N 120  Continuation of  A Visit to Lamphun and Lampang

The highway to Lampang was  crowded with cars, but became fewer in the middle part. The  road is excellent as in other parts of Thailand, but there are many curves and bends that I had to warn the driver to drive slowly. We stopped at a resting place to eat noodles because we haven’t eaten breakfast .

When we reached Lampang we didn’t know where to go first, and so after some arguing I suggested that we go to the centre of the town where there is a clock tower and then visited the Cheingrai temple which I knew is nearby. This way we will be visiting 2 places.

The  Clock Tower is not a very noteworthy one , but a simple brick structure with a moderate height  and painted white.Anyway we took some photos of it as it is also a landmark of this town.

 And then with the help of GPS we arrived at Cheingrai Temple which is nearby. It is a gorgeous Lanna style temple and is said to be built about 300 years ago, and  a copy of the famous Cheingrai  temple . But as for grandness  it cannot be compared to Cheingrai temple which is magnificent in every way.There also is an outstanding Buddha statue in the foreground  and some landscape that is worth to take photos  that we cannot help without doing so.

We headed for another temple visit . Before long we saw a long bridge on a river. So this is the Ratsadaphisek Bridge or the White Bridge  on the Wang River which has its own history. We took some photos of it and continued  on our way. Then the road we were following had to pass through 2 sections of an old wall like that of in Cheingmai. At that moment I was reminded that Lampang is an old city which had its days under one rule or another . Like cheingmai it had also been under Burmese rule . So there would have  been wars and sieges, and efforts to take or defend the town.Moats and walls were built then for these purposes.

After some driving we arrived at Wat Chedi Sao Long. It is in a shady and vast compound, a little out of town. There are 20 stupas built in Burmese style, complete with golden spires. I read somewhere that sao means 20 in northern Tai dialect. Beside that the stupas are of Burmese style,so they seem to have much connections with Burmese people. We saw  a stone inscription  written in Burmese about merit making and sharing , erected in a corner between the stupas.As usual there is also a main hall in Lanna style.

We departed from there to have lunch near the old gate. After lunch and as we were driving back into town we came across a grand  stupa on the roadside without particularly looking for one. The signboard told us that it is Wat Phra Keaw Don Tao Suchadaram. It is one of the temples worth visiting. To reach the stupa we had to cross a stone bridge with magnificent dragon railings, which also acts as a bridge to cross a vast lake .  I went up the steps slowly an

d sat on a bench which encircle a tree and pay homage to the big golden pagoda from it. There  was not a person to be seen at that time. I was satisfied that I found and paid homage to this beautiful place of worship.

After that we went to visit a ceramic factory which is mentioned as one of the best places  to visit in Lampang. The Dhanabadee Art Ceramic .We have to pay 100 baht each as entrance fees. After paying we were taken around the factory by a guide who explained about the steps for making a piece of ceramic from wet clay until it become a plate or bowl or things to keep as souvenirs. Elephants are  popular as souvenirs I think because they are making many of different sizes. And the cock is also a special symbol they painted on their plates and bowls.I learned that the cock plates and bowls are originally made by this factory a long long time ago.A nice place to visit and worth the entrance fee we spent for the experience.

The last temple we visited was the most famous temple that it cannot be left out,the Phra That Lampang Leung..It is 16 Km out of town.

History said that it was built in the 15^th century and what we saw proved that it was right.The old wall, the main viharn, the Chedi, and the murals all look old. The main viharn built in the usual Lanna style had its roof supported by large pillars, that we cannot differentiate them to be concrete or wood. The murals on the upper wall were all ruined that we cannot even see what they depicted.The Buddha statue housed in a montop at the end of the viharn is the most beautiful and revered in Lampang.

There are many things to see in this temple.There is the 45 metre tall Chedi , many viharns, 15^th century footprints of Lord Buddha, museums, library etc.So enough time should be given when visiting this temple.

Outside the compound there are pretty and much adorned horse carts which is also a thing Lampang is famous for. One can hire these to go around the temple from outside.

We heard that the place we will be visiting lastly , the elephant sanctuary will be closed at 3:30, so we had to cut short our visit at the temple and headed there which is a little far away.We reached there in time , but it seemed there were not much activities at that time. Maybe because it was not a holiday or weekend, when more people visit it . We saw an old tusk elephant which was standing like a log without moving, with its legs chained, that my daughter said that she pity it. And  at another shed a mother and its baby which some people were feeding bananas. And then another in a nearby shed, which made the number of elephants to be 4. So after taking photos and driving around we left directly for Cheingmai.

As we are Buddhists , when going on a trip our visiting places usually would be temples to worship. As Thailand is a Buddhist country like Myanmar temples and stupas are everywhere. So my intention in visiting Lamphun and Lampang had been to visit these places. But as there are numerous of them that visiting many is impossible. So I have to be contented with what I have seen and pay homage for this time and I wish I can come back to visit next time.