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Wieng Kum Kam

In 1286, King Mangrai, the first king of the Lanna Dynasty, tried to found this small city (850 meter by 600 meter) as the first capital of Lanna. Before long, he and his people learned it had a significant physical flaw: it was seriously prone to flooding.

King Mangrai consulted his two royal friends (see the Three Kings Monument in the centre of the current Chiang Mai) and eventually decided that a new capital was to be built and be called Chiang Mai (new town). However, Wieng Kum Kam remained as a subordinate city under Chiang Mai governance, but not for long.

Approximately three hundred years later, Chiang Mai lost this small town to Burma. It was some time in this era, between 1558 - 1774, that Wieng Kum Kam eventually succumbed to a force of nature. An exceptionally heavy flood occurred and what was left of the city when it receded was buried deep under silt. New buildings gradually gathered above it, whose occupants knew nothing of what was under their feet. And so things remained until 1984, when the coming to light of part of an old building prompted the Department of Archeology to excavate and wake up this lost city to new life - creating what has since become one of the famous tourist attractions of Chiang Mai.

If you wish to visit the ancient ruins of Wieng Kum Kam, you'll find it on the Chiang Mai - Lamphun Road, about 3 - 4 kilometers southwest of Chiang Mai city. It's advisable to go first to the Wieng Kum Kam tourist centre on the Middle Ring Road, where a permanent exhibition offers a rather extensive and informative preview of the real thing. Here you can collect maps and informative brochures as well as getting on the service tram. Tickets are five baht each.

Optionally, and perhaps more popularly, tourists make their starting point the famous Wat Chedi Liam, which has the convenience of being a terminal of the tram route, as a starting point for the visit. You also have the option here of going by an alternative form of transport - horse and carriage, which at the reasonable price of 200 baht will take you round the entire ancient city.

What could be more appropriate?

Terryl