Chiang Mai - Wat Suan Dok

In Suthep Road west of the city stands the famous Wat Suan Dok ("dok" means flower garden). The story of its foundation, closely linked with that of Wat Doi Suthep, is woven around with legend. The big, bell-shaped, snow-white, central chedi, Ceylonese in style, houses one half of a miraculous relic only the size of a pea. The relic was found by a monk called Sumana, concealed in a receptacle hidden away inside a series of silver and coral "Chinese boxes" contained in a bronze casket. It came into the hands of King Kuna of Chiang Mai (1355-85) who had the chedi built to house it. In 1383 the relic miraculously divided itself into two pieces, each growing back to the original size. Wat Doi Suthep was therefore built to house the second