The Silver Sanctuary (Wat Sri Suphan)

We had a leisurely morning in Chiang Mai before our flight back to Bangkok. After two busy days at the Elephant Nature Park and an exciting late night out at the Yi Peng Lantern Festival, we felt like taking it easy. We had a nice breakfast at the hotel restaurant, then went out for some sightseeing in Chiang Mai.

First: coffee.

We arrived via taxi at Wat Sri Suphan, a famous old temple in Chiang Mai. Noticing an on-site coffee shop, we popped in for a bit of morning caffeine in the form of an americano sunrise (espresso and orange juice).

Chiang Mai was historically known for its silver. Today, you can still see remnants of this ancient silver working craft amongst the Hill Tribes and with artisans who seek to preserve the traditional handicraft. The community at and around Wat Sri Suphan works hard to preserve northern silversmithing.

There's a traditional open-air silver workshop behind the temple. There wasn't much going on that morning, though since it was the day after a holiday it wasn't too surprising. We looked around to see some of the projects that the artisans were working on.

The main temple hall at Wat Sri Suphan is beautiful. With its lacquered pillars and elegant swooping roof, the temple is one of the most beautiful examples of northern Thai temple architecture I've seen.

Mom and I received a blessing and a lucky white string bracelet from the on-site monk.

Despite the beauty of the main ordination hall, that's not what draws visitors to Wat Sri Suphan, but rather the very structure that gives the temple its English name that puts this historic temple on the map: the Silver Temple.

Also known as the "Silver Sanctuary", this elegant temple hall was dedicated on the 720th anniversary of Chiang Mai in 2016.

Covered inside and outside in silver, the fine details are stunning. It's impossible to notice everything, and the closer you look at the detailed inlay, the more you see.

The sanctuary is very much a modern expression of traditional Lanna architecture and handicraft and Thai Buddhism. The philosophy behind the design reminds me a lot of the White Temple in Chiang Rai or the Sanctuary of Truth in Pattaya.

Unlike most Thai temples I've visited, women were forbidden from entering the Silver Sanctuary. I'm not really sure why this was. I know that at some mosques men and women are separated, and that at a Cao Dai temple they have to enter through separate doors. I don't think I've ever experienced that at a Buddhist temple, though.

Unfortunately, that meant that my mom wasn't able to go inside, but I took off my shoes and went in to take a few pictures. To be honest, while the interior was beautiful, it was more of the same that we could see on the outside. In fact, the outside might have even been more impressive.

It was our last day in Chiang Mai. We paid a short visit to the Chiang Mai branch of the National Museum, then picked up our bags at the hotel and headed off to the airport. 50 minutes later, we were touching down at Don Mueang International in Bangkok. Our trip to the north was complete, but my adventures during my mom's visit were far from over.