Le Tour de Chiang Mai – Stage 1: Chiang Mai City to Col de la Doi Suthep

We are on day 5 in northern Thailand, and are enjoying the cooler temperatures and more laid back feel of Chiang Mai. The last few days have been spent touring the temples that are all over the city, checking out the street markets, taking in the New Year’s Eve fireworks, partaking in a Thai cooking class, and, as alluded to in the title of this blog, a little cycling. 

There is a temple sitting at about 3500 ft. elevation about 15 km outside of Chiang Mai called Wat Phra That Doi Suthep.  It’s one of the most sacred temples in northern Thailand, there was supposed to be an excellent view of the city from inside the complex, and Lonely Planet briefly mentions that cycling is an option to get up to the Wat.  So although I am typically not one to jump at the chance to ride a bike up a long hill, I convinced myself that it couldn’t be that bad and it would be a great way to see the sights  and get some exercise at the same time. We were unaware at the time that Chiang Mai is only at 1000 ft elevation, so we were going to be gaining 2500 ft in elevation in this ride. The day before we planned to try it, Brian and I scouted out a place that rented what appeared to be decent mountain bikes, found a map that showed Doi Suthep, and set our alarm to make sure we got to the guesthouse renting out the bikes when it opened at 8 am.  Upon arrival at the bike shop, we discovered that all the mountain bike options were either uncomfortably too small for riding, or the shifting wasn’t working right. At this point, we probably should’ve tried another place, but it was starting to get later, and we were getting a little worried about traffic, so instead we opted for some sturdy Raleigh bikes equipped with baskets in the front and a little bell to warn all the people we would be flying past on the ascent.  I had about 5 gears on my bike, which was 5 times more than Brian, and again, given we would be heading uphill almost the whole way, we probably should’ve just nixed the plan and jumped on a sawngthaew (basically, a pickup truck with a couple benches in the back that serves as a share-taxi) to get to the top. 

But we started the ride, which was all fine for the first couple miles as we were heading out of the older part of Chiang Mai. However,  then we got past the university and the zoo and started up the snaky hill to Doi Suthep, which was much steeper than the gradual uphill climb I had imagined in my mind, and it soon became very clear that the bikes we were riding were incredibly inappropriate for what we were trying to do.  This ride turned out to be reminiscent of a mountain stage in the Tour de France, or at least that is what it felt like with our one speed heavy bikes meant for cruising around town at 8-9 mph.    A couple miles in I saw something I thought I would never see – my husband walking a bike up a hill. We alternated riding and walking our bikes, and eventually, we did make it to the top (I’m not going to say how long it took, but I’m sure Lance Armstrong would not  be proud). 

The Wat itself was definitely the busiest of all the Wats we had visited – it was like visiting Mt. Rainier NP on 4^th of July weekend. The Thais are on holiday, as well, and I think a lot of them made the pilgrimage up to Chiang Mai, and apparently, Doi Suthep. They seemed to enjoy the spectacle of the two crazy farang huffing and puffing up the hill, as well, given the number of comments and cat-calls received.   Although I was cursing myself the entire way up (Brian is happy to point out that if this had been his idea, the cursing would’ve been directed at him), and would probably never do it again, I’ll admit (after the fact) it was worth the experience.

After the exhausting day of riding, we made up for all the calories we burned and more in a cooking class, my personal highlight of Chiang Mai. Somehow we managed to cook and eat 5 dishes (all of which were a meal within themselves), plus dessert, over the course of about 6 hours. I have not felt so stuffed in a long time.  We made curry paste and squeezed our own coconut milk for curry soups, we learned how to make some of our favorite Thai foods (papaya salad for me, spring rolls for Brian), and I finally learned that the lime-looking veggies and giant peas in meals here are actually types of eggplant (this has puzzled me since the first time I was in Thailand). Definitely a fun day…and we left with all the recipes, so I’m looking forward to trying them out back home (if we’re not totally burned out of the food by the end of the trip!)

We are heading to Pai tomorrow,  which should be a very laid back few days (it was described to us as a beach town without the beach).

Happy New Year!