Chiang Mai Boutique Hotels

November 17, 2012, 8:36 am

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See the location on Chiang Mai Boutique Hotel Google Map


Amata Lanna อมตะล้านนา From 3500 to 4500 Baht. 222/2 Chareanprated Rd. Guests love to hotel, as you can read on tripadvisor.com

Picture Amatalanna.com

Picture Amatalanna.com


At Niman Conceptual Home แอทนิมมาน From 4400 to 6500 Baht. 37 Nimanhaemin Road.Eight rooms with decor that combines the arts of Burma, Nepal, India, Tibet and China, writes Concierge.com. The rooms are themed after goddesses. The hotel has been designed by Rachen Inthawong. He Says he used the location of a guide: "I felt Doi Suthep reflected the end of the eastern Himalayas. So I decorated At-Niman with a Himalayan feel", he told The Nation. Guests are excited, according to reviews on tripadvisor.com

















a href="http://www.btlboutiquehotel.com/">Baan Thong Luang บ้านทองหลวง: From 2900 to 5900 Baht. 236/10 Wualai Rd. 18 differently styled and designed rooms decorated with Lanna antiques, staff dressedd in traditional Lanna costumes. Lush tropical garden.



















Banthai Village บ้านไทย วิลเลจ: From 6000 to 14000 Baht. 19 Tapae Soi 3, Tapae Rd. Good reviews on tripadvisor.com. And detailed description by the Blog Life in Thailand.

Picture Banthai Village

Picture Banthai Village


Bann Tazala Boutique Hotel บ้านท่าศาลา: 8500 to 13500 Baht. 55/5 Moo 1 Sankampaeng Road. Five kilometres outside of the town. Design in Lanna style with Chinese furnishing. "Honeymoon heaven", ist the comment of one of many good reviews on tripadvisor.com. See pretty pictures and read about the French restaurant.

Picture banntazala.com

Picture banntazala.com


Bodhi Serene Hotel: From 6500 to 18000 Baht. 110 Ratchaphakhinai Road. The hotel is very close to homes of local people. "You can see your neighbors even their living rooms and private quarters while you are walking to your room with laundries hanging from windows as welcoming flags", writes one guest on tripadvisor.com and complains about the concert of the frogs during the night. But most of the reviews are good. See video.


















Bupatara House: From 700 to 1100 Baht. 12/1 Soi 4 kor, Phra Pok Klao Road. 21 rooms. See video. You find a review on the blog of Evan Roberts.

Picture Bupatara




Buri Gallery House บุรี แกลเลอรี่ เฮาส์:From 950 to 2000 Baht. 102 Rachadamnoen Road. 20 rooms with the style of Thai-Lanna houses in a two-storey wooden building. You'll find the finest Lanna handicrafts in every part of the room. Located in the middle of the old city of Chiang Mai, near Wat Phra Singh. Read review on tripadvisor.com

Picture Buri Gallery House

Picture Buri Gallery House


Duang Champa Boutique Hotel ดวงจำปา - Hidden Gem: 2400 to 3800 Baht. 82 Ratchadamnoen Road. A building with ten rooms, every room different, in colonial style and a wooden house with two rooms. See a photoalbum by Fussy the Cat. Guests love it according to tripadvisor.com


Picture marhas1

Picture marhas1
The lobby


Eurana Boutique Hotel ยูรานา บูติค: 1800 Baht. 7/1 Moon Muang Road Soi 7. With swimmingpool. Good reviews on tripadvisor.com. See picture by arion».


Puripunn Baby Grand Boutique Hotel ปุรีปัน: From 7200 to 22 000 BAht. 104/1 Charoen Muang Soi 2,Charoen Muang Rd. 30 rooms. The hotel has excellent reviews on tripadvisor.com

Picture Puripunn

Picture Puripunn
Suite

Picture Puripunn
Baby Suite


RarinJinda Wellness Spa Resort: From 6500 zo 30 000 Baht. The Wellness Spa has an indoor heated hydrotherapy pool, an outdoor swimming Pool, fitness center, Yoga & Aerobics studio, hydrotherapy tub, Vichy dhower, fnfrared sauna, herbal rainforest steam sauna and a whirlpool with Chromo therapy. Thai Massage is housed Housed in a 140 year old antique Thai teak wood home. Good reviews on tripadvisor.com.

Picture Rarinjinda


Picture Rarinjinda


Picture Rarinjinda


Ruen Come In: From 3300 Bath. 79/3 Sirithron Road. Three suites and two deluxe rooms in a golden teak wood house. With a restaurant, where the familiy cooks dishes in Northern style after old recipes, see here. Ruen Come In is a hidden gem according to the excellent reviews on tripadvisor.com. It lies in a certain distance from the old town.

