Friday 17 January 2025 Exploring Wiang Kum Kam Again Wat Nanchang The third site at which we stopped is Wat Nanchang, sometimes written as Wat Nan Chang. Unlike many of the other signs with historical notes and descriptions in Thai and English, this sign only announces the site. Wat Nan Chang, like its neighbor Wat E Khang, is one of the most significant excavation finds in Wiang Kum Kam. The temple ruins were buried 1.8 […]
Friday 17 January 2025Exploring Wiang Kum Kam Again Wat Chang Kham The second site we visited was Wat Chang Kham, formerly known as Wat Kan Thom. It is called Wat Chang Kham today because of the elephant statues at the base of the chedi (“chang” in Thai translates to “elephant”). I did not see the elephant statues among the ruins. This is a small excavation site, with essentially only one structure uncovered, the foundation and […]
Friday 17 January 2025 Exploring Wiang Kum Kam Again One significant and largely unknown aspect of Chiang Mai’s history is the ancient lost city of Wiang Kum Kam. When the course of the Mae Ping River changed, the city was buried under 2-3 meters of mud and later abandoned. Wiang Kum Kam was rediscovered in 1984 when the Thailand Fine Arts Department, which is responsible for excavating and maintaining the country’s archaeological sites and museums, […]
Saturday 4 January 2025 Checking out the decorated Wat Chedi Luang I have visited and written about Wat Chedi Luang many, many times over the years. In many ways, it is my favorite temple. I used to sit at the base of the large chedi every morning for a short meditation. [I stopped when they started charging foreigners 50 baht to enter the temple grounds.] The King of Thailand, Vajiralongkorn or King Rama X, the […]
Sunday 29 December 2024 Visiting temples north of the old city of Chiang Mai Wat Santitham Wat Santitham is an old temple. Despite a good amount of research, I could not learn just how old the temple is. Over the twelve years I have been visiting Chiang Mai, I have seen many renovations take place at Wat Santitham, including the construction of an all-wood building, and I have watched the completion of the large chedi. […]
Sunday 22 December 2024 Hiking the Monks’ Trail to Wat Phra That Doi Suthep It is December 22 in Thailand and still December 21 in the United States, so it is my sister Carol’s birthday (she was a Christmas Carol). In honor of her birthday, I decided to hike up the Monks’ Trail all the way to Wat Phra That Doi Suthep. “Doi” in Thai is “mountain” and “Suthep” is the name of the mountain. […]
Sunday 15 December 2024 Excursion to Mae Rim to Wat Pa Darapirom and Darapirom Palace Museum This is a long post with many pictures, so it will be in two parts. First some background history followed by many pictures.Also note that the Princess’ name is commonly written in English four different ways: Dararasmi, Dararasmee, Dara Rasmi, Dara Rasmee. I will use the first, Dararasmi. Princess Dararasmi History Princess Dararasmi was the daughter of Prince Intavichayanon […]
Tuesday 16 December 2024 Walking east to see flood damage Walking away from the railroad I was going west towards the road to the Iron Bridge to get back to a more familiar part of Chiang Mai. I forgot to mention in my post about the Railway Station that the State Railways of Thailand is facing a challenge with the railroads regarding gauge. Railroad gauge is the distance between the insides of the two rails. […]
Tuesday 16 December 2024Walking east to see flood damage Continuing east from the Nawarat Bridge, I turned right onto San Pa Koi Road to visit the small, neighborhood temple Wat San Pa Khoi again, as I did on this same walk last year. There was some evidence that the area had been flooded with dried mud on some sidewalks, but the area is generally well cleaned up. Wat San Pa Khoi I entered the temple […]
Monday 16 December 2024 Walking east to see flood damage Being a little cooler than recent days, I decided to go for a longer walk east of the old city to the area around the Chiang Mai Railway Station. This is a longer walk of over 11 kilometers (7 miles) during which I passed places I visited a year ago and wanted to revisit, so this post will be in five parts. Here is the […]
Tuesday 17 December 2024 A birthday hike to Wat Phalad on the Monks Trail Today is the 121st anniversary of the Wright Brothers’ first flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, USA on 17 December 1903. Their first flight was 12 seconds covering 120 feet at a speed of 6.8 miles per hour, and on their fourth flight that day, they covered over 850 feet in 59 seconds. I contemplate this when I am in an […]
Thursday 19 December 2024 The Labyrinth at Wat Jedlin I walk by Wat Jedlin almost every day when going to Wild Rose Yoga or to Pump Fitness 2.0 for strength training with PT Ning. Every holiday season there is a labyrinth set up in the parking area of Wat Jedlin. And every year a different labyrinth is built. Walking back from a workout with Ning, I stopped to see this year’s labyrinth. I’ll cover more […]
James the Intrepid Pilgrim 