Walking Tour Walking is a good way to exercise and can explore the place during activity, Chiangmai is very cultured and interesting place if you can walk you will get good experiences with good feedback from local people.

The sleepy moats, timeworn bastions and carefully restored gates that encompass old Chiangmai are a domainant feature of this ancient city.  Evocative of a troubled past, symbolic of cultural continuity and Northern Thai pride, the inner city fortifications have come to epitomize historical Chiang Mai.  What is more, they also make a good walking tour, though the full 6km circuit is really only for the dedicated walker.  Although much of the walk is shaded by moat-side trees, except in the cool season it is probably better to go some of the way by bicycle or tuk tuk.

A good place to start your tour is Pratu Thaphae, the city’s eastern entrance, which once linked the city with the main river crossing on the banks of the Ping river.  About 5m across and protected by heavy, steel-bound wooden doors, the reconstructed gate sits on a flagstone square, dominating an area that has become the focal point for Chiangmai’s festivals and celebrations.  A popular meeting place for locals and visitors alike, on or dinary evenings crowds of young men gather there to play ta-kraw, or simply to chat with other locals in kham meuang, the lilting Northern floodlights.

Turning southwards and proceeding clockwise, the first bastion you'll reach is Jaeng Katam, 'Fish Trap Corner', where local residents used to catch fish in a large pond which has long since disap­peared.  Today this bastion looks spectacular when Chiang Mai municipality turns on the fountains and - on festival nights - the illuminating floodlights.

Continuing clockwise around the old city next comes Pratu Chiang Mai or Chiang Mai Gate.  Erected by Phaya Mang Rai in 1296, restored by Chao Kawila in about 1800 and rebuilt entirely in 1966-69, this gateway used to lead to the old road to Lamphun.  In its present incarnation Pratu Chiang Mai has been widened to accommodate more traffic and an extensive market selling a wide variety of fresh and cooked foods, general household items and hardware has grown up just inside the moat.  On a still day you may catch the fragrance of joss sticks burning at the shrine of Chao Pu Pratu Chiang Mai, the guardian spirit of the gateway.

Further to the west Pratu Suan Prung, perhaps the quietest and most attractive of the city gates is something of a curiosity since it adds a second gateway in the southern wall (the other three walls have only one gate each).  For centuries the citizens of Chiangmai reserved this gate for carrying their dead out of the city for cremation.  Although it's still used for the occasional funeral proces­ sion, today the gate also provides vehicular access to the old city like any other gate.  Formerly sur­ rounded by towering trees that were recently cut down to widen the rather narrow road, the gateway boasts a 'cemetery' for old spirit houses and a relatively low flow of traffic.

The next bastion reached, at the old city's southwest corner, is Jaeng Ku Ruang.  The origins of this name are obscure, though Chiang Mai city council has erected a sign that helpfully explains that 'the name means a stupa-like structure containing the ashes of a person called Ruang'.  The bastion is in excellent condition, with well-preserved battlements offering clear views of Doi Suthep.  The surrounding area, too, is pleasant, with children often seen swimming in the moats, and, at certain times of the year, a series of garden vendors offering potted plants for sale.

Continuing north beyond Jaeng Ku Ruang, the ancient walls extend for some distance towards Chiangmai's western entrance, Pratu Suan Dok or 'Flower Garden Gate'.  In former times the gar­ dens of 14th-century Chiang Mai king Keu Na lay outside this gateway.  This king later founded a monastery amid the gardens, and it came to be known as Wat Suan Dok, or 'Flower Garden Tem­ ple', today the most famous centre of Buddhist learning in the North.  Jaeng Ku Ruang can be a fine place to watch the sun set over Doi Suthep to the west in the early evening.

Head north another 750m and you'll reach Jaeng Hua Rin, the city's northwestern corner. This bastion, which faces Thanon Huai Kaew and once again offers fine views of Doi Suthep, is also well preserved.  The battlements on top are high enough to protect a small, circular redoubt, and the whole area is made more attractive by stands of red irises and tall palm trees lining the moat banks.

To the east, set square in the centre of the Old City's northern wall, stands venerable Pratu Changpĕuak. Originally established by Phaya Mang Rai in 1296, this gate was once known as Pratu Hua Wiang, or 'Head of the City Gate', for it was the way by which Lanna rulers entered the capital en route to their coronations. During the reign of King Saen Muang Ma (1385-1401), however, the neighbouring Changpĕuak (Albino, or 'White' Elephant) monument was erected, and the name of the northern gate was subsequently changed to Pratu Changpĕuak.

The charming Changpĕuak monument itself consists of two albino elephants - greatly revered in Thailand and customarily considered royal property - formed in brick and stucco, one looking north and the other westwards.  Each has its own stone 'stable', and both are at all times bedecked with offerings from reverent local residents.  Sweet-smelling jasmine and frangipani blossoms hang from their tusks, candles burn before their stylised front feet and incense wafts on the wind.

The fourth and last of the old city bastions, Jaeng Si Phum (Holy Land Bastion), is situated at the quadrangle's northeastern corner, about 750m due north of Pratu Thaphae. According to legend this bastion marks the first point in the original city walls founded by Phaya Mang Rai more than 700 years ago.  Not far from here, there once stood a giant banyan tree, held to be highly auspi­ cious and regarded as a source of Chiang Mai's power, prosperity and security.  Today, sadly, the banyan tree is no more, although a spirit shrine honouring the tree's spirit stands close by the bas­ tion, and regularly receives offerings and reverence from the townspeople.
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