A Journey Trough Thailand Part 3, Doi Suthep and Doi Inthanon

Doi Suthep
Doi Suthep is a mountain just outside Chiang Mai, and it has a couple of temples and sights. I visited the main attraction, Wat Phra That Doi Suthep. A golden beautiful temple with views over Chiang Mai.
From the parking, there a long staircase up the temple. But don’t worry, you can also take the cable lift. And its not very expensive. But I recommend to take the stairs at least one way. Quite the experience in itself.
To get here, there are red trucks (Songthaew) with sideways bench seats in the back that’s fairly cheap. Or take a taxi with one of the apps to get there. Its about 45 minutes on very curvy roads. I took taxi up and red truck back.

Around golden hour, right before sunset is best for Photos, when the sun is low but still illuminates the golden temple. It’s really a gorgeous site. But be prepared to share, as its close to Chiang Mai, it is very heavily visited by tourist. So very crowded the whole day. But its definitely worth the visit!

It was a bit challenging to Photograph due to the amount of people, so had to wait allot and time it correctly. But I think I got something out of it at least.

Doi Inthanon
The peak of Doi Inthanon is the tallest point in Thailand at 2565 m above sea level. A very popular tourist attraction. The peak itself isn’t very interesting in my opinion; there is a short walkway in the jungle and a sign, not much else to see. Drone flying is forbidden, so didn’t get to check further views.
Most people go on organized tours, which can run in the 3-5000 baht range and quite a hectic program. To take it more easy, I recommend to drive yourself or use a personal driver (Which isn’t more expensive than tours) But depends what you like.

Rice field season was over, but I found the pattern it had left behind quite interesting. This is from a small village on the way up to the peak. And here i was allowed to fly a bit :) Fancy renting one of those villas?

The National Park of Doi Inthanon has a few waterfalls. And I visited two of them. The most interesting one I found to be a smaller one, almost at the foot of the mountain. “The Mae Klang Waterfall”. (first image). The largest and most popular waterfall, the “Wachirathan Waterfall” (2nd image) was a sight to behold, but for Photography not the most interesting. But I definitely recommend a stop there. There was also some restaurants here, so smart to time lunch here.

Now there is one location that got missed, and probably should not have, but ran out of time. So saving this for next time I’m in the area; The Three Pagodas of Doi Inthanon.

That’s all for this time, stay tuned for next week :) And sign up to the email list to get reminders.