Today we will continue our journey along Chiang Mai’s most exciting temples: Wat Suan Dok!
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!
This is the 2nd part of a 7-post series: The Temples of Chiang Mai. In the first part, we visited Wat Chedi Luang. If you missed it, you can read it here:
Now let's continue our journey and visit Wat Suan Dok.
Will you join me?
Wat Suan Dok
Wat Suan Dok is one of Chiang Mai’s biggest temples. It’s located just west of the old city centre (which is surrounded by a moat), on Suthep road.
Founded in 1370, this is one of Chiang Mai’s oldest temples.
Its creation is a story of legend.
Once upon a time there was a monk, named Maha Sumana Thera. In a vision, he saw a Buddha relic: the shoulder bone of the Buddha. He told that this relic had to be housed in Chiang Mai. Once a temple had been built by the king to house the relic, the shoulder bone miraculously duplicated itself. One of the two relics was – as had been the intention all along – housed in Wat Suan Dok (which went under a different name then), in the largest chedi on the temple grounds.
And the other relic?
The king placed the other relic on the back of white elephant. This white elephant then climbed up Doi Suthep mountain. Today, the road that takes you up to this spot is about 8.5 miles (14 km) long. The legend continues: after a long climb, the white elephant trumpeted three times and then fell down. Dead…
Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep was built on this very spot, and is now the most popular temple in Chiang Mai. We will visit this temple in part 5 of this series, so stay tuned for that!
Back to Wat Suan Dok.
The ordination hall is one of the largest in town.
The pillars are beautifully decorated, in vibrant colors.
And they have these cool little mirrors on them. which is great for…well, by now you probably know I’d like to add a lot of photos to my posts!
Outside, there are a lot of white so-called chedi.
Many contain the ashes of members of Chiang Mai’s Royal Family.
When I visited the temple grounds, a class full of young children were shown around as well. Here they got to play with the bells. Who says a trip to a temple can’t be fun?
A little later, the visit became slightly more serious though: they joined the adults in silence in the ordination hall.
But check out all these cute little colorful flip-flops and sandals!
Wat Suan Dok is different than others, because a lot of Buddhist monks come here to study. It is home to the Chiang Mai campus of the Buddhist Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University. When I visited, they also hosted weekly ‘monk chats’, where you can have a chat with a monk on any topic you’d like. A great way to get a little insight in the life of a monk! I went to a few of them, and can highly recommend it.
Like in many other temples, you will also find a variety of dogs roaming the grounds.
Or just chilling out.
In general, these dogs are quite friendly. However, they may not always appreciate it if you approach them. So keep that in mind. And keep distance if they bark 😉 .
This is also the only temple in Chiang Mai (that I know of) that has a vegetarian restaurant on its grounds. Pun Pun is famous with locals and expats alike for its tasty, healthy food menu!
If you’re traveling to Chiang Mai and want to visit a few temples, definitely put Wat Suan Dok on your shortlist!
Have You Ever Visited a Temple in Thailand?
Let me Know in the Comments!
This post is part of the Temples of Chiang Mai-series, in which we visit the following temples:
- Wat Chedi Luang
- Wat Suan Dok
- Wat Phra Singh
- Wat Pha Lat
- Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep
- Wat Umong
- Wat Phra That Doi Kham
In the next post, we will visit: Wat Phra Singh!
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Credit: all images are my own.