Hiking Up Doi Suthep, Part 1

Saturday, January 14, 2017
Hiking up to Wat Phra That Doi Suthep Part 1

Today Tom Dickson, a friend from Sydney, Australia, and I are are hiking up Doi Suthep to the temple near the top of the mountain.

Wat Phra That Doi Suthep

This temple is often called "Doi Suthep," although that is the name of the mountain on which it is located. Doi means mountain, and Suthep is the name of the mountain. And I think "Phra That" in the name means that the temple houses some important relic of the Buddha. Wat Phra That Doi Suthep is a Royal Temple of the Second Class.

There is much mythology and legend about the temple's founding, said to have been in 1383. Over time the temple has been expanded and made more extravagant.

White Elephant Legend

Quoting Wikipedia:

According to legend, a monk named Sumanathera from the Sukhothai Kingdom had a dream. In this vision he was told to go to Pang Cha and look for a relic. Sumanathera ventured to Pang Cha and found a bone. Many claim it was Gautama Buddha's shoulder bone. The relic displayed magical powers: it glowed, it was able to vanish, it could move and replicate itself. Sumanathera took the relic to King Dhammaraja, who ruled Sukhothai. The eager Dhammaraja made offerings and hosted a ceremony when Sumanathera arrived. However, the relic displayed no abnormal characteristics, and the king, doubtful of the relic's authenticity, told Sumanathera to keep it.

King Nu Naone of Lan Na heard of the relic and bade the monk to bring it to him. In 1368, with Dharmmaraja's permission, Sumanathera took the relic to what is now Lamphun, in northern Thailand. Once there, the relic broke into two pieces. The smaller piece was enshrined at Wat Suan Dok. The other piece was placed by the king on the back of a white elephant which was released into the jungle. The elephant is said to have climbed up Doi Suthep, at that time called Doi Aoy Chang (Sugar Elephant Mountain), stopped, trumpeted three times, then dropped dead. This was interpreted as an omen. King Nu Naone immediately ordered the construction of a temple at the site.

Hiking up Doi Suthep

We are hiking up the mountain today. A little less than half way, we will pass through Wat Palad. This temple in the jungle was built because the white elephant is said to have stopped at this creek crossing for a time before continuing on (or perhaps the elephant stopped to drink water from the creek). Another story is that people and elephants crossing the creek at this point often slipped and fell. Chiang Mai elders said that the word "Pa-lad" originally comes form Chiang Mai word "Pa-Lert." which means "to slip and fall." Later the word pa-lert became pa-lad.

Wat Palad is one of my favorite temples because it is seldom visited by tourists yet is fairly easily accessible (if one is willing to walk up through the jungle for 40-45 minutes), making it a very peaceful place for a meditation. First, we have to get up to Wat Palad on the hiking trail.

Tom drive his motorbike with me as a passenger to the trail head, about 750 meters up the hill from Wat Fai Hin. I have not explored Wat Fai Hin very much; it is more of a local temple and when I have been in the area, my goal is to hike up through the jungle/forest to Wat Palad and/or Wat Phra That Doi Suthep.

This photo is of the first part of the hiking trail, here it is about like climbing stairs. The photo does not convey the steepness.

After that steep section, we are hiking through the forest/jungle. The grasses are denser than in past years, likely die to a fairly rainy December and first part of January.

Here this looks more like a forest than a jungle. As we hike up higher, the trees change. Lower it is more of a jungle and higher more of a forest.

sometimes the overgrowth makes the path seem almost as if we are going into a cave.

I remember this tree from past hikes here. This photo also shows how this appears a little more like a jungle than a forest.

Wat Palad - Almost Half Way

Then we are at Wat Palad. We are going to push on and not explore much on the hike up. We have both been to Wat Palad many times. I'll get more photos on the way down or the next time I make this hike.

Here is Tom hanging out before we cross over the creek and head up the last 200 meters of steep climbing to get to the road. Then we cross the road and continue up through the jungle to Wat Phra That Doi Suthep. Wat Palad is about 3/8 of the way up the hill - a little less than half way.

Here starts the climb up from Wat Palad to the road, up what starts out appearing to be stairs in the hill.

Unfortunately, the camera does not capture the steepness of this part of the climb (or I do not know how to make that photograph tell the story).

This last section of the trail to the road is very steep, and I have to grab onto the bamboo at the sides of the trail to get myself up. (And I did not have my camera out.)

Once we get to the road, we walk along the road for about 100 meters, cross the road, and look for a yellow arrow on the edge of the road and a stand of bamboo with a very faded orange cloth. After a few years, the faded orange cloth is the same color as the brownish bamboo, but it is there. This marks the entrance into the second part of the trail.


Next: Wat Phra That Doi Suthep Part 2