A bit of potted history for you now folks!
In the late 1800S, King Chulalongkorn made a deal with British tradesmen allowing them access to the Siam kingdom’s huge teak and rosewood forests. He also allowed them to live in Chiang Mai.
However there was one condition – that they lived on the east side of the Ping River, away from the locals and the ancient city ruins. The area they settled in is known as Wat Gate, a graceful area with elegant teak houses.
Our lovely Sakorn Residence hotel was situated in this area. Now, along with markets and taking thousands of pictures of anything I stumble across, my other great passions is temple bagging! And Chiang Mai is a veritable cornucopia of them.
One of the first (and closest) temple we visited was Wat Gate Karam and its museum on the east bank of the Ping River. This is the temple that gave the area its name.
Above is an example of one of the lovely teak houses in the Wat Gate style.
Gorgeous ornate doors at Wat Gate’s ornate prayer hall whose exterior walls are richly adorned with gilded apsara dancers and dragon friezes.
