot. The locals say you haven't seen Chiang Mai until you've seen it from the mountain top - I believed them and couldn't wait to see it.
Again we all conversed pleasantly in the 4x4 en route taking in the area and wonderful mountains all around us. We were all getting on famously, especially on discovering the Aussie guy was a fellow geek like me - his girlfriend rolled her eyes and told us to get a room when we were talking about my Silver Surfer tattoo and Starwars, a man close to my heart.
Anyway on arrival at Doi Suthep we parked up, discovering the temple complex was still further up the mountain, starting with climbing 309 steps of the intricately carved mythical Naga Serpent Staircase to reach the pagodas. Once more I was beginning to marvel at the splendor of our surroundings here - it was just gorgeous.
We decided on taking the cable car up to the monastery then walk down the steps after - not a bad shout in the scorching heat.
On reaching the top we were greeted with the sight of the golden spire which decorated the centre of the mountain top temple, and with not a single cloud in the sky making it even more of a spectacular sight.
The walls around the spire are richly decorated with historical murals and holy shrines. Everywhere you looked were statues, monuments, marble alters, hanging lanterns, and gold.
I had seen a few temples on my travels, but simply never tire of the magnificently detailed architecture - especially this one.
There was a wide walkway around the main temple which led us to a large viewing terrace with a simply amazing view looking down over Chiang Mai.
My goodness the locals were not exaggerating one bit!
How many more times was I going to be completely spoiled and blown away by these views - just wow!!
The day was splendidly clear to further enhance the vista, taking so many pictures, I swear it would cause Instagram to melt down later!
I walked around on my own for a while watching the monks - there is just something so peacefully serene about observing them kneeling and preying in their own environment.
It was nice to have a quiet moment all to myself, mentally absorbing everything around me, taking down notes, writing down how I feel, what emotions were being evoked, memorizing the views and small details as best I could for my blog later.
It was so easy to do all those things here on the mountain top amongst the surroundings. Even sparing a brief moment to quietly prey for my loved ones back home.
Walking barefoot on the scorching hot tiles was a bit of a challenge too.
So before my feet got singed, I headed off back to the entrance to meet the others who were already waiting for me. Seems like me and my little moment all to myself took a lot longer than I thought. Oh well - no one seemed to mind.
We walked down the legendary mythical steps back down to the village and couldn't miss the four-headed naga guarding each side of the stairway, running from top to bottom. The naga in Buddhism is depicted as a snake or a serpent like creature and a guardian which keeps away bad spirits in Hindu and Buddhist mythology, protecting the temple.
There were the typical souvenir stalls back towards the car park which were pleasant enough and plenty of refreshment stalls too. I couldn't resist trying some of the fresh coconut juice which was delicious. Even if I spilt most of it down my chin trying to drink it straight from the hard furry shell.
taking our time wandering around until we decided to head back was perfectly fine with the driver, who was happy to just sit and wait. Eventually cruising back to Dozy house late afternoon.
By now my dorm was ready - well actually it was more of a bed room with 3 bunk beds in it but for measly £3 a night it was fine by me.
Gina's noisy gran kids were running around down stairs which was cool, and not bothering me in the least as it kind of reminded me of back home.
Finally I managed to get a little power nap in.
When I woke my room was full up with people chilling out for the early evening. Each and everyone introduced them selves - its as if they were all waiting for me to wake up to say hi which was really cool. They seemed a great bunch and wasted no time in inviting me out with them for the evening.
From the moment I left Bangkok through to now, today was brilliant and we still had the evening to look forward to yet.
This was backpacking and hostel life at its absolute best.....