Wat Nam Hu

"Hu" is northern Thai and Tai for a hole, so Nam Hu means "water from a hole". Almost every source says the temple is named after the water in Luang Pho Un Mueang's head, and the village after the temple; only one older web page explains it as water flowing from a hole in the ground.

Pai's history runs much deeper than the temple. Wikipedia says the Lawa lived in the valley about 2,000 years ago and Tai Yai settlers founded Ban Wiang Nuea, about 3 km north of today's town, in 1251. A 2023 article in the Pikanasan journal describes Wiang Nuea as a moated ancient town older than 1317, with Lanna Buddha images, a town shrine, a ruler's reliquary and several abandoned temples.

Legends of Pai's name vary: a Tai Yai word for migrating, a leader named Khun Sang Pai, or "phlai", a bull elephant, from Chiang Mai's elephant hunts here. Later Chao Kaew Mueang from Chiang Mai advised Khun Sang Pai to move the town to the west bank of the Pai River; the new town was called Wiang Tai, the subdistrict where Wat Nam Hu stands today.

There is no clear record of when or by whom Wat Nam Hu was founded. The Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre and other sources agree it lay abandoned for a long time before its revival in the 20th century.

The most popular local legend ties the temple to King Naresuan the Great. He is said to have brought back from Burma the ashes and hair of his elder sister Princess Suphankalaya, a hostage in Hanthawaddy, and camped here; she appeared in a dream asking to rest at the border of Thai land, so next morning he ordered a temple and chedi built. Some versions say he cast lots to choose the site, and the golden chedi behind the viharn is called the Suphankalaya chedi.

This should be treated as local belief rather than established history. Silpa-mag notes that Suphankalaya's name does not appear in the royal chronicles, that her death is known only from conflicting prisoners' testimonies, that a Burmese historian thinks she may not have been executed at all, and that Naresuan's 1604 march went via Mueang Hang, not Pai.

The first dated event at the temple is in 1925, when village head Thon, Mr Heng Phong Phongkhamtem and villagers built a sala to shelter the Buddha image at the abandoned site.

In 1931 Kruba Srivichai, Lanna's great builder-monk, came to Pai on pilgrimage with his disciples. Finding the temple in ruins, with an overgrown chedi behind and an old Buddha image, he built the present viharn and — according to Chiang Mai News in 2026 — the chedi enshrining Princess Suphankalaya's remains (some sources say he restored an older chedi). Several sources say the image was named Luang Pho Un Mueang after this restoration — roughly "the warmth or shelter of the town".

Kruba Srivichai's traces in Pai go beyond Wat Nam Hu. On 17 November 2025 the Mae Hong Son provincial culture office, with Lamphun, Pai district and Mueang Paeng subdistrict, held a ceremony at Wat Srivichai in Mueang Paeng, Pai, to launch a "Following Kruba Srivichai's Faith" route linking Chiang Mai, Lamphun, Lampang and Mae Hong Son. His actual route and dates through Pai are not recorded in detail.

Luang Pho Un Mueang is a bronze Buddha subduing Mara, in the Lanna "Singh Sam" style often called Chiang Saen style. A crown covers a hollow head that opens like a lidded casket. Sources give different sizes and put its age at 400 to about 500 years. Who cast it and where it came from are not recorded; "Chiang Saen" here is a style label, not a claim that it came from the town of Chiang Saen.

In 1972 a wandering monk, said to be from Chom Thong in Chiang Mai, suspected something was inside the head. When he opened the crown he found water. As word spread, people came to ask for it as holy water, and it kept seeping back. This detailed account, along with the image's size and its age of about 500 years, traces back to a comment by Chatuporn Wisitchot-angkoon on a gotoknow blog on 27 November 2007, which later websites copied, so it is best read as a community account.

In 1973 the Pai district chief, Capt. Prasert Riamsri, and heads of government offices put it to the test: they scooped out the water, dried the inside of the head, closed it, tied it with cord and sealed it with lac, then shut the doors and windows for five days. When they reopened it, water had collected again. The test made Luang Pho Un Mueang famous, and villagers believe the water is sacred and can heal. No published scientific study explains it.

Later a pavilion was built in the pond in front of the temple holding statues of King Naresuan, King Ekathotsarot and Princess Suphankalaya; its date is not recorded. Another tale says villagers once tried to move the image to another temple but the palanquin broke, taken as a sign it wished to stay at Nam Hu — an unconfirmed story.

The Pai valley around the temple changed greatly over the last century. Around 1943 the Japanese upgraded the Chiang Mai–Pai road; Nationalist Chinese soldiers settled in the early 1960s, giving rise to Ban Santichon about 1.5 km away; Highway 1095 was fully paved in the 1990s and Pai tourism boomed, making Wat Nam Hu a stop for visitors heading to Santichon and the Yun Lai viewpoint.

Visitors today pay respect to Luang Pho Un Mueang on a raised platform, make offerings, buy zodiac lucky stones and pay homage at the Suphankalaya chedi. Small stalls sell goods in the grounds. The current abbot is Phra Khru Anusorn Weerakhun.

In 2026 the temple held ceremonies for a replica of Luang Pho Un Mueang. Chiang Mai News reported on the day that the casting took place on 12 September 2026, presided over by Governor Wiboon Waewbandit and Phra Methi Wachirasunthon (Phra Maha Somsak Suphamethi); it invited donations to the temple's Government Savings Bank account in Pai and set the consecration for Saturday 17 October. Daily News and Siam Rath reported on 20 October 2026 a Lanna rite honouring the four guardian kings, a casting and the consecration, led by provincial Sangha head Phra Sumon Sasanakit (Dr.). Reports differ on the exact dates, so the ceremonies are best placed in September–October 2026.