Picture Ruen Come In


Sirilanna Boutique Hotel: From 6000 Bath. 89/3 Ratchapakinai Road. Execellent hotel with pool according to the reviews on tripadvisor.com

Picture Sirilanna
Deluxe room


Smile House Boutique From 700 to 1200 Baht. 3/5 Suriyawong Road, Soi 1. It's surrounded by the silversmith and lacquerware community on Wua Lai stree. See video.

Picture Smile House Boutique

Picture Smile House Boutique


Sri Tara Boutique Hotel ศรีธารา: From 6000 to 12000 Baht. 351/1 Charoen Prathet Road.



















Tea Vana ทีวาน่า: From 3300 to 15000 Baht. 75 Lamphun Road. Decorated in modern Chinese style. See pictures on flickr.com. Serves and sells various kinds of tea and tea theme is also reflected by its design. Quite good reviews on tripadvisor.com. Read also review of professionaltravelguide.com

Picture Tea Vana


Tri Yaan Na Ros Colonial House ตรีญาณรส โคโลเนียล เฮ้าส์ 3500 Baht. 156 Wualai Road. The building's character combines influences of Chinese housing, the lifestyle of the native Lanna people and continental architecture. "The courtyard was so relaxing and mystical", writes one guest of many excellent reviews on tripadvisor.com

Picture by Long distance Clara.

See gallery by eoconn and more pictures on pantip.com


Yaang Come Village: From 4900. 90/3 Sridonchai Road. Very good reviews on tripadvisor.com, that point to the quiet location close to the Night Market. Co-owners Khun Chitapong Kuawong and Khun Varee Kuawong have created a hotel in the style of a village of the Tai Lue people of Xishuangbanna, in China's Yunan Province. Read more at chiangmai-chiangrai.com.

Picture leozaza

Picture leozaza


Yantarasiri Boutique Resort ยันตรศิริ บูติค รีสอร์ท From 7000 to 18000 Baht. 24/17 Nimmanhaemin Road Soi 6. Some rooms with luxurious spa baths, all with Lanna décor in earth and forest colour tones. A macro-biotic restaurant serves Thai, Chinese and international cuisine. See video

Picture Yantarasiri

Picture Yantarasiri

Picture Yantarasiri


Zensala Resort: From 4500 Bath. 168 Patan Road. All rooms with floor to ceiling windows with view on Mae Ping River. With Zensala Spa, already known from Bangkok. Swimming pool and library. "Everything is tranquil and relaxing at this small resort, whose idyllic location offers just the right mix of privacy and easy access to the city", writes nationmultimedia.com. Very good reviews on tripadvisor.com for this new resort.



More places to stay in Chiang Mai:
Chiang Mai Guesthouses
Chiang Mai Hotels

Resorts outside of Chiang Mai:
Hotels and Resorts in Mae Rim แม่ริม: Holidays next to the ricefields and in the hills

Discover more:
Your Guide to Chiang Mai



Recommend this blog on Twitter and Facebook:

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Yee Peng Festival starts on November 25

November 18, 2012, 5:59 pm

≫ Next: Chiang Mai: Food with love

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Release of the Khom Loy, the paper ballons

Chiang Mai's Loy Kratong Festival - also known as Yee Peng - begins this year on Sunday November 25. The Grand Parade will end it on November 29. The full moon will be on 28 November. At night people around the city flock to the moat and the Ping River to float their krathongs; small floats decorated with banana leaf and flowers. "Then add a candle, three sticks of incense, a fingernail clipping, a small lock of hair and a one baht coin and float your old troubles away", writes chiangmai-mail.com. And Khom Loy, the paper hot air balloons, fill the sky. Find the whole schedule here.

A Khom Loy release by thousands of people will be held on November 24 at the Tudongkasatan Lanna Meditation Center near Maejo University. But getting there and come back is not easy. Read Loy Krathong in Mae Jo: Really an Adventure.

Chiang Mai: Food with love

November 26, 2012, 12:50 pm

≫ Next: Ganesh Himal Museum พิพิธภัณฑ์พระพิฆเนศ:An exclusive attraction near Chiang Mai

≪ Previous: Yee Peng Festival starts on November 25

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See the locations on Chiang Mai Restaurant Google Map

Picture su-lin
Chicken in coconut milk

You don't want just eat a kind of food, you are looking for a way of living with love? Phongsathon Kitchawet is promoting that with Chiang Mai Vegetarian Project โครงการมังสวิรัติเชียงใหม่. He believes that Chiang Mai has the most vegetarian restaurants and presents them all on his website and on a map. In september 2007 he counted 28 vegetarian restaurants. He says: "We’d like to help people to have good health, have compassion for animals, protect the environment, mitigate pollution and global warming that are the result of meat consumption."

Of course there are other tastes. Therefore i'm going to collect reviews of restaurants and food stalls. And i put the locations to Chiang Mai Restaurant Google Earth Map, so you can find your eating choice near the place, where you stay or go to visit. Of course your comments will be helpful to keep this section of this blog fresh.



