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Last update: Apr 25, 2023 In search of Thapae Gate.
The center of Chiang Mai.Thapae Square is the centre of activities and celebrations in Chiang Mai. Chiang Mai revolves around Thapae Square, which is livelier than the Three Kings Monument Square in the middle of the old town. The large Three Kings Square does have two museums, but usually it is not the center of activities. The heart of Chiang Mai is the Thapae Square plaza. Chinese tourists love to feed the pigeons and make selfies; totally ignoring the large signs in Thai, English and Chinese to NOT feed the pigeons. Most of the tourists love to make selfies by the Thapae Gate sign on the fresh modern bricks. Been here, done that.
The Thapae Gate and wall that you see at Thapae Square are modern reconstructions from 1985. The gate is a contemporary reconstruction, very loosely based on an old photograph of the Thapae Gate from 1899. But the walls are rather oversized, and totally straight as if measured out with laser alignment equipment and modern tools. The wall is built around a hollow concrete support structure and nothing of it is original. Therefore, the modern Thapae Gate is quite fake and has nothing to do with the original gate and walls. The only part that looks like the original is the wooden door construction, which were designed like the doors on the historical photo. All the rest is a very contemporary piece of imagination.
Next to Thapae Gate is a plaque which explains the history of the inner and outer Thapae gate; and which also states: "Based on a photograph of ONE of the Thapae gates". There used to be two gates on Tha Phae road, one in the square city wall, and one at the outer defense ring where Thapae Road crosses the Kamphaeng Din wall. (Kamphaeng Din) The name "Thapae" is a transliteration of a Thai word; and it can be spelled as Thapae, Thaphae, Tha Pae, and many other variations. The most common spelling is "Thapae".
The Mystery of Thapae Gate - the Big Puzzle.For a long time, there have been doubts about the location of the original "Thapae Gate", where the photograph was taken in 1899. Was it where the modern reconstructed gate is now, in the square city wall; or was it at the circular outer defense wall, which was for a large part a high dirt wall with a small canal around it?
Thapae Gate was a double gated courtyard, a secure entrance to the walled town. On this site lanna-ww2.com all the ancient gates are described. Hak Hakanson makes the point that the photo of Thapae Gate in 1899 might have been located to the east of the current location; where Thapae Road crosses the outer circular wall. The Kamphaeng Din wall is indicated on the map below. Thaphae Road runs from Thaphae Gate to the Mae Ping River. Tha Phae translates to "raft landing"; in ancient times the Ping River was the main transport route. Let's have a look at the detailed map below from 1893; which was created in King Inthawichayanon's time.
The inner Thapae gate (1), or Prathu Thapae Nai, is on the left. The outer Thapae gate (2), or Prathu Thapae Nok is on the right; where Thapae Road crosses the Kamphaeng Din wall. Just outside Kamphaeng Din wall is a small canal, with two large ponds. Holt Hallett writes about these two entry portals as being courtyards made from stone walls in his book "A Thousand Miles on an Elephant in the Shan States"; but didn't describe the gates in detail.
The inner Thapae gate.If we look carefully at the wall in the background on the historic photo, it seems there are a lot of bushes and trees there, instead of houses and rooftops which one would expect inside the city. Let's have a look at the inner Thapae gate on the old map, and compare it with the situation now.
On the left is Thapae gate as it was drawn on the old 1893 map, with a small courtyard. On the right is a map of the old inner Thapae gate projected on current roads. The viewpoint from where the photo was taken would be at the crossing of Rachadamnoen and Moon Muang road. The old gate had a defensive round tower. The historic photo is not clear, but in the back behind the left figure there seems to be a large structure - perhaps the tower? However, there seems to be a problem. The offset between the 2 gates is quite large on the drawing, much larger than it appears on the photograph. Is it is possible that the photo was taken from the inside of the old city, looking eastward? The trees in the background are strange, there should be some houses there. Also, the offset between the gates could be about 10 meters. It seems difficult to make the photograph match the map.
Observations on the black and white Thapae Gate photo:
The outer Thapae gate.
There is a possibility that the photo was taken at the outer Thapae gate. Could the defensive courtyard and gates have fitted into the relatively narrow Thapae Road?
If we project the old map from King Inthawichayanon on the current roads and buildings it matches surprisingly well. With some resizing and tweaking the result is visible below. Thapae Road is 14 meters wide at the east side of the outer gate; which is 3 car lanes plus sidewalks, and the gate fits in like a glove. On the western side of the outer gate Thapae the road narrows to only 2 car lanes.
