Doi Suthep or Know what you eat!

Our next day in Chiang Mai was a cultural journey to Doi Suthep, one of the most important temples in the North, meaning when you tell a monk that you went to Doi Suthep, they all get super excited and look at you with a lot of appreciation. So the temple is located on the hill and opens up to beautiful views of Chiang Mai. Getting there was a little work out-306 steps up ,but the effort was well paid off by the beauty of the temple and its tranquil atmosphere.

On the way up, we have noticed multiple food stalls with fries, fried bananas, strawberrys and lots of other local food. Hunger was approaching, and going all the steps up on empty stomach didn't feel right...Hmm smells good, we said and decided to have some snacks. Strawberrys with sugar, salt and chilis looked interesting and some fries with chilis nearby. These were not regular fries, but they looked plain enough and nothing to worry about. Eating and wondering around a little more, we met a thai man, who happened to work in the states long time ago. Chatting a little about Thailand and New York, out of curiosity I asked what is the name of the thing that i'm eating? The answer was:"Ohh,, this is really good! It is fried pork skin!!!"""....
The following picture was taken right at that moment- my reaction was predictable...sh..t..what the hell??? as i was almost puking out all this fries i just ate. The lesson learned the hard way-Know what you eat!!
and never ever I ate without knowing what it is.....



Ready to go up:
On the last breath:
the light in the end of the steps:

proud of getting there...and discovering that the temple is under construction....
but still beautifull:

getting a blessing :

gold:

the monks: mostly all the men in Thailand join a monkhood in their lifes called Sangha. Becoming a monk is equal making a merit for yourself and for your family, while merit and goodness is considered to be something that determains person's Karma.
The service in the monkhood might be 3 month and more, and is usualy initiated by a man above 20 years old ,before a major parts of life like marriage etc. While every monk needs to observe 227 rules, the main ones are: refrain from destroying living beings;refrain from taking what is not given;refrain from sexual misconduct;refrain from false speech; and refrain from taking intoxicants. With all that, monks are highly respected in Thailand and represent a very valuable layer of society, a subject of pride to every parent.


the view from above:


now can we go to the waterfalls??? pleeeaaase??