Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep

A late start, waiting to pay room and get tickets for pai booked up. A scooter and the road out to Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep, wary of the blossoming array of police checkpoints and their harvest of fines, out into the late morning traffic on the ring road and through the Suan Dok Gate, left, out towards the zoo then... The road winding up the side of the hill, a series of bends tightening between ditches and slopes as the Chiang Mai begins to dissolve beneath, visible from a scatter of sparse viewpoints as we climb.


The temple stairs and guardian dragons climb up from a small market, the coffee place still there, the taste as good as the memory. Around the base of the stairs children in traditional dress pose for photo's, bored by the scene, find moments for play or quiet. Inside the temple gold glistens; believers circle the stupa in hope of credit while tourist groups jostle for space, for proof that they've been here, where endless phones are held up, selfie sticks bare branches in this forest of arms and angles.. And then off on the bike again.


Later, from a viewpoint higher up, Chiang Mai now lost in the haze only shining gold from Buddha or temple caught in afternoon sun, set glinting, offering the possibility of the city below...