Rainy Day Excursions to Chiang Mai Museums

                                       by Jim Goodman

model of the King of Lanna's coronation procession

       When the sticky hot dry season of long days of temperatures hovering around 40 degrees C. finally ends, usually late June, it comes as quite a relief.  Early rains clear and cool the air and it becomes possible to walk around, even in the sunshine, without perspiring heavily and risking exhaustion.   Intermittent, heavy cloudbursts are followed by a couple intervening dry hours before another rain.  And the longest periods of precipitation only start late at night.

model of ancient city protection rites at Hua RIn Corner

     That changes after several weeks.  Tropical storms batter the coast of Vietnam and, while the mountains between Vietnam and Laos block the winds, the torrential rain proceeds westward into northern Thailand.  Then Chiang Mai might have all-day rains.  If not constant precipitation, the weather will anyway be very cloudy.  This precludes any trips to the lovely countryside or even much time outdoors in the city.  It’s the Buddhist retreat season, so there are no festivals to watch, either.  

       In such conditions, the best way to appreciate Chiang Mai is to spend time in the museums, for the city has many.  Some are for specialists, like those for stamps, coins, textiles and even insects.  But others are more multi-faceted, highlighting the most interesting aspects of Chiang Mai’s history and culture.  Conveniently, five of them are right in the heart of the old town.

historic photo of elephants in the city streets

       A block north of the old town center is the Three Kings monument to Mengrai of Lanna, Ramkamhaeng of Sukhothai and Ngam Muang of Phayao.  Behind it stands a wide, three=story white building that was City Hall before the administration moved a few kilometers north.  Now it is the Arts and Culture Center, dedicated to various aspects of the city and its development.  In the first room, visitors watch a short film, narrated in English, introducing the city’s attractions.  Other rooms feature exhibits of historical photos, models of ancient activities, key moments of development and aspects of rural life.

       The old photographs date from the late 19^th to early 20^th century.  A view of the iron bridge from the west bank of the Ping River shows how heavily forested the east bank side was back then.  Other photos show elephants in the streets and old-fashioned bamboo and wood houses with thatched roofs, right in the heart of the city.

opening scene of a film on the Burmese occupation

       One room displays small models inside glass cubes that depict city protective rites at the four bastions of the old town.  They include small crowds of officials and a line of monks connected by a thread.  Oddly, though, since this was a rite performed in the Kingdom of Lanna days, the bastions look like models of the ruins of them that stand today.

        In another depiction, of a royal procession into the city, at the head of the line is a man leading a dog on a leash.  This actually was the old Lanna coronation rite and the man with the dog was a Lawa tribesman, representing the original settlers of the Chiang Mai area.

Ping River scene from a century ago

       Thematically, the exhibits then jump ahead historically to a century ago and Chiang Mai’’s modern development.  Another glass cube model depicts elephants at work in the logging industry.  Then comes a scale model of the railway tunnel north of Lampang.  Next is a room with a film of events like the opening of the railway station and airport, plus the establishment of churches, corporations and schools.  The remaining rooms include a rather perfunctory introduction to the hill tribes and an exhibit on rice production, with a very informative film about the entire growing cycle.

old photo of a Chiang Mai nobleman

       Behind this building is the separate Chiang Mai Historical Center, which deals with periods not covered by the Arts and Culture Center. Exhibits cover the entire story of Chiang Mai, beginning with before the Tai Yuan even came here.  Then the area was the home of Lawa, or Lua, a Mon-Khmer people who were hunter-gatherers, whom visitors learn about at the first exhibit.

