Turning left out of our cafe, this Temple is just a couple of minutes walk on the right hand side of the road.
Sitting in a wide, open compound, notable features of this Wat are; the interesting collection of artifacts inside the main Temple, which include:
- old record players
- radios and a tape machine
- more of those wall paintings
- a very beautiful Vihan
- a most impressive Monks dwelling.
There is a sheltered sitting area and , like many of the Temples, a wide variety of plant life.
Another feature of the main Temple worth a note are the beautifully gilded wooden doors.
A Gold painted Chedi sits next to the Temple.
Once again I could find no English Language History information here and there was no one around to ask. For mention of Wat Chai Prakiat elsewhere try looking here.
Another day when culture comes first.
On arriving at school today we saw preparations being finalised for the imminent procession.
A few minutes shaking out my stiff joints and I went and caught up with the kids as they walked down to the second Temple.
In desperate need of refreshment by the time we reached the second Temple, I chose to sit this one out at the little shop opposite and take a drink, whilst the children all went in to deliver the second candle and listen to more sermon.
Then I discovered that there was a much bigger parade to come. We all went into the main village where many others were also gathering; many dressed in their traditional clothes, and with many decorated trucks, carrying candles and Buddha figures.
The procession actually ended up in the field of our school where there were food stalls, a stage and marquees, where yet more Monks were in attendance to receive gifts and give merit.
This impressive Wat can be found behind The Princes Royal College which lies on Kaewnarawat rd, the main road out to Arcade Bus Station, Chiang Mai. Just turn left down the soi immediately before the college(coming from the river), and then right and you will see the entrance.
Immediately on your right as you come in is home to a well respected Thai massage training course for local Thais.
Inside there are many scenes from Buddhas story adorning the walls in that splendid traditional painting to be seen in so many of Chiang Mais temples.
The leafy village of Chompoo, sits around 20 minutes out of Chiang Mai, off Highway 11, and is a beautiful place to visit, with its large village ‘square’ centred around the small but delightful, Wat PayaChompoo.
In front of the Temple is the canal where you will see many huge catfish, and maybe join in the popular pass time of feeding these hungry monsters.
The large tarmacked square is home to a stunningly beautiful tree;( anyone care to identify it?
The Temple itself is small but nonetheless attractive. The modest Chedi behind the Temple has one of the pulley systems for blessing the Chedi by dousing it with water from a silver bucket , decorated by a lovely phoenix type bird.
The young novices we saw there were very happy, (and why not?), living in such a peaceful setting .
This was just 3 weeks ago, in the first week of April, when Lars, a Danish plumber, with a penchant for interior design, had been visiting for a couple of weeks and was keen to get out and see more of Northern Thailand.
Boon had quite a busy schedule with his business, but we decided to fit in a couple of days traveling with Lars, who had turned up with Conga Dave, an old friend from the UK. Shame Dave had already gone home really.
Lars had been out and rented a 250cc Honda Chopper.By all accounts very comfortable and certainly handled the hills a touch better than my 150cc JRD., but then I did have a passenger.
By midday we were pretty much melting and on the hunt for a waterfall where we might be able to cool down.
It took a while but eventually we came apon a beautifully refreshing spot, around 30kms from Phayao, and free! Always the best.
We joined many Thais, including a bunch of village kids who had been taken there by a group of Buddhist Monks, soaking in the natural beauty, and getting soaked in the wonderfully cooling water that gushed down the mountainside.
The first is entered via an old stone stairway, which, apart from the very first few steps, which take you under a very impressive archway, is long but not so steep.
There are actually several small Temples of differing styles on this first site as well as quite an array of impressive stone statues, set amongst the mountain forest trees it is so peaceful, apart from the hums and buzzs of the forest insect life.
If ever I take the plunge and sign up as a Monk , this is definitely high on the list of places I’d like to do it.
So quiet, and so much beauty, both the architecture and the scenery, some great views of the surrounding countryside .
This Buddha was obviously very old and possibly in need of renovation, and looking across to the third sight where the replica of Buddhas Temple can be found.
Completely different in design to Thai Temples this blue/white stone edifice casts an imposing feature on the landscape. It is set in manicured landscaped gardens , another must for anyone interested in the Buddhist theme.
Who knows, this New Year might just see me keeping this blog section more up to date. Thing is I’ve given myself so many new projects for the site that certain things in this one man show take time to catch up on. Good to report that the Guesthouse has been doing reasonably well considering the present world economics and local political turmoil that are affecting tourist numbers. Thanks to loyal regulars and some lovely newcomers we have been doing much better than expected.
Marching bands preceded a procession of hundreds of Monks and Novices and local school children carrying of a huge long orange robe, followed by a beautiful cart, also pulled by local schoolchildren.
The cart was carrying a special water bowl, brought all the way from Lamphun.
Following this, the long orange robe would be wrapped around the Pagoda at the end of this ceremony to ward of Bad Spirits in the coming year.
This Temple turned out to be just 5 minutes or so ride down the road and a wonderful place to visit.
Indeed it seems to have been developed into a ‘teaching’ Temple.
Other notable features are the gigantic Golden reclining Buddha; a group of quaint concrete Animal statues, including dinosaurs, and a curious dome shape Vihara.
It became quite impossible to take photographs of the concrete animals without several children rushing into the shot and posing. Many of them seemed keen to practice their English and there was a prolonged period of answering the same questions, ‘what is your name?’, ‘where do you come from?’. The lovely part of that was the genuine looks of delight when they got an answer, seemingly surprised that I’d actually understood them.
One confident young lad, Boom, became my guide for a short time, keen to point all the many different things worth photographing.
It was he who took me around to the dome shape Vihara, quite different in design to anything I’ve seen at Thai Temples before, it had more of a Dutch feel about it to me.
