Wat U-mong is probably the second famous temple in Chiang Mai next to Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep. Many tourists visited this place not just to worship but also to visit its unique temple which is located inside the tunnel. The temple is located at Soi 10 Mueang Chiang Mai District, Chiang Mai. For google map click here. It's open 6 in the morning to 7 in the evening. You can travel perhaps 15 minutes by a motorbike from the city center.
It is free to enter the temple premises but they collected 20 baht entrance fees for foreigners to get inside the tunnel. You should also wear decent clothes. Wearing shorts, sleeveless and spaghetti strap for men and women is strictly prohibited. They have a huge parking space for cars and motorcycles for free.
The ancient temple is more than 400 years old which is very interesting. It has an old Chedi at the top of the tunnel. The tunnel is not really wide. You can go around the tunnel for 10 minutes. The temple inside the tunnel has lights to light the way. You have to leave your shoes or slippers behind when you want to enter the temple inside the tunnel. The other side of the tunnel will lead you to the old Chedi at the top of the tunnel.
There's an interesting fact about the history of this place which is written in a stone tablet. It say:
The temple was originally called Werukattatharam means the temple of the eleven clumps of the bamboo. The old document written that the founding of Chiang Mai around 1297 AD. Phraya Mangrai built the temple in an area of the eleven clumps of the bamboo for Phra Thera Chan and Singhol (Lanka) monks to reside. Later on, a tunnel (in Thai U-mong) was constructed by the command of Phaya Kuena in this temple. Since then, the temple was named U-mong Thera Chan or Wat U-mong.
In the past, this temple was regarded as Aranyawaasi (forest) temple for it was located in the western jungle zone of Wiang Suan Dok or in the area outside Chiang Mai City. This temple has a round bell style Chedi situated on a short circular base (the style Chedi resembles Sapata Chedi in Pakan in the 15 century AD) On the wall of the cellar beneath the base of the Chedi was decorated with mural paintings of the Ex-Buddha images sitting in rows of the neclies.
This principal Chedi of the temple is situated on an open court of the mound and in the seige of the boundary wall. The Chedi has a Naga (Dragon) staircase built on the south side. On the east of the Chedi is an open wide roof of the tunnel. Situated on the lower mound, the tunnel doorway is facing towards the south. The tunnel which houses Buddha images has a wall decorated with mural paintings of trees, flowers and birds. The wide court in the front of the tunnel which contains pavilion, monk's residence, a stone pillar with a lion sculpture on its top and an old base of Vihaia surrounded by a boundary wall with its main gate lying on the south side. In addition on the west, another gate is open to the Naga staircase of the Chedi.
Identified from historic documents, architectural style and mural painting, this temple is assumed to be built in 15-16 century AD. Later in 1947 Chao Chuen Sirorot built Dhamma garden in the temple and invited Phra Dhamma Kosajarn (Panya Nantha Phikkhu) to come for an abbot of the temple. U-mong temple is one of the monasteries of Chiang Mai.
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