We started the day at Wat Phra Singh, a temple here in Chiang Mai. It was amazing. One of the buildings had dust paintings on the wall that date back centuries (I don’t recall the exact date, may edit this later when I verify). The paintings show daily life for the northern part of Thailand (Chiang Mai area) and the southern part (Bangkok region). It even came with a temple cat 🤣.
After a market challenge where the kids had a list of tasks to accomplish, we went to another temple – Wat Phra That Doi Suthep. To get there we had to climb 306 stairs but it was worth it!! Another beautiful temple.
Next stop, lunch. I had a super tasty curry noodle soup (forgot to take a pic of that…) mango sticky rice, and durian fruit. Yes. The stinky fruit. Which does in fact smell so bad that I spit the first bite out because the smell triggered my gag reflex. Oops. So I held my breath and tried again, which worked.
I can report that it tastes WAY better than it smells. It’s sweet and has a custardy texture just like I’ve heard. I’m glad I tried it – probably won’t try it again…
Then we went to dinner, where there was a performance from traditional Thai dancers. After dinner, off to a Muay Thai fight.
Basically, we experienced a significant part of Thai culture in the space of 14 hours. Super busy (but very good!!) day.