        Next is the story of King Mengrai, Chiang Mai’s founder, and of the laws he made for the kingdom, with samples of these, written on palm-leaf manuscripts, displayed in cases.  A large map identifies the boundaries of Lanna and the other kingdoms in the region during the centuries of its heyday.  At that time it was a commercial hub for the region, with resident traders from so many different neighboring states that Chiang Mai was known as ‘the city of twelve languages.’  Another map shows the main trade routes of the times, by river and by land, and lists Chiang Mai’s principal exports.  These included things travelers recognize; like salt, leather, ivory, rhinoceros horn, gold, silver, minerals and honey, and a few unexpected resources; like lac, an insect product used for making dyes and shellac, as well as gum Benjamin and civets.

model of King Tilokarat in the Inthakin Museum

       Another room covers the period of the Burmese occupation from 1558 until 1774.  A short film montage here covers that period, with actors in historical costumes portraying the events.  Apparently Burmese rule was not particularly oppressive, at least in the beginning, for the film doesn’t have any such scenes and only mentions that there were revolts occasionally, especially in the last decades, and two invasions by Ayutthaya.  The film ends with the expulsion of the Burmese, but emphasizes the role of Siam more than that of the northern rebels. 

mural of 15th century daily life, Inthakin Museum

       The final exhibits deal with the repopulation and resurrection of Chiang Mai, its development over the next two centuries and a room full of photos from the early 20^th century.  Only a few have captions, however, but among the most arresting are of a nobleman dressed in fancy clothes and a shot of a large water wheel on the east bank of the Ping River, with the iron bridge in the background.  Since water wheels are used to convey river water to farms, one can assume that back then farms lay close to the river.  Now that area is all urbanized.

       A museum devoted to Lanna’s Golden Age under King Tilokarat (1441-87) stands just across the lane south of the Arts and Culture Center, next to Wat Inthakin.  This small temple used to house the City Pillar, a sacred icon of Chiang Mai, but it was removed to Wat Chedi Luang after the city was restored as Lanna’s capital in 1796.  The small temple, built with black wood and gold trimming, is still one of the city’s most attractive.

model of a spinner, Lanna Folk Life Museum

        Next to it is the Inthakin Museum, with exhibits dedicated to the life and times of King Tilokarat, who reigned in a period of great prosperity and prestige.  Tilokarat expanded the kingdom’s territory in all directions, which is shown on a map inside, and was also a great promoter of Buddhism.  He had Wat Jed Yod built, now on the other side of the super highway north of the city, to host a World Buddhist Council. 

antique loom, Lanna Folk Life Museum

       The museum exhibits include wall murals depicting scenes of the daily life of the commoners, like weaving, cooking, carrying water and dancing, as well as elephants going off to war.  Elsewhere there are statues of the king in his court, models of events in his reign, including a life-size elephant transporting the Emerald Buddha, warriors with their weapons and famous monks of the times.  Altogether, the Inthakin Museum gives a well-rounded picture of everyday life in Lanna’s Golden Age, from daily chores to royal spectacles, and even the 15^th century style of punishing criminals.

basketry exhibit, Lanna Folk Life Museum

       Still in the same neighborhood, across the street from the Three Kings monument stands a two-story, white, 19^th century building, originally a royal palace, that for a long time served as the city’s courthouse.  When that, like the City Hall, was moved north of the city, the building later became the Lanna Folk Life Museum.  Intended to be an exposition for both foreigners to understand the lifestyle, art, traditions and culture of Northern Thailand, and Chiang Mai’s residents to appreciate their own heritage, the museum has eighteen exhibition rooms covering a variety of cultural themes.

antique house, now the Lanna Architectural Museum

       Some displays deal with the material side of daily life, such as the spinners, thread winders and looms used to make cloth, including a fine antique loom with carved decorations on the lower horizontal beams.  Samples of antique sarongs from the collections of famous Chiang Mai noblewomen hang inside glass display cases.  Another room shows the craft of weaving baskets, in others various types of betel boxes and other lacquered containers, eating utensils and rich people’s ornaments. 

