You can’t say Wat Phabong in Chiang Mai doesn’t try. It seems they’ve tried to copy other, more popular, wat’s unique attractions that tend to draw visitors and the donation they make. But the temple has size working against it, the ground are on the diminutive size. And being located literally in the shade of Wat Phra Sing – one of the city’s mot famous and humongous wats – doesn’t help. They say in real estate what matters is location, location, location. Maybe that too is key for Buddhist temples.

You have to be a bit of a wat-aholic to even bother with Wat Phabong. From the street it doesn’t promise much. And once you step through it’s gates, the temple makes good on that promise. There’s a small gold chedi, dwarfed by the same at Wat Phan On. There’s a cute little sign bearing a message to contemplate, both in Thai and English, but next door in the gardens at Wat Phra Sing there’s a few dozen.

Its wiharn is small, its Buddhas nothing to write home about. And I couldn’t decide if the large elephant tusks flanking the altar were real or fake. And if real, whether or not the Buddha would be pleased. But the wooden doors are beautifully carved. And the temples’s cat is calico.

I tend to stumble upon wats in Thailand, enjoy my visit, and then turn to Google later to find out what it was I just saw. The internet is usually a good choice for learning about the history of a wat too. But Wat Phabong didn’t impress Google much either. There are a few photos, an occasional mention in passing, but little in the way of details. I did, however, learn that the hot springs just outside of town – where you have no choice but to stop and hopefully buy something when on a package tour to the Golden Triangle – shares the name of Phabong. Huh. Now I’ll have to visit the wat again and see if they snuck in a miniature geyser too.

I’m not sure if that little thought for the day sign at Wat Phabong about showing off is meant in its defense, or as a bitch-slap to whoever hung it in the first place. I’d have asked the sole monk I saw at the temple, but he was too busy surfing the internet. No problemo, I got a cool Monk Shot! out of my visit anyway.

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