Exploring Mt. Inthanon – Day Trip

Some homes are raised so that their livestock (pigs, buffalo, chickens) can live underneath.

The main source of income (other than tourism) is agriculture including rice and coffee.

The families of this village (and many hill tribe villages, we were told) are Christian. When the British came to this area (and the French to Laos) missionaries brought the Christian religion with them.

Heading back down the mountain again we stopped at the King and Queen pagodas. It was rather foggy making the place feel dream-like:

There were many stairs but given that Mindy had been both drugged up to fight car sickness and had been dealing with a bit of altitude sickness, we opted for the escalator:

Each pagoda was built on the 60th birthday of the King and Queen, respectively. Therefore, the King’s pagoda is 25 years old and the Queen’s is 20. Mindy and Ligeia both agree that the Queen’s pagoda is much more beautiful with purple being its featured color.

We enjoyed the serenity of the gardens and this beautiful bridge surrounding the Queen’s pagoda:

Our tour continued down the mountain and our next stop was a Royal Project to help the Hmong people (a hill-tribe) earn a living through organic farming of vegetables, fruits and grains rather than their previous livelihood of growing opium, which had been the number one crop in the area. For us this was an opportunity to do our weekly food shopping so we bought green peppers, tomatoes and broad beans.

Overall it was a really nice day. We were told that the views are gorgeous starting in about November. Not surprisingly, during the rainy season (June to October) the summit is often covered with fog.

Thanks for following our adventures with us.
Love,
Mindy and Ligeia :):)