Thai

Three-sixty Bar & Restaurant: 9 Doiview Chiangmai Bldg., 10th Fl., Soi 9 Nimmanheamin Rd. Indoor a live band plays modern jazz and blues. Outdoor you dine by a pool with a good view of Doi Suthep and Chiang Mai City. Many cocktails.


Aroon Rai อรุณไร: 45 Kotchasarn Road. Good IgoUgo Review, and also Tamarind and Thyme loved it. NarakMakMak notes on tripadvisor.com, that you don't find all the thai dishes on the English menu and that the really good ones are the Northern style dishes.


Baanrai Yamyen: 14 Moo 3 Faham Road. Northeast of the old town. Serves "Mueang Food", the food of Thailands Northern Region. "It's the perfect place to take visiting Thai friends wanting to taste the local food", writes Chanchao Fotopages. "The unpretentious fare includes kaeng jin gai hoom, a mild, northern Thai–style chicken curry with Kaffir lime, as well as a variety of insect dishes, like rod duan, crunchy, deep-fried bamboo worms, which are definitely an acquired taste", writes concierge.com. "Music is one of the main ingredients of this popular eatery, with a style that ranges from Lanna to bluegrass", writes chiangmai-mail.com. The show starts at 6.30 pm, singers are accompanied by guitar, mandolin, double bass and banjo - a romantic place for lovers.


Comedara Colonial House คำดารา: 193 Charoenrat Road. The house used to belong to Chinese tax collectors. A band is playing, but not deafening your ears, as chiangmai-mail.com notices.

Picture by Comedara


Dalaabaa Bar & Restaurant: 113 Bamrungraj Road. "The kitchen's take on contemporary Thai cuisine is innovative—order the crab-filled spring rolls, which are shaped like breadsticks and deep-fried", writes concierge.com The architecture "echoes art deco" according to the review of Thailand Tatler. "The midcentury modern bungalow is furnished with eclectic furniture, polished wood and tons of glass, as if Frank Lloyd Wright had gone East", wrote the New York Times.

Picture by LiNuk's World


Hot Chilli: 27-32 Ratchadamnoen Road. "Don’t be put off by the name if you like your Thai food , since everything is prepared to order and can be adapted to your taste", writes Mark Whitman.


Huen Phen: 112 Rachamankha Road. Authentic Northern Thai food. Try Khanom Jeen Namngeua, a beef stew in a hearty broth, means frommers.com. Fantastic Khao Soi (curry noodle dish), says also Confessions of a restaurant whore.. Have a look at a video and read New York Times. "Chicken wings grilled with sliced, aromatic lemongrass; a tart, fiery salad of grapefruit-like pomelo and wafer-thin slices of green chili", recommends concierge.com


Houn Soontaree Vechanont: Read the review in this blogs chapter Chiang Mai: Cool Nights


Kanon Bar Arjarn: 2 Soi.2 Meundamprakot Rd. Thai desserts and confectionery are renowned for their delicate feature, unique taste and exquisite decoration. This is exactly offered at Kanom Ban Arjarn, which ist well known for its "Pia". The original Pia has green bean paste with salted yolk inside the pastry layer. But there ar also new creates Pia's with other tastes. Or you try Saleetip, made from fresh coconut.





Kantoke Palace: 288/19 Chiangklan Road. Kantoke dinner and show. This place has adapted to Westerners: Tables and seats have been specially designed, so that you can dine on the floor in the traditional Lanna manner, but with plenty of leg-room.


Maha Naga: 431 Charoenrat Road. Thai dishes presented in European style, in buildings from teak and glass under big trees with a river terrace - one of the most expensive Thai restaurants in the North. Read the review of roughguides.com


Maze Café:12/2 Boonruangrit Road and 8/11 Nimmanhaemin Road. Thai and International food. Read the review of Chiangmaitouristguide.com


Night Bazar: Many stalls to choose food from - for example the seafood stall.

Picture avlxyz
Seafood at Night Bazar


Old Chiang Mai Cultural Center ศูนย์วัฒนธรรม เชียงใหม่: 185/3 Wualai Road. Khantoke dinner, stage performances and hilltribes shows. You seat on cushions on the carpeted floor or at nearby tables. When a traditional Northern Thai family eats, they sit around a low table (called "toke") and eat "khan", finger food in small bowls. They break pieces of sticky rice ("cow neaw") and dip it into the bowls or eat it with meat. There are sweetm sour and spicy tastes.
In a Lanna-style building, the Saw-Hong House, you find the Lanna Folk Museum. This over 110-year-old teak building is a typical example of a northern dwelling called a “Kalae house”. Originally, this building stood near the east side of the Nakhornping Bridge in downtown Chiangmai and was owned by Nang Ping, the granddaughter of Nai Saw and Nang Hong Tae. The house was named the “Saw-Hong House” in honour of Nang Piang’s grandparents. Today you see here antique pottery, lacquerware, household items and waving demonstrations. Museum ist closed on Thursdays. Read the review of Tamarind and Thyme.

