Thailand: Temples around Old Chiang Mai

We wanted to take a day to see old town Chiang Mai, so we hired a driver and went all around Old Town and saw some of the temples. There are over 200 temples in Chiang Mai and the majority of them are in Old Town, so we had no chance of seeing all of them, plus the kids would have lost all interest and the appreciation of the culture and the beauty of the temples, so we decided to just stick to a few.  

Wat Sri Suphan (The Silver Temple):

The first temple we stopped at was Wat Sri Suphan, but it is most commonly known as the Silver Temple. This temple was amazing because it was completely covered in silver, from every statue to every intricate detail.  

Originally this temple was built in around 1500 and it was the main temple for a silversmith town. Everything in the temple inside and out is covered in silver, including the Buddha. Kevin was the only one that could go in this temple because there was a huge sign that stated women were not allowed to enter.

The detail on the temple was unbelievable.  Everything was hand made, with the detail unmatched.  There were plates with all the Chinese new year animals, there were also plates with main world wonders and landmarks.  

Wat Chaing Man:
We especially wanted to see two of the main important religious Chiang Mai temples: Wat Chedi Luang and Wat Chiang Man.  We first stopped at Wat Chiang Man. Wat Chaing Man is the oldest temple in Chiang Mai and inside the temple, it holds the oldest Buddha statue.

The oldest structure on the temple grounds is the Elephant Chedi.  There are 15 elephants which hold up the structure on their backs.  This was build about 1296, and it was amazing to see the elephant trunks and tusks still intact.  Since we just came from Cambodia and after seeing the elephants at the Elephant Terrace, I was expecting to see only partial elephants.  It was such a treat to see beautifully complete and intact elephants.

We had read that the oldest Buddha statue was held here at the temple, so we went in search to see it.  We entered the larger of the two religious buildings, know as viharns.  This building held a Buddha statue and two small ancient statues in closed cases.  One was stone and one was marble.  We weren't positive if these were the ancient Buddha's we were looking for, but we were pretty sure. 

Wat Chedi Luang (The Temple of the Great Stupa):
Our next temple stop was at Wat Chedi Luang, which is also called "The temple of the Great Stupa".  Wat Chedi Luang's Chedi is the main attraction at this site.  It was built about 1400 and it was once where Thailand's most sacred relics, the Emerald Buddha, was held.

We learned that in 1545 an earthquake broke off the top half of the chedi.  Some of the building was restored in the 1990's, but they left the top as the earthquake left it.  The naga, staircase and the elephants are all restored.

There are many structures around Wat Chedi Luang, and to be completely honest, other then the iconic chedi, we had no clue what the other buildings were.  There was another buddhist temple with a big sign that did not allow women to enter the building.  Kevin got a big kick out of those signs, and would mumble under his breath about how ridiculous it was.

Here are some more unknown structures (to us) on the temple grounds.  One held a huge lying Buddha, another was hand carved all out of wood and the other was a large pagoda.  The girls always loved seeing the pagodas, and this was tipped in gold.

Wat Kuankama:
Wat Kuankama is located right by Chedi Luang and is a super cool teak-style temple.  The woodwork on the temple was pretty cool. What caught our attention, was the large gold pagoda.  We could see the pagoda all the way from the Chedi Luang.

Kun Kha Ma (The Horse Temple):
The next two temples we stopped at only because of their names: The Horse Temple and the Dragon Temple.  Since my girls absolutely love horses they all voted to see this one.  They also thought a dragon temple would be super neat.  I think they had imagined something completely different in their minds, because when we were at the temples they kept looking around disappointed.  The horse Temple is actually called Wat Kun Kha Ma.  Other then a few golden horses on the gate, there wasn't any other horses around.

Wat Rajamontean (Dragon Temple):
The Dragon Temple is better known as Wat Rajamontean. There were two crossed eye dragons at the gate of the temple, but that was all there was dragon-wise.  I think the girls and I had it in our minds that there would be dragons all around and in the temple.

Wat Lok Moli:
The last temple we saw was Wat Lok Moli.  We could see a super neat ancient looking Chedi across the river on the outskirts of Old Chiang Mai.  There was a bridge that went over the river, so we kept walking past the Dragon Temple and over the bridge.  Little Monster had fallen asleep in the car, so Kevin stayed with him and the driver while the girls and I saw the Horse and Dragon Temple and then continued on to this one.

The viharn looked much newer then the chedi.  It was easy to see that the actual viharn had been restored or built new, and the chedi was more original.  We found out that the viharn was in fact new and built in 2003, whereas the chedi was built in the 14th century. We were lucky to come at a time when lanterns were strung all around the square in front of the chedi.  It was beautiful with all the new colored lanterns and the old ancient structure in contrast.