The City Center, Chiang Mai

 

Ah...the "cooler" weather of the mountains of Thailand.

You do realize that it was the same temperature as Bangkok, right?

Not at night, Spike! It did cool off a little more then.

I will concede. It was about 3͒ C cooler. Captain, just start telling them about Chiang Mai! (The name, by the way, means "New City.")

So, if you visit the northern city of Chiang Mai (only an hour and twenty minutes by plane from Bangkok), like Spike and me, be sure to include a Sunday night in your itinerary. You will want to be in the old City Center by 4pm on Sundays.

Aren't you getting a little ahead of yourself? Maybe we should talk about what the city center IS, first?

Ok, Spike. So...Chiang Mai. This was the capital of the Lanna Kingdom starting the end of the 13th century. To the south was the Kingdom of Siam, Burma to the west, and the Khmer Kingdom to the east. The city center of Chiang Mai was the original city, and parts of the old wall still surround this 1.5 by 1.5 kilometer square. This is why it's called "New City."

The City Wall

And the Lanna Kingdom's name meant "Kingdom of a Million Rice Fields." There were definitely a lot of rice paddies and terraced rice fields throughout the area.

The capital before Chiang Mai was Wiang Kum Kam, which we will talk about later. This city was covered in flood waters, so they moved the capital a few kilometers away. King Mengrai established the city, and it was big in trading with other kingdoms. It's located in a river valley with mountains around it.

Most people arrive at the old city through the Tha Phae Gate. When  you begin walking through the old area, you will see a lot of modern businesses, more traditional type businesses, houses, churches, mosques, and temples.

Tha Phae Gate

The city view outside of the gate

And you WILL see temples! In this small area, there are, according to one of our favorite Chiang Mai guides, Mr. Chris, 47 temples (Wats), 11 churches, and 6 mosques. You can literally see a Wat on almost every corner or main street! Don't worry, there's more to this than just places to worship. There is the Chiang Mai Arts and Culture Center, the Three Kings Monument, loads of restaurants, street food vendors, and a killer Sunday night market!

I knew you wouldn't be able to wait much longer before talking about the market!

What? It was fabulous! They close off the main street and parts of intersecting streets, have rows of vendors on both sides and down the middle. These are people selling a lot of handcrafted items: woodcarvings, paintings, handmade hill tribe clothing and jewelry, and more! Oh, and it's only on Sunday nights!

If we talk about this now, can we then get back to some of the important Wats?

Sure. We highly recommend spending the day in the area so you can visit the sites of interest before the market. A lot of the temples and museums close at 4 or 5pm. Plus, you will want to get there and avoid the traffic approaching the area.

Sunday Night Market

Stall with traditional Thai instruments for sale

Once the market starts, which is at 4pm, you will want to start browsing. Here is the catch: if you are the first customer at a booth, it is considered bad luck for the night if  you do not buy anything. It's good luck if the vendor makes a sale to you. Be KIND! Stay back a little if you are not really interested in buying something from the vendor and just want to look. This will allow someone else to be the "first customer."

It gets crowded quickly

If you are the first customer, bargain a little, but, remember, 100 baht is approximately $3 US dollars. Do you really need to bargain too much lower? Instead, we like to buy more than one and ask for a discount for buying two, or three items.

Or, if you already know it's a great bargain as priced, just pay the asking price! You will be able to eat in several of the temple grounds where there are mini-street food vendor food courts. You can also listen to buskers. Most of them are disabled so be sure to donate a little something to them! 

Traditional Thai music

Traditional Thai music by blind musicians

Now, as for the sites to see:
When Captain and I turned onto Ratchadamnoen Road from the gate, we didn't walk far before we were at our first Wat.

Directly across the street was a second Wat. Then a third not far from there! It got to the point we weren't sure of the names of the temples anymore, Spike!

    

    

  

 

    

We turned down a side street where there are two not-to-miss Wats side-by-side. The first is Wat Pan Tao. Unfortunately, the teak temple itself was closed for renovation. However, the temple area still has beautiful things to see! We got lucky because the temple gardens were decorated with a lot of prayer flags and lanterns.

Entrance to Wat Pan Tao 

Wat Pan Tao with bamboo scaffolding

Chedi behind Wat Tan Pao

        

LITERALLY right next door is Wat Chedi Luang. This is the one a lot of people go to Chiang Mai to see. It has a very large complex, and it does have a small entrance fee. Remember, these fees go to help with the maintenance and renovation of the wat.

Wat Chedi Luang is over 600 years old. On the grounds are a Buddhist library, a small building housing one of the original pillars of the city, and was the original home for the Emerald Buddha now in the Grand Palace in Bangkok. (There is a replica of the Buddha.)

If you visit this temple, be sure to be ready to walk! And keep in mind there is not a lot of shade in the temple complex.

 The entrance is guarded by two warriors and has an impressive archway and highly decorated doors.

      

The Temple

 So the Inthakhin Pillar Vihara is in a small little building on one side of the complex. The Inthakhin is the Lak Mueang of Chiang Mai, the city pillar. The pillar was, according to tradition, given to the people by the god, Indra. So long as the pillar is venerated, prosperity and good luck and protection will be granted to Chiang Mai.

Inthakhin Pillar Vihara

Now, there is a sign beside the pillar entrance:

Women and girls are not allowed into the building or area beyond the gate because it will bring bad luck to Chiang Mai. Captain and I are boys so we were able to go inside. Out of respect, however, we did not take pictures.

 

Spike and I then walked beside the temple building itself, and headed towards the middle of the temple grounds. There we found the remains of the original chedi from the 14th century. It's shorter than it used to be due to either an earthquake of cannon fire. There seems to be a bit of a dispute depending on the source of the information. One each side, there is a statue of Buddha. One side has the replica for the Emerald Buddha. Part of the chedi has been restored to show its original Naga stair case and the elephant statues that once adorned every side.

          

To the right of the Chedi is a Buddhist Manuscript Library and Museum. It was built in 2008 for the 90th anniversary of Phra Buddha Potchana Varaphon.

And since we LOVE to visit libraries so we took off our shoes and went inside. The first floor is the museum of Buddha statues and important items connected to Wat Chedi Luang. 

The Library

One thing that's different from most libraries we visit is that there aren't any books! At least, not bound books like we're used to. Instead, there are manuscripts made from either palm leaves, laan, or made of saa paper. The manuscripts are housed in boxes and cabinets.

   

Behind the chedi are several different Buddha statues and small buildings for worship.

  

  

Now, this sign had some important things to do to show respect, but the last rule caught our attention! Luckily, this is something Captain and I don't usually have to worry about.
 

     

Last, but not least, we visited the actual Wat.

 

Ha! And you thought we were finished with temples in the Old City, right? Well, we continued walking around because it was not quite time for the night market to begin. During this time, we ate lunch and also stopped for a cold drink. And, naturally, saw a few more temples along the way.

(Lemon Smoothie and Cashew Chicken at Terrace Grill)

(Iced Lemon Tea and Iced Mocha Caramel at K2 Cafe)

   

Wat Phra Singh is the second most visited temple in the Old City. There are craft vendors and we, as farangs, were charged to enter. It was only 40 baht so not a large fee for the maintenance of the buildings.

     

     

     

While the entire Wat was beautiful and ver nice, I do have to admit that the wax statues of the monks were a little disconcerting. They looked VERY real! 

  

I agree, Spike! I thought they WERE real and was worried about disturbing their prayers! All-in-all, give yourself plenty of time to walk through this area of Chiang Mai, stay hydrated, and go on a Sunday so you can enjoy the night market.