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.

CHIANG MAI, THAILAND
Next time you’re in Chiang Mai, walk down this side street and find the guy banging an elephant design into a sheet of silver. It’s okay, the dog’s friendly. Ask to see his chedi and he’ll take you to the red gate around the corner, unlock it and let you in. There, built into his living room, is the remains of the centuries-old Wat Bang Muang. He still lights incense on it every morning.

CHIANG MAI, THAILAND
Any brochure will tell you that Chiang Mai has over three hundred active temples, but what about the ones that have been lost to fires, Burmese invasions and run-of-the-mill decay? Chiang Mai has been the largest city in Northern Thailand for seven hundred years – so many religious sites have been built that no one can even guess at the number.

But we can try. Buddhists won’t intentionally destroy a temple even if it’s abandoned, so while the wooden buildings have long since crumbled there are dozens of brick chedi scattered throughout the city. Each one contains some sort of Buddhist relic – Chiang Mai University’s art department has put up placards on a lot of them, but for most nobody remembers their name or when they were built.

This bad boy is stuck discreetly behind the saddest pawn shop I’ve ever seen:

This one is on a major road, between a pharmacy and a lady selling deep fried horrors:

And a few more:

These are all obvious though, right out in the open. Tomorrow we’ll find a secret one.