Wat Phra That Chae Haeng
	Wat Nong Daeng

Located at the northeastern-most corner of Northern Thailand, the semi-remote province of Nan boasts a rich cultural legacy encouraged by its lengthy tenure as an isolated, independent kingdom with few ties to the outside world.

Even today, Nan remains one of Thailand's most rural provinces, with hardly a factory or condo in sight. Roads that link the provincial capital with the nearby provinces of Chiang Rai, Phrae and Uttaradit pass through exquisite scenery featuring rich river valleys and rice fields. Most of the inhabitants are agriculturally employed, growing sticky rice, beans, corn, tobacco and vegetables in the fertile river plains. Nan is also famous for som sii thong, golden-skinned oranges that thrive in the cool climate.

WAT PHRA THAT CHAE HAENG AND WAT NONG DAENG TEMPLES

Photo © Tourism Authority of Thailand

Many of Nan's cultural attractions are linked to Thai Lü traditions. Originally from Xishuangbanna (Sipsongpanna, '12,000 Rice Fields') in China's Yunnan province, the Thai Lü first migrated to Nan in 1836. Phra Chao Atityawong, ruler of the Nan kingdom at the time, allowed the Thai Lü to settle in Tha Wang Pha district, where they quickly took up farming and weaving.

Thai Lü fabrics are among the most prized in Northern Thailand and the textile designs -- animal, floral and geometric symbols woven onto cream-and-indigo backgrounds – are featured in many Nan handicrafts.

The Thai Lü practice Theravada Buddhism, and Thai Lü artisans and architects in Nan have created some of the most unique and elegantly simple temples in all of Thailand. In 2004, two of these -- Wat Phra That Chae Haeng and Wat Nong Daeng -- were honoured with Thailand Tourism Awards for outstanding performance in the ‘Cultural Sites’ category.

Thai Lü wihaan (secondary Buddhist chapels) typically feature thick walls of handmade brick sealed with a creamy plaster and punctuated with tiny windows. This design deflects the hot sun, thus keeping the interior cool, while at the same time discouraging marauders who might enter through larger windows to make off with valued religious art.

Wat Phra That Chae Haeng, the largest and most well-known of Nan's Thai Lü temples, lies only a few kilometres southeast of the provincial capital. Local chronicles record that the celebrated stupa there was constructed over a five-year period beginning in 1353 to house a hair of Lord Buddha presented to Phukha monarch Chao Phraya Kan Muang by the Sukhothai kingdom. In 1359, the year after it was completed, the royal capital was moved from Pua in northern Nan province to a spot adjacent to Wat Phra That Chae Haeng.

When Chao Pha Kong moved the capital again to the west bank of the Nan river in 1368, the stupa fell into disrepair, but was rebuilt in 1454. Since then every local ruler -- whether Phukha, Chiang Mai, Burmese or Thai -- has taken great care to preserve the original architecture.

Today the most sacred wat in Nan Province, Wat Phra That Chae Haeng is set in a square, walled enclosure atop a hill with a view of Nan and the surrounding valley. Those visitors familiar with Thai monastery layouts will notice that the main entry to the monastery stands at the west side of the compound rather than the east. While more typical entryways will face the rising sun, the original architects probably chose a western entry because the road to the capital comes in from the west. Here the 10-metre entrance promenade -- added in 1806 by order of Chao Atthawon Panyo -- is flanked by balustrades topped with undulating nagas, the mythical serpents believed to protect the Buddhist religion.

At the centre of the compound stands the monastery's namesake, a 55-metre stupa erected on a large square base with reticulated corners and Lanna-style gilding. The slender dome and finial rise skyward in diminishing circlets, characteristic of Thai Lü stupa design.

To the immediate south of the grand stupa sits a wihaan built in the quintessential Thai Lü style, with thick walls and small windows. In an exquisite stucco relief over the western doorway, eight nagas intertwine in geometric patterns, reminding all who enter that the sacred interior is under their protection. The triple-tiered, open-gabled roofs with carved wooden eaves -- where the naga motif is repeated -- are also worth noting. This chapel, known as Wihan Luang, is widely considered to be the finest of its kind.

Buddhist pilgrims from all over Northern Thailand, and beyond, visit Wat Phra That Chae Haeng to pay their respects to the great stupa. An annual celebration takes place here on the full moon day of the first lunar month, with processions and a firework display.

WAT NONG DAENG

Photos © Tourism Authority of Thailand

Yet another prime example of architectural preservation, Wat Nong Daeng, occupies a site very close to the original capital in Chiang Klang district towards the centre of the province.

Thai Lü artisans from Sipsongpanna, along with Tai Phuan from northeastern Laos, cooperated to create this Thai Lü-style temple beginning in 1787. Consecrated in 1822 and restored in 1949, Wat Nong Daeng was one of the last Thai Lü religious structures constructed in the province.

With a much smaller compound than Wat Phra That Chae Haeng, Wat Nong Daeng consists of a walled compound containing one small stupa, an open-air pavilion and a wihaan. The brick-and-plaster wihaan walls measure 50 centimetres thick, and stand three metres high. The steep, double-tiered roofs, topped with hand-made teak shingles, are angled differently from those at Wat Phra That Chae Haeng. Here the lower roof is hipped to provide ample shade over the three-pillar front verandah, while the upper roof has an open gable.

The corners of the rooflines are decorated with wooden totems carved in the shape of the hatsadiling, a mythical animal with the head of an elephant and body of a swan.

Inside, a large painted wooden Buddha image, carved in the Northern Thai-Lao folk style, sits cross-legged in meditation. Instead of being mounted on the lotus pedestal common to most seated Buddhas in Thailand, this one sits on an unusual green-and-red wooden naa-kah banlang, or 'naga throne', with the ferocious-looking heads of two great serpents flanking either side of the holy image as if it were seated in a huge naga armchair. Behind the image a large Thai Lü mural of the Traiphum - Three Worlds (Human, Heaven and Hell) -- is painted on the wall.

The Department of Fine Arts placed Wat Nong Daeng on the national register of historic architecture in 1981. Since then the proud Buddhists of Chiang Klang District have done everything in their power to preserve this fine example of late Thai Lü architecture. Well-tended trees and flowers scattered around the wat compound provide further testimony to the love and care showered on this remote country temple.

Historical Background
Ample evidence of prehistoric habitation exists, but it wasn't until several small meuang (Tai principalities) consolidated to form Nanthaburi along the Nan River in the mid-14th century - concurrent with the founding of Luang Prabang and the Lan Xang kingdom in Laos - that an autonomous city-state developed under the Vientiane-linked Phukha dynasty.

After having allied itself with the prosperous Sukhothai kingdom far away to the southwest, Nanthaburi, or also known as Waranakhon. By the middle of the 15th century, Nan had become one of the nine northern Thai-Lao states that comprised Lanna.

As it flourished throughout the 15th century, the city-state became known as Chiang Klang (Middle City), a reference to its position roughly midway between Chiang Mai (New City) and Chiang Thong (Golden City, today's Luang Prabang). When the last Phukha king died in 1461, Nan came under the control of, first, Chiang Mai and then Burma for three centuries, before agreeing to Siamese suzerainty in order to retain a vestige of self-rule. Nan remained semi-autonomous until 1931 when the kingdom finally accepted full Bangkok sponsorship, the last of the Siamese protectorates to do so.