Wat Umong Suan Puthatham is a 700-year-old Buddhist temple in the foothills of Doi Suthep. The temple was built in 1297 by King Mangrai of the Lanna dynasty. Of particular interest is a replica of the Ashok Pillar similar to the one at Vaishali with four lions and a wheel at the base and an additional larger wheel on top that acts as an umbrella for the lions. A similar pillar is also available at Sarnath Museum. The four lion head is adopted as the National Emblem of India.
The entire Wat Umong complex consists of 37.5 rai (15 acres) of wooded grounds. You can feed the fish, turtles, and ducks in a large pond. "Talking trees" have words of wisdom in Thai and English. The temple consists of a principal chedi in an open court. In an area where you would expect the viharn to be is a larger court, the only structures being ventilation shafts for tunnels below. The tunnels were dug out and lined with brick. They contain Buddha images and mural paintings dating from the 15th Century.
The temple was initially called Werukattatharam meaning a temple of eleven clumps of bamboo. A old document written after the founding on Chiang Mai at around 1297 states that the temple was built by King Mangrai for Phra Thera Chan Singkol (Lanka) monks to reside.
The tunnels were supposedly built by Phaya Kuena at a later date and painted with bush scenes so they could keep a famous but mentally deranged monk within the grounds of the monastery as he had a habit of just wandering off into the bush for days on end.

Source: Site visit