The temples of Chiang Mai

On my third day in Chiang Mai I make a city walk with visiting many temples. I tried to put the names of the temples later on underneath the pictures, but I don’t know how to do this. So I will write here the names of the temples which I visited:

Wat Tokham

Wat Fon Soi

Wat Jetliner

Wat Phra Sing (14 th Century)

Wat Chang Taem

Wat Chedi Luang Worawihan (15 th century, decorated with carved snakes)

At the Wat Chedi Luang temple there is a very interesting pillar, the so called Pillar Vihara. This is the city pillar and is enshrined underground and is a sacred place which is worshipped by Thai people, especially those from Chiang Mai. Women are not allowed to enter this sacred place because they menstruate and this fact is believed to humiliate and ruin the sanctity of the city pillar. And it is believed that any disobeying of this rule will cause social instability. Even women who do not menstruate any longer are not allowed to enter because they once menstruated.

I walk around this sacred place, probably looking a little suspicious and watch the men walking around. All of a sudden a man in his sixties looks at me, points his finger at me and says in Austrian dialect: „Du - du derfst do net eini.“ That means in English something like „Hey, you, you are not allowed into this place.“ He had of course no clue that I was Austrian as well and was completely taken aback when I answered in the same dialect. Then we both laughed and afterwards, when he had left the temple, I came up to him and his son and his wife and we chatted for a while. His son, who was in his mid fourties, lives in Chiang Mai and the parents were here to visit him and travel a little bit with him.

In the Wat Chedi Luang I also see the Phra Attharot, on of the sacred Buddha statues in Chiang Mai and made of bronze.