S.P. Publishing Group Co., Ltd. 11/1 Soi 3 Bamrungburi Rd., T. Prasingh, A. Muang., Chiang Mai 50200 Tel. 053 - 814 455-6 Fax. 053 - 814 457 E-mail: guidelin@loxinfo.co.th

	---> MORE Cover Stories: _________________________________ CHIANG MAI’S CITY PILLAR CEREMONY Hydrophile Heaven! The Songkran Festival in Chiang Mai The Poy Sang Long Festival Samoeng: ‘Three Cities’ Amongst Lofty Mountains Underwater Warriors: The Beta (Siamese) Fighting Fish CHIANG MAI’S BIG BIKERS WILDLIFE WALKABOUT: The Chiang Mai Night Safari LOOKING FOR THE SERPENT LORD Cruising the Ping River A Tripartite Trip to Paradise in southern Laos Muay Thai: The Inner Fight Farangs' Tale A Two-Wheeled Taste of Chiang Mai A New Look at Traditional Ligay For Those about to Songkran – We Salute You The Hills are Alive – especially at Doi Angkhang Lanna’s Legendary Talismans Animal Wonders in the Chiang Mai Zoo Creative Core - Nimmanahaemin Art Promenade CHIANG DAO - City of Stars Chiang Mai’s Veggie Festival A Sharing Moment on ‘Tan kuay salak’ Day Flower Power: The Queen Sirikit Botanic Garden TATTOOING IN THAILAND AT THE BUFFALO SACRIFICE Human’s Hidden Weapons: They’re all over you 'WALKING STREET'CHIANG MAI Eating up a Storm in Chiang Mai City Chinese New Year DON'T KNOCK THE CHIANG MAI WINTER FAIR Chiang Mai to Mae Hong Son and (hopefully) back again Cruising the Mekong in Style LOI KRATHONG FULL MOON FESTIVAL KHUN BUPHA GETS THE TREATMENT - Western and Traditional Golf in the North of Thailand - Fore! Travels in the Golden Triangle THE REMARKABLE HISTORY OF HERMIT SUTHEP Betel mania - A harmless narcotic in decline SONGKRAN IN CHIANG MAI - A Survival Strategy Visiting a Famous Monk in Northern Thailand City of Novice Monks Skilled at Massage and Cooking? A 'HIGH' IN CHIANG MAI YOU WON'T FORGET ULRICH'S LAST OUTING THE RIVER OF LIFE AND DET Khao Phra Viharn from the Cambodian side WAT PHU - BACK TO A TIMELESS KHMER TEMPLE FOREST GIANTS: Yours to command, perhaps The Gates of Chiang Mai Escape to a Houseboat CHIANG MAI GUARDIAN SPIRITS Sawadee Pii Mai - Splash! A VISIT TO ANGKOR And more besides Thailand's Hidden Green Secrets Teak, King of Timbers: See it While it Lasts Chiang Mai Hero: Khruba Si Wichai 16th Khom Yeepeng Festival Year 2007 The Dhevo Rohana Ceremony The Elephant, Soul of the Thai Nation SWINGING FOR FREEDOM: The Akha New Year WELCOME TO THE GOLDEN LAND THE CHIANG MAI ENLIGHTENMENT TOUR CHIANG DAO NATIONAL PARK LAOS NEW YEAR IN LUANG PRABANG LIJIANG:From Chiang Mai to the Edge of Tibet and Back STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN UP PHU KRADUNG Ready for the Jungle? CELEBRATING A RECORD REIGN Royal Flora International Exhibition Fig trees in lore and life and all around you Next Stop China Shopping on the San Kampaeng Highway Footloose in Northern Thailand THE FOUNDING OF CHIANG MAI The X Centre: Get Ready to SSScreeeaaammm!! SONGKRAN IN CHIANG MAI: All Your Questions Answered OVER THE HILLS AND - DOWN TO MAE CHAEM SNAKES Alive! And all around you in Chiang Mai ALL ABOARD FOR THE CHIANG MAI WINTER FAIR Hold on tight!... It’s Whitewater Season! DON'T MISS THE LOI KRATONG FESTIVAL Phaya Nak: Serpent Lord of the Underworld The RAMAKIEN: Ubiquitous in Thai Culture THE CONSUL WHO LOVED FIGHTING BEETLES Take Flight! EXPLORING CHIANG MAI'S OLD CITY WALKING (!) UP TO THE TEMPLE ON DOI SUTHEP CHIANG MAI NEW YEAR: COMES IN WITH A SPLASH A DAY OF DANCING FOR CHIANG MAI'S SPIRITS Visiting Mountainous Doi Angkhang OFF TO SEE THE PAKERYAW AT HOME JULIE CHRISTIE CAME TO BREAKFAST LIGHTS! BALLOONS! FIREWORKS! Remembering Kavila looking at his City Luang Prabang: Journey to Happiness WALKING UP TO THE WAT PHRATHAT UP ON INTHANON EXTREME LANNA: Get footloose in Chiang Mai THE INTHAKHIN CEREMONY Songkran! Year after Year, I Still Enjoy It THE RAMAKIEN: The Epic that’s Fantastic Fun QUEEN CHAMADEVI MAKES AN APPEARANCE FLYING HIGH IN CHIANG MAI TERA JAN: THE TROUBLED MONK OF WAT UMONG LOY KRATHONG: Full Moon, River, Fireworks and Crowds CHIANGMAI’S MYSTERY METAL MONSTERS CRYSTAL LADY, APOCALYPTIC MONK IN THE HOUSE OF THE SPIRITS Thailand’s “Women of the Second Kind” CHIANG DAO BOUND

