On a request from David Unkovitch who had seen an all Thai report on a virtually unknown temple near Mai Ai, I popped down to see a site even my wife and mother-in-law knew nothing about after lifetimes of living here in Tha Ton. The name via google translate is Wat Dom Som Suk and its just 7 kms out of Mae Ai on a very flood prone bank of the Fang River.
As soon as you reach Ban San Khong on the 1089 its a right turn just 50m after the signpost (turning hidden by the pick-up), then another 7kms down this route on a very elevated road to keep it out of the flood waters common here in the wet season. Its a hard left just before the road rises onto a an arched bridge to cross the river and so far almost nothing has been done to advice you of an ancient site, which is no surprise considering the primitive stages of this conservation.
This is truly the quintessential "pile of rubble" many tourists describe old ruins as and its probably only of any interest to a few hard core history and archaeology buffs. The building material was red brick of exactly the type seen in Chiang Mai's ancient city walls and the numerous old chedi's in various states of disrepair spread around the district and nicely maintained at Chedi Luang in town. Unfortunately the vast amount of material scattered around the site shows that huge amounts of the original material has been lost by citizens unaware of its value. There is at present a vague idea of shape and size and a few modern Buddha images installed by whatever authority is trying to create something of interest. With it being the rainy season its easy to see how rising water levels and constant flooding must have caused much of the damage visible today.
I can only guess that this site is in the same era as Chiang Saen and early Chiang Mai but thats a very inexperienced historians opinion. I will now endeavour to get more and correct information from local offices but if there knowledge is as complete as my wife's I shall be hearing a lot of "dont knows".
This is truly the quintessential "pile of rubble" many tourists describe old ruins as and its probably only of any interest to a few hard core history and archaeology buffs. The building material was red brick of exactly the type seen in Chiang Mai's ancient city walls and the numerous old chedi's in various states of disrepair spread around the district and nicely maintained at Chedi Luang in town. Unfortunately the vast amount of material scattered around the site shows that huge amounts of the original material has been lost by citizens unaware of its value. There is at present a vague idea of shape and size and a few modern Buddha images installed by whatever authority is trying to create something of interest. With it being the rainy season its easy to see how rising water levels and constant flooding must have caused much of the damage visible today.
I can only guess that this site is in the same era as Chiang Saen and early Chiang Mai but thats a very inexperienced historians opinion. I will now endeavour to get more and correct information from local offices but if there knowledge is as complete as my wife's I shall be hearing a lot of "dont knows".
