Chiangmai Wats - Wat Jet Lin

Location - Phrapokklao Road, Chiang Mai Old City [in the southeastern corner inside the old city walls of Chiang Mai along the southern end of Prapokkloa Road].

Opening Hours - Daily from 04:00 till 18:00

Entrance - Free

Wat Jet Lin is also known as Wat Nong Chalin.

On the right side of the entrance, there is the main viharn [wat/temple] building. Running alongside the viharn are several large black metal gongs which you cane gently hit using the soft mallets and they’ll emanate a wonderful tone.

At the back of the Viharn, there is a nice Chedi that is constructed in the Mondop Style which typically includes a niche on every side of the Chedi where a Buddha image is placed. 

Walk past the Chedi until you get to a lovely ornate little bridge. This is my favourite area of Wat Jetlin. Crossing over the bridge you’ll find a couple of nice seating areas. Below the still lilly filled water has tortoises, carp and slew of birdlife living around it.

The coronation ceremony of King Mekut Sutthiwong took place in this temple in the sixteenth century.

It’s quite bare but still filled with red painted columns, seats around the edges, a tiled floor, a pink carpet at the center lined with soft mats for kneeling on and a large golden buddha at the top.

It’s all quite ornate in a clash of evocative colors way.

Back outside and there’s a little outbuilding that houses a sizable old stone buddha head along with several smaller ornate statues. Among these are large dark stone balls. I’m told that stone balls are often placed under Thai temples in each of the four corners and in cardinal points.

Chiangmai - Lamphun Part 4 [Wiang Khum Kham]

Wiang Khum Kham Location - between Km 3-4 along Chiang Mai-Lamphun route, Tambon Wang Tan, Amphoe Saraphi, Chiang Mai, Thailand

Entrance is free.

Wieng Kum Kam is recently-discovered lost city formed in 1286 during the reign of King Mengrai. Historians have found that Wieng Kum Kam was a slightly large city, with an inner part framed by reservoirs. The city of Wieng Kum Kam contained numerous religious structures, but only twenty structures that were found, such as Wat Chang Kham, Wat That Noi, Wat E Kang, Wat Pu Pia, Wat Ku Khao, Wat Hua Nong and Wat Pu Song.

You can walk around the main ones and go on horse carts to see some others. Cost 200THB for 1 hour ride.  But it is impossible to see all of them.We only see Wat Chang Kham, Wat E Kang and Wat That Noi. You may need to spend about an hour here.

According to Thais, King Mengrai in the 13th century who was supposed to have built Wiang Khum Kham before deciding it wasn’t a great spot – too close to the flood prone Ping River – and moving his capital to Chiang Mai instead, whereupon Khum Kham was abandoned.  

From the extent of the ruins it’s clear the city must have been occupied over a lengthy period by a large number of people. The ruins cover a period from the 11th century right up until the 16th and 17th centuries [including Mon/ Dvaravati, Mon/Khmer/Sukhothai and Thai Lanna periods], so was obviously never completely abandoned until the 18th century when there were some catastrophic floods which really did finish the place off and covered all the remains in a layer of river mud under which they stayed hidden until recently [The first ruins were uncovered in the 1980s and some are only being excavated now].

Wat Chang Kham [Wat Kan Thome] - this temple consists of a Vihara facing the west and a Mandapa which connected to the back of the Vihara, houses of the Buddha image. King Mengrai built this in 1290.  There is a Chedi of which the basement is 12 m wide and 18 m high.  The Chedi has double niches in each direction.  The lower niches contain 4 seated Buddha and the upper one enshrine with a standing Buddha.  There are also 2 followers of Buddha [Mokalana and Saributa] - Indra and Nang Torani of the Mother of Earth.  There are Haripunchai Buddha tablets and red sandstone inscriptions in 3 kinds of alphabets.  The temple was restored in 1984.

Wat E-Kang [Wiang Khum Kham]

The grounds of Wat E-Kang used to be deserted and overgrown, inhabited only by monkeys. Kang means monkey in northern dialect, thus the locals call this temple Wat E-Kang. The Department of Fine Arts started the excavation work in 1985 and found a chedi behind a viharn which faces north towards a branch of the Ping River. Later in 2003 the excavation team found traces of a wall in the west of the chedi. More excavation work is done.

The chedi of Wat E-Kang remains mostly intact. It is a bell-shaped chedi on a high lotus base with torus moulding and is situated on the same base as the viharn. The base of the chedi is wide enough for a ritual walk around. Of the viharn only a big base is left. On the floor of the viharn are traces of bases for 16 pillars. There are stairways in front and on one side of the viharn, decorated with northern spiral designs.

From the architecture and the fact that plates of Fak Kham and Lanna Dhamma alphabets were found in the area, it is estimated that this temple is dated back to the 16th - 17th centuries.

