Chiang Mai Facts
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Facts of Chiang Mai
I was born in Chiang Mai and have been in here for all my life. And I haven’t tried to move anywhere so I know about this city well enough to let you learn before getting here. It’s the fully feeling of my hometown and wonderful city which you can surely find everything here; sightseeing, shopping, eating, etc.

History
Chiang Mai is an old city or we can say that it’s “new city” and just celebrated its 700th anniversary a few years ago, in 1996. The city was founded as the capital of the kingdom of Lanna in 1296 by King Meng Rai. From then, Chiang Mai not only became the capital and cultural core of Lanna Kingdom, it was also the center of Buddhism in northern Thailand. King Meng Rai was very religious and founded many of the city’s temples, which are still important today.

One of Chiang Mai’s major attractions is its old city which is almost the only city where the old walls are still mostly intact. In addition, the city within the old walls still has many charming lanes that you can wander down at your leisure. Besides, if you get to the old city, you will see many moats around downtown and also the gates and corners which can indicate where you are and be the freshness and colorfulness of the city. Let’s know about those gates and corners.

In Lanna dialect, “Jaeng” means “corner”
           Jaeng Kuruang – refers to the pagoda with the ash bones of Muen Ruang, the person who imprisoned King Mengrai’s son, Khun Khrua at his house from B.E. 1846-1868.
           Jaeng Hualin – “Hualin” means gutter. Formerly, it used to be a place that collected water from “Huay Kaew” and to flow to the city for public use and that is why it is named Jaeng Hualin.
           Jaeng Sriphoom – “Sriphoom” refers to the good luck, prosperity, power and happiness of Chiang Mai. It’s was the beginning of settlement in Chiang Mai in the reign of King Mengrai in B.E. 1839.
           Jaeng Katam – “Katam” is a kind of local fish trap. In the past, there was a basin reserved with water from Jaeng Hua Lin making it abundant with fish. People used the Katam to catch fish around this corner and later the corner was named Jaeng Katam.
           Suan Dok Gate – It was at first a garden of King Kuena who built Suan Dok temple in the garden.
Saen Prung Gate – This gate is also called Suan Prung. People of Chiang Mai used this gate as the gateway to move corpses to a graveyard.
           Chiang Mai’s Gate – Formerly, it used to be a route to Lamphun, a town south of Chiang Mai. The gate was restored in the reign of King Kawila in about B.E. 2344 and then reconstructed during B.E. 2509-2512.
           Changpuak Gate – The king of Chiang Mai had to go through this gate and into the city in his coronation ceremony. The name Changpuak is named after the “Changpuak Monument (white elephant)” constructed during B.E. 2509-2512.
           Thapae Gate – The present Thapae gate was reconstructed in B.E. 2528-2529 based on evidence from history and archaeology. The models of this gate come from a photo taken in B.E. 2442.

When we look on Chiang Mai today, it is the economic, cultural and communication hub of northern Thailand complete with excellent basic structure, good roads, by passes and road tunnel. From now on, I’m not surprised that many people coming here are falling in love with the diverse city like Chiang Mai.

Climate
           Chiang Mai has been known as a cool weather. It’s not too cold for the travelers, but sometimes it’s very hot and sunny on the season of summer. However, if we compare the season in Thailand, Chiang Mai is very cold, because there are places connected with the mountains.
           The reality is that in the hot summer months (March till June), Chiang Mai can be just as uncomfortably hot as much of the rest of the country. The heat starts to increase soon after the New Year and by April or May it can be almost unbearably hot and humid.
           The cool season runs from December to February, although there's usually just one week in December when temperatures are actually comfortable. However, from December to February the nights can be cool enough to require a jacket, so the appellation is not totally undeserved.
           The rainy season some year is entirely bad time to visit since the rain generally falls within the span of an hour or two in the late afternoons. The rain cools down the temperatures a bit and cleans the air quite nicely. If it’s high temperatures, the rain is not too cold. It’s during on July to November.
Check the forecast in Chiang Mai right now. (www.cnn.com/weather/forecast.jsp)

Chiang Mai people are very friendly. If you come here and try to greet them, they will always smile and greet back you. Although you might not understand the northern language, I’m quite sure that you will get some food or fruit from your neighbors.

Chiang Mai has been the centre of religious activity in Northern Thailand. Buddhism is the main religion and you can see from the evidences presenting by many ancient temples and Buddhist places in Chiang Mai. People in Chiang Mai about 85% are Buddhist and there are around 1,253 temples in this province. People always join the activities such as making merit and meditation at nearly temple on Buddhist holidays. Besides, there are other religions presenting in Chiang Mai. Don’t worry because we have 145 churches (both protestant and catholic), 14 mosques and 1 Hindu temple.

Northern Thai Language
Northern Thai language or “Kam Muang” is the main ethnic spoken of Chiang Mai. Actually, each of northern Thai languages is different to each other by vocabulary, accent, tone, and speed. It’s difficult to find out but be interesting, isn’t it? We call our language as a “Kam Muang” and people as a “Kon Muang” (north people). Surely, though I live here for all my life, there still are some words I don’t understand.
For example of north words, “Pud- Teun” means “Kad-Tun”in Central Thai word and in English means“less than cost to attract customers”.  Click here for more examples.