The Gates of Chiang Mai
Portals on history

In 1296, King Mengrai established Chiang Mai as the capital of Lanna Kingdom. To protect his new city, he ordered the construction of a perimeter wall and moat. The city layout was based on ancient military and astrological beliefs and, in consultation with King Ramkamhaeng and King Ngum Muang, it was decided that the wall should be laid in a rectangular shape, 900 by 1,000 wah (1,800 x 2,000 metres). The moat surrounding it was to be 18 metres wide. Work commenced on 12^th April 1296 AD and it took 90,000 men 4 months to complete. When it was finished, each wall had one gate and each gate was given a name that related to its location or significance in city life. In his book "The Story of Chieng Mai", Abha Bhamorabutr relates an interesting history of the gates.

The North Gate was called "Hua Vieng Gate" which means the first gate to enter the city. In Thai language "Hua" means head and in northern Thai "Vieng" is a fortified place. Around 1400 AD this name was changed to "Chang Puek", the "White Elephant Gate". Two events in Chiang Mai's history contributed to this change of name. The first occurred in 1386 AD. King Geu-Na, the eighth ruler of Chiang Mai, was the King who introduced Buddhism from Ceylon to Lannathai. Phra Maha Sumana Thera, a priest from Hariphunchai, had presented the King with some Buddha relics and the King wanted to find a holy place to bury them. To determine the most auspicious site, the King had the relics placed in a howdah on the back of a white elephant and then set it free. Followed by the King and Phra Sumana, the elephant left the city by the Hua Vieng Gate and walked up Doi Suthep until it came to rest at a spot on the hill that is now the location of Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep.

The second event happened about 15 years later. King Saen Muang Ma, the son of King Geu-Na, had led his army on an expedition from Chiang Mai to Sukhothai, with the intention of capturing the city kingdom. When they arrived on the outskirts of Sukhothai, it was decided to rest for the night and attack in the morning. However, while the Chiang Mai army was camped outside of Sukhothai preparing itself for the morning attack on the city, they were savagely attacked by the Sukhothai army. This pre-emptive strike caught the tired Chiang Mai army by surprise and they were easily overwhelmed and slaughtered. King Saen Muang Ma only escaped the massacre with his life because of the courage and stamina of his two faithful servants, Obb and Yeraka. They got the King out of the camp and then, because of the rough terrain, took turns to carry him on their shoulders all the way back to Chiang Mai, a distance of some 250 kilometres. Upon his safe return the King was so grateful that he rewarded his servants with money and materials and nominated them to royal ranking as Khun Chang Sai; the left elephant, and Khun Chang Kava; the right elephant. Both Khun Changs lived at Chieng Chom and later at this location the "Two White Elephants" monument was built in their honour. The elephants were originally placed on either side of the road leading to the "Hua Vieng Gate" and the name was then changed to the "White Elephant Gate". The South Gate was called "Tai Vieng Gate" which means the last gate of the city. At some point in its history, Abha Bhamorabutr doesn't tell us when or why it happened, this became known by its present name of "Chiang Mai Gate".

