Two Wats in the Old City – November 2019

Just one block away from our accommodations in the Old City of Chiang Mai stand two memorable wats. Wat Meuntoom, a small and lesser known temple, is one block to the south and we walked one block north to reach Wat Chedi Luang.

Wat Meuntoom – We strolled past this wat several times during our week in Chiang Mai and observed that the lions on the sidewalk at the entrance were not always in the same spot, which seemed odd for stone sculptures. When we visited the wat and surrounding courtyard Susan inspected the lions more closely and discovered that they are really made from styrofoam covered in sparkly paint. Who knew styrofoam could be disguised so impressively. We also noticed two very unique features about this wat: the beautiful bird statues at the top of the entrance and the human/bird figures with the chicken-like feet and gold toenails just outside the Buddha pavilion.

Wat Chedi Luang – This is not just one temple, but rather a group of wats and other religious buildings. Luang means large in the northern Thai dialect and the brick chedi, built in the late 14th century, was originally over 80 meters tall. An earthquake in 1545 caused most of the pagoda to crumble. Some restoration work was done in the 1990s and the chedi currently stands at 40 meters tall. Artisans were not able to restore the upper half of the structure because no records exist of how the chedi initially looked. As we walked around the pagoda we saw that each of the four sides was designed with a naga (water serpent) staircase. Some of those steps were reconstructed about 30 years ago.

Built to mark the center of the universe, the city pillar is a structure only men can enter because women menstruate. So Susan could only see and appreciate the beautiful interior of the building by looking at Jerry’s photos.

Three tall and very old eucalyptus (gum) trees stand in the temple courtyard. According to Buddhist legend, the trees protect the city from evil or misfortune and a great catastrophe will result if even one of these trees ever falls. The base of each tree was surrounded by colorful ribbons.