Our first stop in Thailand was Chian Mai in the northern part of the country.
Once again we were staying at an Anantara Hotel which was very nice. Our guide, Mr. Keng, picked us up after breakfast for our introduction to Chiang Mai. First stop the market.
As usual, there was a lot of food - both cooked and uncooked. In the picture above center, the woman is opening a fruit that wasn't familiar. It is durian which is sometimes called the King of Fruit. I didn't try it. I gather it is an acquired taste. It wasn't only food. And as you can see below there was also a section for flowers.
Our next stop was quite a distance so we took advantage of one of the Chiang Mai trasportation systems - tuk-tuks. Off we went through the steets of the city. Most of the sights were the same as you might see in any city anywhere. That includes the exclusive eating establishments such as Burger King!
Our next destination was the Wat Chedi Luang complex. The complex consists of a number of temples in addition to Wat Chedi. Above right is Granny about to exit her tuk tuk.
The first temple we visited was the Temple of the City Pillar Shrine. It seems to be the custom to wrap the shrine in colored ribbons as the picture on the left shows. The pictures below show both the face of the temple and a couple of views of the inside.
Next was Temple Sukmin. Beautiful both inside and out. Once again we see a Naga guarding the entrance to the temple.
And YES we were there!
Wat Chedi Luang is also known as "The Temple of the Great Stupa". It was built in the late 14th century and was never really finished. It is quite an impressive sight. In the picture, above right, you can barely see the buddha. Fortunately, I was able to get a decent picture from down below. I was also intrigued by the elephants.
