CHIANG MAI, THAILAND
On the way to the Sunday Market we noticed an enormous pillar of smoke rising from the east side of the city. Turns out Wat Sanpakhoi was completely on fire. I don’t know how it started, but we showed up about five minutes before the police were able to set up roadblocks and stop people from getting inside the temple grounds.

Chiang Mai’s finest firefighters were out in force, spraying everything down while the Royal Thai Army pulled furniture and boxes full of records out of the building. The monks stood around helpless.

Unfortunately I only had a cameraphone, but it did the trick. I left the city the day after this happened but my agent in Chiang Mai has reported that it’s, um, still all burnt up. There’s a neighborhood donation box to help with its reconstruction.