CHIANG MAI Day 15

TUESDAY 17th As it’s getting hotter each day I decided we should take the trip to Wiang Kum Kam , the forgotten Royal City about 25 minutes south of Chiang Mai. There were several options by boat and then ox cart to the ruins, or boat and then tram or the option we chose which was to take a song tao and hire a bicycle and then follow the route at our leisure.
As we left Baan Orapin we saw a wedding was taking place in the Sikh Temple next door and lots of guests were arriving, the women being dressed in wonderful traditional clothes. So me being me followed them into the pink and white canopied area where longs tables had been placed for a buffet, the rest of the space being filled with tables and chairs. I asked the ladies if I may take a photo as they all looked so lovely – they were reluctant but encouraged three girls to pose for me for which I duly thanked them. Around the entrance to the Temple long garlands of orange flowers hung down from the walls as well as the two tall floral arrangements stood each side of the doorway. A large banner advertising ‘Amit and Tina’s Wedding’ hung over the wall where three small round arrangements had been placed.
Over the footbridge a driver offered to transport us down to Wiang Kum Kam for 150 baht in his red song tao, which Keith thought was expensive but there is no bartering with the drivers of these vehicles. Pepsi had suggested that we take the blue bus to Lamphun, or perhaps a tuk tuk, but time was getting on and I didn’t want to hang around waiting for the local bus so we climbed into the back of the song tao. About 25 minutes later our driver said we had arrived. Seeing the old ox cart and a couple of pony and carriages I refused to move as I didn’t think we had reached the actual site. I was right and the driver got back in to take us a little further. We arrived at the ‘tourist centre’ for the ancient site with small stalls set around the car park area. A few bicycles were lined up by a building and one or two more were dotted between scooters. The girl behind the counter said we could take the pony and carriage or go by tram. No we wanted bicycles and could see the sign on the door Bicycles 20, Pony carriage 200, Tram 300! “You want 2 bicycles?!” Yes but there was much discussion between a young man who had now joined our group and at this point our song tao driver disappeared having been paid. The tyre was flat – pump it up. I lost interest and began to watch a load of giant orange ants carry a white larva up the Site Information Board. Keith looked at every bike and not one of them was roadworthy – most having no brakes or a bell. “We didn’t need a bell” I remarked, but Keith was adamant we had brakes. At this point I think he was prepared to return to Chiang Mai but we had come this far so we might as well take the pony. A girl on a scooter rolled up and before we set off she produced a camera and said “would we like a photo as a souvenir?” No, thank, you!
For an hour we travelled around some lovely quiet roads stopping at several places to look at the ruins of the Temples and reading a little of their history. Around 1600 the Burmese invaded and then the Ping River changed its course flooding most of the area. We noted it was as late as 2003 when excavations took place at one temple. The most impressive was Kuu Kham Temple or Chedilieum with a stupa containing 60 statues of Buddha, the same number of wives the King had. Once we returned to the centre we set off to walk back along the streets. The young man and woman chased after us asking where were we going. “To take a walk as we couldn’t hire a bicycle.” It was really nice and the people were very friendly towards us.