Today we are doing our own little Wat crawl – not that we haven’t done it before, but it’s been years and when you are visiting the city that has over 200 Wats within its 1.5km square moat border? Well, you best be ready to visit some Wats. And we are! we’ve got our Wat clothes – elephant pants for Ed, wrap skirt for me – and we are up and out early to start our “crawling.”

Our house is located pretty much centrally in the old city, and we are surrounded by Wats, making our first stop at Wat Chang Taem a quick walk. A very pretty temple in the traditional Buddhist style, with Nagas guarding the entrance and the 5 Buddhas lined up against the far wall. This temple is the home of one of the oldest Buddha statues, dating to 1000 years. We didn’t see that – as a matter of fact we have no idea where it might have been displayed on the property, but instead just satisfied ourselves with the inside of the viharn. One of the more interesting things here -” along with the fun signs “No sit for monk”!! We just love the translations! – were the crisscrossing strings hung between the marble pillars. As it turns out, these are for New Year prayers and wishes. You can buy gold leafs or bells or even large hanging money holders to hang on these strings for good blessings in the new year. We would see many of these strings throughout the day in various other temples.

Next stop – one of the most important wats in the city – Chedi Luang a mere block away. This is the only wat that charges admission. The last time we did the wat crawl, years ago, we skipped it. But it has been ages since we’ve been inside the grounds, so we spring for the, gasp, 40 baht ($1.17 USD) each fee and begin our explorations. Wat Chedi Luang was built to house the ashes of King Saen Muang Ma’s father and was completed in the 1400s. The temple with the ashes is for men only – women cannot enter. Yeah, thanks. Weird in this Buddhist love all society – but there you have it, as the sign says.

Ed didn’t go in either, instead we just continued to wander around the outside, circling the amazing ancient chedi, which predates the Wat, and which once held the famed Emerald Buddha, now housed in Bangkok in the Royal Palace. The chedi is a massive red brick structure, towering over the rest of property. For 500 years it was the tallest structure in all of Chiang Mai, but the great spire fell during an earthquake in the 1500s. It is still pretty impressive, of course I love those massive elephants placed around the upper perimeter. Later, we find that we can actually get a glimpse of the top of the chedi from our house when it is all lit up at night.

Continuing around the Wat grounds, we spy lovely smaller chapels and a fabulous elephant that Sunny enjoys. In the back of the chedi there is a reclining Buddha – or “reelining Buddha” as the sign says. Oh those signs. We also walk through a tented area with these weirdly animated skeletons asking for donations for coffins in which to bury “parishioners.” Totally bizarre! We had seen something similar the other day in Wat Jet Lin, but had no idea what it was. Here there is at least English translation. Totally bizarre. as well as roof tiles you can purchase, write your name upon and then donate to the wat to repair the roof. There is also a huge roll of orange fabric where you can sign your name, and which will then be wrapped around the chedi for good luck.

The best though are the signs for the do’s and don’ts while visiting the temple – “Do not kissing, hugging…” – and the sign for the monk chat! Apparently monk chats are a big thing – everywhere here – but this sign is the best!

Sadly, the main wat appeared to be closed for reconstruction, i.e., the roof tiles. So we weren’t able to see the standing Buddha which is the main event here. I say “appeared” because there was absolutely not signage around the grounds and we were navigating by whim. For all we know there could have been a way to enter the main wat, but we never saw it. Just construction fencing and warning signs – yeah, at least they had those signs.

Continuing on, our next stop is literally right next door – Wat Phan Tao, which means “Temple of 1,000 kilns,” so named for the kilns that were used to cast the Buddha statues (also translated to mean “to increase 1,000 times” -take your pick!). Originally used as the living quarters for the monks of Chedi Luang, it was turned into the Royal Palace. Eventually the palace was moved and the original structure demolished, but the recycled and reused the Teak wood to build the viharn as it is today. And it makes for a really cool wat with all that teak wood. The inside wood gleams with polish, and the gold Buddha practically glows. There is a great display of former royalty and prayer bowls lining the walls as well as the now ubiquitous New Year’s prayer offerings hanging from the trusses between the pillars.

Around the grounds is a gorgeous golden chedi and views of the old brick Chedi Luang. Oh, and of course the Asian tourist standing on the front step of the Wat waiting for everyone to leave so she can get a picture of herself posing on the stairs. Sigh. We try to be nice and wait, but after a while, we just walk in front of the photographer girl and get our own shots. There’s always gotta be one….double sigh.

