205. | Temple tour in Northern Thailand

I don’t know exactly how long I’ll be in Chiang Mai.

I’m sure that this weekend and the next one are still available for me to get to know this city. I use the weekends for my bigger tours, so I had to plan now.

In the last few months, I’ve become a city hiker. I really like that too. In Hungary, my travels took me through forests and uninhabited areas, here it seems that cities and inhabited settlements are more important.

There are no … … … attractions in this city. I wrote points because I can’t find the right adjective. World-famous? Special? Unmissable? None of them are good, all of them would hurt reality. I’ll rather describe them as they were outlined in my mind, indicating that I think of the city with complete respect.

So, there is no Eiffel Tower here. There is not a single “must-see” museum. There is no unique architectural wonder on a global scale. There is no natural attraction within the city that would be a destination in itself.

However, there are great parks, bustling markets, beautiful churches. Museums, universities, cafes, great restaurants.

Of the “offer” I, as a new city hiker, am most attracted to the churches.

So I decided to organize another day of temple tours for myself.

Planning the tour

I worked on planning the day several times this week. I definitely wanted to start the day in the old city, and I also wanted to go up the mountain.

There are around 300 temples in Chiang Mai. So the idea of ​​visiting them all was not even a joke. So I had to choose somehow.

This was – in one sense – easy. I looked at the center of the city on the map and started reading about the temples marked there. Of course, not every building is on the map, so I ended up using the AI ​​to help me.

After a couple of tries, the route for Saturday came together.

I didn’t want to mess around with orientation and time, so I looked up when the temples open and what the right order was.

I wrote down the Google Maps compatible name of each one, and I even saved the exact Google Maps address for each one separately, so that during the day all I had to do was click on the next address.

Friday evening I had the exact plan.

After that, I started writing this post. When I wanted to validate the idea with the help of AI that there were no mandatory elements here, I was met with a little surprise.

Despite the fact that AI was involved in the planning, in this last phase of work it threw in two temples that I absolutely did not want to miss.

Thus, my tour day, which originally included 7 temples, became a 9-temple route.

I look forward to this night passing and getting to know these 9 selected places.

I walk into the city and I have a 30+ kilometer walk to the last building. There I will decide whether to walk the 21 km home after a long day or take a taxi.

I pack up my gear and go to sleep.

Table of contents of my travel diary

1. Coconut Market – – – – – [Google Maps]
2. Hahm. Coffeebar – – – – – [Google Maps]
3. Wat Phra Singh – – – – – [Google Maps]
4. Wat Pantao – – – – – [Google Maps]
5. Wat Chedi Luang – – – – – [Google Maps]
6. Wat Puak Pia – – – – – [Google Maps]
7. Wat Shri Suphan – – – – – [Google Maps]
8. Tok Sen massage
9. Wua Lai Rd – – – – – [Google Maps]
10. Wat Muen San – – – – – [Google Maps]
11. Wat Umong – – – – – [Google Maps]
12. Hunting for beer

This travel diary became special for me because for the first time in my life I took notes during the day. I wrote down my feelings and experiences on my phone right away. Some of them immediately, and the rest as soon as I left the location.

Because of this, this article became longer than usual.

That’s why I made this table of contents. You can jump to the chapter by clicking on its name. I also put a Google Maps link after its name.

The rising sun was already on the road

The sun rose at 6:58, I started the journey at 6:30. Today I was ahead of the sun, but it quickly gained my advantage. It was damn hot today.

I reached this first church in 4 hours. It was a long time, but not without events. The 14 km is a distance that I can cover in about 3 hours. You may wonder where that extra hour went.

 

Coconut Market

I never shy away from checking out something unexpected, even on days like today.

So the first stop on the church tour was an unplanned market visit. A very large market. A kind of all-purpose market. With vendors organized into parallel and perpendicular streets. It wasn’t really the orderliness, the abundance of useless stuff, the great handicrafts, or even the smell of delicious food and drinks that caught my eye, but the surroundings.

Parallel water canals reinforced the symmetry in the area. You could cross them on small bridges and in many places they sold something on the waterfront.

Despite its beauty, I didn’t spend much time here, but I couldn’t leave it out of this post because it was a nice experience for me.

A Found Object

I live a minimalist life, I’ve written about this many times before.

