Wat Prathat Doi Suthep - Day Four

Everyone should have a monk garden gnome.

Today we went to Wat Prathat Doi Suthep, a beautiful golden temple on the top of hill, looking down on Chiang Mai. It's definitely worth the hour-long journey to get there. The cheapest option is the red truck, the public transportation system in Chiang Mai. There are red trucks driving up and down the busier streets all the time. You flag them, they pull over, you tell them where you want to go (in our case, Chiang Mai University), they say no and keep on driving. You aren't doing it wrong. Just flag the next one and ask again. I think it was our third one before the truck was going in the direction we wanted. The trucks are very affordable, a trip across town cost 30 Bht per person.

At Chiang Mai University, you wait at a stop and get another red truck to the temple.

The temple has a great set of stairs with dragon railings that you have to climb to get to the top. There was an adorable little girl dressed up, trying to make some quick cash with her cuteness.

The view is beautiful, though it was a little smoggy on the day we were there.

The actual temple is striking with all of its gold. FYI: Foreigners are asked to donate 30 Bht before entering the temple.

There's also a great market around the temple and lots of delicious food stands, so plan on eating lunch here. I found a white stone elephant charm and a heart pendant necklace, my favorite purchase of the whole trip.

View of vendors from the red truck.

Back onto the red truck and down the hill to Chiang Mai.

We ate dinner at Hot Chilli, an open restaurant, much more Western than the other places we'd eaten at Chiang Mai. We shared the Tom Sam salad, their version had pineapple, watermelon, and jicama rather than the traditional papaya salad. It was so good. Light and refreshing, and, surprisingly, not too sweet and a little spicy.

I had the regional sausage (slightly spicy) with fried rice. Yum.

Hubs had the duck curry with pineapple which was delicious.

Split a large Chang beer, which smells worse than it tastes. Love the label!

Add a bottle of water and our bill came to 500 Bht with tip. Not bad for the romantic ambience and a great last dinner in Chiang Mai.