Thailand Guide
The north
Wat Phra Singh
Address: Thanon Ratchdamnoen in the old town
If you see only one temple in Chiang Mai it should be Wat Phra Singh, perhaps the single most impressive array of buildings in the city. Just inside the gate to the right, the wooden scripture repository is the best example of its kind in the north, inlaid with glass mosaic and set high on a base decorated with stucco angels. The largest building in the compound, a colourful modern assembly hall fronted by serpentine balustrades, hides from view a rustic wooden sanctuary, a stupa constructed in 1345 to house the ashes of King Kam Fu, and – the highlight of the whole complex – the beautiful Viharn Lai Kam. This wooden gem is a textbook example of Lanna architecture, with its squat, multi-tiered roof and exquisitely carved and gilded pediment: if you feel you're being watched as you approach, it's the sinuous double arch between the porch's central columns, which represents the Buddha's eyebrows. Inside sits one of Thailand's three Phra Singh (or Sihing) Buddha images, a portly, radiant and much-revered bronze in a fifteenth-century Lanna style. Its setting is enhanced by the colourful murals of action-packed tableaux, which give a window on life in the north a hundred years ago.