| Unexplored Chiang Mai | |||||||||||||
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Last update: Apr 21, 2021
Unexplored Chiang Mai.
Chiang Mai's walls and bastions.The fortifications around the old town of Chiang Mai were rebuilt by Kawila (Chao Kavila), after he liberated the city from the Burmese at the end of the 18th century. To defend against further attacks by the Burmese, he added the bastions at each corner. There are four corner bastions: Jaeng Sri Phum or Sripoom (NE), Jaeng Katam (SE), Jaeng Ku Ruang (SW) and Jaeng Hua Rin (NW). The Jaeng is Thai for bastion or fort. There used to be five gates in the four walls, clockwise starting from the northern gate: Chang Phuak gate, Tha Phae gate, Chiang Mai gate, Suan Prung gate, and Suan Dok gate. These gates are recent constructions made between 1966 and 1969; they do not resemble the original gates at all, as one can see on King Inthawichayanon's map. In "Amongst the Shans", page 123, Archibald Colquhoun mentions that "Carts are mentioned by McLeod, but during our visit (to Chiang Mai) we did not observe any." Apparently, most transport of goods was done with human labour, or pack animals. It is possible that some of the original gates were so small, that a wide bullock-cart could not pass through it. The old gates were demolished and used for road construction, and the re-created gates are very wide and sit aside modern roads. Since most of the walls have disappeared many road crossings of the moat have also been added. More on the modern road construction here: Surveying Chiang Mai in 1893. The few remains of the wall at the four corners of Chiang Mai are not original; in 1996 to 1997 archaeological excavations were made, before the wall remains were extensively renovated. They reused old bricks mixed with new brickwork to restore what remained of the walls. Unfortunately, the remains are just some low walls close to the corners of the old town. During the winter of 2018/2019 a new large scale renovation was started using new brickwork. Thus, the restored parts in the walls and bastions are clearly visible. The bastions on the four corners seem to be quite original; but all of them have been restored, some of them several times, in centuries past. Below is a black and white historical photo of Jaeng Sri Phum bastion in the northeast corner. By 1967 it was obviously in a very deteriorated state.
There used to be more walled cities in Thailand, these walls have often been demolished and the bricks reused for houses and road building. Many smaller villages in the Siamese Shan kingdom had just a ditch with a bamboo palisade. Some pieces of the old walls of Nan remain and have been restored, but they are only a very small part of the old wall. Lamphun, a town half an hour south of Chiang Mai on the Mae Kuang river, seems to have some remains of its walls, and the moat is also still there. However, in 1939 and 1943, the local government destroyed the remaining city walls, filled in parts of the moat, and built modern roads around the old town. The "old walls" that you can see now are nearly all modern reconstructions. Perhaps that's why Lamphun doesn't quite have the charm of the old town of Chiang Mai.
Chiang Rai's walls have been almost completely removed and are not traceable. Lampang's walls have also vanished, though the moat is still partly traceable. A small section of the wall next to Pratu Ma City Gate has been restored. One of the prettiest old walled towns is Phrae, where most of the dirt walls, which are quite high, are still intact. Chiang Saen, a city on the Mekong river, has kept most of the brick and dirt walls intact. It was destroyed and abandoned during most of the 19th century. The modern Chiang Saen was repopulated in 1881, on the order of king Rama V.
To visit an ancient walled city, you could consider Angkor Thom in Cambodia; which is a huge fortified city with walls of 3km long, and about 800 years old. Angkor Thom was built around 1200 by King Jayavarman VII; and the famous towers above the 5 entry gates to Angkor Thom (the face gates) have his face on their four sides.
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A walk into the past.Thapae gate is the best place for a walk into the old town of Chiang Mai, westward on Rachadamnoen road, the main east-west street in the old town. Looking left and right, there are only modern buildings around; on the left a posh Honda dealer, next to it a large Toyota car dealer, on the right a Yamaha motorbike dealer, modern hotels, lots of restaurants, and also the occasional Wat.
