Wat Chieng Man

Wat Chieng Man, originally uploaded by Robbi Baba.

My very last morning in Chiang Mai I woke up at dawn and set out on my funky bike to find Wat Chieng Man--the oldest temple in the city.
I wheeled into the deserted temple compound just as the sun was rising--a great glowing orange ball in the sky--and was treated to the most delightful sense of deja vu.
Our first day in Chiang Mai, four years before, we'd hired a guide named Poon, to take us around in her air conditioned car. It was very hot indeed and the memory of this place was burned right into my heart. It might have been the first temple we saw. It certainly made a grand impression on me.
In fact had been looking for it the whole time I'd been in Chiang Mai, not knowing the name, and felt overwhelming gratitude to find it at last, at sunrise, on my last day. There was even blue in the sky, and clouds to catch the sunrise.