Saturday 30 November 2024
Returning to Wat Suan Dok a familiar and favorite temple

It is the end of November. And November was a very eventful month for me: long travel from Southern California to Bangkok, exploring temples in Bangkok, overnight in a hospital in Bangkok, returning to Chiang Mai, and easing into an exercise routine of exploratory walks, strength training at the gym, and [next week] adding frequent yoga sessions at Wild Rose Yoga. For a nice ending to the month and to ease into longer more exploratory walks, I decided to walk out to Wat Suan Dok, a favorite temple about which I have posted many times.

Wat Phra Kru

On the way west to Suan Dok Gate, after passing Wat Phra Singh, I passed a brand new temple in what had been a vacant lot a few years ago. As best I can tell, this is called Wat Phra Kru. Over the last two years, I saw this temple under construction and wondered why another temple was needed in the old city of Chiang Mai when inside the mile square of the old city there are already at least 50 temples. But apparently, one more was needed. Or possibly, there had been a temple on this lot in the past and it became important to build a replacement. The viharn (worship hall) and the chedi now appear complete. Here is a view of the viharn and the chedi:

The grounds are deserted and quiet, maybe a little eerie. While the entrance walkway was wide open, I still wondered if it was all right to be there. After only a few photos and a short walk around, I left and continued west towards Suan Dok Gate and Wat Suan Dok.

Wat San Ta Hoi Chedi

After crossing the very busy outer moat road (called Bunrueang Rit Road here) at Suan Dok Gate and starting the walk west on Suthep Road, I always see this old chedi, the last remains of a temple that was here long ago. Where the rest of the temple grounds would have been, is now occupied by the Anniversary Archives of Thailand, a government agency. The old temple was called Wat San Ta Hoi. Here is that old, rustic chedi, now being overgrown with some type of vine. I love this chedi, one of many in and around Chiang Mai where a temple once stood.

Continuing west (“Go west, young man!”) on Suthep Road, I passed a sign I had not noticed before, the Department of Highways. Not exactly sure why, but I thought it deserved a photo:

I entered the grounds of Wat Suan Dok. Of the 40,000 Buddhist temples in Thailand, Wat Suan Dok is one of ten listed as Royal Temples of the Third Class, so this is a very important temple to the Thai people. Whenever I have been there, it is quite quiet with very few people. I have posted many, many photos of Wat Suan Dok in the past, so just a few this time. I’ll cover the story relating Wat Suan Dok to Wat Phra That Doi Suthep when I make the hike up the mountain to Doi Suthep later in December or January. The viharn (worship or assembly hall) at Wat Suan Dok is the largest in all of the Chiang Mai region. Here is a side view of the viharn and the chedi behind it under renovation giving an idea of the scale. The second photo is a view from just inside the entrance.

It is about 35-40 meters from the entrance to the alter with the large Buddha statues. A closer view of the seated Buddha with the head of the standing Buddha behind it.

At the back is a very tall standing Buddha staring out at the chedi. It is difficult to get a good direct photo because of other things in the way. I love this standing Buddha – tall and reverent.

Just to the side of the standing Buddha I saw these smaller Buddha statues. Likely placed here in honor of someone, they are appealing in their inconsistency.

And before I left, a photo of me kneeling in front of the seated Buddha. Yes, I really was there.

From just south of the viharn, here is another view of the large chedi under renovation. A year ago, they had just constructed bamboo scaffolding to start the process. Now, it is covered with draping and more scaffolding and I could see men working high up in the scaffolding.

I had to photograph this large, majestic tree on the grounds close to where I took the photo of the chedi. A beautiful tree:

Wat Kao Tue

Immediately south of and now considered to be a part of Wat Suan Dok, is another very small temple, Wat Kao Tue. All that is left is a small viharn, and it was completely renovated about three years ago since I first found it. Inside the small viharn is an important Buddha image, the Prajoe Kao Tue Buddha statue. In researching this temple, I found the following: “information at the temple itself tells us that King Muangkaew (1495-1525) ordered a craftsman from Chiang Saen to make this statue. It was his intention to bring it to Wat Phra Singh. It turned out far too heavy to move it to Wat Phra Singh so he decided to build an ubosot to house it.” That ubosot at Wat Kao Tue and the Prajoe Kao Tue Buddha statue:

Walk to Wat Sri Suphan

Still feeling energetic, I decided to walk to the southwest corner of the moat, Ku Ruang Corner, and then down to Wat Sri Suphan to see if Khun Nun is still there doing the tok sen massage/energy work. I was also curious about whether the chedi that had partially collapsed in the rainy season just over a year ago had yet been restored. So first back to the moat from Wat Suan Dok, then south along the moat to Ku Ruang Corner. There is a decent walking path outside the road, but just after a [the only] pedestrian crossover, there was road construction forcing me to cross over on the pedestrian bridge. The view of all the trees along the moat was nice so of course I took a photo.

Fron Ku Ruang Corner, I was able to take a few sois (a “soi” is a small road, larger than an alley, smaller than a road, typically one traffic lane wide) to come to Wat Sri Suphan, known as the “Silver Temple,” from the west. I’ll make a more thorough exploration there with more photographs at a future date. Upon entering the temple grounds I saw this sign in front of the viharn announcing an uncoming silverware and lacquerware festival.

At the back of the viharn, I did see Khun Nun and booked an appointment for two tok sen sessions next week and two weeks after. Also, the chedi has not yet been restored, but a roof and supports have been added to prevent further deterioration. Here are two views of the chedi now under the awning and with supports holding up the side that did not collapse.

By the time I returned to The 3-Sis I had walked over 8 kilometers (5 miles). I rested a little, cleaned up and headed down to the Story 106 co-working space to keep up work on my blog. At dinner time, I went to an old favorite, Street Pizza and Wine House. Always a good meal! Basalmic salad, small pepperoni/olive/jalapeno pizza, and a watermelon smoothie:

Another good day in Chiang Mai!

Next: Walk to Wat Chai Monkhon on the Mae Ping River