Saturday. I was half-expecting Chiang Mai Old City to be crowded with both locals and tourists on a weekend, but noting also that it was probably an off-peak travel season, there might not be crowds. I planned to explore the northern part of the old city with some temples and end the day at the Saturday Night Market.
The Wing Boutique Hotel provided free breakfast between 7am to 10am in a dining room just across our room. We had light breakfast before starting the day.
8:40am, we left the hotel to look for places where we could have Thai noodles for another round of breakfast. But, most of the eateries in the surrounding area were yet to be opened. The old city would probably sleep until after 9am — or maybe 10am.
We decided to visit a nearby temple, opposite Lookbua Restaurant where we had our dinner the night before. Wat Muen Ngoen Kong was a quiet temple with a large Reclining Buddha in a pavilion. While the ubosot and a smaller viharn was guarded by the mythical Nagas, the main viharn had plain stuccos with Thai kranok pattern at its entrance. It was for worshippers only and numerous devatas lined the walls around the viharn. A golden chedi (pronounce as "jay-dee" in Thai), standing behind the temple, was surrounded by 13 donation boxes in the shapes of 12 animals of Thai zodiac and an additional "pig".
Thai zodiac was very similar to Chinese zodiac. But, unlike Chinese zodiac, there was no dragon in Thai zodiac and the mythical serpent-like Naga took its place. Similarly, elephant took the place of pig — which was why "pig" was additional when referencing to Thai zodiac.
At 9:15am, we went back to Mae Pa Sri Restaurant, which we had walked past earlier when it was still "preparing to open". We browsed through the food menu and ordered two Northern Thai specialties: khao soi (with chicken) and khanom jeen nam ngiaw. Khao soi was a popular curry noodle dish, with crispy noodle, in northern Thailand, Laos and Myanmar, and could be found in all corners of Chiang Mai. The khanom jeen nam ngiaw was mild-spicy rice noodle. I had a hot hazelnut coffee too.
After part two of breakfast, we continued to visit the temples. Wat Muen Ngoen Kong was our first temple of the day and our goal was to visit 9 temples within the day.
In Thai beliefs, the auspicious numbers associated with praying at temples were 3, 6 or 9. Visiting and praying at 9 temples or shrines in a day was a common practice in Thailand and was termed as "merit-making" — well, "when in Thailand, do as the Thais do".
Walking along Samlan Road, we came to Wat Phra Singh Woramahawihan at the road junction with Rachadamnoen Road. The locals-popular temple was bestowed the status of "Royal temple of the first grade" by King Ananda Mahidol (Rama VIII) in 1935. Wat Phra Singh, one of the three largest temples in the old city, features several ancient viharns, housing different Buddha statues. The main viharn, called Viharn Luang, was guarded by two golden Nagas and housed a 500-year-old Buddha statue (admission fee required for foreigners). An exquisite Lanna-style ho trai and a majestic golden chedi with an elephant on each of its sides, were not to be missed.
At the next junction along Singharat Road, we came to Wat Pha Bong — less than 5 minutes after leaving Wat Phra Singh. It was a small temple with several statues in the courtyard, including the Buddha of Fortune, with Chinese translations on what to recite when praying. Hit the gong three times for "happiness, health and peacefulness".
Further down the same road was Wat Dap Phai, another small temple. It was said that this temple could end suffering. It had an impressive ho rakang (bell tower) beside the viharn and also an ubosot, a chedi and a holy well. Perched on the entrance wall were a pair of red-and-gold chinthe (Burmese guardian lion).
Next was Fern Forest Cafe, just few steps from Wat Dap Phai and an intended cafe to visit on our itinerary. We walked into Fern Forest Cafe and picked a table in its green open-air courtyard. It had a pretty relaxing vibe. We placed orders for a coconut cream pie, banana fritters, a Dream of Summer using passion fruit, and a Relaxing with green and red apples, pineapple and lemongrass. It started raining just when our orders were about to be served and we moved into the main building.
We took our time to enjoy the wonderful desserts in such a comfortable environment, while also waiting for the rain to stop. After an hour in the cafe, we continued on our 9-temple merit-making trail.
Walking till the end of Singharat Road took us to the northern moat of the old city. Two temples, Wat Lok Moli and Wat Rajamontean, stood facing one another across the moat. We decided to visit Wat Lok Moli outside the moat before coming back to the old city.
We crossed the moat using the old moat bridge and came to the ancient Wat Lok Moli, which was about 700-years-old. The temple consisted of a well-preserved ancient gate, teak viharn and a massive non-stuccoed Lanna-style chedi. The chedi housed the ashes of several royal members of the Mengrai dynasty. Cravings of Thai zodiac in front of the viharn arranged the 12 animals in an order from bottom to top, right to left. The walkway to the viharn, guarded by a pair of white Nagas, was flanked by two large white elephants — literally. A bell tower near the chedi was guarded by 4 serpent-like creatures known as moms.
