If you're not into zip-lining or hill-trekking or petting elephants or taking even more Thai cooking courses, wats are the main thing to see and do in Chiang Mai. No beaches, no islands, no big shopping centers, but they do have 700 of Thailand's 39,000 wats, that is, Buddhist monasteries. Within a few minutes' walk from our hostel, there were three. In the course of our stay we visited perhaps half a dozen in the old city and strayed briefly into several more. Many are identified only in Thai; the more famous/large/old of them usually have English signage. And they all have the same signage, in Thai and English, about appropriate/inappropriate behavior in the wat. We always try to appear respectful. It's not that monks or monastery employees are actively policing the place and ready to write you up. But who wants to come back in the next life as a dung beetle?
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I think the authorities do police for these kinds of improprieties; always carry
mints... |
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Wat Lok Moli (according to Google Maps, upon which I am relying in part);
aka Holy Moli; just down from the KFC on Manee Nopparat Road |
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| "None shall pass" |
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A bodhi tree; replica of the tree under which Buddha sat, receiving enlightenment,
etc.; in this instance, you purchase little leaves to hang...an offering...we did this
down the road a bit in Chiang Rai |
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| Big Buddha in the assembly hall |
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| Usual suspects |
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| The big chedi, in some disrepair |
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| But no less festive |
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| Receiving stigmata |
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| Mimes, or possibly statues |
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| Buddhist offering plates |
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| Nearly across the canal, Wat Mo Kham Tuang |
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| Which we referred to as the Horsie Wat |
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| Another big Buddha, outside |
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| Still processing this one |
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According to Google, this is Wat Dab Pai; I often saw
neophyte monks stocking up at the 7-11 down Singhurat
Road |
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| A Janus-faced neophyte... |
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Now, I think, we are further down Singhurat, at the so-called Golden Wat,
eyeing this curious figure; judging from the percussion instrument, I think
it is Ringo Starr |
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| Recliner |
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Why it's called the Golden Wat (officially Wat Phra Singh
(14th century; one of the really large and impressive ones) |
