Thailand (Lonely Planet, 13th Edition) - China Williams [226]
WAT CHIANG MAN
Considered to be the oldest wát in the city, Wat Chiang Man (Map; 0 5337 5368; Th Ratchaphakhinai; donations appreciated), is believed to have been established by the city’s founder, Phaya Mengrai. The wát features typical northern Thai temple architecture.
Two important Buddha images are kept in a glass cabinet inside the smaller sanctuary to the right of the main chapel. Phra Sila is a marble bas-relief Buddha that stands about 30cm high and reportedly came from Sri Lanka or India 2500 years ago, but since no Buddha images were produced anywhere before around 2000 years ago, it must have arrived later. The well-known Phra Sae Tang Khamani, a crystal seated-Buddha image, was shuttled back and forth between Thailand and Laos like the Emerald Buddha. It’s thought to have come from Lavo (Lopburi) 1800 years ago and stands just 10cm high. The chapel housing the venerated images is open between 9am and 5pm.
Inside the larger chapel are red-and-gold stencilled murals completed in 1996 to celebrate the 700th anniversary of the founding of the city. The murals depict scenes from the life of Chiang Mai’s founding father, Phaya Mengrai. Going clockwise from the front door, the scenes depict Mengrai’s birth, his rule of Chiang Rai and its winding river and his expansion into the walled city of Lamphun. Another panel shows him hunting on Doi Suthep and being directed by the gods to build his new city. The final panel shows his death from a lightning bolt.
In front of the bòht (ordination hall), a stone slab, engraved in 1581, bears the earliest known reference to the city’s 1296 founding.
CHIANG MAI CITY ARTS & CULTURAL CENTRE
The Chiang Mai City Arts & Cultural Centre (Map; 0 5321 7793; www.chiangmaicitymuseum.org; Th Ratwithi; adult/child 90/40B; 8.30am-5.30pm Tue-Sun) offers a fine primer on Chiang Mai history. The 1st floor is comfortably air-conditioned and has engaging displays on religious and cultural elements of northern Thailand. The 2nd floor is not air-conditioned but the rooms have been converted into historic settings: there’s an early Lanna village, a temple and a train display. From the 2nd floor you can see more of the beauty of this post-colonial building, Chiang Mai’s former Provincial Hall, originally built in 1924. It was awarded a Royal Society of Siamese Architects award in 1999 for its faithful architectural restoration.
ANUSAWARI SAM KASAT
Proudly wearing 14th-century royal garb, the bronze Three Kings Monument (Map; Th Phra Pokklao) commemorates the alliance forged between the three northern Thai-Lao kings (Phaya Ngam Meuang of Phayao, Phaya Mengrai of Chiang Mai and Phaya Khun Ramkhamhaeng of Sukhothai) in the founding of Chiang Mai. The statues mark one of the city’s spiritual centres and have become a shrine to local residents, who regularly leave offerings of flowers, incense and candles at the bronze feet in return for blessings from the powerful spirits of the three kings.
WAT PHUAK HONG
This neighbourhood wát (Map; 0 5327 8864; off Th Samlan; donations appreciated), located behind Suan Buak Hat (Buak Hat Park), contains the locally revered Chedi Si Pheuak. The chedi is more than 100 years old and features the ‘stacked spheres’ style seen only here and at Wat Ku Tao, and most likely influenced by Thai Lü chedi in China’s Xishuangbanna (also spelled Sipsongpanna) district, Yunnan.
SUNDAY WALKING STREET
A unique shopping experience, the Sunday Walking Street (pp284-5; Th Ratchadamnoen; 4pm-midnight Sun) offers better-than-average products and a good dose of provincial culture. It is also a reminder of an itinerant merchant tradition of the ancient Chinese caravans. Arrive early when Th Ratchadamnoen is first blocked off to vehicle traffic to watch the vendors unpack their swollen