The Wat south of Thapae Road is the whimsical Wat Buppharam; the red-roofed temple buildings north of Thapae Road are Wat Saen Fang. Wat Saen Fang is a very old temple, going back to the 14th century; but most of the present buildings date from the 19th century. The viharn at Wat Saen Fang used to serve as the Ho Kham (palace residence) of king Chao Kawilorot, in the 1860s. The central white/grey square building in Wat Saen Fang is a Burmese-style chedi (stupa).
These walled temple areas fit reasonably with the map, because Wats were holy places which were rarely abandoned, unlike houses which could be sold and converted into modern buildings. The accuracy of the Wat Buppharam temple is a bit off, it is a trapezium (trapezoid) shape rather than a rectangle. The large ponds east of the gate were filled in and now have modern buildings on them. The canal has been straightened; but the position of the canal at Thapae Road is the same.
That offset corresponds nicely with the offset of 2,6 meters in the 1899 Thapae gate photograph. This establishes that the photo was very probably taken at the outer Thapae gate. But the mystery remains, what about all the trees in the background - this is a gate around a town, but it looks like a jungle?
Solving the mystery. (update 2021)The question remains where the photographer was located. It was not where the modern reconstruction of Thapae Gate is. If one looks carefully at the photograph there are clues and hints hidden in the foreground and background. The research I did in 2017 pointed to the photo being made at the outer gate. Something was still bothering me; the background with the many bushes and trees baffled me for a long time. Where were the houses? In 2021, after a long, hard look at the old photo, I had an epiphany: aha - eureka! I now believe I can confidently place the photographer at the exact spot where he stood more than a century ago. All the pieces of the puzzle are here on this page, they just need putting together. There are hints, which are difficult to see, but there are also clues which are obvious and uncontroversial. Once you spot the hints, the pieces of the puzzle will all come together.
Spoiler Alert!If you want to solve the Thapae Puzzle by yourself; stop reading from here on, and try to do it yourself
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Where is the last piece of the puzzle?Where was the 1899 photo of Thapae Gate taken? We'll start with some hints in the background. Hint number 1Let's start by focusing on the wall in the back. The road is curving slightly to the left. Notice that we can see the side of the wall, due to a slight curve in the road. We can also see the side of the battlements. This means that the two walls are not parallel, but perpendicular to the road.
The road in the photo is curving slightly to the left, which would suggest a different layout of Thapae gate than what the original drawing shows.
Hint number 2The next hint is a triangle hidden in the trees behind the wooden gate in the background. It is barely visible, but the triangle shape suggests a roof. It is indicated in red below.
What could this roof be? Remember the photo of the entrance portal of Wat Saen Fang? It could be about 5 meters high, and would have been visible over the 4 meter high walls. The roof position of the entrance portal is spot on.
Below is a map of the gate area, which shows the line of sight to the entrance portal, as well as the many trees growing behind the walls. It all seems to fit quite well.
Hint number 3The photos below were taken from the same general area as the Thapae gate photo. The right photo shows a log barricade blocking Thapae Road at Mae Kha canal (Kamphaeng Din). The old Thapae Gate, which was in a bad state of maintenance, had been demolished somewhere around 1900.
In 1903 there was a Shan rebellion at Phrae. To stop the Shan rebels, barricades were erected around all roads to Chiang Mai. After the Burmese rebels captured Phrae Province, robbed the provincial treasury, and killed Praya Chaiyaboon, governor of Phrae, they threatened to capture Lampang and Chiang Mai. The British teak company officers ordered nine teak barricades to be erected across key roads around Chiang Mai in the shape of a /\. This operation was led by none other than Louis Leonowens, son of Anna Leonowens (author of the novel "Anna and the King of Siam"). The Shan rebels moved towards Lampang, but were defeated there, and order was restored.
The photo above is taken in 1902, and shows the houses beyond the old gate. All houses along the road were low, single-story houses. It is clear that, due to the slight curve in the road, the low houses would be invisible behind the high stone walls. Notice the peculiar trees. The one on the left is shaped like a normal tree, the one on the right is irregular; I will call it the Big Funky Tree. It is easily recognizable on many photos of Thapae Road in the first half of the 20th century, taken toward the west. Unfortunately, all these photos are low resolution, but the trees stand out because there were no other large trees on the road, and because of the shape of the Big Funky Tree. Actually, if you look closely at the Big Funky Tree, it could consist of a few trees. Difficult to make out from the black and white low-resolution photo, but that would explain the irregular shape.
Putting the pieces together.The most obvious clue however, is that we are standing outside of the defensive gate. The battlements on the walls are in front of walkways; we can't see the walkway because we are outside of the walls. And what about the Big Funky Tree? Perhaps that is a "Can't see the forest for the trees" hint. There is a big tree somewhere in the old photo, or is there? Maybe more than one? The clues and hints tell us that:
This seems to be the only way the different elements of the photo make sense. The wall position, the road curve and the offset all match; the layout is just a bit different from the old drawing. There is no clear proof that the Big Funky Tree is in the photo, but since there were no other large trees, it seems likely.
