Wat Ban Den

The five of us, plus Ryan and Claire, left at 9:30 this morning for Wat Ban Den.  It took an hour to get to this temple north of Chiang Mai.  It was a recommendation of one of Melissa’s cousins.  I tried to do research on it last night but the Wi-Fi here is very picky about what websites I can visit.  I learned that a former abbot decided that it should be renovated and helped it become the wonder that it is.  One thing I read last night said it is like Dr. Seuss meets Buddhist temple.  It was hard to know what to expect from such a description.

Wat Ban Den sits on a small hill, with a lush landscape surrounding it.  A series of white lions greet you as you arrive.

What we saw as we walked up the steps was a long row of pavilions each with a blue roof.  Some refer to this wat as the Blue Temple of Chiang Mai.  On this one, each side of the staircase has a naga (serpent in Sanskrit) often used to guard Thai temples, pouring out of the mouth of the Makara, a creature that combines the crocodile, elephant, serpent (sea creature in Sanskrit).  We have seen this image a multitude of times on this trip, both in Thailand and Cambodia, but never to this scale or with such vibrancy of color.

The tail of the Makara goes all around the pavilion and coils at the back underneath the Buddha.

This Buddha or monk statue (I’m not sure which it is) on the side of this particular pavilion has the tail of a Makara.

The staircase of this pavilion was flanked by Makaras with elephant heads.

Here you see a peacocks flanking a staircase that leads to a statue of the abbot that founded this wat.

As you can see from this photo the wat is packed with pavilions and stupas but there is no way to truly capture the immensity of this place.

We took off our shoes and entered every pavilion.  In this one, the inside of the pavilion space was flanked by very life-like beloved monks of this wat.

I can’t name why but I was particularly drawn to this one.

This temple had several of the three-headed elephants, known as Erawan guarding it.  

Inside it had several different images of Buddha.  The largest Buddha was the one associated with the village where Melissa’s father was born.

We left the long row of pavilions and entered the area of the twelve stupas that carry the symbols of the Chinese Zodiac.  The staircase was flanked by these interesting creatures with peacocks resting on their trunks.

We got our photos taken beside the stupas that carry our Zodiac symbol.

This pavilion housed a reclining Buddha, not as big as the one in Bangkok but still impressive.

We were all drawn to the painting by the Buddha’s head.

Construction is ongoing at Wat Ban Den.  There were piles of bricks in several locations.  More pavilions are being built.

The outside of this pavilion is unfinished but the Buddha is already placed.  There is a sign inviting you to contribute to the gilding of this Buddha.  Claire is standing at the base so you can get a perspective of its size.

There is more to experience at Wat Ban Den than we could possibly take in.  When we got too hot and tired and didn’t want to take off our shoes and put them back on anymore we headed out but it was hard to leave such a magnificent place.

Our driver took us to a roadside restaurant for lunch,

Then we headed to Mon Jam which promised us fields of flowers.  The drive was up a steep, narrow road in which we drove in first gear.  We parked in a little, dirt parking lot and headed up by foot.  It was a steep climb.  For 20 Baht a person, we were given a little bucket of carrots, a cool hat to wear and access to a path past the strawberry fields.

We didn’t realize we would be absolutely assaulted by sheep.

There was also a staircase to nowhere….with a very silly safety net underneath.

On the other side of the path we paid 50 Baht per person to walk through rows of flowers…

and/or get your photo taken with your loved one.

It rained as we headed back down the mountain.  While it is hot here it isn’t anywhere near as hot as what we experienced in Bangkok.  At night it cools down and becomes downright pleasant. We headed to Han Teung Restaurant for dinner. We feasted on Northern Thai dishes, including ant larvae (not a fan) and fried bamboo worms of which, it turns out, I am a big fan.

Chinda and I hung out in our oasis providing Grandma duty.  Matt, Melissa, Claire and Ryan set out to experience what Chiang Mai has to offer at night.