Today, however, I found an object that for some reason immediately became important to me.

My next post will be about this, because it deserves a separate article.

 

Hahm. Coffeebar

I was on my way 5 minutes after waking up. I wanted to have a coffee somewhere I could sit on the way.

I passed by several places and then suddenly I saw the place. It was exactly what I was looking for.

I drank a Yuzu Lemon Honey Tonic coffee. That’s how I learned that Yuzu is a Japanese citrus fruit, which I had never heard of before.

After tasting the first sip, all I could say was that this was a damn good coffee. The citrus aroma of the yuzu, the sourness of the lemon, the sweetness of the honey, the bitterness of the tonic and the coffeeiness of the coffee contained these flavors in a balanced way. I sat on the bench under the huge trees, enjoying the 30+ degree heat, the sun on my skin and the perfect harmony of the coffee flavors.

 

Wat Phra Singh

A minute after I arrived here, a bell rang. I realized that I had never heard a bell ring in a Buddhist temple before.

The dominant color in this place is gold. I was immediately impressed by the combination of the golden stupa and the other golden building next to it.

I have seen a few stupas in my life, but only now did I think to find out what this building was. Two interesting things stuck with me about what it was. It is not a functional building, but a meditation focal point. And it is always walked around clockwise.

It also turned out that in Thailand it is called a chedi, which is the Thai version of a stupa.

And I should mention another important definitional issue. I was just in a Wat. This word means temple, but it actually means the entire place. Within the Wat area there are several sacred buildings, which we Europeans call temples. But this sacred building does not mean a temple in our understanding. I still refer to it as such because I think it is easier to understand.

In the first temple, I took off my shoes as prescribed, and then I remained barefoot until I left the area. I was a little closer to the ground that way.

A few things immediately struck me in this temple. The upper structure of the temple was wooden. Impressive, lifelike monk statues sat in the doorway. Before I entered – seeing them from a distance at first – I thought that real monks were sitting there. Finally, besides all the beauty of the temple, it was the green glass statues that struck me. There was one that had a jade effect.

Returning to the courtyard, I found a small dining garden. There were a lot of students, young monks in this wat, this was their dining area, but it was also open to us. The special thing about the garden were the bilingual plaques with wise sayings nailed to the trees. I took pictures of them all.

I also saw a group of students in the garden. Most of them were taking notes of the teacher’s words, but of course there were some who were sleeping. I listened to the teacher for a while, even though I didn’t understand a word he said. The scene was simply peaceful.

I saw a type of incense burner outside that I had never seen before. It must have been some kind of resin incense burner, it looked like soap and was extremely beautifully crafted. It fits very well against the golden background.

Above the incense burner I saw a nine-headed naga, shaped from a plant. The 7-headed one is the most common, the 9 represents higher holiness. This snake creature can be found in almost every temple, most often as a decorative element on both sides of the stairs leading to the sacred building, I have seen it and photographed it countless times. This is the first time I have seen it in such a fan shape. Moreover, the 9-headed one. For me, this creature brought a terrifying, yet friendly feeling.

A ceremony was taking place in another sacred building. A Thai Buddhist blessing-merit-making ceremony, most likely a Bai Sri Su Kwan-like community blessing, elevated to a temple setting.

And in the meantime, the golden chedi towered above everything in the courtyard.

Finally, I put on my shoes and set off, when I realized that I had almost missed the largest temple.

Shoes off!

I would have been sorry if I had missed it…

I had to buy an entrance ticket here alone. The ticket seller asked where I came from, and after hearing the answer in the usual broken Hungarian, he said clearly “thank you!” Fortunately, I also know Thai.

The temple was very large. Many people were sitting inside, absorbed, quiet, and most of them were tourists.

The huge golden Buddha statue was an interesting sight, with several smaller Buddhas sitting in front of it. It reminded me of the matrajoska dolls, but I didn’t want to be disrespectful.

This is where I came across the wishing ribbons. You buy these and hang them on the prepared strings with the help of a stick. But first, you write something on them. As I learned from one of the people, they usually write good wishes on them.

It was a very beautiful temple. I spent almost an hour here, but I feel that this place deserved more time.

 

Wat Pantao

The temples in downtown Chiang Mai are stacked on top of each other. That’s how I ended up at this temple – unplanned.