All the small pieces of the puzzle form the big picture. The dirt road seemed a path leading into the jungle, but actualy the road leads westward, towards the old square town of Chiang Mai, and to the current Thapae Square. The old picture of 1899 has come to life and shows a glimpse into the past, when Chiang Mai was still a small town; the capital of Lanna. Lanna was part of the independent Shan States, and not yet a part of Thailand. Things would soon change.
Currently, at the site of the outer gate, Thapae Road is just a busy road with lots of traffic. Not a trace remains of the wall, or of the old gate. Except perhaps Wat Saen Fang, the temple north of Thapae Road with the long entrance lane. The walls of Wat Saen Fang are much thicker and higher than normal temple walls, and they have two square towers at the same location of the old defensive towers. Could this massive wall be the old stone wall of Chiang Mai town? The large bastion on the northeast corner seems to have been reconstructed as a smaller, square tower in the 20th century. The wooden entrance portal of Wat Saen Fang has been replaced with a much larger concrete portal, but the long entrance lane and dragons are still the same.
The original Thapae Gate looked somewhat like the modern replica on Thapae Square, but it was located in a different spot. Thapae Square is still the focal point of Chiang Mai, and usually livelier than the central Three Kings Monument Square. From Thapae Square one can walk eastward down Thapae Road; and turn left at Wat Saen Fang to go to the Chinese quarter. If you keep on walking east on Thapae Road, you can admire the remaining wooden houses, like the Raming Tea Lodge, a "Gingerbread House".
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Markets and the Night Bazaar.Walking a bit further down Thapae Road, we can see on the right the wide Chang Klan Road where the popular "Night Bazaar" is held. On the left is the Warorot Market, which is the large, main market of Chiang Mai, not just a tourist market. Warorot Market overlaps with the Chinese quarter. The "Night Bazaar" is a tourist market, selling t-shirts and trinkets, and more t-shirts and trinkets. Warorot Market on the other hand has everything you could possibly need, and more. Warorot market is also called Kad Luang, which means Large Market. The main part of Warorot Market is housed in 2 large buildings, and at its rear, on the riverside, is the fresh flower market. Warorot is so large that it can be a bit confusing, but eventually you will find the exit somewhere, at the riverside or somewhere along Thapae Road. And the best market is: Sunday Walking Street, a night market which runs every Sunday from about 5 pm to midnight. Sunday Walking Street runs on the whole length of Rachadamnoen Road and some streets around it, inside the old town. Unlike the daily "Night Bazaar", there is a lot of street food to be tried, like pad thai, sushi, and barbequed chicken. And perhaps for that reason it is quite popular with Thai tourists.
The large wooden house under the arrow is the Kiti Panit General Store, a vintage house built in 1880. Kitipanit Store was the first general store in Chiang Mai, the old house was renovated in 2019 and is now a large restaurant, serving traditional northern Thai food. There are a few more heritage houses along Thapae road, for example the Raming Tea Lodge, but many heritage houses have been replaced with modern, concrete buildings after world war 2.
A final puzzle.With the information above, you will probably recognize the photo below as Thapae road. And perhaps make a guess where this photo was taken?
The men in the photo all wear a sarong or longyi, the traditional dress made of a rectangular piece of cloth. The only man wearing pants is the horseback rider. In the old days, the longyi dress was commonly worn by Thai men. Nowadays this has completely disappeared, and only women sometimes wear longyis or sarongs.
The Burmese name for this dress is longyi, the Indian name is lungi. In Burma, as opposed to Thailand, most men still wear the longyi, but this will probably slowly disappear. In the Burmese Shan State, for example at Inle lake, there are tribal people everywhere and many wear traditional dress. During the famous 5-day market in Inle, all the people from the hill villages wear tribal dress. More on Inle lake and the 5-day market: inlelake.htm
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links to literature.
Links on wikipedia and other sources.
Background: aboutme Any comments? Please mail me at : bytelife AT gmail.com
All photos copyright ©2022 R.Schierbeek. (except the historic black and white ones).
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Part of a historic map of Chiang Mai for Inthawichayanon, dated 1893.
Colouring and minor edits by me.
On the right is the outer Thapae gate with the offset (O) drawn in; which amounts to the width of a car lane. A car lane is generally between 2.5 to 3.25 meters wide (highways are wider); so for the offset we can estimate roughly 2,5 to 3 meters.
