Doi Suthep-Pui National Park

This guide to Doi Suthep-Pui National Park opens in the 1360s, when a monk in Sukhothai unearthed what he believed was a piece of the Buddha's own shoulder bone and sent it north to King Kue Na for safekeeping. When the relic split in two before it could be enshrined, the king made an unusual choice: strap the second piece to a white elephant and let the animal wander off to choose its own resting place. It follows the elephant's climb past a waterfall shrine partway up, along the same switchback road you travel today. Listen for the birdsong in the forest that has grown up around that long walk.