       Other exhibits deal with traditional arts, like the golden stenciling on red backgrounds known as laikhram in Thai, the techniques of painting murals, like the ones at Wat Phra Singh, with the pictorial outlines stenciled on one side and fully colored on the other, and the casting and styles of bronze Buddha images   Other rooms are dedicated to describing the elements of temple architecture and displaying the typical kinds of artworks the people give to the temple, from flower displays, images and lanterns to the long, thin, woven cotton banners called tung.  Models and photos also depict activities at the temples, the festivals and entertainment such as the graceful fingernail dance.

bedroom in the antique house

       Certainly this is the place to become familiar with the traditional aspects of the Thai lifestyle. Much of it is still going on, both within the city and especially in the rural villages.  For a look at how the upper class used to live one can visit the Lanna Architectural Museum, just a block south, opposite Wat Phantao.   This temple features dark teakwood walls and roofs and was originally part of a royal palace in the mid-19^th century.  The temple went up after that king died and his successor lived elsewhere.  It was the heyday of the teak trade and many of the city’s finest old houses date from that period.

Highland People's Museum

       The two-story house across the street is a beautiful example.  Rectangular and built of teak, a plastered white colonnaded façade surrounds the ground floor.  Living quarters are upstairs, with comfortable elevated beds, mosquito nets, some elegant furniture and a balcony all around the building. The house sits within a walled compound because in the past all the houses of the nobility had walls around them, which were forbidden for commoners’ houses.  There is no class division anymore, so nowadays everybody has compound walls.

Lisu life exhibit, Highlands Museum

       Other than a desultory description in one of the Arts and Culture Center rooms, Northern Thailand’s hill tribes do not get any attention in the city museums.  To become acquainted with these fascinating people’s culture one goes north of downtown Chiang Mai, a little beyond the super highway and then west to the museum dedicated to the hill tribes.   Three stories high, at the edge of a large pond, with restaurants lining the banks, it is commonly known as the Hill Tribe Museum.  Yet signs in the vicinity identify it as Highland People’s Learning Museum or Highland People’s Development Museum or Tribal Village Museum.

model of a Hmông opium smoker

       On the first floor each exhibition room features one of the hill tribes.  Models depict domestic scenes with typical male and female activities—weaving, embroidering, whittling, etc.  Various traditional items like baskets, containers, tobacco bongs, musical instruments, trays and containers lie around the exhibit floor and are also mounted on the walls.  Varieties of ethnic clothing hang from the opposite walls.  Besides typical domestic chores, the exhibits include one of a reclining Hmông man smoking opium and another of Hmông children spinning tops and musicians on lute and gourd-pipe in the background. 

       The hill tribe museum doesn’t get the traffic the others do.  Unlike the old town museums, which are all within a short walk of each other, visitors to the hill tribe museum need a vehicle for transportation to and fro.  In an effort to boost interest, the city government this year sponsored a Tribal Life Festival for four days in August.  Stalls lined the lane leading to the entrance.  Some of them had tribal women doing embroidery, others were just mixed handicraft stalls.   At times entertainers took the stage at the end of the lane, like Lisu dancers or a Karen harp player.  Many dances were Thai however, and with rain constantly a threat, the audiences were a moderate size.  The most splendidly dressed participants were the Palong women, from a tribe not even mentioned or given an exhibit in the museum; perhaps because they‘ve only been here about 25 years.

Akha exhibit , Highlands Museum

Palong woman at the Tribal Life Festival

       The festival, like the museum, laid emphasis on entertainment and handicrafts.  But entertainment is part of traditional life.  And the handicrafts are like relics of a bygone age, when people made themselves what they wore and used every day, unlike these modern times, when folks simply buy readymade, manufactured items in the shops.  We cannot bring back Chiang Mai’s past, but thanks to its museums, it has been preserved for us to remember and appreciate.