Moving on, we wander though Wat Si Koet, with the 500 year old Bodhi tree and the grounds that are used as a parking lot during the day. This is where one of the Sunday night walking street food markets is located, although you couldn’t prove it today. We choose not to enter the Wat, saving our change of clothes for What Phra Sing, one of the most important temples in the city – and which is up next on our crawl.

Five minutes later we arrive at Wat Phra Singh, one of the “big 3” temples in Chiang Mai (Wat Chedi Luang and Wat Chiang Man are the other 2). It is crazy busy here – much busier than Chedi Luang. We’re thinking because this is actually a “working” wat, as opposed to just a “tourist” wat. There are monks here chanting and praying, and everyone in the place is buying those streamers, placing 20 baht notes in the slots and hanging them on the strings throughout the Virharn. We try to be respectful while circling the huge golden Buddha in the back and surreptitiously taking pictures. Back outside we wander down tree lined lanes, looking at this awesome old black sedan we think is the abbot’s car. Then around the gorgeous golden chedis with fabulous elephants adorning each side and people circling the base with flowers to pray for good luck in the New Year. Snapping pictures of the gorgeous buildings and fun statues guarding the wat.

Wat-ed out, we stop for a break at a sweet little coffee shop on the grounds, sitting in front of one of the viharns sipping on some very good cappuccino before heading back out into town. On the way back we continue our crawl simply because everywhere you turn there is another wat, so “wat” the heck? Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, Dad joke. Feel free to groan.

At any rate, we walk right past some cool Wat with huge stairs (can’t even remember which one it was). We manage to just take a photo then continue on our way, passing Wat Tung Yu which draws us in with the gorgeous, huge Nagas embellished with green scales guarding the Wat. Inside the Virhan there is yet another golden Buddha, more New Year offerings, emerald Buddhas and some great paintings of previous abbots on the walls.

Our final stop is at Wat Chai Phrakiat, where we just take pictures on the exterior, not bothering going inside since we don’t want to put our “wat” clothes on again. It is enough to snap a pix and move on. We’re sort of done now – and we didn’t even get to Wat Chiang Man – the remaining “big 3” Wat. Oh well, that will have to just be another day

Back at home, we rest up for a bit, catching up on email, downloading photos, etc. Then head out to the Lotus store for stock piles – hitting the coffee vending machine right on the sidewalk which has captivated Ed every time we walk past it. For 10 baht you get a really decent cup of coffee – much to Ed’s delight. I’m coffeed out at this point in the day!

Later that evening we head over to the Coconut Shell restaurant which has an excellent reputation for traditional Northern Thai cooking. Upon arriving, the place is packed – they’ve put tables and chairs out in a vacant lot next tot he restaurant, and those are full to the brim. We stand outside there, just hanging around waiting, until a waitress tells us there is a table inside. Oh, ok. We looked but didn’t see anything. There is one long table with 2 seats available at the end that we can grab. It’s sort of communal dining in here – but hey, we don’t care, we have a table! Ordering Khao Soi for Ed, Papaya salad for me and spring rolls to share, we sit back and watch the circus around us. First of all, the kitchen is barely a kitchen. Well, what we can see. Which is a monstrous rice cooker and a deep fryer the size of a toaster sitting atop what we assume are the freezers. It’s a long narrow space with line cooks and waiters running in and out dishing up meals. There is also apparently a kitchen in the back behind a wall where we can see food coming out. It is crazy fun to watch all this and amazing to see the amount of food they put out from this little place.

Our food comes after a long wait – we were in queue for the fryer – and it is so worth the wait. The Khao Soi is fabulous, the spring rolls served in this adorable basket are equally wonderful and the papaya salad just what I’ve been longing for. Excellent choice!

A young couple has taken seats at our table as well, and we get into a discussion with them after both the guy and I am trying to wave away the pot smoke coming from the next table. Have I mentioned that weed is legal here and every other store front is a weed store? Yeah, well, it’s gone crazy here, that’s for certain. At any rate, these two are adorable. British, traveling all around Asia, doing the social media/influencer thing. But really really nice. We spend quite a bit of time sitting and chatting with them, comparing notes and offering ideas and suggestions to each other. A lovely evening with lovely company.

Finally we must bring this to a close as we are taking up valuable real estate in the restaurant. We bid our new friends farewell and head back to the house to hang out, watch some TV then hit the hay.\