I thought I had reached the next stop, and only realized I wasn’t there when I went inside.

I didn’t regret stopping by here.

This is an old wooden temple with a huge interior height, well-maintained, but in many places in what appears to be original form. In addition, the colors brown and black dominated the building, which gave it a different experience compared to the gold and silver colors of today.

And its courtyard was simply beautiful.

In this church, I wasn’t where I had set out to be, but where I needed to be.

 

Wat Chedi Luang

This was the 3rd wat I visited today. This temple was not yet on the list of 7 planned for the week, so I hadn’t even reached the first planned point when I arrived here. It was 12:30, but time was not pressing at all.

So I spent 60 minutes here, although I could only say this in hindsight.

By the way, while writing this, I realized that the word chedi, which I have just learned, is in the name of this wat…

This was the most powerful of the temples I visited today. And for me, this place also brought the two most uplifting experiences of today.

After the ticket office building, the first steps were controlled by cordons. For some reason, the area of ​​lotus flowers, incense burners and candles immediately caught my attention. Like a small courtyard shrine that slows down those who are susceptible to it before even entering. I saw several people lighting incense, making offerings, and praying before entering.

In my notes, I have the following sentence: A wonderful, huge tree in the courtyard.

This is Ton Yang Na, the tree is shown in the second image of the gallery and the featured image of the post. This tree is my favorite of the day.

It is a landmark tree in the city, to which the neighborhood is aligned. The second part of the sentence is important. It is one of the oldest remaining trees in Chiang Mai, 226 years old. A living symbol of the city in Chiang Mai. Such trees are simply respected here. They are not cut down, even if they are “in the way.” The word Ton in its name simply means tree, and Yang Na is its type.

This huge tree, stripped of most of its leaves, was a very powerful image for me. It dominated the space. I felt like it dominated not only the temple, but everything around it.

It must have occupied my thoughts for minutes. I just stood in front of it for a while and stared. Upward. Outward. For me today it was the real chedi.

Then came my first “only men can enter a building.” In the history of Buddhism, women could also be full-fledged monks, but in Thailand today this order is not officially recognized. For this reason, women are not allowed to enter certain buildings.

As an outsider, I cannot say why women were not allowed to enter here. However, I can say for sure that the view of the other buildings from the terrace at the back of the building is beautiful, and the floor ceramics are breathtaking.

Then I entered a temple guarded by nagas. I have never seen a sign that said “do not touch the nagas!” In vain, there are many tourists here.

The temple they led me to was impressive in size and decoration. Almost the size of a cathedral. Huge columns. All gold…

A statue greeted me right next to the door. It was improbably covered in gold, like a modern work of art. I didn’t understand why it was like that. Nor did I understand that right next to it I could buy a paper plate stuck on a skewer for 10 BHT, but there was no indication of what it was.

Luckily I found out. These paper packages contain hair-thin gold plates. Whoever buys them sticks them on the statues. Everything became clear. And there was a lot of gold on the statues.

I continued my exploration in the courtyard. Here, there were long rows of lotus flowers and velvet flowers. This row had a very delicate scent.

Then I saw the old chedi.

My heart sank at its proximity…

It was so impressive, the way it towered over the “cathedral”. It made me feel the dignity of times gone by. Moreover, it resembled the familiar South American temples.

The elephant-sized elephant statues on the chedi were also very interesting.

Unfortunately, you can’t go up to the building. However, this is a survivable restriction. You still feel impressed by its enormity.

I slowly started out.

The courtyard still had interesting sights to see. White elephant statues. Green elephant statues. A broken elephant statue on one side of the chedi and the place where the elephant statue had cooled. I called the path leading out the elephant path.

Before I left the temple, I could admire how huge this beautiful chedi must have once been on a black model.

It was 1:30 PM when I left. I hadn’t reached the “first point”, but I had already covered 17.5 kilometers. Fortunately, there was nothing urgent even now.

Lunch near Ton Yang Na

Lunch is not that important a part of the day. The reason I wanted to write about it is that after the temple it was an elevated feeling to sit down near the big tree and have lunch.

On the other hand, I had a bowl of spring rolls wrapped in rice paper, with crab and herbs. And it was an experience to taste the herbs in this food poem.

The experience deserves to be remembered.

