Wednesday 29 January 2025 Temples I see often and seldom visit On Ratchamanka Road is Wat Pha Khao, a temple I pass often and have seldom felt compelled to enter and explore. Here is the sign on the corner with very sexy-looking angels in the carving. Inside, there is a coffee shop by the entrance, and further in, a viharn and chedi. There are always several people and monks here, so this is a fairly […]
Saturday 25 January 2025 Moving from The 3-Sis to See You Soon After leaving Wat Phan Tao, I walked north to Chang Phuak Gate, the gate on the north side of the wall. Part of the wall by the gate collapsed after being undermined by heavy rains about three years ago. When the damage was assessed, more of the ancient gate foundation was discovered which led to the entire area of the gate and road […]
Friday 17 January 2025 Exploring Wiang Kum Kam Again Wat That Kaow Our next stop was at Wat That Kaow. The name of Wat That Kaow (or Wat That Khao) translates as “White Relic Temple,” and is in reference to white lime plaster that would have once covered the chedi. This temple is located just outside the original Wiang Kum Kam city wall and is one of the most visited temple sites today. The ruins […]
Friday 17 January 2025 Exploring Wiang Kum Kam Again Wat E Khang Just across the soi from Wat Nan Chang is Wat E Khang. Wat E Khang is one of the most impressive ruins in all of Wiang Kum Kam. There is the foundation of a large viharn and, most surprisingly, a nearly intact chedi connected by a brick pathway. At the rear of the viharn are stairways on each side leading up to the […]
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 […]
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 Ku Tao Wat Ku Tao is a Burmese temple north of the Chiang Mai old city. The temple, which supports the Shan community, was built in 1613 to enshrine the ashes of Nawrahta Minsaw, a Burmese prince who successfully invaded the Kingdom of Lanna and reigned as King from 1579 to 1608. The temple is very colorful in a different […]
Sunday 29 December 2024 Visiting temples north of the old city of Chiang Mai Today I have no yoga, strength training, or a specific hike planned. I decided to revisit a temple quite a distance north of the old city, Wat Chiang Chom with an especially appealing chedi. On the walk back, I’ll stop at a Burmese temple I have not seen for a while, Wat Ku Tao, and then have another look at Wat […]
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 […]
Thursday 12 December 2024 South of Chiang Mai Old City and Wat Yang Kuang Revisiting Wat Yang Kuang in the Hai Ya sub-district of Chiang Mai. I was walking south down Suriyawong Alley. After passing the two old standalone chedis (see my previous blog post), I came to the entrance of Wat Yang Kuang, sometimes written as Wat Yang Guang. There are two entrances, an old pedestrian entrance, and an entrance into which cars can […]
Friday 6 December 20204Three temples in Chiang Mai Old City Wat Chiang Man Leaving Wat Saen Muang Ma, I went east through a soi (Ratchapakhina Soi 1) connecting Prapokklao Road and Ratchapakhina Road, two of the major north-south roads in the old city. I was happy that I had missed another connecting soi, because that one (Prapokklao Soi 13) is home to several “soi dogs,” dogs that live in the sois and are fed by […]
Friday 6 December 20204 Three temples in Chiang Mai Old City Walk in the north of the old city I had no yoga class or strength training scheduled today, so something of a rest day. I decided to revisit three temples to which I have been many times in the north half of the Chiang Mai Old City. There are at least 50 temples in the approximately mile-square Old City so there are probably many […]
James the Intrepid Pilgrim 