Picture by Cybjorg

See also a video on youtube.com


River Ping Palace: 385/2 Charoen Prathet Rd. A collection of 100 year old teak houses and pavilions. The food is prepared from Thai recipes found in a cookbook dating back 70 years old. In the evenings there are performances by musicians and dancers. Read the review on Chiangmai-Mail.com.


Ruen Come In: 79/3 Sirithron Road. Thai-Northern Thai Cuisine after family recipes. And also suite and deluxe rooms.


Ruen Tamarind: 50/1 Ratchadamnoen Road. Authentic Northern Thai dishes prepared from original family recipes, that have been handed down from mother to daughter.


Thapae Soi 3: Pad Thai for 20 Baht. Many locals eat there, read a good review by Big Food Small World.


The House: 199 Moon Muang Road. A first class dining experience according to "The Nation". "Contemporary cuisine with a bit of an Asian twist", describes travelfish.org. "The Chiang Mai-born chef has created a menu that features fresh ingredients in a European style but with a touch of the Orient", adds ThailandTatler. "The most interesting dining option is the adjacent tapas bar", means concierge.com



Thai, Chinese, German

Palaad Tawanron ผาลาดตะวันรอน: 100 Huay Kaew Road. Outside the town near the zoo, at the foothills of Suthep Mountain and near a waterfall. From a wooden terrace you overlook a lake and the city. The standout is the seafood, according to ThailandTatler Very popular among the guests is Kah Moo Tawanron : deep fried pork leg with mashed potatoes and sauerkraut, read the review of Chiangmai-Chiangrai.com and the review of The Makan Sisters.



Thai, Chinese, International

Monkey's Kitchen: Off Suthep Road. Behind Chiang Mai University. "Tom Yum Pizza, Baked New Zealand Mussel with Panang Curry Sauce & Cheese are just some of the interesting sounding dishes on the menu of Monkey's Kitchen", writes cm-eat.blogspot.com. Good salads. Opens daily (except Mondays).


The Gallery: 25-27-29 Charoen Rat Road. The front building with the Art Gallery has been built in Chinese style, the restaurant at the riverside in teak-wood in Northern style, in the original building from 1892, which used to be a silk store. Hillary Clinton has been eating here. "Ask for a waterfront table beneath the vaulting tamarind tree, and order Chiang Mai specialties such as kaeng ung lay, a coconut milk–free pork curry slow-cooked with ginger, garlic, chili, and tamarind and served with sticky rice", advises concierge.com.



Chinese

Jia Tong Heng: 193/2-3 Sri Don Chai Road. "Some of the best fish dishes in town", says Chiangmainews.com, fish in ginger is the speciality. Jia Tong Heng is 50 years old. Also stewed duck with Chinese herbs is recommended by Chiangmainews.com. Read also the review of Chiangmai-mail.com



Chinese (Muslim)

Khao Soi Islam: 24 Charoen Prathet Road, Soi 1. A mix of Yunnan (muslim) and Shan cuisine. "Calling it curry noodles is oversimplification", writes lastappetite.com The oily and slightly coconut-creamy curry is cut through with sides of tart pickled cabbage and lime juice, served over flat egg noodles. It is finished with a handful of deep-fried on top. Also vegetarian dishes. Read background about the Legacy of the Spice Trade in Chiang Mai and read the review of muntae.com.


Khao Soi Lamduan: Faham Road. The best Khao Soi-restaurant according to lastappetite.com, where you also find recipes for Khao Soi. The original owner prepared her noodles for the Thai King, whenever he stayed in Chiang Mai, as you can read on eatingasia.typead.com.

Picture su-lin

Picture su-lin
The kitchen at Lamudan Kao Soi



Khao Soi Samer Jai: 391 Mu. 2 , Charoenrat Road. Known by the locals for Khao Soi. Very good review by Mcdang.com. The favourite restaurant of Thaksin Shinawatra, the former Thai Premierminister.

Picture by Jui
Khao Soi


Just Khao Soy Restaurant and Art Gallery 108/2 Charoen Phrathet Road.



American

The Dukes: 49/4-5 Chiangmai-Lamphun Road. Steaks, Ribs, Seefood, Pizza. Good reviews on tripadvisor.com. There is also a branch at the Night Bazaar.



French

Chez Daniel ร้านอาหารเชส แดเนียล: 255/18 Mahidol Rd. Roast lamb, wild boar, boeuf bourgignon as well as Frech cheeses and desserts. Read the review of Yahoo Travel. Much value for not so miuch Baht, according tho Fodor's.


