…The Great Northern Road Trip 2020 : Day 5
The story starts HERE.
“What on earth am I doing in Chiang Mai province?” I wondered. I was headed to Mae Sariang in Mae Hong Son province from Tak town and province via Lampang and Lamphun provinces, or so I thought. But, because of the mountains, the roads and provincial borders have very strange shapes. So, even though I was about 100kms south of Chiang Mai town as the fly crows, it seems I was visiting Chiang Mai province too. Confused yet? I was.
I realize this is the third wat article for Day 5 – there were in fact others that I felt were not worthy of a story – but this one I’d highlighted in my trip planning notes as “Spectacular. Priority!!!” Not hard to see why…
The interior was also wondrously white.
Now, if you’ve been following along with today’s route, you’ll have figured that anywhere would classify as the middle of nowhere, except for towns of departure and destination. Well, there was one small town with the bizarre name of Hot. So I drove past Hot City Hall and the Hot Police Station. I wondered if I should rush in with a bucket of ice.
But, I couldn’t help trying to figure why anyone would build such a magnificent temple not just in the middle of nowhere but in the deepest depths of the middle of nowhere.
It probably won’t come as a surprise that I saw no one. And I was there at least an hour. I realized I was unlikley to find food en-route, so I’d stocked up on snacks and goodies at a 7-11 before leaving Tak, and I sat outside the wat eating a late lunch of unrecognizable sandwiches while staring at the whiteness. I think they were supposed to be salmon and mayo, but it’s hard to tell with 7-11 food. At least you can live on it.
Anyways, if you ever felt the need to say a few prayers at this place, you’d have a major road trip on your hands from just about anywhere. At least I got to enjoy the place, and now you can too…
However, I didn’t linger too long as I still had at least three hours of mountains ahead of me.
