The Simple Things in Life are the Best
- Liz
- Feb 5
- 6 min read
Updated: Apr 19
Chiang Mai, Day 74
I'm feeling a lot better this morning, but my throat is feeling a bit sore and tender (possibly to do with all the epithelial cells I lost from my gullet yesterday!), so I opt for a little toast for breakfast (made in the Breville maker as there is no toaster in the apartment) in the hope that this will help settle my poor little digestive system.
Today's plan is to do a bit of a loop from our location and to take in the southern part of the city wall area that we have not covered so far.
We initially head to the Mae Kha Canal area again, and it's completely different to see this area in the daylight when there are practically no vendors or tourists about. I'm so glad that I didn't listen to R previously when he wanted to visit this in the daytime! From here, we take a left along the Kamphaeng Din Alley road. The "Alley" part makes it sound like a small, narrow back road, but it was actually a long and very interesting road with lots of cool cafes, restaurants, and bars. At the end of this road, we turn left onto Sridonchai Road and head along the Southern length of the ancient city wall area.
Wat Puak Chang
Just before we arrive at the city wall section, we come across the Wat Puak Chang temple.
This is a really beautiful and quiet little temple, just a block from the moat area. The surrounding gardens are extremely lovely, and there are little tables and chairs dotted around the area. It is tranquil, and I could easily have sat here listening to the birds and the running water features as well as watching the fish happily swimming around in the ponds. Very beautiful indeed.
From here, we continued along the road until we reached a fork in the road and took the left-hand side onto Wua Lai Road.
Wat Muen San
We stopped off at a Seven-Eleven to pick up a couple of ice creams and as we walked along we came across the Wat Muen San. We rest on a bench in a little shaded area here as we finish our ice creams. There is some sort of election going on and it's interesting to watch as the locals all come to cast their votes in the nearby polling station.
Wat Muen San is the second silver temple in the Hai Ya district of Chiang Mai. The nearby Wat Sri Suphan (which we have yet to visit) is known as the Silver Temple and attracts many visitors, but fewer people visit the nearby Wat Muen San.
The Wua Lai neighborhood is south of the Chiang Mai gate. It is roughly between the south inner city wall and the old outer city wall. More than 200 years ago people from the Shan states (now in Myanmar) settled in this neighborhood. Some of them were war captives, others moved voluntarily. Amongst them were people skilled in silver and lacquerware. The silver handicraft workshops are still concentrated on and around Wua Lai Road.
It's also worth noting that the term “silver” is a bit misleading, and the metal used at these temples combines silver with nickel and aluminum. Both temples are in the Wua Lai neighbourhood.
We also find it very interesting to see a dragon display that was in the process of being designed. There was a paper design template on the aluminium metal structure, and this appeared to be the starting point of how these structures are put together. We also noted that there were contribution boxes dotted around, so perhaps the funds need to be available for each of the stages. There was no one around at the time we visited, but I'm assuming that the red parasol was there to offer some protection from the sun to the artist.
Another beautiful aspect of the temple was the stunning pagoda. This pagoda is in Lanna style with Tai Yai influences.
Information at the temple says that a reconstruction took place in the period 1922-1927, in which probably followers of Kruba Srivichai had a hand. There are lion statues and umbrellas on the four corners. This pagoda or chedi is the most impressive structure in the temple compound.
From here, we had a brief look around the small cultural village area before starting to head back towards the apartment.
I was also starting to feel a bit exhausted by this time, as we had covered a little more distance than I had anticipated we woul,d and I was still feeling slightly delicate from the night before.
Wat Yang Kuang
Then we passed the Wat Yang Kuang. Of course, this is off the radar of most tourists, who tend to stick to the Old City, the riverside, and Nimman neighborhoods, but not us!
Wat Yang Kuang (sometimes written as Wat Yang Guang) is one of the less remarkable temples in Chiang Mai, despite its history going back nearly 700 years.
While there are no written records dating the temple’s origin, Wat Yang Guang is thought to be a location where King Mangrai rested while scouting the Chiang Mai Valley for a location to build his new capital, which would become Chiang Mai. During this time, Lanna continued and refined its traditional Chiang Saen art style (also called Phra Singha style), which culminated in the Phra Saen Swae Buddha. This massive cast bronze statue was housed at Wat Yang Kuang, where it would eventually be rediscovered, and is now housed in the Chiang Mai National Museum as its centrepiece exhibit.
Two centuries later, Chiang Mai and the Lanna Kingdom had fallen under the control of the Burmese Toungoo dynasty. During this period of the Burmese occupation of Chiang Mai, Wat Yang Kuang was abandoned.
After a series of military campaigns led by King Kawila, Chiang Mai began an era of reconstruction under the Thonburi Kingdom’s (Bangkok’s) sphere of influence. During this period, new settlers from the Burmese city of Kengtung began rebuilding the Wat Yang Kuang, even naming it after Ban Na Yang Kuang, a town near Kengtung. This is why the temple features several Burmese design elements (maroon colour, chinthe statues) today.
In 2006, Wat Yang Kuang began renovations to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the coronation of King Bhumibol Adulyadej (King Rama IX). These renovations led to the discovery of Wat Yang Kuang’s buried ruins in 2017. At that time, the surrounding ubosot was deconstructed and excavated by the Fine Arts Department.
Unfortunately, I did not take any photos here, which is another indicator of my state of weariness. I just sat in a shaded area, starting to feel a little sorry for myself and also getting a little grumpy as R will easily attest to.
On the other hand, "Baw Jaws" was raring to go and ready for his late lunch. No guessing where he wanted to go either! I, on the other hand, was not quite ready to handle eating anything too spicy, greasy, or flavourful at this point until I felt fully recovered (i.e., had my stomach lining back again!), and I was much more wary of all foods because I just wanted simple and bland nutrition.
R asked me several times if I wanted to stop for a cold drink, but I really just wanted to get back home and have a lie-down.
We did stop off and pick up a few grocery items, and I seemed to perk up with a cold honey green tea drink.
Then we went to R's favourite little restaurant for something to eat - I am sure he is slowly working his way through their whole menu! The waitress must have wondered why I was not eating this time - if only she knew...
Once back home, I had a shower and a rest on the bed, then made myself some Breville toast and scrambled eggs - yes, I actually cooked something, which is a first on this trip! And yes, it was fairly boring and bland, but it was exactly what I was looking for, and I enjoyed every morsel!
Then we had a delightful video chat with A & A, who had both kindly gone to the house for us to check and rectify a few things. We'd had a door strip pop off the front porch area during the recent bad storm (we could see this from the front Blink camera), and we needed A to check if everything else looked ok, as we could only see so much from our front and back camera views. Thankfully, A was able to pop the strip back in again, which was great (and he managed to water the house plants!). On the other hand, we'd had an unexpected small package delivered recently, which was left half sticking out of the letterbox, and this was nowhere to be found, so we're not sure if the postie has seen this and taken it back to the sorting office or if it has been passed to one of the neighbours for safekeeping. I guess we will find out once we are back home. If it has been nicked, then the person will be sadly disappointed by the contents.
Ps. It's also worth pointing out that I had this post saved in draft form before R's "I have no words" submission - so I think he got his "simple" idea from my blog title #justsayin!
Chiang Mai, Thailand
1st February 2025
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