Karen women at the Tribal Life Festival

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The Last Restorations of Classic Chiang Mai

                                                     by Jim Goodman

Sriphum Corner, 1989

Sriphum Corner today

       In 1996 Chiang Mai celebrated its 700^th anniversary.  In preparation for this event the city renovated the five gates around its old town, added sections of the former walls that were demolished, along with the city gates, during the Japanese occupation in World War II, and improved the condition of the four original bastions, which had not been torn down, that stood at each corner of the city.  It also renovated a few of its most famous temples for the occasion.

       However, this process did not extend to all of Old Chiang Mai’s notable temples.  Chiang Mai became the new capital of the independent Kingdom of Lanna in 1296 and retained that role until conquered by Burma in 1558.  While Burmese governors did sometimes sponsor temple construction in the city, thereby ingratiating themselves with the natives, the temples most important religiously and politically to the former regime were ignored and even abandoned. 

       In 1774 King Kawila of Lampang, allied with King Taksin of Siam, expelled the Burmese occupiers, but then removed the remaining population and abandoned the city.  After campaigns to drive the Burmese out of northern Thailand entirely and raids on northeast Burma to kidnap people and resettle them in Lanna, Kawila began reconstructing Chiang Mai and officially re-established the city in 1796, five hundred years after its original foundation. 

       Kawila oversaw the restoration of the most important Lanna temples, like Phra Singh, Chedi Luang and Wat Chiang Man, today’s most popular tourist attractions, but others were left in dilapidated condition or, except for the original chedi, left in ruins, their other buildings pilfered for construction elsewhere.  In some cases this situation remained even until after the 700^th anniversary.

Wat Inthakin

       In the 21^st century, in response to both the spurt in tourism, foreign and domestic, and increasing awareness and pride in its cultural heritage, city authorities began targeting the last long-neglected monuments for renovation.   Among these was Wat Inthakin, in the north central part of the old town, which was actually the first religious building erected in the city during its original construction in the 1290s.  It housed the City Pillar, its palladium, which, unlike other city pillars in Thailand, was a standing Buddha image.  (Kawila later removed it to a separate shrine in Wat Chedi Luang.)

       With its limited function, Wat Inthakin was not a monastery and consists only of its main worship hall (viharn), a couple of old chedis to its rear and another across the street.  The elegant, restored viharn has a two-tiered, nearly black roof, with gilded edges and gilded embellishments in the front, rendering it one of the most beautiful buildings in the city.

museum mural of daily life in the 15th century

       Next to Wat Inthakin is a museum dedicated to the life and times of King Tilokarat, who reigned 1441-1487, considered Lanna’s Golden Age.  Tilokarat expanded the kingdom’s territory in all directions, which is shown on a map inside, and was also a great promoter of Buddhism.  The museum exhibits include wall murals depicting scenes of the daily life of the commoners, like weaving, cooking, carrying water and dancing, as well as elephants going off to war.  Elsewhere there are statues of the king in his court, models of events in his reign, warriors with their weapons and famous monks of the times.  Altogether, the Inthakin Museum gives a well-rounded picture of everyday life in Lanna’s Golden Age, from daily chores to royal spectacles, and even the 15^th century style of punishing criminals.

Chedi Plong

       This century’s renovations also included sites in the suburbs outside the old walled city.  Haiya, the neighborhood adjacent to the old town’s southern moat, was home to commoners, particularly crafts workers, who were not permitted to live within the city proper.  An earthen wall surrounded the area and residents had their own chedis and temples.  

       Suriyawong Road, directly south of Chiang Mai Gate, hosts a few of these, including a lone brick chedi in the Sukhothai style and a couple of temple compounds.  The further of these, Wat Yang Kuang, features a recently restored chedi.  Rising from an octagonal base, except for its gilded crown at the very top, it is all white, making it look almost like a modern creation.

