A small Mon-form chedi built on top of a pinched boulder on a cliff spur above the Moei, on the Burmese border — Tak's newest listed monument, and a monks' residence rather than a constituted temple.
พระธาตุดอยดินจี่ · Phra That Doi Din Chi
By the BAANLYY Editorial Team · Last checked 2 November 2026
| Official name | พระธาตุดอยดินจี่ — Phra That Doi Din Chi |
|---|---|
| Where | Tha Sai Luat, Mae Sot, Tak |
| Royal temple class | Not established from an official register. |
| Monastic order | Not recorded in any register we could read. |
| Ancient monument | Named in a Royal Gazette list of ancient monuments; not registered Named in a Fine Arts Department list of ancient monuments published in the Royal Gazette on 11 May B.E. 2569 and in force from 9 May B.E. 2569 — one of eleven such lists covering seventy-nine monuments, of which Tak received two: this one and Noen Boransathan Doi Phra That Confirmed from the Fine Arts Department's own announcement, which names Tak's two monuments, gives the publication and commencement dates and the scope of eleven instruments and seventy-nine monuments. The instrument itself was not opened: the volume, part and page in circulation are vol. 143 special part 115 ngor page 33, and the gazette's document path returned not-found for that citation together with a notice that the site has restructured its URLs. The register codes this id status 6, named in a gazette list and not registered, which matches a declaratory list exactly. There is therefore no declared land area, and that is the correct state of the record rather than a gap: the department states in the same announcement that detailed boundary survey for these monuments is still to be carried out. This is the newest instrument touching any monument in this guide, by about three years. |
| Coordinates | 16.762917, 98.492763 Fine Arts Department register, monument layer, monument 0007391; put through the register's subdistrict polygon layer, which returns Tha Sai Luat (630606) in Mae Sot (6306), the subdistrict the department's record and the subdistrict administration both state |
Thai temple histories mix two different kinds of statement, and this guide keeps them apart. What a register, a gazette entry, an inscription or a dated royal act shows is one thing. What the chronicles and the temple itself hold is another, and it is worth telling as what it is.
No construction date exists in the state record. The tradition's only chronological handle is the period of British rule over Burma, which brackets it loosely across more than a century, and both bodies that carry the account flag it as oral tradition in their opening words. The contents of the chedi are inside that same flagged passage and carry the same status. The subdistrict administration's own interpretation of the canoe — that it was used to carry food or goods across the Moei and is about 200 years old — is doubly hedged in its own text and is treated here as inference, while the find, its date and its measurements are record. Note also that the subdistrict administration places the Burmese comparandum in Mandalay; the balancing-rock pagoda it means is in Mon State, so that detail is not repeated here.
The thing people come for is a rock that looks like it should have fallen already. The Tha Sai Luat Subdistrict Administrative Organisation and the Thailand Tourism Directory describe it the same way: a large boulder sitting on a cliff spur, waisted and pinched as though about to break apart, with a small Mon-form chedi built directly on top of it and sized, in the directory's words, to fit exactly the width of the boulder. Locals call the formation the stone chedi of the hanging Indra, after the balancing-rock pagoda in Burma, and the stupa itself Phaya Long. Nobody publishes a height — for the chedi, the boulder or the cliff — so this page gives none.
Two names, one hill, and the local authority is the one that settles it. The Fine Arts Department registers the monument as Phra That Doi Din Chi and glosses nothing. The subdistrict administration, which is the elected body for this exact tambon, titles its page Samnak Song Phra That Doi Hin Kio with Hin Chi in brackets, puts Doi Din Chi with Hin Kio in brackets into its own tambon motto, uses both names inside single sentences, and then gives the reason they coexist: the rock on this hill is black to burnt-brown, so din chi, burnt earth, while hin kio, pinched rock, names the same hill from its shape. The Ministry of Tourism and the tourism authority both use a construction that joins the two. One ridge, one shrine, two descriptive names.
What it is formally matters for what to expect. This is a samnak song — a monks' residence that houses monks but has not been constituted as a monastery, so it has no formal establishment and no royally granted consecrated boundary. That is why there is no royal grade here, no recorded sect and no visungkhamsima date, and the absence is structural rather than a hole in the research. Local usage slides between samnak song and wat; the formal designation is the first, and it is what this guide prints. The Ministry of Tourism records a large principal Buddha image on the site as well, and the subdistrict administration records the dugout canoe at the foot of the hill, which is the one dated find anywhere on the ground: recovered by Ban Wang Takhian villagers on 5 April B.E. 2539, cut from a single log, 13.35 m long and 1.26 m wide, with four seat slots at uneven spacing.