The old town has mostly modern buildings, but there is the occasional old teakwood house. After 2 blocks on the left there is the Lanna Architecture Center, which is a traditional house located at the crossing of Rachadamnoen and Prapokklao road. There are very few restrictions on new buildings in Chiang Mai; the old town within the moat has a building height restriction of 23 metres, or eight floors. Buildings within a 100 metre radius of temples can be no higher than nine metres. Modern development has always been more important in Thailand than preserving heritage buildings. Thai people usually prefer short-term profit over long-term preservation. Apart from a few traditional wooden houses, what remains of the ancient town of Chiang Mai are the many Wats. Because they were sacred places and rarely sold or destroyed, most of these temples are still there. The many wooden houses have mostly disappeared, but there are some left in the corners of the town. How many temples were there 130 years ago, compared to now? Read it here: King Inthawichayanon's map. At the end of Rachadamnoen road, about 1 km walking from Thapae gate, is Wat Phra Singh; probably the most important temple of the town. A few special temples.In the back of Wat Phra Singh compound is a modest sized wat, the Viharn Lai Kham, famous for its wall paintings. Viharn Lai Kham is the smaller wat, just behind the large Viharn Luang (Luang means large). The entrance fee for the Wat Phra Singh compound is 40 baht. Lai Kham is a type of mural art made by a special painting method that is unique to the northern region of Thailand. It is a technique of gold-leaf stenciling, and as you can see below, the walls and the pillars of Viharn Lai Kham are decorated in red-and-gold patterns.
The murals on the right (the north wall) of Viharn Lai Kham show the history of Prince Sang Thong (Songthong), and on the left the history of Suwanna Hongse (Suwannahong). These murals were created during the 1820's, and the artist has painted himself above the window in the middle.
The murals were extensively restored in 2008. The murals on the left, the history of Suwanna Hongse, have mostly disappeared over the centuries.
Wat Jed Yod (Ched Yot) is probably one of the least visited major temples because it is located outside of the old town in an inconvenient place. Jet Yod translates to "seven peaks" and refers to the seven chedis which top the rectangular temple. For Thailand, it is a very unusual temple building, because it is a copy of the Mahabodhi Temple at Bodhgaya in India. It was built in the fifteenth century to host the Eighth World Buddhist Council.
Wat Ban Den is about an hours' drive up north on the way to the Sticky Waterfall (Bua Thong waterfall), just east of Mae Taeng in the small Inthakin village. It is a relatively unknown Wat and not signposted in English so you'll need a GPS map to find it.
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Kamphaeng Din wall.Chiang Mai was originally laid out at the end of the thirteenth century as a roughly square fortress. Later an outer earthen and brick wall was added: Kamphaeng Din wall. Kamphaeng Din is Thai for Earthen rampart or earthen wall. It circles around the southeast area of Chiang Mai along the Mae Kha canal. It is mostly made of a quite strong clay substance and has surprisingly survived many monsoon rains. On the western side near Thipanet road there is a stretch of wall which completely intact. This is the best part of the wall; it is located in the Kanchanpisek Park at the southwest corner, Jaeng Ku Ruang, just outside of the old city. This quiet park is just south of the popular Nong Buak Hard park in the SW corner of Chiang Mai old town; one has to cross the moat and a busy road to reach it. The clay wall is about 5 metres high at this location, but lower in most other parts.
Kamphaeng Din circles around the southeast area of Chiang Mai - the "suburbs". The square brick city wall around the old town was the "fortified city" or main old town where the king and nobility lived along with the Buddhist monks in their monasteries; the clay and earthen wall went around the suburbs where the common people lived. Although Kamphaeng Din is less impressive than an old brick city wall, it is completely authentic. And best of all: the clay wall is for a large part still there - whereas the remains of Chiang Mai's city walls have been reduced to nothing or perhaps a few feet of frequently restored low brick walls in some places.
Why is the old earthen wall still there whereas the original brick city walls have gone? Perhaps because the bricks could be reused, but nobody was interested in the old earthen walls. Only the trees found a fertile clay soil and started growing abundantly and covered the walls with their lush foliage.
