Well, I was supposed to head north from Chiang Mai, but it turns out there’s a giant typhoon wreaking havoc and causing devastating floods from Vietnam, across Laos, northern Thailand, and into Myanmar. The whole region has gotten about three times the average amount of rain so far this year. That’s a lot of water! Anyway, two of my next three planned stops are either dealing with floods or are in danger of flooding soon and unfortunately for me, my rental car doesn’t float. So, for safety sake, I decided instead to reroute myself east to Nan while I keep tabs on the situation. On the plus side, I was able to break up the drive with a couple of stops I didn’t think I would be able to get to at all on this trip. First, was Lamphun, just south of Chiang Mai.

Before Chiang Mai became the Lanna kingdoms capitol in the 13th century, Lamphun was the Hariphunchai kingdoms capitol from the 8th century until they were conquered by the Lanna in 1281. Lamphun is a bustling modern village today and there’s not much left of the ancient Lamphun, but I took a look at what was there, starting at Wat Phra That Haripunchai. There’s really only two Chedi on the grounds of this temple, but when they were originally built in the 11th century, this area was the royal palace.

About a mile down the street is Wat Chama Thewi. The Chedi there supposedly contains the ashes of Queen Chama Thewi, the 8th century founder of the city.

There’s also a small museum in the center of town. Ancient Lamphun is surrounded by a moat, just like Chiang Mai, but they opted for a conch shell shaped city instead of the boring square. Of course the majority of the artifacts were Buddha’s. I believe the 8th century one below is the oldest in the place.

The museum also had a really impressive collection of stone slabs featuring the ancient Hariphunchai script.

Further southeast, in the village of Lampang I stopped at the super impressive Wat Phra That Lampang Luang. I’m really glad I didn’t miss seeing this place. It was really difficult to get pictures from inside the compound because it was relatively small, but the main temple, built in 1476, with the three tiered roof partially seen below, is the oldest standing wooden structure in Thailand. Whoa!

The entrance alone was worth making the trip. I have to keep reminding myself how old these places are.

The best part of Wat Phra That Lampang Luang, however, was the 15th century murals painted on wooden slabs. I can’t believe how well preserved these murals are, especially considering they’re painted on wood and have been hanging in an open ended temple exposed to this humid climate for over 500 years.

Here’s a closer look at that gate. The details are really impressive.

Finally, after roughly six hours of driving, I arrived in Nan. Nan is considered fairly remote within Thailand and not many travelers come this way, but that never stopped me before. I think I was the only tourist in town and I was definitely the only guest at my hotel. Right around the corner from my hotel was the remaining portion of Nan’s city wall. Pretty much the whole northern wall is standing, not just this portion.

Here’s a funny story. In ancient Nan, Wat Hua Khang and the temple across the street were in different villages. Their respective Buddha statues ended up facing directly at one another, which is apparently very bad, I’m not sure why. There was a lot of fighting and arguing between the two villages over this faux pas, until the Wat Hua Khang monks decided to just scoot their Buddha a little bit to his right. Problem solved. The Buddha statue still sits off center to this day. Ha!

Nan has a really good museum too, but mostly I really enjoyed the shade of this walkway. Nan is really hot and humid. I’m pretty sweaty.

Here’s another funny story. In 1955, an art historian asked the abbot of Wat Phra That Chang Kham if he could buy this Sukhothai style standing Buddha made of plaster. The abbot agreed, but as he was removing the statue it fell. Oops! The plaster broke and revealed THIS Sukhothai style standing Buddha made of pure gold underneath. The abbot canceled their deal and now that Buddha has a place of honor in the ordination hall. I hope the art historian at least got to keep the plaster pieces.

Ok, the main reason to come to Nan is to see Wat Phumin, but not for the outside, although it is attractive. It was built in 1596, by the way.

The real reason you come to this famous temple is to see the 19th century murals painted on the inside by Thit Buaphan. The whole inside is covered floor to ceiling. There are some semi graphic depictions of Buddhist hell and a lot of scenes of daily life in Nan from that time.

Wat Phumin is locally nicknamed the whispering lovers temple. I’m not sure exactly why this particular painting of whispering lovers was singled out, but there are copies of it painted on walls in town, and framed print versions of it everywhere, including two at my hotel.

Not necessarily famous, but Nan also has a white temple. It’s pretty striking actually. This is where Nan’s city pillar is enshrined, so it is an important temple to the locals.

Worth a trip about 25 miles north of Nan is another famous temple, Wat Nong Bua.

Inside Wat Nong Bua is also covered with equally impressive murals. They are believed to have been painted by the same artist who painted Wat Phumin, Thit Buaphan. To be honest, I liked the murals here at Wat Nong Bua even more.

Back in Nan, I checked out Wat Phra That Chae Haeng. It was built in 1355 and is the most sacred temple in Nan. I got here late in the afternoon and that Chedi was really glowing.

I went to Wat Phaya Wat just to see the ancient Chedi behind it. The Rain Buddha inside was pretty amazing, though, even if I still have no idea what exactly makes this a “rain” Buddha. This is where locals come to pray for rain, which explains why it was empty. They currently have about three years worth of rain so far this season. Where is the temple with the “please stop the rain” Buddha?

The ancient Chedi behind the temple didn’t disappoint. It is leaning a bit though. There were several support wires in place just in case. It’s the leaning tower of Nan.

Finally, I ended my day with a visit up the hill to Wat Phra That Khao Noi. The Chedi was nice, but the main reason to come up here is for the view.

I spent more time in Nan than I had originally planned on, thanks to the typhoon, but it was definitely a worthwhile stop. I’m glad I got to see all those ancient murals. The flood situation seems to be not as bad as it was and so far, not as bad as expected. At least not in the places I want to go. I have one more stop high in the hills and away from the overflowing rivers while I continue to reassess. A plan is formulating though, so don’t fret. Until the next post…