Here are some more photos of Wat Changlom. As you can probably see, the temple was rocked by an earthquake a long time ago, so I don't think there's a straight line in the whole place. But there are lots of atmospheric ruins to walk around.

Thailand's new year falls in April, and is called Songkran. Chiang Mai is considered ground zero for the celebration, and it's something everyone should do once, and only once. Songkran celebrations used to revolve around pouring water on your elders' hands as a mark of respect, but it has deteriorated into an all out water war, with groups riding around on pickup trucks with barrels of water to pour on passers by, and everyone has a water rifle to attack all comers with. The party (and it is a party, as everyone is drunk the whole week) is attended with gusto by foreign visitors, and popular backpacker hangouts like Khao San Road in Bangkok, or pretty much all of Chiang Mai, are crazy.

This is Wat Changlom, in the heart of the old city. It's an amazing old temple complex (wat is Thai for temple), named after the elephants you see here (chang is Thai for elephant). Chiang Mai used to be the capital of an independent Thai kingdom called Lanna, which was taken over by the Thai kingdom to the South in (I think) the 17th century. The Lanna royal family moved to Bangkok, and their descendants are still treated as very high ranking nobility. The last holder of the title died last year. In addition to being quite a high society party woman, she was famous for her purple hair, which always stood out in a crowd. (She married a commoner, so her children don't inherit the title).