Walk the meditation tunnels dug for a single monk in 1297
Brick tunnels, 1297
Wat Umong lies at the foot of Doi Suthep, a few kilometres west of the old city, on fifteen acres that were never cleared. Founded in 1297 by King Mengrai, who founded Chiang Mai itself.
Why it's unique
Almost every temple in Thailand is built upward. This one was built into a hill.
The account is that Mengrai regularly consulted a monk, Thera Chan, who meditated in a tunnel and could no longer do so as the city filled up around him. The king had a system of brick tunnels cut into the forested slope outside the walls, plastered them, painted them with murals and set Buddha images into niches along their length. They were made for one man's concentration, and the temperature and the silence inside them still do the job.
Before you go
The monk chat runs in English on Sunday afternoons, roughly 3 to 6pm, at the Chinese pavilion by the pond. It is a conversation, not a talk: the monks are practising their English and will ask you as much as you ask them. Nothing is expected of you beyond politeness.
The forest is the other half of the visit and most people skip it. Signs hang from the trees with sayings on them, there is a pond with a great many fish and pigeons, and it is the quietest ground within reach of the city.
Cover shoulders and knees. Shoes off inside the tunnels.