Wats, Elephants and Umbrellas

We are ensconced at the Prince Hotel for ten days—as I’ve mentioned in some of my emails to friends, it’s “interesting.” The suite we’re in is large—a large living room with four faded and somewhat grimy tapestry chairs lined up along one wall, all facing the tv—this furniture arrangement appears to be a traditional Thai one since we’ve seen it in all apartments, hotels and private homes. The kitchen, though is somewhat modern with a breakfast bar, a microwave and sink and a ¾ size refrigerator. The ceilings throughout are very high –about 18 feet. The bedrooms are large as well and each has its own bathroom. It’s not fancy but it’s very livable—and Tom is enjoying the swimming pool in the afternoons.

On Sunday we did lots of sightseeing. We hired Paul, a tuk tuk driver and the son of one of Payap’s professors. He had just recently gotten his tour guide license so we were charioted around by one who spoke both Thai and English!

Much of the following information comes from Paul’s tour—and Lonely Planet and Eye Witness traavel guides. Even though Chiang Mai is only about one ninth the size of Bankok, it has almost as many Buddhist temples called wats. Guides estimate there are at least 300 wats in and around Chiang Mai. Many that still exist today were built when this city was a major religious center from the 1200s through the 1500s. Some of the many surviving wats were changed by the Burmese to reflect their style when they ruled over the city. Yet the Lanna style still remains—many roofed gables and elaborate wood carvings, pillars and doors,

Some of you may wish to skip the next paragraph or two unless you are interested in the architectural and building features of a typical temple complex. While not all complexes have the same number of buildings, the following are the usual ones seen within a complex:

1)mondrop—a square-based building topped with either a spire or a cruciform roof—it contains an object of worship like sacred texts
2)monks’ living quarters—a series of huts, cells or a dormitory

3)a small meeting hall (sala kamparien) for lectures on holy scriptures. There might be just be one or many other minor salas for pilgrims' meeting places.
4)a library (ho trai) which is not used except to house holy scriptures
5) bot—the ordination hall which is usually one of the largest buildings; it is reserved mainly for monks—no women allowed—and is surrounded by sacred boundary stones (called bai semas)that look a bit like small tombstones. The building usually faces east ad often houses the wat’s main Buddha, Note: there are innumerable Buddha images large and small throughout the entire complex.
6) the assembly hall (wihan) another grand assembly hall that’s similar to the bot without boundary stones. It may be larger and there may be several.

7) the chedi—a solid building encasing a relic of Buddha (a pretty large reliquary!!) or the ashes of a revered king—wat complexes are built purposely surround sacred chedi.

8) the bell tower(s) called ho raking


The Thai wat complexes are all beautiful with lot of gilding, colorful murals, fearsome nagas and lots of red and gold with shiny mirrored mosaics.

Buddhas in all sizes and positions, (walking, reclining, at one with the earth, blessing, etc.) appear around every corner and in every niche and on innumerable alters. (Each day of the week has a particular Buddha in a particular pose—mine is very cool—a seated Buddha in a meditation mudra being protected by a many-headed naga overhanging his head somewhat like an umbrella.)
Often in the wat complexes you can hear monks of all ages chanting in the halls or see them going out to shop in their saffron robes. Thailand (whether you are in a wat complex or not) is a kaleidoscope of vivid colors.


With Paul we visited three important temples. The first was Wat Chiang Man, thought to be the oldest temple in the city, founded by one of Thai’s great kings—and the “founding father” of Chiang Mai, Phaya Mengrai. The temple is typical of ones that proliferate in Chiang Mai--the inside of the withan is as beautiful as its outside.
Two important but very small Buddha images, a sandstone sculpture and a white quartz one sit in a glass case in the sanctuary with massive teak pillars. The chedi is surrounded by high relief elephants and is crowned with a golden spire. The walls are covered with colorful murals that were completed in 1996 to celebrate the 700th anniversary of the city.

The second temple Wat Chedi Luang was my (D’s) favorite. Built in 1441 and now in partial ruins, it was damaged either by a 16th century earthquake or the cannon fire of King Taksin in 1775 when he recaptured the city from the Burmese. (Evidently the Thais and the Burmese took turns about every two centuries or so capturing and recapturing this area of northern Thailand.) Superstition says it should never be rebuilt because it can never be whole again and a rebuilt one would be revisited by yet another disaster.


Evidently the Japanese government and Unesco financed its restoration but they did not add a new spire to the stupa since no one knew how it originally had looked—the spire itself was rumored to be sixty feet in addition to the stupa which is even now the tallest Buddhist structure in the world. (By the way—my thanks to Carolyn Putney and Larry Silver for the instruction I received from them both on Asian art!)