Le Coq d'Or: 11 Soi 2 Koh Klang Road. Lobster, oyster, duck leg, Foie Gras, tiger prawns... Read Frommers.com. "One of Chiang Mai's oldest and most distinguished fine dining venues", says ThailandTatler



German

Original German Food: Cheewan (Thai) and his wife Carmen (German) served German food in German Bistro at Kad Suan Kaew earlier. After this has been closed Chewan now has startet e home delivery service: Original-German-Food.com. The food, prepared by a german chef, is packaged and frozen to retain quality. From 1000 Bath delivery is free in Chiang Mai.



Italian

Caffé Gourmet: Opposite Wat Phra Khao on Ratchamankha Rd. Home-made Italian dishes, small garden and jazz stage, where bands perform Saturday night. Caffé Gourmet was opened by Stefano Roncoroni (former La Gondola). Read Chiangmainews.com


Girasole ร้านอาหารอิตาเลี่ยน กีราโซล: Kad Klang Vieng Plaza, Wat Pan-On Intersection, Ratchadamnoen Road. Pizza, pasta, risotto, meat and fish - and a large section of vegetarian cuisine. Read the review of Chiangmai-Mail.com Good review on tripadvisor.com "So so"-review by Chiang Mai Epicurean See some pictures of dishes. Girasole is a creation of Stefano Roncoroni, who closed one of Chiang Mai's most beloved Italian restaurant, La Gondola after leasing problems.


Mr Chan and Miss Pauline: 1st branch 16/1 Huay Kaew Rd., 2nd branch Canal Rd. Pizza and Swedish dishes. Read reviews by Things Asian and Chiangmainews.com Review in Thai by มาเชียงใหม่ กินอะไรดี.


Piccola Roma Palace:144 Charoenprathet Road. Run by Angelo Faro for fifteen years now. "The freshness of ingredients is what makes this restaurant stand out from among the dozens of Italian establishments in town", writes ThailandTatler. Home-made pasta as well as meat and seafood and fine italian wines, also ask for the speciality of the day. Reviews on YahooTravel are mixed. Her Majesty Queen Sirikit has been dining here. Read also Kit Marshals Commentary.



Mediterranean

Mi Casa: 60/2 Moo 14 Soi Wat Padaeng. Mediterranean cuisines by Spanish Chef Kike and Tapas Corner. He opened his restaurant “Mi Casa Stanley” in Hong Kong in 2002. It was a holiday in Chiang Mai, that turned him here. ThailandTatler recommends saffron infused lobster paella, which has to be ordered two days in advance, as highlight. Good selection of Rioja wine. Good reviews by tripadvisor.com and spicemag.net. See video by OpenChiangmai.



Mexican

Miguel's Café: Good reviews by tripadvisor.com and cunyqueen.



Sandwiches

Amazing Sandwich: 252/3 Pra Pokklao Road. Open daily 10am to 7pm (Sunday close 5pm. With free internet service. Choose from 14 meats including Roastbeef, Pastrami, Salami, Parma ham, smoked chicken and turkey breast, 8 types of cheese, 10 vegetables, 8 dressings & sauces and 6 herbs & spices and pack them into your chosen "vehicle".



Tea

Raming Tea House Siam Celadon: 158 Tha Pae Road. The tea shop serves cakes and teas. Enjoy your tea in a lovely garden. The two storey teak house has been built in 1915 by Anukonburi, a Thai of Chinese anchestry, it served as a store. 2002/2003 it has been restored to its original beauty. See pictures by nenegogogirl and hmigliaccio

Picture marhas1
Tea House by night

Picture Chanchao

Picture petgrooming100


Tian Zi Tea House and Garden: 119/1 Kampangdin Road. Opposite of the Mae Ping Hotel's beer garden, tucked among big trees. Not many places have the famous Pu Er Tea, but here you get it. First try, then buy! And the organic meals (for exampla salads) with herbs and roots known to support vital health functions are delicious. "The Brown Rice Salad was lovely, made from organic brown rice, herbs, seeds, nuts, vegetables and seasoned with organic apple cider vinegar, sea salt and cold pressed sesame oil", writes cm-eat.blogspot.com. Excellent reviews on tripadvisor.com. Read more about the Tian Zi projects in Yunnan (China).

Picture by marhas

Picture by marhas



Vegetarian

Aum Vegetarian: 65 Mun Mueang Road. One of the oldest vegetarian restaurants with Thai and Chinese dishes and Hilltribe Organic Coffee - and over 3500 books to read while drinking coffee! See the menu and read reviews of Yahoo Travel.

Picture by cunyqueen.blogspot.com

Blue Diamond: 35/1 Mun Mueang Road, Soi 9. Not 100 procent vegetarian. Superb, according to reviews by happycow.net. Also herbal teas. "Marvellous" is one comment on chefmoz.org. "They have it all. They make their own soy yogurt, baked goods including cinnamon rolls, cookies, and bread, soy ice cream (about 15 flovors), fresh juice, and soy milk.", writes xviolettx. Read also Earthworm Envy.


