January 16, 2014 Thursday

Across the street at Wat Chedi Luang, there is a construction project in progress. When many Asian cities were built long ago, the first thing that was done was to sink a “city pillar”, a pole or something similar indicating the center of the city. In Chiang Mai, the city pillar is at Wat Chedi Luang (which makes much sense as Wat Chedi Luang is approximately at the center of the old walled city). The construction project is to complete, rebuild, or make more suitable the structure housing the city pillar.

I have been watching some of the progress of the construction when I walk by Wat Chedi Luang every day (observing construction is a mild fascination of mine, regardless of the location). Today, they were pouring concrete, and the process is little different than it is in the U.S.

The large tree will be preserved – this is a very highly regarded tree in Chiang Mai, called the city pillar tree (because it is next to the city pillar), and it is believed that if the tree were to fall, bad things will happen to Chiang Mai.

The structure in the background is the upper floors of 3-Sis Guest House, right across the street from Wat Chedi Luang.

Hua Lin Corner – the NW Corner of the Wall

I walked along the west side of the wall from close to the Ku Rang Corner at the SW up past Suan Dok Gate on the west side to Hua Lin Corner at the NW. I like all four corners – no favorites. Here is a view looking from the west side up to the corner.

I glanced to my left and voila – there is Chiang Mai RAM Hospital where the drama two weeks ago took me for a night. Above the sign is only a part of how large this hospital really is. It is very large, very modern, and from my experience, quite efficient. I was impressed, and have no plans to return other than walking by. For all the times I have made this walk last year and this, I never looked that direction and never noticed where Chiang Mai RAM was. I had heard of it, I knew about it being highly regarded, but I somehow missed it when I walked by many, many times. Here it is.

And just a few meters (well, a little more than a few…more like 60 or 70 meters) past where I took the previous two pictures is the actual corner. The sign says in Thai and English “Hua Lin Corner”.

Here is a view from the corner of the sidewalk looking east down the north part of the moat. Part of the old wall is just visible between the rightmost two palm trees.

A note – almost all palm trees in Thailand and many other parts of SE Asia are coconut palms. They have a few date palms, but those are fairly rare, especially in the northern regions. I’m not sure there are any coconut palms in southern California, whereas we have many, many date palms of various types.

Here I am at Hua Lin corner. Perhaps not my best picture, a Chinese couple offered to take it for me. The fashion police can note that I am not wearing a t-shirt.

Wat Lok Molee (again)

I headed east along the north side of the moat, and stopped at Wat Lok Molee again. I love the old teak viharn (worship hall), and I love the old,old chedi. This is if the Mondo style where there are insets in all four sides for an image of the Buddha to be placed.

Three Kings Construction Progress

I headed south into through Chang Puak Gate, a gate where at one time only royalty could enter, and back to my home at 3-Sis. On that route, I passed the Monument to the Three Kings, where the whole square is being upgraded, with the area in a construction mess, almost kaos. Here are part of the 20 or more trees that were delivered today (I did not see them when I walked by this morning).