Animals – Big, Small, and Illusions
I wanted to visit the Chiang Mai Zoo because they have two giant pandas there🐼
I’ve never seen one. In the U.S., there are giant pandas in San Diego, Memphis, and the National Zoo in D.C. The Chiang Mai Zoo is outside of town, on the edge of the mountains, just where it’s starting to get hilly, so it was a lovely setting that included walking up lots of hills! The admission was 100 baht to get in, and it was 100 more to see the pandas.
zoo entrance
view of city
I do feel guilty going to zoos because the animals are in cages, etc. But they’re not going away any time soon, so I feel that my visiting does give the zoo more money to spend on the animals who are already in the cages. In terms of animal living conditions, this zoo was just like all the others I’ve seen in the U.S. – nothing worse or better about it.
The giant pandas, Chuang Chuang (boy) and Lin Hui (girl), are immigrants from China😆. Their daughter gave birth to twins last fall in China, and I can’t figure out if the baby pandas are still alive or not. Meanwhile, the Chiang Mai Zoo is trying to knock up Lin Hui again, but this past mating season, the artificial insemination didn’t work:/ They were both sleeping when I was there😊
chuang chuang
lin hui
Lin Hui was racked out! Tongue was resting on the rock and everything😂 My other favorite animals from the day…
look, sarah
white lions!
the thinker (gibbon)
corn treat
there’s always one…
I had heard about an illusion art museum called Art in Paradise (I guess they’re also called “trick eye museums”). I honestly didn’t know these types of museums even existed until I heard about them here. And even though the entry was $11, I decided to check it out. It was worth it. I had so much fun:
this is not an escalator
Next up: Myanmar!
No Women Allowed
Oh really?
All these temples, and I hadn’t been banned from any yet! But, alas, I found a ‘He-Man Woman Haters Club’ temple here in Chiang Mai.
city pillar shrine – women are not permitted
I thought to myself: Wow, what great Karma! Right after I complain that the temples are boring – voila! This! Modern day misogyny in the form of discrimination is SO not boring!
So, not one to back down from a challenge, I decided to permit myself entry. I said to that city pillar: “I’ll take your ‘No Women’ rule, and I’ll raise you a Woman in Shorts!” (gasp! the horror!).
Feast your eyes upon this, fellow women of the world, I got a pic inside the Top Secret Man Cave!
sacred interior only men shall pass through (i skipped the optional donation jar)
Wowwww! I don’t know how I handled seeing this – I mean, I didn’t even get lightheaded and faint.
And guess what… NOTHING happened. The temple did not crumble. Buddha did not roll over in his grave. The monks did not all decide to leave monk college. In fact, the man who was inside the pillar ‘guarding’ it didn’t see me because he was on his cell phone… hmmmm… I wonder if a woman sentry would’ve caught me?
Now I feel so empowered – I’m thinking I can do anything. What’s next? They’ll let me vote? I’ll be allowed to drive a car? Go to college? Make eye contact with married men? Maybe even get a job??? A girl can dream, can’t she?
Still feeling mighty privileged, I decided to tour the rest of the Wat Chedi Luang temple complex – it was cool😆
wat chedi luang – partially crumbled from earthquake in the 1500’s
monks in training❤️
wat chedi luang
viharn
enormous buddha inside the viharn
pretty paper lanterns
buddha
awesome tree
buddhist university
monk laundry day
The site also has a branch of Mahamakut Buddhist University on its grounds, so there were lots of monks roaming about.
A few other temples:
wat phra singh
wat phra singh
wat buppharam – Donald Duck!!!?
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I love Chiang Mai. It’s small but has plenty to do, has mountains in the backdrop, and is on a river. The “Old City” is a few miles by few miles square at the center of Chiang Mai, and it is surrounded by a moat and what’s left of an old wall. If you look at Chiang Mai on a map, you’ll see it – very unique. Inside and outside of the Old City are both all developed with retail and houses, just the Old City has a lot more temples (probably 1-2 every small block).
main gate to the Old City
old city wall remnants
bridge over moat
old & new
typical CM old city street
pano from coffeeshop
ping river
night market
cute street
I have an SPG hotel room with cash and points, which means I paid $35/night (tax and all) for a great, upgraded room with a view of the mountains:
tub & room
picture window
view from room
sunset view
nice to wake-up to
The weather has been perfect. Sunny and low-80s, with no humidity! I think I will hike in the mountains tomorrow😊
Next up: Chiang Mai Zoo & Illusions
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