The border is the setting and the congregation both, and the record is clear about that while saying nothing about restrictions. The subdistrict administration notes that from the cliff spur the view into Burma is plain, and that around February people from Mae Sot and from across the river hold an annual veneration of the shrine together; the Ministry of Tourism's entry says simply that many Burmese come to pay respects. No state source read mentions a permit, a checkpoint or a closure. It is worth noting when those descriptions were written rather than reading them as current: the ministry's photographs date from 2017 and the subdistrict administration's page carries no date. The ministry also lists the site's utilities as a generator and a phone signal, with no mains electricity, which tells a reader more about the walk up than a step count would.
The pinched boulder on the cliff spur, waisted as though about to split, with a small Mon-form chedi built on top of it and fitted to the width of the rock — the formation locals call the stone chedi of the hanging Indra.
The stupa itself, called Phaya Long, which the tradition says holds relics and five golden Buddha images.
The dugout canoe at the foot of the hill: one hollowed log, 13.35 m long, 1.26 m wide, 0.52 m deep, 0.04 m thick, bow and stern about 1.20 m each, with four slots for plank seats at uneven spacing, recovered 5 April B.E. 2539.
A large principal Buddha image on the site, recorded by the Ministry of Tourism.
The view from the spur straight into Burma across the Moei, which is what the subdistrict administration leads with.
This is a working place of worship for millions of people rather than an attraction, and it is treated as one at the gate. Where a figure below is blank, no source we are prepared to cite states it.
| Hours | Not established from an official source. |
|---|---|
| Admission | Thai nationals: free. Foreign visitors: free. |
| Dress | No dress rule is published by any state source read, and none is invented here. It is a monks' residence with monks in it and a venerated chedi at the top: shoulders and knees covered, footwear off at the shrine. |
| Photography | No source we found states a rule, so we print none. |
| Getting there | At Ban Wang Takhian, village 4, Tambon Tha Sai Luat, Amphoe Mae Sot, on the Moei river border. Highway 105 past Ban Tha At and Ban Wang Takhian, then a signposted right turn with 3 km to the shrine. The Ministry of Tourism lists car, motorcycle and on foot, and gives the site's utilities as a generator and a phone signal with no mains electricity, which is a fair indication of how remote it is. |
Every temple reference repeats claims nobody has checked. These are the ones we went looking for and could not stand up, listed so you know exactly where this page stops.
Yes, and the local authority says so outright. The Tha Sai Luat Subdistrict Administrative Organisation names the site with both names, puts them together in its own tambon motto, and explains why: the rock here is black to burnt-brown, hence din chi, burnt earth, while hin kio, pinched rock, names the same hill from its shape. The Fine Arts Department registers it under the first name only.
Nobody can document it. Both state sources that carry an account open by saying it is told down the generations: that a Karen man named Pha Suai Cha Pho built it during the period of British rule over Burma, having brought rupee coins on elephant-back to find a site, after seeing that the boulder resembled the balancing-rock pagoda in Burma.
It is a samnak song, which is a monks' residence rather than a constituted monastery. Monks do live there, but the place has no formal establishment as a wat and no royally granted consecrated boundary, which is also why it has no royal grade, no recorded sect and no visungkhamsima date.
It is named in a Fine Arts Department list published in the Royal Gazette on 11 May B.E. 2569 and in force from 9 May, one of eleven lists covering seventy-nine monuments nationally. A list is not a registration under section 7 of the Ancient Monuments Act: no boundary has been fixed and no area declared, and the department says the detailed survey is still to come.
A dugout canoe cut from a single log, recovered by Ban Wang Takhian villagers on 5 April B.E. 2539 and kept at the foot of the hill. The subdistrict administration gives it as 13.35 m long, 1.26 m wide, 0.52 m deep and 0.04 m thick, with four seat slots at uneven spacing, and surmises — in its own hedged words — that it carried food or goods across the Moei.
Yes. The subdistrict administration records that the shrine stands on a high cliff spur and that the view down into Burmese territory is plain from it. It also records an annual veneration around February attended by people from Mae Sot and from across the river together.
Before you go, read the guide to Buddhism and temple etiquette in Thailand — dress, footwear, where photography is not welcome and how to behave around monks. The rest of Tak’s temples are covered here too.
Every temple here sits in a place worth reading about on its own terms. The nationwide temple guide covers the other provinces to the same documentary standard as this page, and says on each one what the record establishes and what it does not.
If you are thinking about more than a visit: work out which Thai visa route fits your situation, and see what is available to rent and buy in residences across Thailand.
Last checked 2 November 2026
Every fact on this page is drawn from the sources above. Where they disagree, this page says so rather than choosing silently. Registrations, fees, hours and access change; confirm anything you are relying on with the authority concerned. BAANLYY LLC is a Nevada company and a listing portal, does not represent any temple, and offers no legal or religious advice.