Dindee ร้านกาแฟ: Food in an earth house at The Art Museum of Chiang Mai University, opened by Japanese Ayumi Loenthaisong in March 2007. Thai and Japanese dishes and a wide tea selection. Read more at muantae.com






Khufa Mangsawirat: 152/6 Kaew Nawarat Road. Very good review by happycow.net. See pictures by rheanna2. And see description of Chiang Mai Vegetarian Project.


Khun Churn: 120/2 Nimmanhaemin Road, Soi 17. Northern cuisine with influences from China and Burma with affordable prices. Read the review of The Nation. Excellent review at happycow.net. See also Chiang Mai Vegetarian Project and look at video


Mangsawirat Suan Dok: 15 Suthep Road. Read the review of happycow.net.


Pun Pun: Inside Wat Suan Dok under a large old Boddhi tree. Pun Pun, run by a Thai/American couple, cooks organic vegetarian food, grown at Pun Pun Organic farm in Mae Taeng, outside Chiang Mai. "Amazing", according to earthoria.com. Read background on the blog Stomachs ond legs. Pun Pun is a project in the owners words "aimed at supporting local organic farmers, farmer networks, and propagating biodiversity. By producing organic produce on our own farm as well as buying from farmers producing organically, we support farmer’s transition to sustainable food systems. Since we ourselves are a seed center we aim to propagate rare and indigenous varieties of edible plants for the public to reintegrate into their diets, improving our health and stabilizing our environment through biodiversity." To get to Pun Pun, at Wat Suan Dok walk down the road to the left of the main temple towards the back of the temple grounds, it is on your right near the back. See pictures by flickr.com.


Thai Orchid: 419/24 Witchayanon Road.


Thai Vegetarian Food Restaurant: 65 Inthawarorot Road. Good review by happycow.net. See pictures by Rheanna2.


Vegetarian Society of Thailand: 42 Mahidol Road. "Didn't have the variety, that most Thai veggie places in Chiang Mai have", means a review on happycow.net. See pictures on flickr.com


Whole Earth: 88 Sridonchai Road. A vegetarian Thai and Indian restaurant, but some meat and fish dishes are available. Mixed reviews on happycow.net and tripadvisor.com.





Others

Des Gourmet: 413 Moo 12, Tambon Nong Kwai, Amphur Hang Dong. Owner Peter has Dutch dishes on his menu, "including a rijsttafel offered on Fridays", notes chiangmai-mail.com. This is an Indonesian rice table, many small dishes of rice prepared in different ways. It's served the last weekend of the month, according to very good reviews on tripadvisor.com


Rio Restaurant & Wine Bar: At RatiLanna Riverside Spa Resort. At the buffet restaurant you get a Brazilian BBQ. Imported meats are grilled right at your table.


Room-Bar: 61 Nimmanhaemin Road. The Room complex includes also a coffee, a boutique and decor shops. The restaurants special in main courses is a deep fried chicken with mixed herbs, as you can read in Chiangmai-Mail.com. Elegant interior decoration in red and purple.


Rose Restaurant: 87 Ratchamanka Road. See video at Chiangmaipods.com English or American breakfasts, burgers and pizzas, fish and chips. And also Thai food.


Sojo's Café: 169/4-5 Sridonchai Road and 178/178 World Club Land – Nongkwai, Hang Dong. American, Asian, Mediterranean Bistro and La Mesa Latina.


The Drunken Flower: 28/3 Soi 17 Nimmanhaemin Road. The funnny name comes from the time, when it was Chiang Mai's first wine tasting club and also sold importet flowers. Cocktails, house wines, Thai, international and Mexican food. And music from a big CD-Collection or from live performances. All this attracts a mix of young and old Thai and Westerners.



Places to stay in Chiang Mai:
Chiang Mai Guesthouses
Chiang Mai Boutique Hotels
Chiang Mai Hotels

Discover more:
Your Guide to Chiang Mai



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Ganesh Himal Museum พิพิธภัณฑ์พระพิฆเนศ:An exclusive attraction near Chiang Mai

November 29, 2012, 4:33 am

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See the location on Ganesh Himal Museum Google Map

Picture by marhas
The Gate to Ganesh Himal Museum

Ganesh or Ganesha, the elephant headed Hindu God, known by the Thai people as Phra Phi Kanet and the god of success as well as master of the intellect and wisdom, has got a Museum near Chiang Mai, the first one specialized on Lord Ganesh in Thailand. The Ganesh Himal Museum is the work of Khun Pandara Theerakanond. Born in Bangkok, he has been collecting images and paintings of Ganesh for years after receiving a Ganesh Amulet from his father. After he had moved to Chiang Mai the collection got too big for his house. In 2004 he purchased land in San Patong and began to create the museum. Actually the Ganesh Museum shows over 1000 Ganesh artifacts, collected from all over Asia.