 

Wat Puak Pia

At two in the afternoon, I arrived at the first planned temple with a hop-hop.

I wrote down the following for myself.

Arriving here, I didn’t feel anything special. It was beautiful, but I’d seen it a few times before.

Then I noticed the seven-headed naga. It occurred to me that this might be the one I’d seen for the first time today above the golden cedi incense burner. Along with the recognition, I felt ashamed that I hadn’t even had enough respect for the temple to maintain my curiosity. I’m seeing the multi-headed naga for the second time today and in my life, but I’m still happy about it. So what’s the point of my curiosity?

I was grateful for the quick recognition and took off my shoes. It felt so good to be barefoot. I would have liked to stay like that all day.

I went into the temple.

The inside of the temple is special, though. Red. A new color these days. Red, like the object I found today.

And there are paintings on the walls. Again: this temple is special too.

And for my own clarity: Even if it weren’t special, I would still have to approach it with respect and curiosity. There’s no other way. If I don’t arrive like this: I have no business here. I’ll take this with me for life!

Since I’m currently studying the life of Buddha, I’ve realized that moments from his life are visible in the paintings covering the walls.

Meditation. This is where I was invited.

Preparing for what lay ahead, I tried to meditate on my knees. It was a short meditation. Kneeling didn’t work. It’s okay. I’ll practice it if necessary.

 

Wat Shri Suphan

A silver church!

It really is! Silver everywhere.

The first thing that caught my eye was a silver bus.

Then I almost didn’t notice the entrance, because a beautiful but traditional church distracted me. I thought I would see the silver there. LOL.

An American girl in front of me bought a ticket, and the cashier told her that unfortunately she couldn’t go everywhere. “You can go everywhere,” she told me.

We also received a souvenir badge. It was a clip that you could clip onto your clothes. They gave it to me very proudly, it had an important meaning. Both she and the man punching the card said that it was a souvenir for us, of this place.

It was a nice gesture, I was happy about it. And I was thinking that since I don’t keep anything like that anymore, where will it belong if not with me. Time will solve this issue, I thought.

This church is also about the local silver craftsmanship. That’s why I saw a lot of silver objects in the courtyard. Statues, bowls, trays, glasses. Each one looked like a masterpiece.

Then there was the church…

I’ve never seen anything like this in my life. Not like this. I’ve had quite a few experiences like this by now.

The church is silver inside and out. From the base to the roof tiles, from the floor to the ceiling.

When I entered, I felt sorry for the women. Because they can’t go everywhere, that’s what this one building is all about. Exactly the point of why we usually come here.

When I took off my shoes, a couple appeared next to me. The girl spoke to her boyfriend and me, saying, “Have a good time, guys.” I was a little disappointed that this lovely girl couldn’t come in.

But another one! This will be a longer series of thoughts.

The other girl came in, not legally, so they say, and she made it worse by immediately throwing off her headscarf, which is part of proper female attire. Since there were two of us, she asked me to take a few pictures of her.

She didn’t fall off at the time, but now, as I write this, I realize what I did. I can’t change it anymore, but now I regret helping her. It was wrong of me to take those pictures in several ways. The respectful girl stayed out. The doubly disrespectful one came in. Moreover, for her, the church was clearly not the point, but the pictures taken of her.

I became an accomplice and that hurt. Now I let go of this feeling by saying that I am grateful for this important realization, that I will learn for life that next time I will act the right way in a situation like this. Whatever it means. It was not my job to distract this girl from there. But in addition to simply saying no to her request for help, I could have also told her why she was doing things doubly wrong.

I shouldn’t have been hurtful and disrespectful. I should have simply said that I can’t help you. And maybe told her in a few words why it’s not right that she’s where she is. That would have been my responsibility. Whether she stays or goes is hers.

When I wrote this, I took a break from writing. And I realized what the other realization was. This one was also born from a thought of anger directed at myself.

The girl had a bombshell body and a beautiful face. I had to realize that it had momentarily distracted me from what was much more important.

So in the end, recognizing that anger, I let it go. And I can say that I’m grateful to the girl too, because through her appearance I was able to learn something important about myself.

As I wrote, this realization came to me at home, so I am especially grateful for the teaching that it did not disturb my peace there, but afterwards.