       In contrast, the restored Chedi Plong at Wat Chiang Chom, north of the old town near Sri Wattana market, retains its original brick structure and unusual circular shape.  The adjoining temple compound is all newly rebuilt, and the Buddha image at the base of the chedi is recent, but the chedi itself is basically the original one, with a shape unique to the city and representative of the great variety of chedi styles erected in Old Chiang Mai.

the gutters and chedi at Wat Jedlin

       Within the old city, the most important renovation was that of Wat Jedlin, on Phrapokllao Road, south of the city center.  It was one of those temples abandoned during the Burmese occupation, not re-established by Kawila or anyone since, including the committee assigned to preparing Chiang Mai for its 700^th anniversary.  It was originally the site for the coronation of King Kae Mu, the last monarch of independent Lanna.  Until 2004, all that remained of the wat was its chedi and a large Buddha head on a platform next to a pipal tree.  Behind it was a swamp.

       The renovation program began with enclosing the compound with a wall and erecting an elaborate brick and stucco entrance gate on Phrapokklao Road.  Unfortunately, appreciation of this is marred by the presence of a jumble of wires attached to a concrete pillar beside it.  Visitors usually go in through the wider vehicle entrance to its left.   The new, triple-roofed viharn is just behind the entrance gate. Inside in front of the altar are a few very realistic statues of the temple’s most famous monks, along with a Chinese Buddha in the front, a Burmese one in the middle and a large Lanna-style Buddha in the back.

antique Buddha head, Wat Jedlin

the praying skeleton

       The antique Buddha head in the courtyard next to the viharn has also been restored, with a concrete nose and left eye.  A small altar behind it features a mock skeleton dressed in a white suit.  When people drop a donation into the box beside it, the skeleton bows forward with hands folded and recites a prayer.

       Right behind the viharn is the original chedi, dating back to at least the 16^th century.  On the lowest tier of the base sit a row of nine round stone balls.  Called luknimit in Thai, these stones are ordinarily buried in the ground to mark the boundary of the temple when it is first built or undergoes restoration.  If they are out in public it indicates a reconstruction or renovation is being planned though that may be a long way off yet.  Meanwhile devotees come to make merit by adorning the stones with wafers of gold leaf.  On the day of the luknimits’ ceremonial burial, people come to add to that burial objects that symbolize their desires in the same hole as the luknimits:  notebooks and pencils to improve their memories, needles to sharpen their brains and threads to represent a continuous line of progress in their lives.

symbolic animal, Wat Jedlin

       Wat Jedlin mean the Temple of the Seven Gutters, or Troughs, that have been mounted once again next to the chedi.  In classical times the king allegedly sat at the end of these gutters for a ceremonial cleansing bath.  Nowadays a Buddha image sits at the end of the gutters, bathed during major festivals.

       The swamp behind the chedi has been cleaned up and reduced to an attractive pond.  A rickety bamboo bridge spans it, with rest stops along the way, and ends at the monks’ quarters on the other side.  Visitors can enroll in a session of Monk Chat, also offered at other Chiang Mai temples, and converse with English-speaking monks about Buddhism, monastic life or anything else.

       The monks are from the immediate neighborhood, for the restoration of Wat Jedlin went beyond historical reconstruction to revival of an institution.  An example of its new neighborhood relevance is the contribution to the compound of a new symbolic sculpture of a strange black and white animal with four ears and five eyes, mounted next to the old Buddha head.  A poster next to it explains that the creature represents Buddhist precepts. The four ears represent the four virtues of loving kindness, compassion, empathy and equanimity.  The five eyes stand for the five taboos against killing, stealing, unlawful sex, harmful speech and using intoxicants.

pond in front of Wat Jedlin's monks' quarters

       The other major temple restoration, actually completed before that of Wat Jedlin, was of Wat Lokmolee, just outside the old city moat on its northwest side.  King Ku Na, the 6^th monarch of the Mengrai Dynasty, who ruled 1367-1388, established the site as a residence for ten Burmese monks he invited to live in Lanna.  Its importance rose in 1527 with the construction of a viharn and the second tallest chedi in Chiang Mai, after the one at Wat Chedi Luang.  From then on it was known as Wat Lokmolee, the Topknot of the World.

