Wat is Chiang Mai all about?

We’d made it to Chiang Mai the largest city in northern Thailand. Having had a good sleep on the train we were ready to see the sights as soon as we’d checked into a guest house. We weren’t planning on staying too long, so we were keen to start exploring the city. Chiang Mai is a more cultured kind of place, with less of the commercialism that you’ll find in the south and the islands and is regarded highly by Thais themselves. One of the main reasons is the 300 odd Buddhist temples that are dotted around the city, the same number as Bangkok which is several times bigger. We set about with a map to find the best examples, but need not have bothered since it was hard to wander in any direction for more than a few metres without coming across one. Whilst few were on the scale of anything that we saw in Bangkok, there were many impressive and beautiful examples. What had already been clear in Bangkok was re-enforced even more so in Chiang Mai; Buddhism is big here. All men are still expected to spend at least 3 months as a monk at some point in their lives, the Thai equivalent to national service. You’ll regularly encounter young monks, not only around the temples but wherever you go about town. I particularly liked the fact that seats at the back of the bus are always reserved for monks.

There are several aspects that make Buddhism interesting. Buddhism rejects the existence of a creator God (or Gods). It sees the actions of one’s life as contributing to one’s karma and the cycle of rebirth. It also promotes the practice of non-extremism: a path of moderation away from the extremes of self-indulgence and self-mortification. Lastly, of particularly interest to myself is the practice of mediation and the path to enlightenment. For these reasons it was particularly interesting for me to see a society where Buddhism is the dominant religion. In fact, until being in Thailand I’d often thought of Buddhism as a minor religion but with 60 million odd Thais and 400-500 million followers worldwide Buddhism is the fourth largest religion in the world. Having visited many temples and having felt the sincerity and serenity that seems to be present here it’s not hard to understand why many people in the west have adopted Buddhism.

The highlight of all the temples was Wat Chedi Luang. Dating back 600 years, it was first constructed in 1391 during the reign of King Saenmuangma and was an important part of the history of the area. Most notably, it was once the home of the Emerald Buddha, which now resides in Bangkok, spending almost 80 years there occupying the eastern niche. In 1545 an earthquake caused the pagoda to topple and the damage was irreparable and left that way for the next 400 years. However, in the early nineties the Thai government provided a grant for its partial restoration which was completed in 1992 and is how it stands today.

After our whirlwind tour of the temples in Chiang Mai during the day, we made plans to visit the night bazaar, the other big attraction here. As with the rest of the city, there is more focus on tradition than in Bangkok with many stalls selling local handicrafts and produce from the surrounding hill tribes. However, we were soon focused on finding somewhere to eat with Chiang Mai apparently one of the best places to eat in a country that already has such a high standard of food. We managed to find a great restaurant on the other side of the night market where we enjoyed what ended up being our best dinner in Thailand. A special dinner was made even more special by a passing baby elephant which we got to feed a few snacks to as he and his owner passed by. Perhaps not the most socially responsible thing to do, since it encourages people to use animals in this way to make money, but it was hard to resist stroking the long hair on his head and let him take the snacks out of my hand with his trunk. After another wander round the market we made our way home and we’d decided that as much as we liked Chiang Mai we didn’t want to hang around for long so made plans to escape the city to Pai for a period of rest and relaxation in the hills of Northern Thailand.

All the pictures from Chang Mai at http://picasaweb.google.com/kris.lander/ChiangMai