Doi Suthep

On Dec. 26th we took a songhtaew up the mountain to Doi Suthep, which is a famous temple that overlooks the city. (I was told that we could hike or bike up the mountain, however after taking the songthaew straight up for over 45 mins, I'm so glad we chose not to!) The temple itself is absolutely gorgeous and very ornate. If you look closely at my photo, you'll see that we had to take hundreds of stairs up to get to the top! I got to see many different temple rituals, such as the lighting of the candles, ringing the bells and circling the buddha. In order to enter a temple you must remove your shoes and have your shoulders and knees covered. You must always keep your head below the monks and below buddha as a sign of respect.