Day 5 was meant to be a relaxing day since it was our last day in Chiang Mai. We had intended to eat more Northern Thai food, idle in cafes and visit just 3 prominent temples (Wat Phan Tao, Wat Chedi Luang and Wat Sri Suphan) nearby that were must-visits but we had missed them in the past 3 days for whatever reasons.
At 9am, we headed out for breakfast as usual. We went back to Mae Pa Sri, which was already fully opened. I wanted to try their beef noodle soup this time. My friend had basil pork rice (kra pao moo) and I had a hot vanilla coffee without milk to go along. The beef noodle soup was good.
I wanted to visit a Doi Chaang Caffe to have coffee and to get some Doi Chaang coffee beans but there was no Doi Chaang Caffe in the old city after searching on two Maps apps. The nearest outlet was outside Tha Phae Gate, nearer to Pantip Lifestyle Hub. Doi Chaang Caffe used to have a number of franchise outlets in West Malaysia and Singapore but they had mostly closed down during the COVID pandemic — that was how I got to know about Doi Chaang's coffee.
We walked along Rachadamnoen Road towards the old city gate and dropped in on Wat Phan Ohn along the way. The red-and-golden temple had very beautiful and detailed carvings on its door frames and windows. A gold-cladded chedi behind the temple housed a Buddha's relic and was conferred the name "Phra Jadee Sareerikathadsirilak" by King Rama IX in 2550 B.E. (or 2007 A.D.).
After passing through Tha Phae Gate once again, we followed Tha Phae Road and came across Wat Mahawan. It had an ancient viharn with exquisite carvings and guarded by two Burmese-style lions. A beautiful white-and-golden ubosot stood beside the viharn and a Burmese-style white chedi with gold top stood in the backyard.
10:30am, seeing that it was getting closer to the Doi Chaang Caffe’s closing time at 11am, we skipped all other sights and hurried to the cafe along Khampangdin Road. But it had already closed at 10am on this day — tough luck.
Walking back the way we came, we returned to a three-wheeled blue motorised truck parked outside an empty shop at a road junction, which we had hurried past earlier. The "motorised shop", named Nomad Coffee, was selling coffee made from locally-produced coffee beans. I had a hot pour-over coffee to try the taste of the coffee beans grew by small local farms and my friend had an iced latte (฿60 each). The light-roasted Arabica beans had very fruity taste profile. Sipping coffee by a motorised vehicle was a new experience.
As the empty shop behind Nomad Coffee would be opening soon, Nomad Coffee would neet to relocate to another spot. It would be best to get updates on its new location via its Facebook.
After coffee, we visited Wat Saen Fang just across the road. The temple had two 100-foot-long Nagas, and two blue crocodiles and two goldfishes below it, flanking the entrance walkway. However, the red-painted metal gate made taking nice photos of the long Nagas nearly-impossible, so the temple offered a QR code for visitors to scan and download a pre-shot photo. The temple had a viharn and a very beautiful white-and-golden Burmese-style chedi with new coatings but some parts of it were still undergoing touch-ups.
Retracing along Tha Phae Road, we were back at Wat Buppharam, which we had skipped after Wat Mahawan. The temple had an admission fee of ฿30 for each foreigner. It was obvious from the entrance of the temple that the main building in the temple ground was having some repair works but we paid the entry fee and went in. There were many interesting things to see here.
The architecture of the central shrine and library, behind a standing Buddha, had very unique design. Inside the shrine was a 400-year-old white teak Buddha. A quirky statue of Donald Duck stood in the courtyard with a pair of chopsticks and a bowl in its hands. To one side of the central shrine stood a small ancient viharn, build in 1819, and was guarded by two guardians moms, one silver and one golden. A newer and larger viharn was beside the small one and behind both viharns was a Burmese-style chedi guarded by 4 large Burmese guardian lions, called chinthe, and 4 smaller Chinese guardian lions. A holy Namthip Well was locked with a sign indicating "Entry prohibited to women" even though the larger statues around it were female apsaras.
11:50am, after visiting 3 temples outside the old city and nice coffee, we were back at Tha Phae Gate again. Continuing on Rachadamnoen Road, we came to Wat Muen Larn, which seemed desserted nearing lunch time. We checked out the temple briefly. The ancient viharn seemed to be under restoration and both the ubosot and ho trai were locked. A chedi stood to the rear of the viharn with 4 smaller chedis at its corners and guarded by Burmese guardian lions.
About 100 metres away, Wat Samphao was similarly quiet. Again, we toured the temple ground briefly. The large viharn was guarded by two impressive Nagas with fishes below them. A small chedi stood behind the viharn.
