Wat Kate Community Situated on the east bank of the Ping River, Wat Kate is a community which has been trading on the river for more than 500 years. The village has, for hundreds of years, enjoyed a multinational mix, with Western, Chinese and many ethnic traders doing business, marrying, and settling down. The eclectic ethnic mix includes Haw Chinese, Khmu and missionaries from the west, who came to Chiang Mai to spread their religious ideas and work in education and medicine. Wat Kate was also home to Lanna’s first Christian community. |  |
| The First Christian Church stands, architecturally elegant, by the river, as testament to the long history of missionaries in this part of the word. It is this hot pot of cultures which has added to the charm of the Wat Kate community, setting it apart from other villages in Chiang Mai. The architecture is distinctive, with its Chinese shop houses, Christian churches, colonial style schools and hospitals, as well as traditional Lanna homes, all co-existing harmoniously. |  |  |
With the passing of time, the advent of modernity and the rush to join the global market, it is hard these days to find traditional scenes of life which authentically belong to Chiang Mai’s past. But in Wat Kate, through to Charoen Muang Road, Kaew Nawarat and Fa Ham areas, there are moments when one feels as though time has stood still. Beautiful old houses stand proud next to modern concrete ones, Dara Academy and Prince Royal College’s Victorian buildings have stood the test of time and many of Lanna’s landed gentry’s descendants still call their ancestors’ homes home. One of the most startling old buildings in this area is that of Doctor Chinda Singhanetre. | | Back to Top | | That Old House | | |  | Amidst the daily hustle and bustle that is modern life along Charoenrat Road on the West bank of the Ping River, there is a dark brown, earth tiled, wooden house, which looks as though it has worn all the signs of time. It has: monsoon, sunshine, winter and time have etched their marks on this elegant old house which tells a tale of life in days of yore. | | | |  | Doctor Boonreum Singhanetre, The oldest son of Doctor Chinda Singhanetre, described the house as two parallel buildings with very high ceilings, a round painting in the front of the house, a stairway in the middle and a home full of memories of his father, his mother, brothers and sisters. The house was religiously maintained over the years resulting in an excellent building in immaculate condition. | | | |  | The original owner of this house was Mother On, the wife of a Burmese merchant Father Sarn, who, it is believed, built the house 140 years ago. (In the days before surnames, people would generally put the title of mother of father in front of a name to denote age and respectability.) It is a wooden house with high ceilings with a roof built in the pan ya style showcasing its Burmese influence. |
Back to Top |
