Chiang Mai and Doi Suthep

There's always a lot of hype about the Islands and the great shopping mecca which is Bangkok. Tourists come to Thailand without ever thinking of venturing to the northern areas of Thailand, travellers almost always include the northern areas. The most well known destination in the north would be Chiang Mai, and many agencies recommend this as a "go-to" for those who do wish to explore a little more. Chiang Mai has a lot to offer tourists. It's a big city, although not of Bangkok proportions, and besides also being a beautiful city, it is the gateway to Chiang Rai and the neigbouring countries - the Golden Triangle where Thailand, Laos and Myanmar borders meet. Chiang Mai has beautiful mountain scenery, many yoga and meditation retreats, a very popular zoo for those who enjoy zoos (which I don't), an abundance of shopping and eating venues, and one of the best Universities in the country. My first visit to Chiang Mai was for 2 weeks, and from there I visited the Tiger Sanctuary (not to be confused with the infamous tiger temple), Tha-pai gate markets, and a very memorable trip over the mountain to Doi Suthep to see the temple on the mountain, and a long, leisurely half day visit to a hill-tribe village. Most other days I explored a lot of what Chiang Mai has to offer, and I wasn't disappointed. Subsequent trips to this lovely city were much shorter - usually every weekend and long weekends. At the time I was a 5 hour bus-trip away and would usually arrive at around 10pm on Friday nights and leave again at around 4pm on Sunday afternoons. Let's take a look at some of those pics.