The peace there was perfect. This place is truly special.

After the beautiful blue of the stairs leading to the temple, everything was silver. Only the statues and their surroundings had gold and other colors.

Not only was everything silver, but beyond the metal I saw incredible reliefs. On the floor there were inscriptions and figures. Small cabinets with books and lamps. Things shaped with incredible thoroughness.

UFOs carved into the floor. Not one. I did not understand it. GPS inscription. I remembered the sign of Om. As soon as I remembered, I found it on the floor immediately

That’s when I remembered Om. I immediately died among the engravings on the floor. Even if it did not appear in the form in which it appeared on my hand.

I meditated here, sitting on the silver floor. The coolness of the metal beneath me felt very good. I made sure that my feet did not turn towards the statues.

After resting, I continued my tour outside in the terrible heat. The sun was at its hottest in this place.

I was still far from leaving the wat area. There was also much to see in the courtyard. I found a small artificial tree. It was decorated with very thin silver and gold leaves. These hung on chains. I listened to their soft sound for a while as the wind blew them. In the meantime, very pleasant music was playing from somewhere. This strange duo was good after meditation.

Before I left the gate, the question of where the souvenir card would end up was resolved. Many people had left theirs hanging on the fence near the exit, linking them together, creating entrance card garlands.

My card ended up here too. I will keep this lovely gift digitally and in my heart.

 

Tok Sen massage

I was already heading towards the exit when I heard a soft tapping sound. On the street, I saw small craft workshops built against the temple wall. There was a similar sound there too. Tourists were frantically tapping with small hammers to create metal ornaments. Many people were doing this, it was nice to listen and watch.

I thought that the workshop was also going on inside.

I was wrong.

Someone was having a Tok Sen massage. I quickly asked the AI ​​what it was. There were two beds in the small building, one of which was already occupied by someone. The other bed and the second masseuse were free, so I immediately went in and took that bed. Of course, I asked beforehand if the lady was available.

Tok Sen massage is a traditional Northern Thai (Lanna) healing, specifically therapeutic massage technique. The therapist uses a wooden hammer (tok) and a wooden wedge (sen). It works on muscles and energy lines with rhythmic, gentle tapping.

So clearly, I went in to get hammered. The lady asked what the problem was, what hurt. I had no problem. She might have been a little surprised by this, but I told her that I simply wanted to try out what this thing was like.

It was interesting. The wedge hits you a little and you come into contact with the wood with different tenderness depending on the area. The wood made a very nice sound of hammering. When both ladies hammered, it was interesting to watch when they worked in the same rhythm, just as it was exciting when the kipp-kipps sounded in contrast.

The massage also included some traditional Thai massage, so I had the opportunity to experience the experience of elbowing, stretching and stretching inside me again.

It was very nice to rest here. At the end, they offered me an orange, which was also very nice in the hot weather.

I left the area of ​​the silver temple chewing this orange.

 

Wua Lai Rd

Wua Lai Road is one of the famous streets in Chiang Mai, the Rd in its name is an abbreviation of the word road.

I was there on Saturday afternoon, the street is said to really come alive on Saturday evening. Fortunately, I already experienced that it was full of life in the afternoon.

And with lots of vendors.

After the massage and the orange, I felt hungry. So I ate a coconut sticky rice. It was only a few bites, but I really enjoyed the taste.

Then I tried Thai sausage served in a glass. It was an interesting experience. It doesn’t even come close to the character of a good Hungarian sausage, but it was delicious. Even though the – I don’t know what kind of meat – was quite chewy, and it was spicy for a chippy, I missed the garlic and red pepper. It’s good that I didn’t miss it.

I only spent a quarter of an hour here. For my minimalist self, it was enough to look at things I had no intention of buying.

I headed towards the next church.

 

Wat Muen San

I’ve never seen anything like it before.

The temple grounds were full of parked cars. It was like a big car repair shop. The whole area was fenced off with a heavy fence and a gate guarding the entrance. I thought I couldn’t go in, maybe the temple was already closed.

But a Thai man with dreadlocks – perhaps wearing a car mechanic’s outfit – let me in.

The whole area was very neglected. Not just because of the many cars. It was obvious that there were no monks here.

