Chiang Mai Doi Suthep Temple & Meo Hilltribe Village is set amongst the peaks of Doi Suthep. It has a lovely setting with a panoramic view of Chiangmai and the Mae Ping River valley. Although Wat Doi Suthep is the most recently built of the temples dating from the Lanna Thai period, it is the symbol of Chiangmai. The site was selected by sending an elephant to roam at will up the mountainside. When it reached this spot, it trumpeted, circled three times, and kneeled down and thus interpreted as a sign indicating and auspicious site.


The Hmong (Meo) live in houses that sit right on the ground, not on stilts as do most on the other tribes. However, the main floor of their houses is not at ground level, but rests upon a kind of above-ground basement or root cellar that they use for food storage. Moreover, their house-fronts slope outward and downward, an architectural feature that is the trademark of their villages. The Hmong , even more than the other tribes, practice a strict male-female division of labor. One custom that especially illustrates this is that of giving a newborn boy a gift of metal from which he will one they forge a weapon, whereas newborn girls receive no special gift.


The Hmong are a diligent, patient, and independent people, fond of wearing their silver ornaments during ceremonies and much devoted to the sky spirit they believe has created both the world and their own ancient way of life.


Doi Suthep Temple & Meo Hilltribe Village is the most beautiful and sacred temple containing a holy relic of the Lord Buddha, a panoramic view of the city can be seen from here at 3,500 feet above sea level. Then visit Meo Hilltribe village at DOI PUI.