Wat Tham Tap Tao |
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วัดถ้ำตับเต่า |
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Known as: |
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Tap Tao Cave Temple |
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Description: |
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Wat Tham Tap Tao, or Tap Tao Cave Temple, is an ancient place of
worship built hundreds of years ago. It is located in Tham Tap
Tao Village, Si Dongyen Subdistrict, Chai Prakan District,
Chiang Mai. If you are travelling on Chiang Mai-Fang Highway,
the road to the temple will be on the left side, between the
120th and 121st milestones. The temple is about 3 kilometres
away from the Chiang Mai-Fang Highway, set at the foot of the
Tham Tap Tao Mountain, one of the mountains that are the border
between Chai Prakan District and Chiang Dao District. Also, this
mountain range is the border between Thailand and Myanmar. With
an area of 35 rai, or around 56000 square metres, it has Ho
Trai, the scripture hall, in the middle of the pond. The temple
is an attraction for conservation tourism. The area around the
cave entrance is full of various kinds of trees. The cave is a
natural limestone cave with the width and height of about 6
metres. It is divided into two parts: Tham Mued and Tham Chaeng.
The name Tap Tao
is originally derived from the local word “Dap Tao”, signifying
to put out fire in the ashes from a wildfire. The name later
became Tap Tao, which is usually mistaken for signifying a
turtle’s liver by people from other regions of the country.
Without any evidence,
the construction date remains unknown. However, an assumption
can be made by considering the large Ayutthaya-style statue of
the reclining Buddha with the length of 9 metres, which is made
of lacquered and gilded bricks and concrete. According to the
current abbot, it is assumed that the temple might have been
built during the reign of King Ekathotsarot when he and his army
were on their way to Burma to invade Taungoo in 1592. At the
same time, King Naresuan the Great and the royal army marched
towards Chiang Dao and took a rest at the town of Hang, which
belonged to the Siamese kingdom at that time. According to an
elderly, the Tham Tap Tao cave was once a rest area for King
Ekathotsarot’s army. In ancient times, each region had its own
style of Buddha images and would make them in accordance with
the region’s style. If it had been made by Lanna artists, it
would be a Lanna-style statue. After the statue was finished, it
might be handed over to the ruler of Fang town to take care of
it. The temple was
abandoned for a long time before Prince Mahawong had it
renovated. There was once a Norwegian called Carl Bock coming to
explore the nature in Lanna. He stayed in the town of Fang and
wrote about the significance of the temple that the cave was an
important place of worship for more than hundreds of years. He
also wrote that there was a huge statue of the reclining Buddha
made of lacquered and gilded bricks and concrete, that it was
extremely old with the lacquer and the gild falling apart, and
that it was surrounded by the statues of the disciples in a
prayer-like fashion as if they were listening to the words of
the reclining Buddha. |
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Province |
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Chiang Mai |
Direction: |
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District |
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Chai Prakan |
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City |
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Si Dong Yen |
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Genre |
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Temple |
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Best exposure |
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Opening time |
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na |
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Entry fee |
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Free |
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GPS : |
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19.66271 N |
99.117746 E |
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