This is a large and important temple located not far from Chiang Mai. Its tall chedi is said to contain a fragment of bone from the body of Buddha.

To indicate that the chedi contains a fragment of Buddha's bone, there is a gold and white multi-tiered umbrella at the very top point of the chedi, and an umbrella at each corner of the base of the chedi.

The chedi was damaged by an earthquake recently and has been repaired and refurbished.

At the base of the chedi there are small Buddha images. When they come to worship, many people buy small pieces of gold leaf and apply them to one of the statues .

It is believed that many centuries ago the monk entrusted with bringing to northernThailand the piece of bone from Buddha's shoulder could not decide where to build the wat. He saw a rare white elephant, which in Thailand is considered to be sacred. He placed around its neck the little box containing the bone, and followed to see where the elephant would stop. The elephant walked for a long time and then stopped at the top of a mountain. This is where the wat was built. The sacred elephant is remembered with a life sized statue at the wat.

The main entrance to the wat is up a flight of 300 steps in between two long decorative dragons.

At the temple there is a long double row of large bells. People ring a bell before they pray in order to wake the gods so they hear the prayer.

Acknowledge this source in your bibliography like this:
Thailand (2001). [Online], Available: www.kidcyber.com.au

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updated April 2001