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In our world today, we wonder if there still exists a place that’s safe and where we all can find peace and joy. I am happy to say that there is such a place, and it’s in northern Thailand. It’s called Chiang Mai, the Kingdom’s second largest city.
King Mengrai the Great first built Chiang Mai and fortified the town with a massive wall and wide moat. Both the wall and the moat are still there, and from them Chiang Mai gets its mood. To find that mood, set out early in the morning when the streets are still and cool. Start in the middle of town and walk westward. Through the morning mist the silhouette of a wall will appear, and then a gate, Tha Phae Gate. There’s a small cafe there. Take a seat, order a Thai coffee and let your imagination run. Remember, though, it wasn’t always this way, peace and quiet.
Over a cup of steaming coffee, picture the scene of old, when elephants once fought in fierce battles outside the walls, beyond that gate where you sit, perhaps at the very spot. Try to envision what history books have to tell—painted elephants moving into battle; soldiers with long lances and pointed hats, and armour made of tough buffalo hides, fighting ferociously.
Let your mind’s eye see these victorious soldiers returning, in their red sashes and their bright headbands, swinging jewelled swords that flash in the sun, marching through the same Tha Phae Gate, while the Siamese people, waving and shouting, lined the wayside and cheering them on. Children run alongside them; dogs bark at the melee.
Suddenly, you no longer have to use your imagination. What you are now seeing is real. You are back to present day and, just as in days of old, mahouts bring their elephants into the city through the same Tha Phae Gate. Every morning the elephants come through the gate, passing in a single file. They enter the old walled town the same as they did in centuries past. There are perhaps a dozen elephants, their Karen mahouts sitting astride their wide generous backs, urging the great beasts forward.
Today they are not going into battle. They are going to the centre of town where whey offer rides to tourists.
Huge as the elephants are, they seem to walk on cushioned feet, stirring up dust as they wobble along. Walking alongside them are their Karen keepers dressed in blue, reaching up now and then as though to assure the elephants that all was safe and well.
This is what is so exciting about Chiang Mai. The past is the present. Watching these elephants in the early hours of morning come through Tha Phae Gate makes it all come alive, and makes history real.
History tells us, in the years that followed the building of Chiang Mai, that the Burmese and Khmers, the Mongols and Thais, and all the rival states from the north and south tried time and time again with their warrior elephants to capture the fortress of Chiang Mai, and in each case it was the wall and the moat around the wall that kept them out.
When you finish your coffee, walk through the Tha Phae Gate, and you are certain to wonder if what you had seen only a short while before had been real or that too, only imagined. Gone are the elephants and the keepers and the cheering crowd. The sun by now will be up, harsh and glaring, and traffic will have begun; there are now sounds of tutuks (three-wheel passenger vehicles) and ten-wheeled lorries and motorcycles, all trying to out-noise one another. Look at the gate where the elephants had passed, and now in their place will be a line of moving vehicular traffic; and watch that Thai girl with her hair blowing in the breeze sitting sideways on a motorcycle, holding lightly around the waist of a long-haired youth who is driving. A lorry passes with a group of soldiers in the back, but no one waves.
I find it amazing that some people will travel to Chiang Mai and never even know there is a wall that surrounds the town. It is, in places, buried from view, behind power cables, telephone poles and posters. Nevertheless, perhaps often hidden from view, it's there, the grand old Chiang Mai Wall that played such an important role in the history of Southeast Asia, a wall that is dilapidated, crumbling and decayed in parts, rebuilt and new in others. At some points it is disguised and hidden, and in others it stands out in all its imposing grandeur. Once you begin to take notice of the wall and fortifications, you discover that Chiang Mai is, really, one vast wall.
The wall of Chiang Mai is something more than a protecting wall; it's a mood, a mood that is forever changing. At the first light of dawn the wall appears sullen, unimposing. A morning mist hangs ghost-like over the still, lotus-covered moat. The crenellated embrasures that appear along the top of the wall stand out in forlorn silhouettes, and the complete mood is cast when a monk seeking alms appears in the half-light walking along the wall. It is then that you can feel Chiang Mai to the very tips of your fingers, through all your pores.
