wat chedi luang
this is a buddhist temple in chiang mai. it was partially destroyed by an earthquake in 1545. it’s freakin’ HUGE! the temple shares it’s grounds with a couple of other temples: wat ho tham and wat sukmin. the city pillar was moved to the temple grounds around 1800 by king chao kawila. the king also planted a dipterocarp tree there to help the pillar protect the city.
when you first walk through the gates, there’s a huge, ornate viharn (a place that houses the principle buddha) right in front. here’s the dragon decorations that are on either side of the steps that lead into the viharn:
we walked around the side. there’s a lady walking towards the camera, you can use her as a point of reference to see how huge just the viharn is! you can also easily see wat chedi luang in the background:
another picture of the side of the viharn and a back view (there’s me sitting on the stairs!):
here’s a detail shot of the gold work on the roof of the viharn:
chedi luang itself, with some monks walking by for a size reference:
buddha statue in chedi luang:
dragons guarding the chedi luang stairs:
here’s the huge dipterocarp tree (you can see shaun walking across the bottom of the picture):
here’s some dragons at the entrance to a small temple or shrine on the chedi luang temple grounds:
shaun walking around a game table on the temple grounds:
the brick under the game table had lots of writing on it, i’m not sure what it’s for or what it means:
here’s the different buddhas that were in this one covered area (i like the reclining one the best). they were gigantic:
