A weekend looking at new stuff around Chiang Dao

[KTMphil]

Amazing what you can find an hour north of Chiang Mai. Being so close, Chiang Dao is often somewhere you by-pass, so it was nice to take a leisurely look around up there.








First time Opal had ridden with us, she was on a Honda CRF 250 M (17" wheels) & had a ball



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[KTMphil]

Just an hour out of the city (Chiang Mai), the views over Doi Chiang Dao are some of the best around, especially in rainy season when the moisture is rising out of the cliffs.




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Up at the Chiang Dao Nest ("1") GH, ladders up huge trees, we couldn't think why, Som says it's to get honey




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[KTMphil]

1st stop, out to the Chiang Dao Cave, been passed it 100 times on the tiny road, never inside


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Easy to find just off the Chiang Dao R 107 bypass



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Wat Tham Chiang Dao is in the same grounds as cave




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[KTMphil]

Some interesting sculptures in the grounds


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Into the cave, led by a kerosene latern


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[KTMphil]

Bangkok Post re the Chiang Dao Cave:


Chiang Dao Cave in Chiang Mai is ranked as one of the top tourist attractions and destinations in Thailand. This cave extends for 12km into Doi Chiang Dao Mountain. Chiang Dao Cave features beautiful crystal formations that have formed due to dripping water. The air inside the cave is usually cool but during some seasons it can be extremely humid and the walkways have handrails to hold onto.


Credit: http://www.bangkokpost.com/travel/14686_info_chiang-dao-cave.html





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Lonely Planet:


In the heat of the day, the coolest place in town is the Chiang Dao Cave , a complex said to extend some 10km to 14km into Doi Chiang Dao. There are four interconnected caverns that are open to the public. Tham Phra Non (360m) is the initial segment and is electrically illuminated and can be explored on one's own. It contains several religious shrines, a common feature of Thailand's caves, which are regarded as holy meditation sites. There are also some surreal-looking stalactites reminiscent of a Salvador Dali painting.

Read more: Chiang Dao Cave - Lonely Planet





Lovely and cool in there too, a good place to get away from the SW monsoon humidity for an hour



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The King and Queen of Thailand came here and left inscriptions on the cave wall



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A buddha inside the cave'


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[KTMphil]

NW of the Chiang Dao Nest GH, you have Wat Pha Prong. Really glad i was shown this, you would never know it's there, surprisingly not on many maps considering its immense beauty and picturesque viewing options


The walk up is through lush jungle




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Quite breathtaking when you see where you're headed!


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Some interesting quotes on the way up


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The temple at the top is quite unusual and encases a cave


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Next door there's a huge Monastic (Monk) residence too.




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[KTMphil]

Views from around the stupa at the top are worth the walk for sure


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Wat Pha Prong (Plong)



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[KTMphil]

Gourmet food at the Chiang Dao Nest was as good as ever, if not better if that's possible - Dinner


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Great breakfasts



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[KTMphil]

Time for another day of exploring - Jim on his Hypermotard, like everyone else, he loves the bike


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Opal- all Robo-copped


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Burgman rider's


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[KTMphil]

The stupa on the mountain had been catching our eye, we hadn't been up there before

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It turns out that it was another monastic residence too

 

[KTMphil]

Looks like they'll be some decent views from up there, the topography like something out of an of an old King Kong movie



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Superb group shot


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Jim



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Opal



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The Burgman fully loaded


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[KTMphil]

Next, a hunt for the "Chicken/ Rooster Wat"


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Nope, not in this one



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Found it!!


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Take R 1178 NW north of Chiang Dao & you'll find it. It's official name is The King Naresuan Stupa









One of the strangest you'll see in Thailand for sure


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[KTMphil]

A very southern, Thai, tea plantation in Chiang Dao. There's tea research station at Doi Pa Kain which is further south (http://www.bangkokpost.com/travel/8368_info_pa-kia-doi-chiang-dao-agricultural-research-station.html) but this one is pretty far south for tea growing.


A really unusual place so close to the big smoke. It has signage saying that it's a Japanese sponsored project, you can spend the night up there in chalets. Raming Tea plantation is nearby.




