Chiang Mai’s temples are its crowning glory. Many are plated in gold and decorated with the flowing forms of nagas, or water serpents, a differentiating mark with the temple architecture of the Thai Central plains. Most famous of all is Doi Suthep, reached up a flight of 300 stairs flanked by nagas, at the top of the mountain looking over the city. Its golden dome glitters like a mini-Shwedaggon.
Elesewhere there is the hulking ruin of Wat Chedi Luang, built in the 14th century and partially collapsed in an earthquake 150 years later, and other shrines , chedis and stupas in every other block of the moated city centre.