If you want to see the Kamphaeng Din walls then the easiest part to see it is east of the old town, along the Kamphaeng Din road which runs along the old wall. Walk down Loi Kroh road and turn left into Kamphaeng Din road; it is just before the bridge over the stream that borders the old earthen walls. Of the original 4000-meter long Kamphaeng Din wall between 1300 and 1600 metres remain; so roughly 30 to 40 percent is still traceable, the rest has completely gone. Only the canal remains; and together with the many trees growing in the clay soil of Kamphaeng Din it creates a green line around the city. The Chiang Mai Department of Fine Arts and the Chiang Mai Municipality have for many years made plans for a restoration project of the rather dirty Mae Kha canal around Kamphaeng Din wall. This project has not started yet in 2021.
The hidden fifth bastion.Besides the four corner bastions Chiang Mai has a hidden fifth one: the Jaeng Thiphanet or Thiphanet Bastion on the southwestern corner of Kamphaeng Din; where it makes a corner. It is difficult to see from the road to the airport (Mahidol road) because it is surrounded by buildings and trees which shield the old walls and bastion. The Thiphanet Bastion is the blue circle in Kamphaeng Din wall on the map above. It islocated in a poor area of Chiang Mai, surrounded by houses which are partly built on top of the old wall, and often next to it.
The outside of the bastion is enclosed by bushes and trees, the top can only be reached through some small alleys from Thiphanet road, not from the Kanchanpisek park side. However there are some guard dogs, which can suddenly pop up from behind fences and try to scare you with very loud "WOOFs". Perhaps have a look at the Kamphaeng Din wall on the eastern side of Chiang Mai first, which is much easier.
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Unexplored museums.After a few days in Chiang Mai, you may have been up to Doi Suthep, and seen the famous temple. And your will have done a temple tour, small or large; for an afternoon or a few days, depending on your interest. Seen the folklife museum. Fed the pigeons at Thapae square. Sampled some of the many different restaurants, the traditional Thai and Indian food, the fusion food, the many small vegetarian places, the modern Japanese restaurants. Now you're looking for something else to do. Chiang Mai is also an important cultural city and a center of Lanna art; it can be traditional art or modern art. The area around Chiang Mai has many unique museums, apart from the well-known official ones. Some smaller or private museums are very interesting but relatively unknown; here are a few examples. The MAIIAM Museum of Contemporary Art opened its doors in 2016. The Museum houses the Bunnag-Beurdeley family’s permanent collection. MAIIAM is located close to the village of San Kamphaeng, 12 km east of Chiang Mai. Just before the museum is Bo Sang, the umbrella making village with many handicraft shops, cafes and some small eateries. Entrance fee is 150 baht; seniors 100 Baht.
When I first saw the wonderful garden, I suggested to make it into a tea-house garden to the owner. Surprisingly, she did just that, and the next year there was a small coffee shop and restaurant; the Clay Studio Coffee. Since 2016 they have also opened an artistic restaurant: The Faces Gallery & Gastro Bar. That means the garden is getting smaller. And since 2019 they have also opened the new Phor Liang Meun Terracotta Arts Hotel, in the same style as the garden. It is an upmarket hotel, located just across the road from the Terracotta Gardens. However, the sad news is that in 2019 the Clay Studio Coffee cafe has been moved from the garden location to an indoor location on the opposite side of the street - the garden statues have been removed and thus the Secret garden is no more! The owners seem to want to focus their energy on the new hotel. The Faces Gallery & Gastro Bar still has a (smaller) outside seating area.
The Suanmaithai (Suan Mai Thai).
It is not easy to find on google maps, but from Google Earth it looks like a resort with many ponds and moats, a bit like an Angkor temple, with a central temple in the center. On Open Street Map (OSM) it is also easily visible by the large moats and ponds. Follow road 1015 west of Lamphun, turn north on 1030. Here, very close to the Ping river, you'll find a large entry gate and road to the property. It is about 45km and an hour's drive south of Chiang Mai. Coordinates: 18°36'14.7"N, 98°58'17.1"E This large resort-like place is private property, but open to the public and has no entry fee. When you go all the way down there, it makes sense to combine it with a visit to Lamphun.
