Doi Suthep (ดอยสุเทพ), is a mountain ("doi") west of

Chiang Mai Chiang Mai, sometimes written as Chiengmai or Chiangmai, is the largest city in northern Thailand, the capital of Chiang Mai province and the List of municipalities in Thailand#Largest cities by urban population, second largest city in Thailan ...

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

. It is in elevation and is one of the twin peaks of a

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

mountain. The other peak is known as Doi Pui and is slightly higher (). Doi Suthep is from

city center. The vegetation below is mostly

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and botany, the term deciduous () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed Leaf, leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

forest, with evergreen forest above this elevation. Originally, before the Doi Suthep forest was declared a national park, a royal decree in 1949 designated it as a protected forest.

Name

Doi Suthep has other names in legend, such as Ucchugiri, Doi Aoi Chang, or Doi Gala. Its current name comes from Ruesi Vasuthep, who practiced asceticism on this mountain over a thousand years ago.

Geography

The Doi Suthep - Doi Pui mountain is part of the Thanon Thong Chai Range, the southernmost subrange of the Shan Highland system. Other high peaks of the same range are Doi Luang Chiang Dao (), Doi Pui (), and Doi Inthanon, the highest point in Thailand, at . Creeks flowing eastward down from Doi Suthep include Huai Kaew (ห้วยแก้ว), Huai Kok Ma (ห้วยคอกม้า),

Huai Pha Lat The Huai River, formerly romanized as the Hwai, is a major river in East China, about long with a drainage area of . It is located about midway between the Yellow River and Yangtze River, the two longest rivers and largest drainage basins in ...

(ห้วยผาลาด), Huai Mae Nai (ห้วยแม่ใน), and others. The creeks all flow into the Ping River. Waterfalls located east of the summit of Doi Suthep include: * Monthathan Waterfall (น้ำตกมณฑาธาร), located in the evergreen rainforest * Sai Yoi Waterfall (น้ำตกไทรย้อย), located in the evergreen rainforest * Huai Kaew Waterfall (น้ำตกห้วยแก้ว), located just downstream of Pha Ngoep (ผาเงิบ) cliff and Wang Bua Ban (วังบัวบาน) pond *Maa Hai Waterfall (น้ำตกรตาดหมาไห้), located on the southern slopes of Doi Suthep

Geology

The mountain consists of uniform Lower Carboniferous

which was originally formed underground 330 million years ago. It was uplifted 50 million years ago during the

Himalayan Orogeny The geology of the Himalayas is a record of the most dramatic and visible creations of the immense mountain range formed by plate tectonic forces and sculpted by weathering and erosion. The Himalayas, which stretch over 2400 km between t ...

. Mid-

Ordovician The Ordovician ( ) is a geologic period and System (geology), system, the second of six periods of the Paleozoic Era (geology), Era, and the second of twelve periods of the Phanerozoic Eon (geology), Eon. The Ordovician spans 41.6 million years f ...

shale Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of Clay mineral, clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g., Kaolinite, kaolin, aluminium, Al2Silicon, Si2Oxygen, O5(hydroxide, OH)4) and tiny f ...

, 475 million years old, is located south of the peak in the southern part of the national park.

Temple

The temple

Wat Phra That Doi Suthep Wat Phra That Doi Suthep (, , ) is a Theravada Buddhist temple (wat) in Chiang Mai Province, Thailand. The temple is often referred to as "Doi Suthep" although this is actually the name of the mountain where it is located. It is a sacred site to ...

is on top of a hill (around ) forming Doi Suthep. This Buddhist place of worship dates back to the 14th century. It is an important venue for the devout and a legend featuring a

white elephant A white elephant is a possession that its owner cannot dispose of without extreme difficulty, and whose cost, particularly that of maintenance, is out of proportion to its usefulness. In modern usage, it is a metaphor used to describe an object, ...

is connected to this revered site. There are views of Chiang Mai city and its surroundings from the top of this mountain. On the slopes of Doi Suthep, above Chiang Mai, lies a temple called

Wat Pha Lat Wat Pha Lat (; lit. 'the monastery at the sloping rock'), also known as Wat Sakadagami (), is a Buddhist temple located on the slopes of Doi Suthep, above Chiang Mai. Founded by King Kuena of Lanna in the 14th century, Wat Pha Lat served original ...

. Founded by King Kuena of Lanna in the 14th century, Wat Pha Lat originally served as a resting place for pilgrims journeying up to Wat Phra That Doi Suthep

National park

This mountain is part of the Doi Suthep-Pui National Park. The park was established in 1981 and has an area of that includes the Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep temple as well as Bhubing Rjanives Palace, further up the mountain. Doi Pui, the other peak of the massif, is close by via a paved road as well as through forest paths. Hmong hill tribe people live in the surrounding area.

Environment

The chief of Doi Suthep-Pui National Park voiced his concerns in 2018 about the increasing amount of garbage produced by the large number of tourists visiting Doi Suthep temple, a must-see site for Chiang Mai tourists. Untreated water and garbage from more than 300 shops and a large number of tourists is damaging the area's natural environment. Untreated waste water flows directly into the Huai Rap Sadet Waterfall. The annual Visakha Bucha pilgrimage up Doi Suthep leaves more than 30

tonne The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1,000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton in the United States to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the s ...

s of garbage in its wake.

Housing Project

The Thai government began building a customary housing project for justice officials on forested land owned by the Treasury Department in 2015. The project was going to include 13 flats for general staff in one area and 45 houses for judges and senior officials in another. There was media based activism and street protests mobilizing against the project because of environmental concerns. As of May 2018 the Thai government has agreed to stop the infrastructural project and reforestation began.

References

External links

{{Commons category, Doi Suthep Thanon Thong Chai Range Geography of Chiang Mai province Mountains of Thailand