Chiang Mai can rightly claim to be the city of temples. There are 300 Buddhist temples in total and most are located within the historic centre, where the ancient city walls and moat were originally built in the 13th century as protection against the marauding Burmese armies. A stroll through the Old Town and the scale, decorative opulence and symbolism of the religious structures is soon apparent.
By happy chance our hotel was located opposite, Wat Chedi Luang one of the most important and busy sites in Chiang Mai. The whole complex comprises several buildings of historical and religious significance, plus a university and shrines to faith leaders containing relics and disturbingly realistic wax figures of revered monks and abbots. Throughout the grounds tourist groups, monks in their orange robes, guides and devotees rub shoulders daily. This may be an ancient site but it is also an essential part of daily life for local worshippers. There is a tangible feeling here of calm, generosity and respect.
Phra Viharn Luang is the main prayer hall, directly behind the front gates. Shoes are left outside and visitors are advised to step over the threshold, not on it, and for shoulders and bare legs to be covered. Inside there is much to learn from the devout, and so many features to look at. Although some date from the 14th century the actual building has been reconstructed many times, most recently in 1929. Aside from the altar where a giant, gleaming bronze Buddha and his two smaller shining disciples are the focal point, there are stately columns with golden decorations, beautiful murals on the window and door shutters and many hanging symbols to bring good luck and prosperity.
On one side of the hall there are seven bronze Buddhas one for each day of the week, positioned above collection boxes. In Buddhism, the day and year of an individual’s birth connects to their character and lucky colour, similar to the Chinese zodiac system. Google can calculate all this information from the date and year of birth. A guide on the site did this for me. Apparently I was born on a Wednesday in the Year of the Rabbit and my colour is green. Armed with this information I found the particular box for my day of birth and made a small donation. I could then take one of the square packets of thin gold leaf provided and carefully press this onto the statue, as one of the worshippers kindly demonstrated for me. There’s certainly many opportunities throughout this complex to give money as an insurance for the next life and hopefully assist the poor that need help with their current one.
Adjacent to the prayer hall is a smaller building housing the City Pillar, a sacred object, associated with the founding of Chiang Mai, and believed to provide stability and fertility to the population. The building contains beautiful murals and another golden Buddha but as women are not allowed to enter, I can’t claim to have seen them! Behind the prayer hall is the Grand Stupa – an enormous 60-metre-high Buddhist monument dating from the 14th century with an array of amazing carvings and elephant sculptures on all four sides. Restoration work undertaken in the 20th century has partially repaired damage caused by an earthquake.
It takes a good couple of hours to visit all the different buildings and collections on this site but one of the most surprising experiences comes at the end when visitors are invited to chat to a monk to find out a little more about their lifestyle and beliefs. The young men most eager to talk are studying English at the university. It amused me that they had iphones. These days, one told us, it was no longer compulsory for boys under 20 to become novice monks for a short period of time as in the past. Mod, aged 25, and the chattiest one of the group, told us he wasn’t too fussed about Buddhism but being a monk offered a cheaper route to university. He was keen to know what advice we would give him about living in London! He had come to Chiang Mai to study as the civil war in his native Myanmar had cut short his education. He seemed remarkably streetwise and very proficient in spoken English, and I reckon he would do just fine in London provided he had some warmer clothing.
Coffee culture in Chiang Mai is thriving and the city is awash with hipster cafes serving brews from crops grown in the region. Replacing opium cultivation with coffee was an initiative started by the previous Thai king and the crop now provides growers with a sustainable living and improved living conditions in agricultural communities. One of the quirkier places to enjoy a cup of local coffee is Chom Café and Restaurant, just a short drive from Chiang Mai. We had hired a driver to take us to the Botanic Gardens in the National Park and arranged a couple of stops on the way. The café was just opening up and we were the first customers of the day, but the atmosphere was already steamy. We appeared to be in a rain forest garden complete with lush vegetation, mists, exotic flowers, bridges and waterfalls!
The design and layout was extraordinarily detailed, the sight and sound of moving water was everywhere and the landscape intriguing. As we explored all the walkways and hidden routes we wondered if the forest planting was actually living and growing. Everything had such a dream-like quality to it that you felt you had to touch the plants to be sure they were real.
From a man-made rain forest to the real thing, as the next stop was Mae Sa Falls Forest Park. A series of walking trails and viewing platforms on ascending levels allow visitors to safely appreciate the beauty of the waterfall as it cascades in ten tiers. In the weeks before our visit this area had suffered from rainy season flooding and access to the higher levels was restricted for safety reasons. Nevertheless, it was still a beautiful place for a brief stop and some forest air.
Our final stop was the Queen Sirkit Botanic Gardens, an enormous area dedicated to botanical study and research as well as being a visitor attraction. We started with spectacular panoramic views of the mountains and the gardens from the Canopy Walkway, a 400-metre-long path, suspended above the treetops with glass bottomed viewing areas for extra thrills.
It’s impossible to see everything in one visit so we spent a relaxing hour or so wandering in and out of the themed glasshouses, admiring the succulents, and the native flora. My takeaway from the displays? The Hmong Hill Tribes in Thailand use aromatic plants to flavour their favourite chicken soup and give it medicinal properties. We didn’t get as far as visiting a Hmong village on this trip but that fact about their culture I find very endearing.
