Return to Three Kings

Don woke and returned to the Plaza of the Three Kings for the early morning sunlight to best light the statue. To his surprise a worker was busily placing flower leis and golden sash belts on the statues. This helped bright the scene greatly
After our now standard noodle breakfast, we engaged a local taxi driver to take us outside the ancient city walls with their protective moat to both Wat Umong, the Tunnel Temple, and Wat Sri Suphan, the Silver Temple. After breakfast there were two other Wats I wanted to see. One was the silver wat and the other was outside the old city in caves on the outskirts of Chiang Mai. We got a cab to take us to the cave one and had him wait so he could take us to the one in town.

The Wat Umong literally means Tunnel Temple. It was built over 400 years ago but abandoned for a long time until rediscovered and reopened in the 1940s. With all the ornate buildings comprising other temples it is refreshing to see one so simple with natural vegetation surrounding it, which date back many centuries.

We had the cabbie take us to our next destination which was also outside the old city walls. The old city has a wall and a moat surrounding it. Most of our time was spent inside the old city so it was nice seeing the more modern area.
Our second temple or wat of the day was the Silver Wat or Wat Sri Suphan which is coated in silver and maybe some aluminum, but the color is silver. It is quite striking. The detail of the façade is amazing. One problem I had with this temple was that women were not allowed in. This was not the first one we visited that had that restriction. It is because of women having menstrual cycles which is considered unclean. I haven’t had one for years, but still could not go inside. I waited outside on a bench under a tree.
We decided to walk back to our hotel and discovered the Saturday night market just a block from the wat. It ran for blocks with stalls of all sorts of wares from clothing to produce to souvenirs to fish or anything you could want. We managed to get through it without spending a Baht.
We made it back to our hotel with a stop for dinner at a Thai restaurant.
Time to relax before our adventure continues on our next day with a cooking class.