Road up to Doi Suthep

Terrain

General Condition

The general condition of the road to Doi Suthep when it was originally built was a gravel road with a distance of 11.530 kilometers. It was a narrow road, slippery and no electricity. Houses in harmony with nature People and temples have a close relationship with each other. There is a merit-making ceremony every day. The purpose of those who traveled up to Doi Suthep was to make merit, but later when it was renovated into an paved road There is an electrical cable connected to the community. make traveling more convenient The purpose of traveling up to Doi Suthep has therefore changed from the original, namely for tourism. (Annnurak 2010 Limited Partnership :42)

At present, the road up to Doi Suthep It is the National Highway No. 1004 with 4 lanes of asphalt concrete road surface. Passing Doi Suthep until reaching Phuping Ratchaniwet Palace, total distance 16.277 kilometers (Highway No. 1004 2016), about 6 kilometers from Chiang Mai city.

Height above mean sea level

Waterway

Ping River

Geological conditions

Geological conditions in the Chiang Mai Basin are very diverse, from complex igneous rocks, volcanic rocks, metamorphic rocks, and sedimentary rocks of various ages over 600 million years, to the unsolved sandstone sediments on the central plains of the Recent Basin that are approximately 10,000-20,000 years ago, which included most of the plains that were now farms and dwellings (Saraswati Ongsakul 2000 :2-3)

Archaeological Era

era/culture

Archaeological age

Types of archaeological sites

archaeological essence

From archaeological surveys, it was found that The road up to Doi Suthep in ancient times had 3 routes:

1. Huai Umong route It is an ancient route that is assumed to have been used since the reign of King Kue Na or earlier. The route starts from Wat Umong. Passing through the ancient monuments along Sriwichai Road Archaeological site along the Huai Umong and archaeological site near St. Louis Church It is assumed that these ancient sites are the satellite temples of Phra That Doi Suthep and serve as accommodation on the way up to worship Phra That Doi Suthep.

2. The slope path It is a route that was used at least during the reign of King Kue Na. but probably used a lot in the era of Phaya Sam Fang Kaen Because Phaya Sai Lue Thai (1942-1962) came to Wiang Chet Lin and went to Pha Lat This route consists of Wat Pha Lat. Sam Yot ancient temple and the archaeological site of Wat Ton Nun

3. Khun Chang Khian route Explore 2 ancient monuments located on each ridge. It is assumed that it is the temple of Wat Phra That Doi Suthep on the north side. For people traveling from Mae Rim District

For Srivichai Road, it is a new route in the Kruba Sriwichai period. causing an ancient site to be built along the way To make merit and as a place to stay on the way, such as burial pits, Wat Anakami Mon Phaya Hong, ancient sites near the observatory and the source of brick making (Anonurak Limited Partnership 2010 :187-189)

The road up to Doi Suthep was built on November 9, 1934 with Kruba Sriwichai. The saint of Lanna is the president of the monks. with Chao Kaew Nawarat The ruler of Chiang Mai was the secular president (Buppha Khun Yosying 1999:4427) by starting to dig in front of the present Chiang Mai Zoo. near Huay Kaew waterfall area

When news of road construction spreads Buddhists in the north who worship Kruba Srivijaya Therefore, come together to build a large number of roads that exceed the needs. Kruba Sriwichai has set the road to build 10 wa per village and later reduced to 2-3 wa only (Prawit Tantalanukul 1999 :29-30)

The road up Doi Suthep was completed in April 1935 with a total distance of 11 kilometers and the construction period took 5 months and 22 days (Buppha Khun Yot Ying 1999 :4427)