Note that the Suanmaithai terracotta art park is a work in progress. In 10 or 20 years it may be a theme park, or still a private property. The Dara Pirom Palace Museum is half an hour drive north in Mae Rim village. The museum is not a palace in the Western sense, but a historic wooden mansion; a teakwood Victorian style house which was home to the famous Lanna princess Dara Rasami (also: Dara Rasamee or Dara Rasmi) (wikipedia.org), who was one of the consorts of Chulalongkorn, King Rama V of Siam. Dara Rasami was the daughter of King Inthawichayanon, the 7th Ruler of Chiang Mai from 1870 until 1897. Dara Rasami was also a pawn in the annexation plans of Britain in the 1880-ties, which King Rama V of Siam tried to prevent. The admission fee for the museum is 20 baht per person.
Lanna Traditional House Museum - This collection of teakwood houses is an open-air museum, and part of the center for the promotion of arts and culture, Chiang Mai university (CMU). It is not far from town, located between the old city and Doi Suthep on Doi Suthep road. Entry fee is 20 baht.
Lanna Architecture Center is a traditional house located at the crossing of Rachadamnoen and Prapokklao road, almost in the middle of the old town, and certainly worth a visit if you don't want to go all the way to the Traditional House Museum. It's a colonial house built in 1895 by a European trader, and used to be owned by the prince Chai Burirat. The admission is free. Don't confuse it with the Lanna Traditional House Museum, which is a group of old houses at the Chiang Mai university area.
There are plans to modernize the area, and create a McKean Rehabilitation park, see the map on the right. McKean is about 10km south of Chiang Mai, just past the ancient city of Wiang Kum Kam. Just south of McKean's entry gate you can drive past some quaint houses and the quirky Suebnathitham Church which seems to be protestant. The eastern moat is dry now, so the colony doesn't look like an island anymore.
These leper colonies were often created on islands to quarantine people with leprosy, and sometimes they were a kind of prison. McKean was no prison, but a humane center for leprosy patients. One can still see the little cottages where the patients lived at the McKean Leprosy Hospital. Only in 1941 a cure was discovered for leprosy, and by the mid-1980s McKean began to adapt, and turned itself into a rehabilitation center. When McKean retired, in 1931, there were more than 500 inhabitants at the center, of which 350 were leprosy patients. There were 143 buildings, including 116 cottages, 9 dormitories, a church, an impressive administration building, and a recreation center. Wat Ket Karam or Wat Sra Ket is a small but nice temple on the eastern riverside road, and it has its own little museum. Wat Ket Community Traditional Museum is located inside the Wat Ket temple grounds; it is a somewhat dusty collection; varied items that mostly date from the early twentieth century and perhaps the late nineteenth; like textile, photographs, statues, phones, radios, swords and daggers, old currency and household items. The black and white photographs of old Chiang Mai are interesting. An eclectic collection of beautiful, weird, interesting, bizarre, religious and artistic objects. No entry fee but there is a donation box. The Wat Ket area has many interesting old houses which have been turned into galleries and cafes. Some of the trendy restaurants are very popular at night, and in the afternoon, there is a good view of the Ping river to enjoy. Further away: the "White Temple" or Wat Kong Run.