Picture by marhas

There is a shop selling Ganesh images and paintings. The Museum is open daily from 9 am till 5 pm. In the Worshiping Hall you can join a service every Sunday at 10 am. The Ganesh Museum is located at 227 Moo 10, Yangkram, Doi Lor, San Patong. It has a website in Thai: www.ganeshmuseum.com.

Picture by marhas

See the video of openchiangmai and the one by ChoongChalisa. Read more: Visiting the Shrine of the Elephant-Headed God.

Chiang Mai Markets and Walking Streets

November 29, 2012, 10:54 am

≫ Next: Will the Chinese build a highspeed railway from Bangkok to Chiang Mai and to Nong Khai?

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See the locations on Chiang Mai Market Google Map


Night Bazaar: The famous venue for shopping in the night. The market with hundreds of street vendor stalls and shops has everything: Clothes, Thai silk, shoes, pirated CDs and DVDs, handicrafts, cameras, jewelry - a lot made in China, some products by the hilltribe people. The goods may be cheaper on markets, where there are not so many tourists. But you can bargain. If you are the first customer, you can get a good price, because it means bad luck, if the first customer doen't buy. And late in the night you get good prices for final sales.
Find your way: The market follows Chang Khlan Road and side streets, between Thaphae and Loi Khro road.
Open: From sunset till midnight.

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Anusarn Night Market: A walking street every night, where you find hilltribe goods in traditional styles. And a great place for dinner, where the locals eat their noodles. A large suqare with tables and food stalls on the side. You can enjoy here Northern Thai specialities, for example the hot green chili dip called nam prik awn. Or try khao soi, flat egg noodles in a soup with chicken or beef. Black chili paste, lime, shallots, bean sprouts or other vegetables are served with it.
Find your way: The market is near Chang Khlan Road, between Anusarn Sunthon Road in the North and Si Don Chai Road in the South.


Kad Luang with Warorot Market and Lamyai Market: Are you looking for real Thai life more than for touristic sights? Then Chiang Mai's chinatown will be the right location. It's called Kad Luang กาดหลวง (this means: big market). Kad Luang is the area, where Chiang Moi Road and Wichayanon Road join.

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Kad Luang



Here you find Warorot Market ตลาดวโรรส, an old Shopping Center in a large building with food on the ground floor. So you will discover pig heads or cooked and dried fish, herbs and spices and any kind of vegetables and also mushrooms. Look for Northern style food as "Kaeb Moo” (crispy fried pig skin), “Moo Yaw” (pork sausage) or “Nam Prik Num” (hot green chilly sauce). On the second and third floor you discover clothes for cheaper prices than in the Night Bazaar, Handbags, Pillow covers, handicrafts or beauty articles. On the east side of Wichayanon Road you find Kad Ton Lamyai กาดต้นลำไย, the fresh food market. Around the buildings there are stalls with everything from shoes to gems and many gold shops. Kad Luang is a 24-hour experience. When the halls of the covered markets turn quiet in the evening, the main streets outside change to a night bazaar with food stalls and fashionable clothing, a place loved by Chiang Mai’s young women and their boyfriends. Close to Kad Luang there is a small soi called Lao Jo, Kad Meo กาดแม้ว or the Hmong hill tribe market. Here they sell handmade goods and products. Near the market area there is a Chinese Shrine called Cong Thao Kong, built about 130 years ago and reconstructed in 1996.
Find your way: From Night Bazaar you follow Changklan Road to the North, until it intersects with Changmoi Road near Mae Ping River. Then the market will be at your left. Here is Chiang Mai's Chinatown.
Open: During the day until 5 pm.

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Warorot Market from upstairs





Lamyai Flower Market: This market smells like heaven. It's the fresh cut flower market. It's perfumed by so many different blossoms. Your eye will catch the buckets full of orchids, in hundreds of varieties and coulours, but also roses, chrysanthemums, lotus and marigolds as well as birds of paradise. The flowers arrive in the night, so it's the best time to go.
Find your way: From Warorot Market along Ping River towards Thapae Road.Open: 24 hours.

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Flower market

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Muang Mai Market: The place, where you get the food very fresh from the farmers and cheap. It's a wholesale area. There are stalls, shops and also pick up trucks. You will find huge amounts of cabbages, garlic, wstermelons, pineabbles and a lot more fruits and vegetables and also a section with meat and seafood and of course stalls selling curry pastes.
Find your way: Wang Sing Kham Road, from Warorot Market to North.




Wualai Walking Street: Are you looking for silver and lacquer ware? Then you are right at Wualai Street, where elegant old wooden houses show the past glory of the silversmiths of Chiang Mai. There are still many shops, well known for old technique and good quality. And every Saturday evening the road is closed for the traffic and a Walking street. Along one kilometer you find handicrafts, clothes, musical instruments, food and young artists exhibiting their work. And Lanna dancing performances from various schools in Chiang Mai are staged. Then there is Wat Sri Suphan, one of the temple buildings is decorated in shining silver.

