Top of the World, Ma

 We fancied a look at Doi Suthep today.

Perched on Mount Doi (1676m) yet only a paltry 1076m up, we thought it was easily within our grasp.

The trouble began when we tried to acquire the services of a songthaew driver to take us there.

No dice was the answer, what with it being New  Year's Eve Eve and likely to be exceptionally busy.

Now, as regular readers will know, I've never knowingly adhered to advice, particularly when it's given by someone with local knowhow

And so we pressed on until we found someone willing to take us the 15k or so up to the fabled Mount.

Initially it was going well. We left the city behind us and began the steady climb up the winding road to the mountain.

As we got higher however, the air became heady with the rich scent of burned out clutch and we found ourselves in the middle of a monstrous traffic jam (albeit a holy pilgrimage jam)

Eventually and perhaps inevitably, our driver pulled off the road, and  channelling his inner Star Trek Scotty,  announced  what sounded like: "Enough. She cannae take it" (in a heavily Thai accented voice).

We left the stricken vehicle and continued on foot.

At last the Temple came into view. 

A mere 306 steps to climb and we'd be in.

Punishing doesn't quite cover the climb my friends....

I'll just say that the first 3 things you see on arrival at the top are a ticket office (standard) and these two items:

Even He needed a lie down at the top......

As for the temple itself, it's very impressive, but given that I've imposed rather a surfeit of temples on you recently (and one temple IS very much like another generally), I've decided to focus on the temple bells.

And they were many. And mighty was the clanging.

The view from the top,  if a little hazy, was impressive.

You can see our house from here....

Doi Suthep is, undeniably, a holy place for many many Thai people. There are many statues of the Buddha and a huge golden stupa.

But I'm afraid my attention was caught by  some of the less lofty items on show:

A plastic statue of an infant monk collecting alms.

The days takings so far.. 

And if all else fails, there's Mastercard.....

We left the temple (via those 306 steps) and saw to our surprise that the traffic had eased.

What's more, the Songthaew waiting for us , and better still, it was working!