Another day of walking! We got up and left the hotel just after 9:15 in the morning, a respectably early start for a full day of touring. I had read the previous evening that we could pick up a cheap ride to the Doi Suthep temple just outside the Chang Phuak (north) gate, which was conveniently just across the road from our hotel. We crossed the moat and got into a songtheaw, which is basically a red pickup truck with a covered bench in the back for people to sit in. This vehicle, rickety as it was, made the trip up the Doi Suthep mountain without too many complaints. It certainly spewed some gross looking black smog though; emission standards are much less stringent here. After a 45 minute ride, with many twists and turns, we arrived at what appeared to be a small market with many vendors selling us cheap trinkets and food. We walked through the market to arrive at the base of the 308 step staircase which lead up to the temple. The walk up was no issue; it was crowded however so I wasn’t able to get any really nice photos. We toured through the temple and looked out over the city of Chiang Mai; it was hazy though so it was difficult to make out the city.
After descending the 308 steps we hailed another songtheaw down the mountain to the Chiang Mai Zoo, which was just at the base of the Doi Suthep mountain. Unfortunately we had to wait about 20 minutes for the driver to gather enough additional passengers for the trip to be worth it, though it gave us a bit of a rest. The Chiang Mai zoo was much different from what I was expecting; all of the enclosures were outside (save for the penguins), and there was a road which linked all of the pens which cars were driving on. While we had come just to see the aquarium we decided we may as well tour the zoo as well, since it was included in the price of admission. Also, the aquarium was located on the opposite side of the zoo from the entrance, so we needed to pass a number of animals anyways. We saw elephants, giraffes, deer, rhinos, monkeys, and a variety of other similar zoo animals on our way to the aquarium. Upon arriving I was surprised to see how run down the aquarium was, given it was supposed to be less than 10 years old. In my opinion the aquarium was less than impressive; their underwater tunnel was half closed, and the half which was open had very few animals and even fewer plant/coral displays. Todd had a mini freak-out when we had to walk past several snakes; I had to walk between him and the cages to keep him moving forward. Overall I have to say I enjoyed the zoo more than the aquarium, which was a bit disappointing because I was more excited for the aquarium.
After leaving the zoo we hailed our third songtheaw for the trip back to the hotel. This wait was shorter, the driver didn’t feel the need to wait for as many people. We arrived back around 4:30, and proceeded to a tourist information centre to book our trip tomorrow. We wanted to go into the jungle to see some elephants, and we ended up with a package which will let us tour an orchid farm, a butterfly farm, ride an elephant and go rafting, so we should have a great little jungle adventure ahead of us. We had dinner at a much more reasonable hour today (about 5:30), then we walked through the night market. Todd has been trying to find a souvenir for the last week or so, and I think he’s starting to close in on what he wants. We’ll probably pick it up tomorrow night or Friday.