Wat Rong Khun is a contemporary, privately-owned art exhibit in the style of a Buddhist temple. It is quite small inside so there are usually queues. For an idea of the murals inside (no photos allowed), google the artist: Chalermchai Kositpipat. From Chiang Mai, the temple is at least 3 hours driving away, and for a few years there have been extensive roadworks on highway 118 to Chiang Rai, so a quick one day visit could take about 8 hours by bus and taxi. And even if you have no traffic problems, and spend only a half hour at the temple, is it worth a 7 hours trip? So maybe it's best to stay in Chiang Rai for one or two days. And while you're in Chiang Rai, make sure to visit Chalermchai Kositpipat's other art piece: the clock tower spectacle. And the "Black House", obviously. The "Black House", or Baan Dam museum, is a complete contrast to the White temple. Where the White temple is a bit smallish, Baan Dam is a huge house shaped like a wat, and surrounded by 40 other buildings. Some of the structures are art pieces, some exhibition spaces. There is so much to see that you will spend much more time here. A short history of Wat Rong Khun: remotelands.com
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Botanic Gardens.The Queen Sirikit Botanical Garden (QSBG) is in the Mae Sa valley, north of Chiang Mai. It is a famous, international class arboretum and garden; the largest and best botanic garden in Thailand, set against a mountainside in a large forest. Within the park area are gardens, glasshouses, and trails through the rainforest. The large glasshouse complex on the top of the trail is a conservatory for a wide collection of tropical plants, cacti and orchids. Since 2017 there is also a treetop walkway through the rainforest with a length of more than 400 meters. The Botanical Garden is quite large and situated on a steep mountainside, so you may want to enter by car or motorcycle; but walking up is also possible.
Once in the garden a 3,6-kilometer loop road runs around the interior. This road is on Google Street view; as well as some of the walking trails, like the trail through the Palm Garden. Even the inside of the main glasshouse can be visited on Street view. There is a tram service/open air bus service that runs within the garden. Entry fee prices for QSBG are: Adult: 100 baht; child: 50 baht; Adults with a Thai ID card: 40 baht, car (additional) 100 baht. Senior citizens (over 60) and disabled persons: free.
And a few more botanic gardens around Chiang Mai: Tweechol Botanic Garden is a large modern garden/arboretum, and thus very different from the QSBG garden. Tweechol is for a large part an artificial topiary garden: sculpted foliage in the form of deer, dolphins, dinosaurs, dragons and gorillas. There is also an arboretum, herb garden, a small petting zoo and a cactus garden. Tweechol Botanic Garden is part of the Horizon Village & Resort, about 30 minutes driving toward Doi Saket. Entry fee is 85 baht per person and 75 for a bicycle. The Royal Park Rajapruek - A large, modern, park-like garden, 9 hectares of beautiful manicured gardens against a mountain back drop. Entrance fee is 200 baht; for 60 baht you can rent a bicycle. The buildings include The Tropical Dome, Shaded Paradise, Orchid Pavilion, Desert Plant Greenhouse and Bug World. Outdoors you can see the Palm Garden, Sawadee Garden, Flower Garden, Royal Garden, New Theory Garden and Lotus Garden. Don Yen arboretum - An arboretum past Doi Saket. And there are many (smaller) arboretums, botanical gardens and specialized Medicinal Plant gardens in and around Chiang Mai.
And more about the history of Chiang Mai: The lost city of Zimmé.
Links.
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Background: aboutme Any comments? Please mail me at : bytelife AT gmail.com "Not all those who wander are lost." J.R.R. Tolkien
All photos copyright © 2021 R.Schierbeek.
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Perhaps the best remaining example of a walled city similar to Chiang Mai is the Mandalay fortified city, which is a precise square of 2032 metres walls. This is such a large size that bicycling along these extended walls becomes quite monotonous, especially in the hot midday sun. Mandalay is also a relatively "modern" town, it was founded in 1857.
The Secret Terracotta Garden.
The McKean Rehabilitation Center and Hospital is not a museum but an interesting and historic place. In 1905 Dr. James McKean got permission to establish a leprosy colony or leper asylum on a large island in the Ping river. Now the colony has been renamed to Dok Kaew Gardens and turned into a retirement home. The hospital, colonial houses, church and the many small dwellings for the leprosy patients are still there, between the many large trees, and surrounded by teak plantations.
The "White Temple" or Wat Kong Run is certainly something to behold, and worth a visit if you stay in Chiang Rai. It has an entry fee of 100 baht for foreigners, but is free for Thai nationals.
