The Numerous Wats of Chiang Mai

There are over 200 wats in Chiang Mai. What's a wat? Wat is the Thai word for temple. Most of the wats are in the old town, so we can't walk any distance from our house without seeing at least one. 

Remains of a wat on a random neighborhood street corner

Wats range in size, opulence, and popularity. The major ones with their sparkling, ornate designs are especially busy with tourists and locals. With so many foreign visitors signs are posted outside the wats regarding etiquette. The major rules we've noted is that women's shoulders and knees must be covered and that everyone must remove their shoes before entering a wat. Out of respect, we've followed these rules and dressed appropriately, but it's shocking how many tourists ignore this. 

There are also signs requesting that tourists avoid buying Buddha decorated items, such as Buddha head plant pots and Buddha face pillows, because using the Buddha on common everyday objects is disrespectful. Buying Buddha figurines is fine, but they should always be placed above waist level in the home. I have been surprised by how Buddha comes in all shapes and sizes. In the wats, we have seen fat and skinny Buddhas, sitting and lying Buddhas, big and small Buddhas, and gold, silver, and colored Buddhas. Sometimes the Buddha looks more male and other times more female. 

Reclining Buddha at Wat Phra Singh

Seated Buddha at Wat Phra Singh

When first visiting a wat I expected to see just one temple. But, this has not been the case. What has surprised me is the size of the grounds and the amount of buildings allocated to the area. There always appears to be one major, super ornate wat, but then there are several smaller wats, teaching buildings, and gardens. There may even be food carts within the temple gates. Stray dogs wander freely around the temple areas where there are food and medicine programs. I can imagine the buildings, gardens, and dogs are a lot to maintain for the monks.

Extensive grounds of Wat Phra Singh with many buildings

We have seen a lot of monks in the temple areas and throughout the city. The wat near our house has a large teaching program, so there are many monks around from elementary to high school age. Some of the wats offer one-on-one discussions with monks, but we haven't taken them up on it. You can get wisdom without consulting the monks by reading placards around the wat compounds. 

Brotherly love is better than riches

I'm guessing that a lot of the funds for maintaining the temples and the basic needs of the monks come from local worshipers making merit. There are several levels of merit, and the type of merit you give determines the type of blessing you receive. Local worshipers often leave donations of money and flowers in the temple after kneeling and praying to the Buddha with incense. Some wats require foreigners to pay a fee for entering the temple, but most are free. If there is a fee, we just view from the outside and explore the rest of the grounds. 

Basins for coin merits at Wat Phan Tao

I have enjoyed the grounds more than the wats themselves. The gardens are a nice, shaded respite from the exhaust-filled city. After awhile the wats start looking similar and the vast opulence and tourism becomes a little overwhelming and saddening. Just like major churches in Europe, the wats start feeling like just another impressive building rather than a religious space. 

Here are the wats we've visited in the old town: 

Wat Phra Singh: 

Phra Singh is the closest major wat to our house

The wat all lit up at night

Dragons are a common wat theme

Shiny chedi under repair. A chedi is a symbol of the deceased and may have relics in it. 

An older wat building

At first we thought these monks were real. They're not. 

Intricately painted walls inside one of the wats

Detailed patterns on the shutters

Wat Inthakhin Sadue Muang:

Wat Inthakhin Sadue Muang

Wat chandelier

Golden wat doors

Multiple Buddhas in one wat

Shimmering silver doors

Speak no evil

Older wat in the compound

Protection by this menacing creature

Wat Phan Tao:

Zodiac banners for sale in the wat

Buddha of Wat Phan Tao

Wat Phan Tao is a more simple wooden structure rather than gold crusted

The wat chedi

Wat Chedi Luang: 

More dragons guarding the wat and watching over the shoes that were removed to enter

Famous crumbling chedi at Wat Chedi Luang

A view of the chedi and Buddhas

The chedi has stone elephants decorating it

Yet another wat on the grounds

As previously mentioned there's an overwhelming amount of wats in Chiang Mai. Everyone has their favorites and recommends different ones to see. Instead of following any recommendations we just stopped into any wats that looked interesting on our way across town from our house to the rock climbing shop. We've gotten our fill of wats, and I think our system worked as well as any.