Lanna Temple Trails day 2

Wat Chiang Man.

Surprisingly, when I was in the temple I saw a lot of foreign tourists but only a few Thai worshipers or visitors. The Song Taew driver told me that today most Thai people are not fond of visiting temples except for religious activities, and also this place is not well known among Thai tourists

Wat Chiang man is considered the oldest surviving temple from the Northern Meng Rai Dynasty. It was founded around 1292, at about the same time as the city of Chiang Mai. That was when King Meng Rai moved the capital city from the collapsed Wieng Kumkham to today’s Chiang Mai.

Within the temple’s compound there are two magnificent chapels. The one on the right houses one of the holiest local religious religious relics, a colored stone Buddha Image called “Phra Kaew Khao.” After paying respect to the image, as is the normal practice of Thai people when visiting a temple, I walked to the back of the chapel where the highlight of this temple, “Chedi Changlom” or “The Pagoda Surrounded by Elephants, “is located.

Chedi Changlom is a structure made of both square and round shapes stacked up in layers. At the base of the pagoda there are 16 elephant sculptures surrounding the four sides. This chedi was created in the reign of King Meng Rai when he first built city order in order to house a relic of the Lord Buddha. Its design was influenced by Sukhothai architecture.

Apart from the Pra Kaew Khao Buddha Image and Changlom Pagoda, Wat Chiang man also houses another significant ancient artifact, a stone inscription located in the left chapel. The stone inscription was written in the ancient Fak Kham calligraphy style of the Thai Yuan people in the year 1641 to record the date and time and other important events that occurred while the city of Chiang Mai was being built.

Lanna Temple Trails Day 1
Lanna Temple Trails Day 2 Wat Chiang Man.
Lanna Temple Trails Day 3 Wat pan Tao
Lanna Temple Trails Day 4 Wat Pa pao
Lanna Temple Trails Day 5 Wat Jed yod
Lanna Temple Trails Day 6 Wat U-Mong Therachan

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