Wat Sri Suphan

Its two stand-out features are a bot or ubosot (ordination hall) clad entirely in silver, and a silver statue of Ganesha. The temple has recently undergone extensive and spectacular renovation including the covering of the entire exterior of the ubusot (ordination hall) in sheets of silver.

The original temple was founded in 1502 by Phraya Pilok Pannadatiraj, who reigned at the end of the Lanna Kingdom’s Golden Age and was also responsible for the construction of the famous Wat Phra Singh.

Although only the original teak pillars and roof beams in Wat Sri Suphan’s viharn remain, the murals which crowd its interior walls are an interesting mix of legendary elements from Thailand’s Theravada Buddhism, the Japanese Zen Buddhist tradition and Chinese Taoism, all executed in a modernist style.

The district’s silver-working tradition is kept alive here, with local master craftsmen holding workshops for any young people who wish to learn the ancient trade, and you’ll almost certainly see silversmiths at work in the temple compound.

Nearby Wualai Road is lined with shops selling beautiful beaten silver artifacts and every Saturday evening its ‘walking street’ market offers more of the same as well as other hand-crafted items and clothes. It’s good to combine a visit to the temple with a visit to the walking street, though it’s anything but peaceful on a Saturday.