The Nik Om Doi Tea Project


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It's about 25km south of Chiang dao off to the west of R 107

 

[KTMphil]

The trees in the Nik Om Doi Tea Project even had a Japanese feel to them


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Amazing rolling hills and mountains looking south


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You can just make out the Mae Taeng valley in the distance


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Friendly cats there too


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An hour at of Chiang Mai, pretty amazing what's there


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[Lightemup]

Good pics, Phil.

 

[Lone Rider]

Next, a hunt for the "Chicken/ Rooster Wat". It's official name is The King Naresuan Stupa

Beautiful pictures and a big thank you for posting this info and pictures on places which basically are in our backyard. Just a small comment as I am not sure if you should call it a Wat, at least for as far as I know there is no Wat but only a large stupa built by the local people to mark the stay of King Naresuan the Great here before he led his troops to invade Angwa in Myanmar in 1604. Actually, there are stories that the stupa was built using remnants of another stupa of King Naresuan which was built in Myanmar:

The King Naresuan stupa, believed to have been built in the early 17th century in what is now Mongton in Myanmar, located 25 miles (40 km) from the border, was demolished and bulldozed by the Burma Army around 1960, following widespread reports of the spirit of the king watching over fighters of the Noom Seuk Harn, the first Shan armed resistance movement. Remnants of its bricks were carried by Shan fighters under the command of Gen Gawnzerng (1926-1991) in 1969 to Muang Ngai, a Thai border town opposite Mongton. (Source: Wa donates land for Thai king?s memorial

Whatever the historical truth with regard to all the rooster statues which you see everywhere, the popular story goes something like this:

After Siam’s capital Ayutthaya fell to a Burmese army in 1568-69, prince Naresuan and his younger brother, then still children, were taken as hostage to the Burmese capital Hongsawadi (Pegu), while their father was appointed to rule Ayutthaya as a Burmese vassal. In the Burmese court, Naresuan grew up with the Burmese Crown Prince. The boys original close friendship faded away when the Thai prince, again and again, proved to be a more able warrior, beating the Burmese prince in every martial contest. The breaking point between the two came when Naresuan’s cockerel won in a royal cockfight, and the frustrated Burmese prince called the Thai rooster a ‘war slave animal.’ This humiliation made Prince Naresuan realize more deeply than ever before that he himself and the Siamese people were subordinate to the Burmese. Consequently, he became determined to escape this fate.

King Naresuan is also revered by the Shan people as according to the Shan, King Naresuan helped them win independence for the Shan State in 1600 with his ally, the Prince of Hsenwi. As children, both had been hostages at the Burmese court. King Naresuan died while rushing to the aid of Prince of Hsenwi in 1605. Many Shan believe that King Naresuan was cremated and his ashes interred in a stupa in Mongton.

More info here: Naresuan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia and here: Naresuan the Great, Thailand's venerated warrior king

 

[bsacbob]

Nice pictures Phil, new camera working well. Like we has discovered before sometimes you don't had to ride for hours to find stuff, we have it all around us already.

Interesting hydration pack Opal is wearing where from ?

 

[2wheels]

Very nice Phil, thank you.

 

[KTMphil]

The branding is "Gregory", I'll find out where Jim got it

Nice pictures Phil, new camera working well. Like we has discovered before sometimes you don't had to ride for hours to find stuff, we have it all around us already.

Interesting hydration pack Opal is wearing where from ?

 

[Lightemup]

Chaing Mai Archery shop has loads of Gregory stuff.

I have the same hydration pack in red/grey bought there.
I think it comes with a 2 liter bladder.

 

[brake034]

Hmm, I was looking to find the thread with my pictures of Wat Pha Prong, I guess this thread went missing some months ago....?
Or is my memory missing and did I only put them on Facebook??

Anyway, Pun and me were there end of May:

It's over 500 steps to climb the stairs to the temple but it's worth it.

At the foot of the third highest mountain in Thailand, 2.175 meter high, are the 12 km. Chiang Dao caves, near the cave is an old pagoda.