The East Gate was named "Chiang Ruak Gate" after the nearby village. This changed to "Inner Tha Pae Gate" and then at the end of the 19^th century, when the "Outer Tha Pae Gate" in the outer earthen embankment near Wat San Fang, was removed, the name was shortened to "Tha Pae Gate". The word "Tha" in Thai means harbour and "Pae" means floating house. Put the two together and you have "Tha Pae"; a harbour full of floating houses. The harbour was on the Mae Ping River near where the Nawarat Bridge now stands. The floating houses were the homes cum business premises of the river traders.

The West Gate has always been called "Suan Dok Gate". "Suan" means garden or park and "Dok" is shortened from "Dok Mai"; the Thai word for flower. Not far from this gate, just outside the city walls, there was a royal flower garden full of colourful and fragrant flowers and ponds of clear water. Kings and Rulers of Lannathai would go to the gardens with their families and royal retinue, to relax and enjoy themselves, and occasionally bathe in the ponds. In 1371 AD King Geu-Na dedicated a part of the gardens as a sanctuary for the priest Phra Maha Sumana and it was here that Wat Suan Dok was built.

About 100 years after King Mengrai had completed the walls and gates around Chiang Mai, King Saen Muang Ma added a fifth gate. His wife, Phra Rajathevee didn't want to live inside the city so she had a palace built in the Suan Ra district; an area outside of the southwest corner of the city. Phra Rajathevee used the "Suan Ra" gate almost daily to go to oversee the construction of Chedi Luang. Later in its history, because of a change in the use of the land immediately around the gate, the name was changed from "Suan Ra" to its present name of "Suan Prung". Abha Bhamorabutr explains that in Thai the word "Suan" has two meanings. As a noun "Suan" means garden or park. As a verb "suan" means the action against something, for example to hold a spear in your hand and thrust it into the body of another person. "Prung" comes from the word "Pung", which in northern Thai means a paunch or belly. At this time in Chiang Mai's history, "Suan Prung Gate" was the place where the execution of rebels was carried out; the manner of execution being to tie the prisoners to a post, thrust a spear into their belly and then leave them to die.

Stone inscription
Pratu Suan Dok

The sixth gate, Chang Moi Gate was built by King Tilokraj who ruled Chiang Mai from 1447-1487 AD. The King considered that it was a long journey from his royal residence to Tha Pae on the Ping River so to shorten the route he had a new gate cut into the wall. This gate was originally called the "Sri Poom Gate" because that was the area of the city in which it was situated. At a later date the name was changed to "Chang Moi Gate". "Chang Moi" in Thai means "sleepy elephant" but, as with the South Gate, Abha Bhamorabutr could find no record of when or why this name-change took place.

Up until the Second World War, the six gates were the only access points into and out of the city and they were focal points of city life; every gate had a market. They were always guarded and were only open from sunrise to sunset. Outside each gate was a bamboo bridge spanning the moat and in times of war these bridges were taken away and the gates firmly closed. Throughout their history the walls and the gates have survived the ravages of time and the onslaught of invading armies through a continuous process of decay and repair. The city gates were restored in 1801, during the reign of Phra Chao Kawila. It was the Japanese in the 1940's, during their occupation of Thailand, who ended an era when they used the bricks from the walls to build a road up to Pai. The Japanese also took spans from the original Nawarat Bridge to make a bridge on that road which you can still see today. The gates and corners were rebuilt once again between 1966-1969.

700 years later, all that remains of King Mengrai's original fortifications are 4 gates; Tha Pae Gate was rebuilt again in 1975, and the 4 corners with it. The walls may mostly be gone but memories of the history of the city live on in the names of these once illustrious portals.

Text © 2008 Brian Hubbard