day three: stunning views, snapshots, slow walks

Today, we visited Doi Suthep. According to Mr Happy, the journey from the foot of the mountain to Wat Phra That Doi Suthep was 11km. Long ago, when the temple was first constructed, the people had to walk 11km by foot to the site of the temple. In those days, there were no surfaced roads unlike now where we could take a bus, taxi or even ride a bike up the mountain to visit the temple. I was in admiration of them of their dedication and perseverance.

Inside, there were many tourists and locals visiting the temple. Some were burning joss sticks outside the temple, while others were kneeling on the ground and praying. Although it was a place of worship, when I stepped in, it felt more like a tourist attraction than a sacred place. There were many people walking around, taking pictures of the place, of people praying and burning joss sticks. There might be nothing wrong with that, but I felt uncomfortable. If I were in their shoes, I would not want anyone to be taking pictures of me, especially when I am in a very private moment with my religion. So I quickly took a shot of the building, and walked around to enjoy the architecture and observed what people did inside and took my exit.

While outside, the view was AMAZING.

 

The rest of the day was just OTOT-time. We enjoyed local food from a small restaurant near Nimmanhaemin Road. The food was so good and we finally got our Tom Yam Goong fix (uncomparable to the Thai food we get here)!

They also had a really interesting dish of stir-fried pumpkin leaves with bacon, which I have never come across back in Singapore. I never knew that pumpkin leaves could be eaten! Back home, my grandparents grew pumpkins in their garden, but never did we pick leaves to eat like that. It was amazing how nothing would go to waste/ anything could be edible food! Sometimes, just because we have never seen or tried it before, we do not do things in different ways. Yet somewhere else in the world, these things they exist and are normal to others.

Our group could not really come to an agreement of what we should do and time was wasted trying to come to a group activity. It was a little uncomfortable but we just went along with the flow and took up our Thai buddy’s (Fye) suggestions and followed her to different spots where she usually hung out. Fye brought us to a common spot and then we split ways to explore the place in our own small groups and met back again in 2 hours.

It was good at times to be in our own separate groups, where we could do what we wanted, without having everyone else to follow suit. Since everyone had differing interests, many a times, we sought to reach a compromise. However, we did not have much chances for long periods of free time. Thus splitting up today was a good call. Fortunately, I have Sally as my roommate and also in my subgroup. Whenever the group dispersed, especially during OTOT, she did not mind accompanying me around. I am truly grateful for her company. Through the trip I also got to know her much better, continuing from USP FOC earlier last year in July where we were in the same OG.

Fye then brought us to her favourite massage place in the small roads along Nimmanhaemin Road. It was pretty deep in, and we took three turns in total from the main road. However, Crystal and Sally did not want to do the massage as they were ticklish. I also did not felt like having a massage, so the three of us wandered around while the rest were enjoying their massage.

We then decided to walked all the way back to the mall to visit the rooftop garden, Nimman Hill, to watch the sunset. And we were treated with such a good view once again.

There was a very relaxing atmosphere up there and we just sat down and chitchatted. As night fell, we decided to check out the temporary stores that were set up outside MAYA mall. We shopped around the area before walking back to the massage place to find our friends. It was amazing how we manage to walk back to the main street from the massage place, just after walking there once. I was not consciously taking note of landmarks and where we took turns, but just from pure observation, I could piece back the memory roads we took when we walked in.

Our timing was impeccable. When we arrived at the massage place, they were just ready and just about to pay. As a group, we then headed out to have Mookata for dinner. It was a buffet style mookata for 189 Bhat! (what a great deal!) After having our fill, we decided to work off all those calories by walking back to the hotel. It was about 3km away.

It was a long and tiring, but fun-filled day.