       This was also the year Lanna’s Golden Age ended and the kingdom began its decline.  King Ket Chettharat, who had just come to power, was a weak ruler who alienated his court officials, who deposed him in 1538.  But his son proved an even worse ruler and these same officials deposed and executed him in 1543 and restored Ket Chettharat.  Two years later he also suffered assassination and his daughter Chiraprapha became Queen Regent. 

       Two weeks after her accession a major earthquake struck Chiang Mai and toppled the towering chedi at Wat Chedi Luang.  Shortly afterwards Ayutthaya invaded Lanna.  Unable to raise enough troops from the other parts of the country, perhaps because she was a woman, she had to agree to Ayutthaya’s terms.  When Ayutthaya attacked again the following year her forces defeated them.

the viharn's front entrance

the viharn's side entrance

       Then she abdicated in favor of her son Sethathirat, who ruled just one year and then moved to Luang Phabang to become king there, taking the Emerald Buddha of Chiang Mai with him.  Lanna’s misfortune continued as the country was without a king at all for three years.  Finally, Mae Ku mounted the throne, but wasted the country’s resources on inconclusive border wars.  In 1558 King Bayinnaung of Pegu captured the city after only token resistance. 

       Mae Ku served as a vassal ruler until deposed and exiled to Burma in 1564.  His wife succeeded him in the role as Queen Wisuttha Thewi until her death in 1578.  From then on the Burmese installed their own sovereigns.  Wat Lokmolee lost its royal patronage.  Its chedi housed the remains of the murdered Ket Chettharat, probably those of Chiraprapha and for certain those of Wisuttha Thewi.  But it was no longer an active temple.  Its neglected buildings, except for the chedi, which remained in place right down to the 21^st century, fell into ruin and eventually people removed the bricks and timber. 

Phya Phom, the god with four heads

roof decorations on the viharn

       Reconstruction began in 2003 by walling off the compound, erecting a tall, ornate entrance gate and building a new viharn in the classic Lanna style with a triple roof of dark tiles.  Tall, carved staffs, with portraits of the twelve calendar animals, flank the front and side entrances.  Carved plaques depicting scenes from Buddhist mythology grace the interior walls and the space above the entrance.  The interior features a massive seated Buddha, decorated walls and a ceiling painted with floral and geometric designs and a scene from the Buddha’s life.

       Besides the monks’ quarters, the temple’s renovation included the addition of features not part of the original compound.  Now there are statues of Phra Phom, the four-headed Thai equivalent of the Hindu Creator God Brahma, a multi-armed bodhisattva Guan Yin, the Mahayana Buddhist goddess of compassion, and a reclining Ganesh, the elephant-headed son of Shiva.

       In front of the chedi is a rope pulley, for a bamboo tube attached to a gilded, dragon-headed bird.  Devotees fill the tube with water and then pull it on the rope high up on the chedi.  At the end it dumps the water to splash on one of the Buddha images on a tier of the chedi, an act of merit for Thai Buddhists.

statue of Queen Chiraprapha

devotional water tube at the chedi

       The most notable addition, though, is the shrine to Queen Chiraprapha just inside the compound.  The bronze sculpture dates its creation to 2003, the year of the temple’s reconstruction, and is the only reminder of her historical existence in the city.  She ruled Lanna only about a year and a half and the circumstances of her abdication, and what happened to her afterwards, remain undocumented and unclear.

       Yet the shrine has become popular among Chiang Mai women and fresh flowers and offerings mark the site every day.  After all, she was independent Lanna’s only queen, obviously installed after her father’s deposition because she was qualified, She abdicated after defeating and inflicting great losses on Ayutthaya’s second invasion, so one could say she retired in triumph.  All those factors make her, in the minds of Chiang Mai’s female devotees, worthy of veneration.

the restored Wat Lokmolee

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