It was time for lunch. We decided to go back to Lim Lao Ngow Fishball Noodle (林老五鱼丸面) for its delicious noodle again. We made our way to the Three Kings Monument, walked past Wat Inthakhin Sadue Muang, took some photos again, and arrived at Lim Lao Ngow. I had dry-tossed special egg noodle this time and my friend went for the dry-tossed wonton noodle with meat dumplings. This was our part one — a light meal.
After exiting from Lim Lao Ngow, we jumped into Three Kings Boat Noodle just two units away. Part two was a boat noodle with braised beef shank for me and my friend had a boiled pork set (without noodle) in a boat-shaped bowl. We also had K.Ori's passion fruit tea and lychee tea. This restaurant was a nice place for delicious beef and pork noodles too.
Fed and rested, we continued to visit the temples. We had briefly visited 6 temples in the morning but none of them were the 3 prominent temples that we had planned to see. Without further ado, we headed straight to Wat Phan Tao. Starting with Wat Phan Tao to Chiang Mai Gate, there were altogether 6 temples along Prapokkloa Road.
Wat Phan Tao featured a beautiful Lanna-style teakwood viharn that was over a 100 years old, with 3-tiered roof, and enshrining the sacred Phan Tao Buddha. We entered through the narrow door of an ancient gate with carvings of peacocks, signifying its use by the royal family. Behind the viharn was an elegant gold-cladded chedi, seated on a maroon fenced platform, with a number of mini-chedis at its base. The chedi was glistering under the bright sunshine. On the wall behind the viharn, a beautifully-carved thewada stood facing the chedi.
Right beside Wat Phan Tao was Wat Chedi Luang, the largest temple in Chiang Mai. Entry to the temple was via a side gate, guarded by two yakshas, with an admission fee of ฿50 for foreigners. The first sight after entry would be the shrine of Sao Inthakin, or Chiang Mai's city pillar. The sacred pillar was enshrined underground and women were not allowed to entry the shrine.
In the centre of the temple ground, a large viharn housed the revered Phra Chao Attorat standing Buddha but some reconstruction work was ongoing and the entrance was barricaded. Behind the viharn stood the largest chedi of Chiang Mai called Phra That Chedi Luang that was built in 1391. It used to housed the scared Emerald Buddha until an earthquake in 1545 destroyed some parts of the chedi and the Buddha image was moved to Luang Prabang and later to Bangkok.
Other sights in Wat Chedi Luang included more viharns with smaller chedis and pavilions housing various impressive Buddha images, such as a Reclining Buddha, a large seated Buddha, etc, and a ho trai with a museum. This temple was a must to visit.
A short distance down the road, I took a photo of an ancient chedi, or rather, the ancient ruin of Wat Chettha. It was fenced up to protect it.
We were getting overdosed with too many temples and started to take quick glances at small temples instead of exploring them thoroughly.
Wat Chang Taem was an important temple to the locals for it housed a 1,000-year-old bronze Buddha. The Buddha was not in the viharn but in another building and secured behind a grilled door — but, we did not know that. We did a quick look outside the viharn, guarded by two long white Nagas extending from the entrance, and left.
Next was Wat Muen Toom, across the road from all the other temples. It had a newly-constructed gateway guarded by several unknown ornamental creatures that were not seen elsewhere. A quick glance into the compound revealed a tall chedi behind a pavilion housing a red deva, instead of the viharn. The viharn should be behind the chedi since Thai viharns generally were east-facing.
Wat Jetlin's gateway was also newly-constructed and had a unique look unlike others. It held two large gongs on both sides of the gate. The most prominent feature in this temple was a large Buddha head perched on an alter under a tree. Behind the viharn was a Lanna-style non-stuccoed chedi.
Seeing that the sky was getting darker by the minutes, we picked up our paces. Last temple along Prapokkloa Road was Wat Fon Soi, the closest to Chiang Mai Gate. The viharn with closed door had a number of white standing thewada statues and mini chedis flanking its entrance. We did not explore the temple ground and left.
After passing Chiang Mai Gate, the southeastern gate of the old city, we walked along Wua Lai Street, which was less busy on weekdays and without all the makeshift stalls as seen during the Saturday Night Market. A couple of "food centres" seemed to be permanently stationed along the street but the stalls were closed.
At the mid-point of Wua Lai Street, known to be the "silver town" of Chiang Mai, we came to a small pavilion that worshipped some oxen — no information could be found regarding this sight. It was later that I learnt that there was another temple, called Wat Muen San, behind the pavilion. That temple featured a pavilion with silver carvings (women allowed to enter) and free admission.
A short distance away was the entrance to the famous Wat Sri Suphan, also known as the "Silver Temple". Admission fee was ฿50 per foreigner and included a small bottle of drinking water and a souvenir card of Silver Temple with a tour map behind it.
