Wats of Chiang Mai

You could trip on the number of wats, or Buddhist temples, here in Chiang Mai.  There are over 300 of them scattered throughout the city – we can see two huge ones just from the window in our apartment.  Earlier this week we made a trek around town to see two of the more famous ones.  Along the way, we stumbled upon two different wats that were so ornately beautiful they demanded to be photographeThe temple above is Wat Monthian.  Beside the main temple building is a massive buddha statue, impossible to ignore as you are passing by on th

A moat surrounds the Old City in Chiang Mai, creating a square around the city.  Wat Monthian is on one side of this moat.
Directly on the opposite side of the moat is Wat Lok Molee.  (I’m telling you, there are wats everywhere.)  This temple is at least as old as 1367, possibly older, though it has received a face lift recently.The courtyard around this wat houses several statues and two gold and silver bodhi trees.  I’m thinking the writing on the leaves is either some sort of prayer or names of people who donated to the temple, but I can’t find any information about it.  It will have to remain a mystery.There are several panels of carvings inside the temple which are quite intricate…
…as are the ones outside the temple.  Beautiful storytelling.Behind the newer temple is a large chedi or stupa, which is a type of Buddhist burial mound.  This one supposedly holds ashes from the Mengrai dynasty.This wat isn’t on the tourist circuit because it’s a little out of town (nearer to where we live), but I think it was my favorite.  Really cool architecture, gorgeous carvings, a courtyard full of fun statues and zero tourists.  Win.The more touristed temple in town is Wat Phra Singh.  It’s on everyone’s list because it is one of the oldest.  It houses a giant golden buddha (with several other buddhas) and a fiberglass sculpture of a monk in meditation that is so lifelike it’s creepy.  (I did not photograph the monk.  Too creepy.)Finally, we visited Wat Chedi Luang.  There is a more modern temple in front, and behind is the old chedi that was destroyed in an earthquake in 1545. The wats are beautiful, of course, but much like the cathedrals in Europe they tend to blur together after a while.  I think we’ll skip most of the 277 other wats in town and just trust that we’ve gotten a good taste of what they have to offer.