Improvised Free Walking Tour of Chiang Mai: Stop 4: Wat Lok Moli

White elephants are not "white elephants" in Chiang Mai

My favorite finishes out the walking tour:  Wat Lok Moli.

Getting here required me to walk outside the moat.

It's on the northern edge of the historic core of Chiang Mai, just outside the moat.

Those are not temple elephants, by the way.

This is a bridge you can cross to get over the moat to get to Wat Lok Moli.

The moat does have fountains in it.

Which sort of detracts from the fortress element of a moat.  But the spray from the water cooled things down a bit just as the afternoon heat was taking its toll on me.

Shall we go in?

And here we are:  Wat Lok Moli.  Meet one of the guards:

This isn't packed with "must see" sights.  But quality over quantity here.

I think I liked this one best because it was very ornate and had lots to see.  But it was manageable in scope.  It was not sensory overload such as Watchediluang Varaviharn.

Are you getting golden buddha-ed out yet?

What about dragons and elephants?

Or other animals?

Hey, what's that live cat doing in the photo with ceramic animals?

A small shrine:

And ... another guard cat, enjoying the afternoon sun.

This is the centerpiece of Wat Lok Moli, its large tower.

You can look, but you can't go inside.

Which means it time to bid farewell to Wat Lok Moli.

And, with that, this will conclude the improvised walking tour of Chiang Mai undertaken in lieu of a real, certified, guide-led, walking tour.

I think the tip I will leave my guide who guided me on this tour will be an afternoon nap followed by a Thai massage.  There seems to be more massage studios here -- I will not use the term "massage parlor" since that adds a note of the tawdry -- than there are restaurants.  I'm still full from breakfast so I know which one I need more.