Wat Umong, Chiang Mai · The Tunnels Dug for the Mad Monk

Wat Umong in Chiang Mai is known for a curving brick tunnel, with small openings for light in its walls, where the scriptures of the Lanna kingdom were kept.

The monk who founded it is said to have been old and strange in his ways, and the king called him the mad monk. He dug the tunnel to find a dark place where he could sit in meditation undisturbed, with no one pointing him out from behind.

Flash photography is not allowed in the tunnel. Those who keep it say the reason is so as not to disturb the one still sitting there.

Historical Mysteries / Chiang Mai · Thailand / 14th century