Chiangrai 2005 - 03 Chiangrai - Wat Klang Wiang

[121205] on our morning walk to e municipal market in Chiangrai city....at night, e night bazaar area comes to life, but it is otherwise a quiet sleepy town very much like any other small Thai provincial capital, just that it happens to have more than its fair share of tour buses zooming by on their way to Mae Sai at e Burmese border, & Sop Ruak in e Golden Triangle.


[ photo credit: 1, 2, 4, 6 by YK ]

[1] Baan Bua & other guesthouses, tour companies, laundromats, Thai conversation schools, & bars & restaurants catering to backpackers are concentrated along Thanon Jet Yot

[2] along Thanon Jet Yot

[3] watching e world go by while soaking up e morning sunshine

[4] beautifully painted shutters of a wooden handicraft shop at e corner of Thanon Jet Yot & Thanon Pahonyonthin

[5 & 6] all is quiet at e Chiangrai Provincial Livestock Office, e bird flu surveillance centre for this province....once they start looking busy, it is time to get out!


[ photo credit: 2-6 by YK ]

[1] e beautiful Wat Jet Yot (temple of seven jet spires yot)

[2] trekking tour company along Thanon Jet Yot

[3] T-shirt printing shop next door that lays out freshly-printed shirts on any available horizontal surface (including e pavement) to dry

[4] โคมหูกระต่าย khom1 hu2 gra3 tai3 lanterns, leftover from e last Loy Krathong/Yi Peng celebrations? e 'tails' of e lanterns are called rabbit's (gratai) ears (hu)

[5] one of e 3 Top Charoen Optical outlets in e small city (more like a town) that we walked past - yet we hardly saw anyone wearing glasses

[6] even this has made its way into this farflung corner of Thailand



[ photo credit: 1-5 by YK ]

[1] blue songthaew turning at e junction of Thanon Pahonyonthin & Thanon Prasopsuk, where restaurants (Swensens, pizza places, Italian restaurants, etc) & shops (Boots, Adidas, Puma, etc) catering mainly to tourists have sprouted up

[2] da Vinci pizzeria, where we had a great pasta dinner with a free flow of warm bread fresh from their oven with wonderful dips for just 200 baht (~SGD8) per person. YK's choice of e smoked salmon pizza when we returned on another night was great =)

[3] e night bazaar in daytime, when all e stalls have vanished without a trace

[4] e concrete shophouses that make up most of e urban areas across Thailand....in Bangkok they rise up to 5 storeys, usually with a fenced up open rooftop area for plants & sunning laundry.

[5] Adidas mannequin supervising e drying of banana leaves

[6] bookstore at e corner of Thanon Banphaprakan & Thanon Rattanakhet, one of e landmarks that e cat uses to find its way around this city

stumbled upon Wat Klang Wiang at e corner of Thanon Rattankhet & Thanon Uttarakit:




e beautiful chedi:




cat love profile of Thai temple roofs:



this is a Thai Phuan(?) handicraft - there is a shop in Bangkok's Chatuchak that sells them as decorations:



coloured threads are tightly wound around a crucifix-shaped wooden 'frame':



Wat Klang Wiang has beautiful intricate wood carvings painted gold everywhere:









gold lacquered windows - e design on e left & right panes are mirror images of each other:




on to e market....