Wat Doi Suthep

I'm starting my web blog with life, work and travel currently based in Chiang Mai, Thailand. And what better symbol of Thai culture can you start with than Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep? It is one of the most important temples in Thailand, and a popular pilgrimage for Thai Buddhist. Legend has it that monks looking for a proper resting place for Buddha relics, placed them on a White Elephant - the animal thought to embody spiritual guidance and luck – who took it up to the Doi Suthep. This mountaintop location in the midst of a national forest looks over the city of Chiang Mai, and the people are said to look up to it.

The first thing you see is the golden chedi or stupa, which houses the relics, in the center of the Temple grounds:

Murals surround the entire temple, providing a pictorial narrative of the Buddha’s life. This one shows the miraculous Birth of the Buddha (The Mother, Mayadevi, has just given birth to the future Buddha standing up; and at birth, he takes seven full steps on lotus buds then and speaks).

I don’t know why people don’t pay attention to the murals; for young Buddhist, they are an important way to teach about the Buddha’s life. It’s the main thing I show students on tours of the temple.