Knowing something about the history of the wall helps. We do know from books that the fortifying brick wall was constructed by 10,000 men in the astonishingly short time of three months. First the king's army of labourers dug a 30-metre wide moat encircling the city. The earth that was excavated was used to make bricks for the walls which where four metres high and three metres wide. Four gates, each five meters wide, were built into the four walls.
No permanent bridges spanned the moat. Temporary ones were made of bamboo which could easily be removed in the event of danger. Gates opened each morning at 6 AM and closed at 6 PM, and were locked from the inside with heavy beams.
Down through the years Chiang Mai was constantly under siege. But that was yesterday. Chaing Mai today is much different. Find a grassy knoll under the shade of a tree along the moat and spend an hour or two. In the afternoon heat, young boys turn the moat into their private swimming pool. They splash in the muddy water and dive from the ramparts along the wall and from low-hanging tree branches. But the best time is dawn. You can feel the mood of Chiang Mai then—and the history. You can almost hear the cannons.
Chiang Mai today is a city of art and culture and, since the 13th century, it has remained the principal religious center in northern Thailand and focal point for the construction of temples and monasteries. As a result, there are 36 temples within the ancient city walls, 80 officially registered religious sites in the metropolitan area, and over 1,000 temples scattered throughout northern Thailand.
Temples in Chiang Mai range stylistically from early Mon and Sukothai prototypes to Ayuthaya and Burmese-style monuments. Since early times architects in the north characteristically favoured large multi-layered roofs which swoop down lower than those of Bangkok temples, and less flamboyant colours that you see in the south. No brazen reds, yellows, and blues. Instead, northern architecture favours decoration and woodcarving such as filigree umbrellas and long-necked lions, which reflect its Lanna and Burmese influence.
Many temples stand in original condition, while others have been heavily restored in unrepresentative styles. Older temples have largely disappeared except for their crumbling stupas. Temples inside the old city walls can be reached on foot, by rented bicycle or a chartered tuktuk.
Chiang Mai is Thailand’s center of traditional arts and crafts, a veritable bazaar of silverwork, ceramics, antiques, and hilltribe handicrafts. The city has several areas known for their unique shopping venues. The central city offers the night markets, hilltribe handicraft shops along Tapae Road, large shopping complexes for utilitarian goods and a handful of specialized boutiques.
Chiang Mai’s Night Market, located on Changklan Road in the heart of the city, is one of the best of any city in Thailand, not only for its shopping but nightlife and food as well. The Night Market is a must for any visit to Chiang Mai. The food market that operates nightly on Ansuran Road between Changklan and Charoen Prathet Roads is just around the corner from the night bazaar. Dozens of stalls prepare a wide range of inexpensive dishes. At the sidewalk stalls try mussel omelettes, steamed crabs, and grilled fish served with a choice of sauces. Other possibilities include honey chicken roasted over an open fire, fried noodles with shrimp and bean sprouts, and the spectacle of "flying morning glory." English?language menus are often available though the pointing method is much more fun and efficient.
Less familiar to most visitors is the Chiang Mai-Hang Dong Road, or Highway 108, heading south from the Airport Plaza past dozens of shops and factories specializing in antiques, ceramics, and woodcarvings. The woodcarving village of Ban Tawai and the ceramics village of Muan Kung are located just off the main highway. Hang Dong is the rattan and wickerware capital of northern Thailand.
Next week we will look at celebrating Christmas in Thailand.
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Chiang Mai is a wall, which most people forget
The wall encloses the old city
A guard stands on the wall, like days of old
Repair work on the wall is continuous
Plans are to restores most of wall
Paddle around the moat by canoe
A raft with flowers on the moat is an attraction
Chiang Mai is noted for its crafts, carvings to
umbrellas
Street artists at the Night Market
A painting of the town a thousand years ago
Carved elephants are a specialty
A chance to feed an elephant
And a chance to ride. Come on, mom, it’s safe
Hill tribe people come to the city to sell their
wares
One a year, THAI sponsors traditional weddings
Bride and groom arrive on elephant back
The late Theo Meier’s house where he lived &
painted
Met the town’s old timers at the Pub
Chiang Mai is noted not only for crafts but pretty
women as well
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