Phraya Singhanatracha Memorial ‘A landmark of Mae Hong Son’
Mae Hong Son is another interesting tourism town in northern Thailand. The whole town is full of historic stories, lovely nature, and beautiful architectures.
Whoever visit Mae Hong Son will never want to miss these valuable beauties. Even it may not be your first choices like Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai, but, believe this, once you step in to Mae Hong Son, you’re gonna love it and want to get there again and again.
Mae Hong Son has more good tourist attractions than you may know. And this following place is one of those. Phraya Singhanatracha Memorial.
Phraya Singhanatracha Memorial is a small but respectable place. This can be called a landmark of Mae Hong Son, if you want to say that. The memorial is a statue of Phraya Singhanatracha himself, who established Mae Hong Son Province.
Now, that makes perfect sense why this is an important spot of the town. That’s right. The memorial was built in honor of Phraya Singhanatracha’s virtue.
Phraya Singhanatracha, or former name ‘Chan Ga Le’, was a descendent of Shan people. He was born in Myanmar in the year 1856. But when a war occured in Shan State, he had to evacuate to the village Pang Mhu and lived there instead.
Phraya Singhanatracha was honest, brave, and hard-working. After he had got married, he and his family moved to Ban Khun Yuam(or as it is known as Khun Yuam County nowadays). All villagers there loved his so much, as he was a very good person. Therefore, they appointed him for a leader of Ban Khun Yuam. Later, he became the very first ruler of the town. He had ruled Khun Yuam for 8 years and brought a lot of wealth to villagers by controling trades with foreign entrepreneurs.
As time want by, he moved to Chiang Mai and lived there for 3 years. Inthawichayanon, the ruler of Chiang Mai at the time, saw Phraya Singhanatracha’s virtue and appointed him for the first ruler of Mae Hong Son. That was when the name ‘Phraya Singhanat Racha’ occured. It was honorably provided for him by Inthawichayanon.
The memorial should reflect the story. You should go to see that with your own eyes at least once in lifetime. The statue of Phraya Singhanatracha looks so sparkling with golden color. There is a big sign in front of the statue with his name. Therefore you can notice the spot easily.
The memorial is surrounded with beautiful flowers and trees. If you walk toward the statue, you will see quite many oblation items scattered around. These items are all from tourists who visited the memorial and paid respect to the statue.
If you want, you can pay respect to the statue too. That should bring peace to your mind and life.
How to get there
Phraya Singhanatracha Memorial is located at Chong Kham in Muang County of Mae Hong Son.
If you have a car, you just have to follow the same route that lead you to Wat Phra That Doi Gong Mu and Wat Phra Non. But, if you don’t have a car and are afraid of losing your way, you can just hire a public vehicle instead. In Mae Hong Son, there are many types of public vehicle on service for tourists. Just choose your favourite one. The memorial is located just in downtown. Therefore, getting there will not be difficult.
Nearby Places
You can travel to this temple within 5 minutes! This is a holy and respectable temple of the province. The most outstanding parts of it are the two Mon pagodas and the Shan vihara. These architectures are so beautiful. You will want to see that for yourself. Just go anytime from 8:30-16:30. You can visit it before or after the memorial, as the both places are located on the same route.
This place is only about 17 kilometres away from the memorial. By going there, you will enjoy relaxing yourself in the middle of gorgeous nature: The water is cool and flows all the time. The fishes swim around. The view of the cave under the mountain is absolutely stunning, Don’t forget to take a lot of photos.
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