Doi Inthanon

We took a break from the oppressive heat of the city to visit the twin pogodas atop Thailand's highest mountain, Doi Inthanon in the National park of the same name, around 100km west of Chiang Mai.

For the last few days, we'd been slowly boiled alive in our own bodily fluids. It was 42°c in the shade and what felt like 120% humidity, so it was nice to reach the 2,565m summit where it was a crisp, cool 23°c.

I'd read that the views from the top were incredible, but I couldn't see a thing through the haze. Even my camera's UV filter couldn't cut through it.

The gardens were beautiful though, so we didn't feel like we'd missed anything. It's amazing that they can cultivate such a lush collection of hydrangeas and cuphea in baking-hot conditions like this.

The pagodas were built in the 1980s and 1990s as a tribute to the late King and his Queen. The surrounding landscape is just as pretty. Well worth a visit.

These photographs were taken with my Canon EOS 5D Mark IV and the extraordinary Canon 35 mm f/1.4 L II USM .