Tuesday, 13 January 2015 Five Temple Journey Part 1: Lamphun

I hired a driver and went on a bit of a road trip today to see five temples, first in Lamphun, about 60-70 minutes south and slightly east of Chiang Mai, second a temple in the Chom Tong district, 80-90 minutes further south and west of Lamphun, and then three temples on the return route back to Chiang Mai city.

The drive from the 3-Sis in the center of the old Chiang Mai city to Lamphun took about 75 minutes. Parts of the drive are interesting, especially for about 15 km (10 miles) where the road is lined with very old. very large trees spaced about 50 meters apart on both sides of the road.

The first temple was Wat Phra That Hariphunchi in the smaller city of Lamphun. This is a very old temple, connected in history to Wat Suan Dok, and Wat Phra That Doi Suthep in Chiang Mai. The temple dates back to the 11th century, but the large chedi is said to date back t the 9th century, very old.  What appeared odd to me, however, is that the gold chedi is said to be very old, but there is a second chedi that appears older. Here are a few pictures:

First, the entrance of Wat Phra That Hariphunchai. almost all temples have a sign at or near the entrance announcing their name and where you are. Many have a subtitle in English.

Past the entrance sign to the rather majestic entrance itself, protected by two giant (about 3 meters high) Singha (lion-like) animals.

And then to the main viharn (worship hall), that, like almost all temple viharn, opens to the east to greet the rising sun. This is a very large viharn. And the temple grounds in general are quite large with schools for children and also a monk school next to and connected to the temple grounds.

A view of the inside of the main viharn. The Buddha images are large and quite beautiful. I did not get a picture that shows how large the inside of the viharn really is – it is very large, probably more than 2500 people could easily fit inside seated on the floor. This is a very large structure, clearly an important temple in the area.

A view of the side of the viharn with the golden chedi at the back. From the style of the roof, this is a Lanna-style viharn (as opposed to Burmese-style or Central-Thailand-style).

The golden chedi at the back of the viharn, a typical layout of temples; the viharn is at the entrance, with the doors pointing east, and the chedi is at the back of the viharn.

This chedi and temple is quite obviously very important. There were many, many Thai people here, walking the circumference of the chedi with a lotus flower in their hands seven times in prayer. 

A bell tower marks the corner of the square around the chedi (there are four of them, one at each corner). Very ornate.

And there is what appears to be an even older chedi off to the side, with almost no one around it. I found this chedi to be quite beautiful, and the style is very different than those I have seen elsewhere.

I am glad I made the trip to Lamphun to see this temple. I have heard of it, and in my past visits, there was never a convenient time to make the trip. I am here now, and have many, many pictures.

Next: Five Temple Journey Part 2: Wat Phra That Si Chom Thong