Wat That Noi [Wiang Khum Kham]

This temple is situated west of Wat Chang Kham [Kanthom].  There is no record of this temple in any historical documents therefor it is called 'Thatnoi' after the small size of the Chedi.  This temple used to be covered with soil of 60-70 cm.  The Department of Fine Arts did an excavation and a restoration in 1985-1986 and found that this temple comprised a Vihara and a Chedi.  The Vihara faced northeast was rectangular in shape with 2 stairways, one in the front and the other by the side.  The floor of the Vihara was made of bricks and there were traces of pillar bases made of laterites with bricks laid on top.  At the back of the Vihara was a niche for the principal limed Buddha image.  Now only the base of the niche and the 2m wide lower part of the Buddha image remain.  The Chedi was behind the Vihara, now only the lowest base remains.  Important artifacts found from the excavation were a terracotta Buddha  tablet, stucco of divinity's head, giant and mythical animals such as Naga Kinnom and bird or swan.  From its architectural style, this temple id dated in the 14-15th centuries AD.

Chiangmai - Lamphun Part 2 [Wat Phrathat Haripunchai]

Located about 26 km south-east of Chiangmai, Lamphun is very easy to access and normally on list as the side trip itinerary for those visited the North either for the pilgrimage or leisure trip. There is a regular air-conditioned coach leaving on the opposite side of Warorot Market or locally known as Kad Luang in Chiang Mai. It takes approximately less than hour to arrive to the center area of Lamphun.
If you have time, spend the night out here to slowly absorb the ancient city atmosphere, if not, a one day trip is definitely worth adding to your itinerary. We went by rented motorbike from Chiangmai using Route 106.

Another famous Wat in Lamphun is Wat Phrathat Haripunchai.Located in the heart of the city close to Methi Wuttikorn School on Inthayongyot Road.
The temple opens daily from 7.00am to 6.00pm
Every year on the full moon of the 6th Lunar month (Visakha Bucha Day), there is a ceremony for worshippers to sprinkle water onto Phrathat Hariphunchai.

Inside the Wat Phrathat Hariphunchai area, there is a booth selling tram tickets for the city round-trip tour. Apart from visiting Phratat Haripunchai, you will also be able to visit other important temples and historical sites around the city. The tram operation time is 9.00am to 1.00pm but tourists should check the tram running schedule in advance. Sometimes it can be fully booked from reserved tour groups. There is no English-speaking guide, only a local speaking tram driver does the talking.

Wat Phra That Hariphunchai was built during the reign of King Arthitayarat, a descendant of Queen Chamthewi some 800 years ago. He had a strong faith in Buddhism and supported the religion by introducing Buddhist practice to his city. A principal landmark is the 46-metre tall golden Chedi whose present appearance was the result of the restoration work in 1443 by a king of Chiang Mai.

This temple has long been regarded as an important pilgrimage site for Buddhists especially for those who were born in the Year of the Rooster. The main chedi houses a hair, crown of a skull, chest and finger bones of Buddha.

Inside the main hall. Buddha statues in the back
 and some visitors are praying.

Originally, the top of chedi was built in a rectangular structure, but then during the reign of Phraya Mengrai, it was changed to a Lanka bell-shaped structure. The form seen today is the masterpiece of King Tilokkarat of Chiang Mai city. He combined the Burmese-Phukam style and the Lankan Bell-shaped architecture together and created a unique Lanna style. Later on, this special architecture was adopted as the principal model for other chedis throughout the Northern region under Lanna Kingdom. If you have been to Wat Pratat Doi Suthep in Chaing Mai, you will recognize the pattern.

Scenery around the chedi

This is a view from the direction of the entrance to the back side. On the right is the chedi, on the left is a hall, and a museum is in the back.

Originally it was a construction of 2 brick pillars which hung a large bronze moon-shaped bell weighing 729,000 tumlueng [1 tumlueng is equal to 60 grams] - 43740 kg.  The bell was cast in BE 2403 at Wat Phra Sing, Chiangmai as an offering to worship the Buddha relic in Phrathat Haripunchai Stupa in Lamphun.  Later the pillars were replaced by a 2 storey hall of Haripunchai architectural design.  The bell was hung on the first floor and on the second floor hung another bronze bell cast in the reign of Chao Daradirekratanapairoj who ruled the city of Lamphun during BE 2414-2433.

 

Ho Trai, which houses the sacred Tripitaka scriptures, is a large base two-story building located next to the moon shape bell tower. The ground floor of the building is made of bricks painted in red, while the top floor is made of woodwork with fine detailed carving. This Ho Trai resembles the inside of Wat Phra Singh in Chiang Mai. It is believed to be a popular model of the Lanna Kingdom.

Beautiful paintings in the front and side walls of the temple

Suwanna Chedi [Pathumwadi Chedi]

A legend was told that King Athitayarat and his royal consort Queen Patumwadi had built Wat Phrathat Haripunchai around 1607 BE. More detail was found in the Mullasasana script that they both demanded the tip of the principal chedi be decorated with gold and named it Suwanna Chedi [golden pagoda].  This golden chedi was made of bricks with a tripple-tier laterite base.  On the base stands the body with 5 stepped arched bays holding stuccowork of Haripunchai style Buddha images in the standing position dated around the 17th-18th centuries BE the peak of Haripunchai's golden age of trade, religion and arts.

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