Next was Wat Rajamontean after crossing back using the moat bridge. The serene and sacred temple was built in the Lanna Kingdom and renovated a few times through its long history. The red-and-gold temple featured exquisite carvings by local artisans and a giant seated Buddha. Guarding the temple entrance were a pair of Nagas with two young Nagas — a very unique feature. Seated behind the Nagas were two black yakshas.
Few steps further along the northern edge of the old city led us to Wat Khurn Khama. The small temple, built in 1492, was to commemorate a general's horse. Thus, it had a horse theme and featured several statues of horse along its perimeter. A pair of larger horse statues guarded the two entrances of the temple each. The temple consisted of a viharn, a white-and-gold chedi behind it and an ubosot guarded by Nagas.
It was 12:35pm after exiting from Wat Khurn Khama and we had completed 7 temples. Continuing along the edge of the old city, we hit Ratchapakhinai Road and turned right into the road, leading us to Wat Chiang Man, another temple that was marked as a must-visit. It was also one of the "big three" temples in the old city.
Wat Chiang Man was probably the oldest royal temple of Chiang Mai, build in 1296, in the Lanna Kingdom. Other than a couple of viharns housing important Buddha statues, it also had an "Elephant Chedi" with a mixture of Lanna and Singhalese styles. The chedi featured a top golden structure, said to housed a relic chamber, and supported by 15 elephants that seemed to emerge from the chedi. At the back of the main viharn was a large seated Buddha statue.
Opposite Wat Chiang Man, and few steps further down the same road, was Wat Lam Chang. Also known as the "Temple of Tethered Elephants", the site used to be a holding ground for elephants that were used to ferry the royal family. Naturally, this temple featured lots of elephant images and statues, including flower pots.
And that concluded our 9-temple trail in the northern part of Chiang Mai Old City.
Continuing on Ratchapakhinai Road, we came to a road junction with Moon Muang Road Lane 6. A signboard indicated there was a "Doi Chaang Cafe" in the lane but I could not verify it on the map apps. Anyway, we walked down the lane to find the cafe and also to check out other shops. There were quite a number of interesting shops and restaurants along the lane but no Doi Chaang Cafe.
At the end of Lane 6, we came to Ming Muang Market, took few minutes to browse through the stalls with local products and souvenirs. A food stall opposite the market was selling various types of sausage, meat skewers, chicken wings, glutinuos (sticky) rice, etc.
We bought 2 pork skewers (moo png), a skewer of 3 chicken sausage and a chunk of sai oua (Northern Thai pork sausage with aromatic spices), and some glutinous rice for just ฿75. Then we walked to Tha Phae Gate where there were some stone benches for us to rest our legs while munching on the meaty snacks with rice.
However, Tha Phae Gate was not a good place for eating. Tourists taking photos of themselves with the ancient gate had tendency to scare the pigeons to capture birds-in-flight photos. These actions caused the scared birds to panic and released their droppings in the air and landed on unlucky people in the area. After seeing those silly acts, we walked further away to finish the food as fast as we could.
Originally meant as snacks, the meaty sausages and sticky rice filled up most of our stomach space for lunch. We decided to go for some coffee and light bites. We cut through Tha Phae Gate, back into the old city, and walked down Rachadamnoen Road in search of a nice cafe.
2:15pm, we came across Ratchadumnern Coffee opposite Mueang Chiang Mai Police Station. We had an espresso orange and a matcha latte with spring rolls that were served with Thai sweet-spicy dipping sauce. We rested in the cafe for about an hour.
Then, we went back to the hotel to rest and charge our phones, just in time to avoid a short heavy downpour.
At 6pm, we left the hotel and headed to Wualai Walking Street where the Saturday Night Market was being held. We started at Chiang Mai Gate, the southeastern gate of the old city. Several food stalls were lined up outside Chiang Mai Gate Market. We checked out several food stalls and tried seafood fried rice and fried soy sauce instant noodle from one of the stalls — not very satisfactory.
We continued to check out the night market along Wualai Walking Street. Stalls that sold local products, souvenirs, clothings, head gears, light bites, etc, lined the main road whereas food stalls were mostly found in "food centres" in some corners of the street. I bought a pack of 250 gram Doi Inthanon coffee beans for ฿200 from one of the stalls.
In one of those "food centres", we had grilled squid and a skewer of crocodile meat. There was a lot of food that looked delicious but we were already full.
Mid-way along the walking street, a signboard indicated that the Silver Temple was opened till 11pm on Saturday nights. Not knowing that the temple would be lighted up colourfully, we actually gave it a miss.
We walked till the other end of Wualai Walking Street and decided to walk along Thipanet Road back to the old city, which was much shorter to our hotel. It started drizzling and we quickened our pace but still had to break out our umbrellas before reaching the old city.
8:30pm, we were back in the hotel 10 minutes before it started pouring super heavily and with thunders roaring. Lucky.
Day 3: Coconut Market, Temples to East of Old City & Sunday Walking Street
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