And for my museum buddies, there are incredible nagas at every turn—slithering up any steps, guarding all the buildings, carved and colored and glittering everywhere in Thailand but especially at the wats. The nagas on this stupa are reconstructions (but wonderful) as are five of the six elephant sculptures on the pediment. This wat –but especially the stupa was my favorite—I think it’s as huge and awesome as any of the pyramids in Giza. There was also a building which housed a wax replica of one of the temple’s most respected teachers. This teacher encased in glass was so lifelike that it certainly rivaled figures in Madame Toussard’s museum!

Of course, all shoes must be removed before one steps into any temple building, or office—and like the Japanese, shoes are removed before going into any hotel rooms or private homes. Tom ad I are out shopping for him for more “slip on” shoes which makes life a lot easier here.

The third wat we visited is Wat Phan Tao—the only teak wat left in this city. One guidebook calls it the “unsung treasure of Chiang Mai” There are other old teak buildings that are beautiful as well. Some of the teak homes we’ve seen (only from the outside) look like multi-level tree houses with intricately carved and pierced panels and screens and staircases.
After the visits to the temples, we chugged through the city. On Sunday there is no visible difference to the bustle—and traffic-- to us-- seemed just as clogged. Paul says that some offices close on Sundays but that most shops, markets and other businesses are open. Most Thai workers only get one day off a week—whew, a six day work week—and we were told that high school students go to cram school after regular school just like the Japanese to get into a good university. Yet the people here are very laid back (at least on the surface) and always smiling. Thai people go out of their way to avoid conflicts. (Hmmm…they probably wouldn’t last long in our debate-ridden household!)

Another digression: when Tom and I walked around this area near one of the big markets we noticed lots of Chinese people—and many stores catering to the Chinese. All are getting ready for the biggest Chinese holiday—Chinese New Year which will take place on January 26 and will usher in the “year of the ox.” The Chinese are on a lunar calendar, (not our Western Gregorian one.) Babies who will be born this year are supposed to be “alert, strong leaders, demanding, stubborn, methodical, unhappy with failures yet they are supposed to make great parents, good surgeons, generals—or hair stylists!!!

The Chinese stores were the most colorful; paper lanterns and banners, shiny new Buddhas, candelabra, packets of gold leaf(to adorn Buddha figures at temples) pictures, and holiday cards and gold paper money and gift baskets and fireworks and joss sticks (incense) and saffron knit caps for monks and thousands of other items are piled higgly-piggly so the aisles are narrow and crowded.

Meanwhile we left heavy traffic and city environs behind to zoom past military complexes and cavalry grounds, with horses and mules grazing in big fields. Paul told us the military used mules for border patrol and border skirmishes because they can carry heavy loads and be trained not to spook even under artillery fire. (BTW-a mule is a cross between a male donkey and a female horse—and is sterile). We continued more slowly up steep hills for some animal sightseeing.

Our first stop was a snake farm, exhibit and show. We saw tree snakes, cobras, jumping snakes as well as some other caged, rather bedraggled looking creatures: a mongoose, an eagle, rabbits, exotic roosters and one sleepy crocodile. The show we watched had handlers kissing (really) poisonous vipers, making cobras dance and hanging a python around the neck of one of the tourists. (Note: I did this thirty years ago so opted out this time : )

Then it was on to the elephant camp—which we loved. We learned a lot about elephants: they live to an average age of 80; their pregnancies last 18 months (those poor mothers) and healthy bull elephants are on average 9 ½ feet tall. They are indeed massive creatures.

I climbed aboard one for a ride (the seat felt like one at Cedar Point with a bar that locked across me so I wouldn’t fall out ) The mahout (the handler)sits right behind or on top of the head and I, in the seat perched on the broad middle of his back took a very slow—and ponderous—journey on what seemed to me to be treacherous paths up and down the mountain side. Actually there’s a slow rocking rhythm that’s much more comfortable than the rollicking gate of a camel—and elephants don’t spit—they’re much nicer too. My mount was a young 29 year old male named Poo-Billy. No---poo billy means “grandfather”—not what you think!

Then we watched an amazing elephant show as the elephants played soccer, played harmonicas, danced and “mugged” for the audience bowing and posing and even showing us how they could build a heavy teak log wall. Pretty incredible animals. Evidently since there’s no more “building work” for elephants in Thailand, they’re all in special camps and preserves.





We were all starving by this time so we went to a “Tiger Park” and ate a late lunch while watching stunningly beautiful and powerful tigers play in a protected area right next to our dining tables.

After we made a quick trip to Bo Sang to see where all the special painted cloth and paper umbrellas are made. Since it was late we did just a tiny bit of shopping after examining the umbrellas and the process of making them and watched a couple of artisans painting their designs freehand.



We arrived home at about six in the evening—a very full day of tuk=tuking and travel and temples and tremendous Thai creatures.