Our Great Adventure: Day 82 9/12/2014

We booked a cycling tour with Spicetours (owned by a Scottish guy) for this morning. We arrived at the office to meet Ji, our guide for the day and we were the only people on the tour. Ji kitted us out with helmets and good quality bikes, quite a novelty after what we've been used to on our previous bike rides. We set off from the office to explore Chiang Mai old town, the capital of the ancient kingdom of Lanna. Cycling is a great way to get around and especially here where other road users appear more accepting of bikes and you actually seem to have some right of way, something we didn't have in Vietnam at all with mopeds, cars etc all pulling out on you and expecting you to stop even if it appeared to be your right of way. The old city is a square bound by a moat and remnants of a medieval style wall built to defend against Burmese invaders. We stopped to visit Watt Phra Singh where Ji shared with us the history of Buddhism and importance of the stupa (chedi) and temple. The life of Buddha is depicted in paintings in the temple. We've seen similar paintings in other temples but never understood the full story which was good to hear and had lots of similarities to Christianity. Ji also told us about the Loi Krathong festival where thousands of lanterns are released and candle clad lotus leaves floated down the river. It sounded wonderful and one to definitely try and work plans around if we come to northern Thailand again. From here we cycled to Wat Chedi Luang which is one of the tallest structures in Chiang Mai, thought to have been hit by an earthquake and despite renovations remains closed. The Emerald Buddha, now housed in Wat Phra Kaew in Bangkok, used to be here. We then headed south out of the city and cycled for about 10 km to the ancient city of Wiang Kim Kam. King Mangrai had moved the city from here to the new Chiang Mai in the 13th century due to constant threat of flooding. The city had eventually been submerged in mud and silt until it was excavated in 1984. Around 32 temples have been discovered around the area with the most impressive being Wat Chedi Liam, with most of the others being ruined stupas. Whilst it is no doubt a significant archaeological find it was difficult to find it impressive after our visit to Angkor. We did our best to look suitably impressed, conscious that we didn't want to appear to belittle the find. From here we cycled to the crematorium where Ji told us that her grandfather's ashes had been put into a firework and sent up into the sky to be as close as possible to Buddha. We stopped at a local street stall for lunch of black spicy sausage, cabbage, sticky rice and sweet potatoes followed by toasted bananas in coconut and honey. After a bit of baiting from Ji, Simon tried one of the green chillies. From the look on his face it was very hot! From here we cycled back to Chiang Mai and eventually returned to Spicetours offices. A really good morning out and Ji was an excellent guide. We headed back to the hotel and spent the afternoon planning the next stage of our trip as we head south through Malaysia to Singapore, with intermittent dips in the pool to cool down. We decided to have dinner in the hotel restaurant, it's a nice setting but was very quiet.