Wat Doi Suthep

When we were done at Wat Pha Lat, we exited out onto the main road that winds up Doi Suthep mountain to Wat Doi Suthep. I'd been to this temple before, and I knew it was very touristy, but I thought I'd show Jeff the impressive naga staircase with over 300 steps. I thought about taking the trail up to this second temple, but I was also concerned about rain, so we hopped into one of the ubiquitous red sawngthaew waiting at the entrance of Wat Pha Lat.

Within five minutes on the winding road, I knew something was horribly wrong: I had motion sickness. This came out of nowhere; the last time I recall having motion sickness was on 10 hour bus ride down the mountain from Tana Toraja to Makassar in 2019. Anyway, this short ride up the mountain was pure torture, and I gratefully hopped off when we got to the entrance.

Due to the ongoing nausea, my enjoyment of Wat Doi Suthep was perfunctory. I made it up the naga staircase, and we enjoyed the views from the top before making our way down. At the base of the naga staircase, I had a fruit smoothie to help calm the nausea, and then I steeled myself for the ride down the mountain. The ride itself wasn't so bad, but we were annoyed by two young American men talking loudly.

Once we got back to our hotel, I crawled into bed. Jeff procured some dramamine. After a couple of hours rest (and waiting out the rain), I felt a lot better. We went out exploring a little bit before rounding off our day with another dinner at Chada Vegetarian Restaurant next to our hotel.Read more