Shopping streets of ChiangMai,Thailand

ChaingMai in the north of Thailand is an historical place. If you decided to visit all the temples in Chinag Mai for which the place is famous for, I am sure you will be tired but it is hard to  complete all the temples. Chiang Mai is an old city with the remains of old city wall and a moat surrounding the city. It is the second largest city after Bangkok.

Moat around the city wall

Though it is famous for its temples and history, its shopping streets are equally famed for its array of street food, handicrafts, fake goods and many more items. It is such a pleasure to shop in Chiang Mai. Many  items are inexpensive which will fill your shopping bag with plenty of items. Shoppers are spoilt for choice for sure.

Buddha representing each day of a week

During my visit to Chiang Mai, I tried  3 famous shopping streets. Though there are plenty of markets and shopping places, 3 markets you shouldn’t miss are night bazaar, Saturday shopping street and Sunday walking street. More than shopping I loved the array of food available in these markets. Most of the hotels have free shuttle services for pick up and drop to all the three shopping streets 

Night bazzar

It has many shops which wake up only during night. You will find good restaurants to clothes to souvenirs to all that you want to buy in any other tourist markets. There are few dedicated buildings and on the footpath we can see vendors setting up their shops.

This innocent looking confectionery has minced pork. That is what name plate read!

There is a cabaret show in the Anusaran market by  ladyboys who look just like ladies. I was told  that it comedy show which they call as cabaret is  fun to watch. I couldn’t go there though. 

Ladyboy

Found few good food joints here.There are photo studios who dress you up in Thai traditional attire and you get your portfolio done. I tried one…

Me getting ready to pose in Thai costume

Saturday shopping street

Starting from one of the old Chianag Mai gates all along Wua Lai road lies Saturday shopping street. It covers about 1 km. Road is small and literally you need to wade through the sea of people. 

Saturday market

Don’t eat anything before going there. You have plenty of veg and non veg options to try out. Shallow pocket is good enough to feed well. There are a lot of live music shows all along the road. It was a common sight to see people getting massages done. Mushroomy massage centres dominate most of the shopping streets

Mini donuts

Sunday walking street

I went to Sunday walking street. It is the best among all the markets. Again here what caught my eyes was food. Sleeping street in the morning was totally looking different in the evening. It opens up from 4 pm till mid night. Fried insects which I found in different markets was here as well. Fried gross hopper, cricket, silkworms are available for 20THB. Do you like to try one ?

Fried insects for sale

Some veg dish similar to our south Indian gundupongal

Found some veg restaurants as well along the road. I tried multiple varieties of street food. Rice cake, corn, waffle,ice cream, Thai desserts and couldn’t stop shopping until I realized I don’t have any more money left.

I wish I will go back to Chiang Mai again somebody to explore all the markets in leisure.

Which is your favorite street shopping experience? Pls share 

Watson's bay in Sydney– Friday Skywatch

I was in Sydney mid of this year. Such a lovely city. I am yearning to go there again. I was going through my Sydney album and  found these pictures. These were taken when I went out for  ferry ride. They say, ferries are the best when it comes to  authentic Sydney experience.I bought a combo ticket for Torong Zoo and 24 hour hop on hop off  ferry  for $40.

I started from circular quay.My first stop was Torong zoo. The cable car ride inside the Torong Zoo offered a good view of Sydney. By the time I took a tour of the Zoo and came out  it was already  1pm. Though, ferry ticket can be used for 8 destinations. Practically it is not possible to go there unless we plan it well. Ferry schedule was something I couldn’t understand it easily. Nevertheless, I never count how many sight seeing places I visited. I love to explore and leisurely experience the place.

I didn’t have any plan for my next stop. While I was choosing my next destination, a ferry arrived. Next minute, yours truly was there inside the ferry. After 15-20 minutes, ferry stopped as   captain’s  announced the stop  ‘Watson’s bay’.

 

Hungry to the core,I was so happy to see many restaurants adjacent to the harbor. But didn’t find anything vegetarian there. They were sea food  restaurants.Later, came to know that Watson’s bay is famous for seafood and it was once fishermen’s village .

I walked towards left  side of the bay in search of food. After a km, found nothing to eat but a beautiful beach. Now, I had time  till ferry comes back. So, started walking in the opposite direction. Found some steps and information board mentioning that place as GAP. GAP is an ocean cliff facing Tasman sea.

 I was so happy to find this place accidentally. It is an amazing  vantage point which offers Sydney’s bird’s view.Walking along the cliff was so relaxing. I decided not to hop on the next scheduled ferry. So continued enjoying the views. Lovely veg roll,cone of ice cream, GAP park bubbling  with locals having leisurely time made my afternoon a memorable one. 

My hop on hop off ferry ended with only 2 stops. Absolutely no regret as Watson’s bay filled up all the gaps.Few more pictures on my way back to circular quay..

Hanging monastery of Datong, China

I just realized that, this whole year  I have been visiting monasteries after monasteries. My husband says, I can right a good about Buddhist monasteries if I spend some on that. Latest to my bucket is Hanging monastery of  Datong. Early this year I was surprised to see Tiger’s nest monastery in Bhutan which is perched on top of the cliff.

Hanging monastery.It blends so well with the cliff

Now, the hanging monastery of Datong  has made me spellbound by the engineering technique they have used to build a monastery right at the cliff of the mountain  above the ground level. This ancient engineering marvel built in 5th century is   1600 years old.

Monastery from the base

Hanging monastery is 60 kms away from Datong in Shanxi province of China. It is located on a canyon, 75 mts above the foot level of Mountain Heng. This temple is very unique as it is dedicated for 3 religions – Buddhism, Taosim and Confucianism. We will see many statues representing all the three religions.I didn't capture the picture with three of them as I didn't recognize others next to Buddha in the picture below On one side of Buddha, we can see Laozi of Taoist teacher and on the other side is Master Kong Zi of Confucius.I strongly suggest to get a guide from Datong to appreciate it better which I didn't do.

Buddha in the centre . Other bronze color statues next to him representing Taoism and Confucianism. I have cropped them while taking picture

Statues in the monastery

If not for its colourful roof, it blends so well with the cliff that you need to stare at it for few seconds to identify the structure. We need to climb up a  few stairs to reach the monastery.

Landscape at the foothill of the mountain

Frozen stream

The stream at the foothill of the mountain was mostly frozen and water falls and small water streams around the lake were all frozen to snow. There is an entry ticket for  30+100 =130 RMB  which I felt was very high. I don’t know why is that break up. Couldn’t figure it out.

Entry to the monastery

Monastery has many small corridors and steep steps, which will take us to all the 3 storeys. There are many rooms. I didn’t count though. All are very small in size but comfortable enough for worship.

Though there were signs showing ‘ photography is not allowed’ there was no one to stop you from taking pictures.

Steep stairs and rickety wooden poles

Hanging Monastery

 Anyone visiting the monastery would wonder what technology was used to build this ancient structure at such a dangerous location. What I understand is wooden crossbeams were half inserted into the rock as the foundation, while the rock in back supports. We don’t see any main supportive structures only body of the structure is seen from outside. The rickety wooden poles are good enough to make you think twice before you decide to take stairs.I was told these wooden supporting poles are provided as a secured feeling to the visitors than actual support.

 By the way, whole temple is built with only wood. Incredible indigenous technology.

Travel tips

It takes 1.5  hours to reach Hanging monastery. I hired a taxi and paid 360 RMB for covering both  hanging temple and Yungang Grottoes.

Related posts 
5 tips for vegetarian food in Beijing 
Yungang Grottoes 
Datong an ancient city in China

 What are your favourite monasteries  ? Pls share