Chiang Mai is well known as one of the city with many temples because every 10 to 20 meters when you walk in Chiang Mai city itself, you could find the temples line up along the roads. As for Thailand people mainly are Buddhist people. However many people when visit in Chiang Mai, they always target on the main city temples which are famous and well known in town. Our blog today is going to tell you about one of the unseen temple which located not to far from the old town. The temple called “ Umong Temple” ( Umong means the tunnel.), located on the west side of the old town on the foot hill of Doi Suthep mountain. With the lovely atmosphere as it located in the forest area that you could walk around. The temple was built in 1297 by King Mengrai. In the temple ground, you could find the Replica of Ashok Pillar as in India for the Buddhist to show the establishment of the Buddhism by the Lanna dynasty’s king, Phraya Mengrai. The main building you could visit and walk around are the bell shape pagoda with the lotus shape decorated on the top of the tunnel. This is very beautiful and peaceful area. This temple is also the place where the people could spend their time for meditation as well as. Beneath the pagoda, there is the tunnel with the Buddha images. Also walking in the deepest part of the tunnel, you could see the ancient mural painting on the ceiling of the tunnel. If you have a chance, visiting in the morning, you could also see the monks leave the temple for the alm offering and would return back to the temple before 8am for their breakfast and to continue their praying and meditation or leaning about the Buddhism for the monks’ routine. If you love the calmness and the peacefulness, we would recommend this temple for your visit.
