Wat Klang Wiang

The unusual chedi and ubosot of Wat Klang Wiang.

 
It's not in any current guidebooks to Chiang Rai, but the temple of Klang Wiang is, we think, worth a look. The temple, particularly the small ubosot, displays a heavy Hindu influence on the typical northern style.

The original(?) city pillar in Wat Klang Wiang.

The temple's name means 'center of the city' in the northern dialect, and within the compound is indeed a small pavilion containing a City Pillar. The original City Pillar was in the compound of the temple, but it rotted away and the current version was built in 1992. The 'new' City Pillar is at the top of Doi Tong.

We couldn't find much information about this temple. Unlike the main tourist temples of town, there was no information plaque, even in Thai. From the information we were able to find, it appears that the temple does date from the city's founding. However, most of the main buildings were heavily damaged by a gale in 1903, so all of the buildings you see today were built since then.

In addition to the City Pillar, the compound includes a wiharn, chedi and ubosot as well as school buildings and some other curiosities.

The wiharn faces you as you enter from the street from the east side. The front is intricately decorated with gilded grillwork and red columns. The stairs are lined with nagas, as is typical in northern temples. Although here, the tails of the serpents snake up and around the center columns of the portico.

North of the wiharn is a sort of fairy garden with a couple of dioramas extolling the virtues of farm life, etc. Behind the wiharn is a rather elaborate chedi with niches around its three-tiered base. At the very base are some sculpted elephants in full court regalia. The chedi was built on the place where a revered tree once was, which also got blown down in the storm of 1903. In the compound opposite the chedi, a new Buddha hall is under construction.

The very small ubosot next to the chedi has an extraordinary portico which reminded us of Hindu temples we'd seen in Bangkok and Singapore. Like the wiharn, it's all in red and gold.

Photo Gallery

To see more pictures of Wat Klang Wiang, see our online photo gallery.