Wat Phra Baht Ming Muang

Wat Phra Baht Ming Muang was created in 1955 by merging two separate temples, Wat Phra Baht and Wat Ming Muang. The buildings themselves are ancient, but the temple as it stands today is relatively modern. Now recognised as a royal temple, it sits in the centre of Phrae’s old town, opposite the post office and within short walking distance of local hotels, restaurants and other attractions, so a visit here often winds up a walking tour of the old town.

This is about as urban as Phrae gets, and the surrounding buildings and electric cables make it hard to find a good angle for a photograph; visitors keen to snap pictures may have better luck at Wat Phra Non, Wat Jom Sawan or Wat Luang, all nearby. One of the temple’s buildings is an 18th-century ordination hall in a typical Laotian style, used for special ceremonies or to receive prominent visiting monks.

A striking Buddha image in the viharn, called Phra Phutthakosai, resembles the revered Phra Chinnarat in Phitsanulok and draws a steady stream of devotees from across the province. Like so many temples in Thailand, this one claims an original Buddha footprint inside its chedi: legend says a cave once stood where the chedi now is, and at its entrance was a footprint of the Lord Buddha, preserved even after the cave crumbled. The footprint may not be as ancient as it purports, but the legend certainly dates back several centuries.