If you are out for a day of touring wats in Chiang Mai, the Chang Puak Gate area is a good place to be. There are four and a half temple complexes, each unique, clustered together along Maninopharat and Sriphum Roads, and a few more nearby just inside the Old City, including Wat Chiang Man. The least imposing is Wat Khuan Kha Ma.

Wat Mor Kham Thuang on one side grabs your attention with its long wall shining with thousands of small reflective mirrors. The humongous outdoor Buddha and unusual chocolate brown color of Wat Mounthien on it’s other side captures visitors’ imagination too. The draw of the diminutive Wat Khuan Kha Ma pales in comparison and most visitors pass it by.

There’s not a lot to see at Wat Khuan Kha Ma, and what there is is all crowded closely together. The complex is on a small plot of land, two gates open onto a semicircular driveway. In and out, and you’re done, ready to move on to the next temple. The monk residences to the left are worth a few minutes of your time, and the wat’s large gold painted chedi in the middle is striking with its red cutouts filled with gold Buddha statues. The chapel, though tiny, is gloriously decked out in gold and greens. And out front you can’t help but stop and wonder what’s up with all the horses capping it’s exterior wall.

The unique offering of this wat, however, are the Chinese Zodiac animal statues in bronze lined up along the interior of the temple’s wall. All twelve animals of the zodiac are represented; the dog looks suspiciously like a typical soi dog, slightly aggressive but lacking the energy to do anything with its ill-temper. But horses seem to rule the day at Wat Khuan Kha Ma, they are everywhere you look and its amazing how many horse statues they’ve managed to squeeze into this tiny temple.