Thailand is a Buddhist country, with 93.6 percent of the population considering themselves followers of this religion.
Chiang Mai is home to more temples per capita than any other place in Thailand. Allegedly, the Chiang Mai region houses over 300 temples!
Having lived in Chiang Mai for over 2 years, I have visited many of them. And although many are worth a visit, a few really stand out among the crowd.
And those are the ones I want to show you!
Today I’m starting a 7-post series: The Temples of Chiang Mai.
These are the 7 temples we will visit:
- Wat Chedi Luang
- Wat Suan Dok
- Wat Phra Singh
- Wat Pha Lat
- Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep
- Wat Umong
- Wat Phra That Doi Kham
Will you join me?
Wat Chedi Luang
Many temples in Thailand have a very similar architecture.
It sometimes seems as if, long ago, one architect was asked to create a template design for a Buddhist temple, and then that blueprint was used time and again.
Not so in the case of Wat Chedi Luang!
This is one of the oldest and most important temples of Chiang Mai, construction started in the 14th century.
It is located in the old city centre, which is surrounded by a moat.
The temple housed the famous Emerald Buddha, from 1468-1552. However, the statue was moved to Luang Prabang (Laos) when the upper part of the temple collapsed after an earthquake.
The statue was subsequently moved to Vientiane (also Laos), Thonburi, and finally to Wat Phra Kaew in the Grand Palace in Bangkok, where it can still be found today.
The centerpiece of Wat Chedi Luang is a large square structure, with very steep stairs leading up to a higher platform.
You can still see how the earthquake ruined the upper part of the structure. Unfortunately, the stairs are closed for visitors, Perhaps there’s still danger of stones falling down…
When I visited, a lot of monks had gathered for their afternoon prayer.
I have to admit: although I had no idea what they were chanting, it was very calming to listen to!
I also came across a small building that had this wax statue of a monk in meditation position. He looked awkwardly real! Reminded me of the statues you can see at Madame Tussauds.
One thing I really like about Wat Chedi Luang are the elephants statues.
The elephant is the national symbol of Thailand.
Nowadays many of them are used in tourism for elephant rides, something I encourage everyone to not participate in: this is NOT natural behavior for elephants. But these statues showcase the grandeur of these amazing and intelligent animals.
Wat Chedi Luang is a unique temple. If you ever visit Chiang Mai, this is definitely one of the temples you should consider visiting. The temple can be found here.
In the next post, we will visit Wat Suan Dok!
This post is part of my ongoing TravelNowandWow series.
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Credit: all images are my own.