There was also a sign saying that women were not allowed to enter. I mean, which one of them would make it to the chedi between the parked cars. They had packed objects in a crammed mess everywhere. Be it a corner of the courtyard or a closed building.

There were beautiful and strange things. For example, a beautiful green stone staircase, a silver temple in one corner. A dragon(?), with a man sticking out of its mouth.

The place wasn’t depressing to me, but I wondered if it was. A closed church here is certainly as much a part of reality as the other functioning churches I saw today.

It was nice to get to know one of the many in this way.

 

 

Wat Umong

The day was coming to an end.

I knew already by agreeing to the massage that the two forest churches would be missed today. But I decided to check out this church. Maybe I would get there in time.

This was also an important decision for the tour, because this stop was 5+ kilometers from the car park church.

I set off.

I didn’t regret it, because I walked around the old town quite a bit. It’s true that I didn’t see much else besides the remains of the old wall, lakes, fountains and churches, but the experience was still good.

I stumbled upon a large night market, full of food. I ran through it quickly, I had one specific goal. I was looking for a scorpion and a large spider to try. There were only larvae, but I had already tried that.

By the way, wherever there were larvae, there were so many and in such plastic packaging that for a moment I imagined myself in a Hungarian fishing shop. How interesting it is to see what people eat!?

I arrived at the last church of the day at half past six in the evening – exactly 12 hours after my morning departure.

I was late.

The place was open, but it was just starting to get dark. Here, the promise of tunnels and buildings built in a forest environment awaits me to see them again at a brighter time.

I could still see the outlines of a cedi, but then it suddenly became so dark that I could not see not only the tunnel, but even the road leading there.

So the church part of the church tour was over, but I threw a card on the table.

 

Hunting for beer

The 12 hours spent on the road, the great heat, and the many experiences made me feel like I deserved a beer as a token of appreciation.

Yes, but – I’ve already written about this – it’s not like I go somewhere and have a drink here.

On my way to the church, I saw a promising place at the entrance. I wandered over there and left the place disappointed: there were only soft drinks in the coolers.

The search term “pub near me” automatically appeared on my map. It indicated the closest one 1.8 kilometers away.

Before I got there, the navigation took me into the thick of a residential block, and where it indicated that I should turn left in 5 meters and arrive, there was a concrete fence. I didn’t want to climb over it. So it took 2.5 km to reach the pub.

Which wasn’t a pub. But the bar of a very upscale hotel. All the pockets of my pants that I brought from home are already sticking out, I can say that these pants are at the end of their life. Very much at the end of their life. I probably smelled like cholera. Besides, I don’t like these upscale places, so I arrived and turned around.

“Pub near me” second round. 2.8 km is the next one. Optimism surrounds me every moment, so I greeted this almost 3 kilometers at the end of the day with the thought that at least it will be more than 30, let’s go.

Nothing exciting happened on the road except for a few life-threatening crossings.

I arrived at the place. My saliva was already dripping, I was very happy to be there. There, where there was no shape of a place where you could have a beer. I couldn’t even discover the entrance, let alone people happily drinking.

By then I was already firmly in the night tourist center of the city, so I thought that the third search would definitely be successful. The map indicated the right place a few hundred meters away. I almost flew.

That’s how I arrived at a place that resembled a hotel lobby, where there was no one. Neither customers nor service staff.

Here I let go of the map, thinking I could trust my eyes. Within 200 meters I saw a sign that said “beer garden” lit up.

My victorious general’s entry was slightly overshadowed by the fact that there was a garden. Just not beer.

I left from there thinking that if nothing else, I would drink a beer in the doorway of a shop, but I still did.

Another market came across me. There was no beer anywhere.

I saw a café that looked excellent. I thought, well, I’ll go there. But this one was on the other side of the road. It’s true that it was only four lanes, but there were a lot of cars.

Not giving up hope, I continued on my own native side. Persistence always pays off.

I was standing on the terrace of the restaurant. I asked the waitress if it would be okay if I just had a beer.

He took out his phone and translated the following sentence:

Today is the election in Thailand. No alcohol is served anywhere.

Of course, after nearly two hours of chasing, I saw the sign on the door of the next store myself.

Instead of beer, I drank an excellent fruit juice, checked out the local artisan night market, and had an authentic grilled crab dinner. I took a taxi and went home. With enough experience for two days, and a grateful heart.