The main viharn of Wat Sri Suphan had an overlapping 4-tier rooftop that was pretty rare. It was guarded by two yakshas siting behind two Nagas. The famous silver structure with exquisite carvings was the ubosot and was still active, thus, women were barred from entering. A QR code on the sticker ticket provided a 360° view inside the ubosot. The 500-year-old, 3-storey chedi that contained Buddhist artefacts collapsed in September 2022 due to heavy rain and was a ruin now. The temple was seeking donations to rebuild it.
3:20pm, it started raining heavily before we could complete our tour in the temple. Not wanting to walk in the rain, we gladly accepted the service of a songthaew to drive us back to The Wing Boutique Hotel for ฿80. There was no need to bargain as the price was reasonable since it was ferrying just the two of us. It took less than 10 minutes to arrive at the hotel but it was not raining around the hotel. It started drizzling a while later.
A plan could never keep up with changes. I had wanted to spend the last afternoon in Chiang Mai relaxing in a nice cafe but the sudden downpour and chain of events that took place in that short moment sent us back to the hotel. Also, I had intended to visit just 3 temples and to spend more time in cafes but ended up with 14 temples. But I did have three wonderful meals so far and I would make sure to end the day with another nice meal.
I took a warm shower, charged my phone and did some research in the room while my friend went to a massage parlor, called Piraya Thai Massage, along Ratchamanka Road. We had walked past the massage shop several times but had not gone in for a massage — personally, I was not keen in massages.
At 6pm, it was still drizzling. We met up and walked to Lek’s Wanton Noodle at the edge of the old city, near to the southwestern gate, called Saen Pung Gate. We ordered two of their signature wanton noodle with shrimp dumplings (not realising there was an option for pork dumplings as well), a dish of 3 steamed shrimp siomai with edible gold, shrimp dumplings with Shanghai sauce and a bowl of pork ribs soup. They were delicious. I wished I had found them few days earlier and ate there a couple more times.
After dinner, we headed back to the hotel and dropped by a 7-Eleven outlet along the way. As it was our last day in Chiang Mai, I wanted to used up all my Thai coins. I bought a bowl of Little Cook instant noodle with real meat for ฿49, which conveniently cleared all my coins. I still had over ฿4,000 in notes unused…
While packing our luggages later, we checked-in our flight via Scoot app and gotten our Scoot-to-gate e-boarding passes. We also submitted our SG Arrival Cards via MyICA mobile app.
Day 6: Flying Home
The next morning, we had breakfast at the hotel as usual before hailing a Grab to Chiang Mai International Airport at around 8:30am and reaching the airport in less than 15 minutes.
I saw a Doi Chaang Caffe inside the airport on Google Maps. It would be my last chance to get a pack of coffee beans before flying home but we were not able to find the cafe in the public areas of both the domestic and international terminals. After showing our Scoot-to-gate e-boarding passes and clearing immigration checks, we came to the international departure waiting area. No Doi Chaang Caffe also. It was probably in the domestic departure hall.
Anyway, we had brunch at Thailand YES Coffee, a cafe. Dining in the airport was expected to be pricey but it helped to kill some time and fill our stomachs. My set meal with a latte cost ฿349 which was slightly less than S$14 — well, it was either dine at the airport or on the flight.
After brunch and while waiting for our flight, I bought my third pack of coffee beans from a Mini Market outlet. Branded as Omgoi Coffee, it cost ฿255 for 200 grams — slightly more expensive than the other two packs of coffee beans in my backpack. The medium-roasted beans were from Omkoi District of Chiang Mai and the other two packs I had were from Doi Inthanon of Chiang Mai and Shan of Myanmar.
My backpack weighted just 7.2Kg, including the 3 packs of coffee beans that totalled around 700 grams.
At 10:30am, the stipulated boarding time for Scoot TR677, an announcement called for us, and several other passengers, to approach the counter at the boarding gate. We had to show our passports and e-boarding passes for verification and printing of physical boarding passes. So, what was the point of using e-boarding passes via Scoot app in the first place?
Boarding was delayed by almost an hour. The flight took off at 12:20pm, an hour behind schedule, and landed at Changi International Airport Terminal 1 at 4pm (Singapore Time).
While going through the automated clearance gantry at immigration for arrivals, we were told not to scan our passports and simply just looked at the camera — it was a trial for passportless immigration clearance for Singapore residents. I went through without any issues but my friend, a resident too but with a Malaysia passport, had to scan it to get through.
— End —
Later this night (25 Sept 2024), the area around the night bazaars on both sides of Ping River to the east of Chiang Mai Old City was once again flooded. (Source: The Straits Times)
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