Tha Phae Gate

This guide to Tha Phae Gate in Chiang Mai starts with a confession: the gate you're standing beside isn't ancient at all, but a 1980s rebuild of the grand eastern entrance King Mangrai raised for his walled city in 1296. It follows what construction crews pulled out of the ground during that same renovation, a stone pillar covered in mirror writing and old Lanna astrology charts tied to the city's sacred foundation pillar, and where they tucked it away afterward. Listen for the Sunday night market that now fills the square in front of the gate.