Temples and Night Markets

Chiang Mai, Day 68

Our plan for today is to visit the Three Kings monument and perhaps the museums around this location. We have also identified another key temple in the centre that we want to visit, so off we set. Of course, as always, things don't always go to plan, but that's all part of the fun, and as long as you are flexible, that's all that matters!

Our first stop is a..... wait for it....yes, a temple!

Wat Chedi Luang is a Buddhist temple in the historic centre of Chiang Mai. The current temple grounds were originally made up of three temples — Wat Chedi Luang, Wat Ho Tham, and Wat Sukmin.

The construction of the temple started in the 14th century when King Saen Muang Ma planned to bury the ashes of his father in the place. After 10 years of building, it was left unfinished, later to be continued after the death of the king by his widow. Probably due to stability problems, it took until the mid-15th century to be finished during the reign of King Tilokaraj. It was then 82 m high and had a base diameter of 54 m, at that time the largest building of all Lanna.

In 1468, the Emerald Buddha was installed in the eastern niche. In 1545, the upper 30 m of the structure collapsed after an earthquake, and shortly thereafter, in 1551, the Emerald Buddha was moved to Luang Prabang.

In the early 1990s, the chedi was reconstructed and financed by UNESCO and the Japanese government. However, the result is somewhat controversial, as some claim the new elements are in the Central Thai style, not the Lanna style. For the 600th anniversary of the chedi in 1995, a copy of the Emerald Buddha made from black jade was placed in the reconstructed eastern niche. The icon is named official Phra Phut Chaloem Sirirat but is commonly known as Phra Yok.

Also on the temple grounds is the city pillar (Lak Mueang) of Chiang Mai, named Sao Inthakin. It was moved to this location in 1800 by King Chao Kawila. He also planted three dipterocarp trees there, which are supposed to assist the city pillar to protect the town. A festival in honor of the city pillar is held every year in May and lasts 6–8 days.

In a wihan near the entrance to the temple is the Buddha statue named Phra Chao Attarot (Eighteen-cubit Buddha), which was cast in the late 14th century. On the other side of the chedi is another pavilion housing a reclining Buddha statue.

Wat Chedi Luang hosts monk chats every day - tourists are invited to speak with monks (usually novices) and ask them anything about Buddhism or Thailand.

We had originally planned to visit the Three Kings area again today and go to the museums around here, but again, there is a very heavy military presence this time, and lots of the areas appear to be cordoned off. There is clearly some sort of big event in progress, but we have no idea what it is and can't seem to find anything online that mentions what is going on.

(NOTE: we later learned that the preparations and the event had to do with a visit by the King and Queen of Thailand - https://fb.watch/xmVxj7ajDB/). It would have been really cool to see the Royal Family but I doubt we would have been allowed anywhere near the area by the time they arrived).

Ice Cream Time

It's now about time for a little rest, so we pop into a little place that we had seen the other day on our walk. It's called Kanom-Maes Sweets and it's a cute little Thai sweet dessert shop, and we just couldn't resist a pit stop in here.

R had a shaved ice dessert and I had a butterfly pea coconut ice cream dessert which was delicious. I tried to ask the waitress what was going on but she didn't understand what I was asking, so we just smiled instead.

After our refreshing stop, we are starting to head back in the direction of the apartment, but via a different route, and will see what we come across as we go. Before we know it, we have come across another.....temple!

Wat Chiang Man is a Buddhist temple inside the old city of Chiang Mai. It was built by Mangrai in 1297 as the first temple of Chiang Mai on the location of Wiang Nopburi, a fortified town of the Lawa people which had been used by King Mangrai as a camp during the construction of his new capital city Chiang Mai.

The temple is famous for its Lanna-style chedi supported by rows of elephant-shaped buttresses.

The 'Elephant Chedi' is the oldest construction within the temple complex. The square base supports a second level, which has the front half of 15 life-sized brick-and-stucco elephants emerging from it. The elephants seem to carry the upper levels of the building on their backs. The gilded upper part of the chedi contains a bell-shaped relic chamber directly underneath the pinnacle.

The beautiful Lanna-style ordination hall enshrines an ancient Buddha image named Phra Kaew Khao, revered by Chiang Mai locals. Wat Chiang Man is situated off Ratchapakhinai Road in the northeast corner of the old city.

Again, this was just a stunning temple and grounds, and we enjoyed our stroll around here.

Chiang Mai's Chinatown

We continued onwards and stumbled onto the Warorot Market, locally known as Kad Luang is a market and tourist attraction. It is regarded as the largest and most well-known market in the northern region of Thailand. Located at Wichayanon Road, Tambon Chang Moi, Chiang Mai City, and close to Chang Khlan Road.

The market is well known as the source of selling local products, especially northern food, which is rare in other regions. Apart from local food, there are also clothes, ceramics, cloth, embroidery appliances, flowers, and many others.

Besides, one part of the alley market is called "Trok Lao Zhou", which is a source of both Chinese and Hmong. Hmong will bring local products and handicrafts for sale daily from 7.00 am to 5.00 pm. It has been named as "Chinatown of Chiang Mai"

Similar to what we had seen in Hanoi, there were quite a lot of shops and stalls all selling items relating to the Chinese New Year celebrations.

From here, we made our way back to the apartment to shower and rest, and then in the evening, we headed back out again to visit the Night Market and to get some dinner.

Night Markets

There are two night markets about a 12-minute walk from the apartment, which is very handy. We headed out about 7 pm I think and it just starting to get busy. Both markets are quite similar to what you would expect to see in any market. There are lots of stalls selling various types of crafts, clothing, souvenirs, and various food stalls etc.

We went to both the food court areas in the Anusarn Market and the Kalare Night Bazaar and ended up getting our dinner at the Kalare one, which seemed a little bigger with more choices and also some music and dancing going on, on a small stage set area. It had a nice vibe to the place.

Dinner was Hong Kong chicken noodles for me, and R went for a different type of chicken noodle dish. We also had some shared pork gyoza and mango sticky rice to finish with.

We left about an hour or so later, and it was a lot busier by this point (a bit too busy for us), so off we trotted to pick up a few items from the grocery store on our way home, and that was us for another day. Tomorrow, we are looking forward to having a 'lazy day' at home to just chill and catch up on some items.

The rough walking route for today is below:

Chiang Mai, Thailand

26 January 2025