My Chiang-Mai

Statue on a bridge over the moat.

Since New Year's 2013 I've made a sort-of tradition of starting the new year off with a run, usually before many have crawled out of bed. That inaugural year was spend in Rio de Janeiro and the morning run down Copacabana beach, watching the orange-suited sanitation workers transform the iconic coast from party-central back to pristine sand was impressive. (As was dodging hard-core revellers stumbling off of said beaches, scratching their heads trying to figure out where they were!) Since then I've had memorable morning jogs in São Paulo's Ibirapuera Park, and Kuala Lumpur's KLCC, ringing in the new year with deep breaths and exercise-induced endorphins.

This year's jog-about-town featured the old walled city of Chiang-Mai, in northern Thailand.  A settlement since 1296, a square moat and defensive wall were established to protect against invasions from nearby Myanmar (Burma). A popular tourist destination, it is an easy place to wander the ancient streets, visit wats (Buddhist temples), and enjoy the slightly cooler temperatures of the Thai highlands.

Tha Phae Gate
Much of the walls are gone or in ruins. The most in-tact sections are found at
the corners or along the sides as the original entrances.
This particular gate is in the center of the east side of the walled city.

The main ubosot (ordination room) of the Wat Phra Singh
complex, the largest wat within the walled city.

More elephants...
Wat Phra Singh was built in 1345 and restored in 1925.

Buddhist worshipers place gold leafs on the Buddha statues
throughout the wats. Some become so covered over time
that they begin to lose their original dimensions.*

Wat Phan Tao
On New Years Eve we wandered in to this Buddhist monastery
after hearing melodious chanting from the street. I didn't have
my camera but seated all throughout the sand amidst hundreds
of tiny candles were dozens of monks, singing for several hours
leading up to the new year. It was a mesmerizing experience. 

Prayer bells in the small Wat Phan Tao monastery.

This city loves their elephants!

While most of the historic and cultural sites are within the walled city of Chiang-Mai, one wat, Phra That Doi Suthep, dating to 1383, sits atop a hill overlooking the city, about 15 km away. An easy Jeep or tuk-tuk ride away, this temple and monastery affords a great panoramic view of the city and surrounding countryside, once you hike up the 300+ steps to the top!

A lot of gold going on up at Wat Phra That Doi Suthep!

The complex is composed of many stupas and pagodas of various sizes.

Truth be told, I stumbled on a crooked piece of sidewalk on my New Year's Day morning run and took a bit of a spill. Picking myself up off the pavement and telling myself this was not an omen for the coming year, I couldn't help but think instead of all the other people these walls have seen fall in the hundreds of years they have been standing.  

On New Years Eve, as tradition goes, everyone lights a large paper lantern and
lets it go into the night sky. The sight of thousands of lanterns catching the same
air current, created a beautiful lighted "road" high overhead.

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*I believe this picture was taken at Wat Pan On, however, in my wanderings, I have lost track of where some of these shots were taken...or if I even was where I thought myself to be! Contrary to popular belief, it's surprisingly easy to become "lost" in a walled city.