Thailand (Lonely Planet, 13th Edition) - China Williams [314]
Post office (Th Charoen Meuang; 8.30am-4.30pm Mon-Fri, 9am-noon Sat)
Sights
WAT LUANG
This is the oldest wát in Phrae, probably dating from the founding of the city in the 12th or 13th century. Phra That Luang Chang Kham, the large octagonal Lanna-style chedi, sits on a square base with elephants supporting it on all four sides. As is sometimes seen in Phrae and Nan, the chedi is occasionally swathed in Thai Lü fabric.
The veranda of the main wí·hhn is in the classic Luang Prabang–Lan Xang style but has unfortunately been bricked in with laterite. Opposite the front of the wí·hhn is Pratu Khong, part of the city’s original entrance gate. No longer used as a gate, it now contains a statue of Chao Pu, an early Lanna ruler.
Also on the temple grounds is a museum displaying temple antiques, ceramics and religious art dating from the Lanna, Nan, Bago and Mon periods. A 16th-century, Phrae-made sitting Buddha on the 2nd floor is particularly exquisite. There are also some 19th-century photos with English labels on display, including some gruesome shots of a beheading. The museum is usually open weekends only, but the monks will sometimes open it on weekdays on request.
WAT PHRA NON
Located west of Wat Luang is a 300-year-old wát named after its highly revered reclining prá norn (reclining Buddha image). The bòht (central sanctuary) was built around 200 years ago and has an impressive roof with a separate, two-tiered portico and gilded, carved, wooden facade with Ramayana scenes. The wí·hhn behind the bòht contains the Buddha image, swathed in Thai Lü cloth with bead and foil decoration.
WAT JOM SAWAN
Outside the old city on Th Ban Mai, this temple was built by local Shan in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and shows Shan and Burmese influences throughout. On our most recent visit the temple was in the process of being refurbished and was looking better than ever, although the interior was not yet finished. An adjacent copper-crowned chedi has lost most of its stucco to reveal the artful brickwork beneath.
OTHER TEMPLES
Across from the post office within the old city, Wat Phra Baht Ming Meuang combines two formerly separate temple compounds (one of which contains a museum that is sporadically open), a Buddhist school, an old chedi, an unusual octagonal drum tower made entirely of teak and the highly revered Phra Kosai, which closely resembles the Phra Chinnarat in Phitsanulok. Just outside the northeastern corner of the moat, Wat Sa Bo Kaew is a Shan-Burmese–style temple similar to Wat Jom Sawan.
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THE DANCING TIGER
Kaeng Sua Ten (Dancing Tiger Rapids) are a series of rocky outcrops along the Mae Nam Yom, in Phrae’s Song district. Part of Mae Yom National Park, the rapids are wild and beautiful, and are also the site of one of the more long-standing environmental conflicts in Thailand.
Since the early 1980s, the Thai government has repeatedly announced plans to build a dam across the Mae Nam Yom at Kaeng Sua Ten. Villagers in Tambon Sa-Iab, the closest settlement to Kaeng Sua Ten, have vocally, and occasionally violently, objected to the plan. They claim that the dam would irrevocably alter their traditional lifestyle, forcing an estimated 2700 families to move away from their homes, and flood 3200 hectares of land, some of which include Thailand’s last remaining natural stands of golden teak.
Many elsewhere in Phrae and northern Thailand would like to see the dam built, as it is claimed that it will help control rampant flooding of the Mae Yom during the wet season and manage water during frequent droughts. Politicians in Bangkok claim that the dam will provide additional power for the country and irrigation for farmers in provinces south of Phrae. And perhaps most significantly, dam building has been an important part of the king’s rural development policy for several decades, and as recently as 1995, the monarch publicly pushed for the dam to be built.
In reality, the government’s reasons for proposing the dam have inconsistently fluctuated between a need