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Grilled balls on Wualai Walking Street

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Sweet steamed cakes

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Funny bags

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Just beautiful

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Grandmum's delights

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And the silver




More about the Street you read on the website of Wualai community. Then you find here a shop with crafts of hilltribe people Bann Wualai. Or you decide for a Kantoke Dinner with a hilltribe show at Old Chiangmai Cultural Center.
Find your way: Near the Gate at the south side of the old city. You leave by Phra Pok Klao Road, outside the wall you turn right, walk on Chiang Lo Road, from where Wualai Road will point to Southwest.
Open: Walking Street every Satuarday from around 5 pm till 11 pm.


Ratchadamnoen Walking Street: Full of excitement, thanks to the large crowd of people enjoying the night in the heart of the old city, shopping, drinking, eating, listening to musicians, looking at art and craftsmanships of Northern Thailand, Thai dancers or puppet shows. Many stallowners sell personally made goods from wood to metals, ceramics, fabrics, paper and more. In a number of temples along the road the stallowners sell meals cooked in front of your eyes.
Find your way: From Tha Pae Gate follow Ratchdamnoen Road.
Open: Every Sunday from 5 pm till midnight.

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Wat Pan Tao. See more Wat Pan Tao

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Chiang Mai Flea Market: Walk around and bargain. The Seconhand Market is less known by tourists. Adjacent to Prince Royal College it is open every Saturday and Sunday from 9 am till 4 pm. There is a walking street on Bumrungrad Road. The market is well known for amulets.



Discover more:
Your Guide to Chiang Mai



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Will the Chinese build a highspeed railway from Bangkok to Chiang Mai and to Nong Khai?

December 27, 2012, 6:33 am

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China has just opened the worlds longest Highspeed-Railway from Beijing in the north along 2298 km to the southern boom city of Guangzhou. There were a lot of international headlines around the first train on this line. And they helped to forget the big problems with Chinese Highspeed Trains as the Wenzou train collision in the not so far past.

But the Chinese Railway policy has much bigger ambitions. It is under way to create a Highspeed Railway System in Southeast Asia, linking China to Laos and Thailand and creating connections from China to Singapore.

Laos is forcing plans for a $7 billion railway link from the capital Vientiane in the South to the Chinese border in the North (passing the towns of Phonhong, Vangvieng, Luang Prabang, Oudomxay and Luang Namtha). The construction shall begin early in 2013. The line will be completed around 2014, said Laotian Deputy Prime Minister Somsavat Lengsavad at an international rail conference in Beijing. "While the exact route isn't clear, the rail line is expected to connect the southwest Chinese city of Kunming with Singapore, passing through Laos, Thailand and Malaysia", wrote wsj.com.

The project is financed by a 30-year loan from Export-Import Bank of China, according to rfa.org. China will be responsible for the construction. "Beijing is seeking to secure raw materials from neighboring countries to feed massive infrastructure investment and its manufacturing industry", wrote wsj.com. There is one more railway project in Laos: On December 24 a contract was signed for a US $5 billion railway line from Savannakhet to Lao Bao at Vietnam border. The construction is undertaken by Malaysian company Giant Consolidated, writes enjoy-laos.com.

Meanwhile preparations for four highspeed-railway lines in Thailand are going on. Funding is to come from a proposed 2-trillion-baht investment programme dedicated to new infrastructure projects over the next seven years. In November 2012 Finance Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong said according to Bangkok Post the government is planning four high-speed rail lines to support trade and tourism within the country. The four high-speed rail lines are Bangkok-Nong Khai-Vientiane; Bangkok-Ayutthaya-Chiang Mai; Bangkok to Hua Hin; and an expansion of the Airport Rail Link in Bangkok to Chon Buri, Pattaya and Rayong. These plans are supported by a Study of Thailand Development Research Institute Foundation. And China is aggressively lobbying the Thai government to select its train and construction technology, writes Bangkok Post. Chinese Deputy Railways Minister Lu Chunfang told Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra that its construction costs average only US$20 million per kilometre compared with $81 million in Japan and $50 million in Germany. Thailand and China signed a memorandum of understanding on April 15 to conduct a feasibility study for the Bangkok-Chiang Mai and Bangkok-Nong Khai high-speed rail links. Thailands government plans to open international bidding early next year on the first phase of the high-speed rail project. Chinese government officials advising Thailand have suggested that it begins with a 54km route linking Bangkok and Ayutthaya as it would fall in line with the government's push to have the ancient capital serve as host for the 2020 World Expo, noted Bangkok Post.

Macao on the Mekong: How Chinese money flows into the Golden Triangle

February 12, 2013, 2:31 pm

≫ Next: The killing of 13 Chinese sailors on the Mekong:A puzzle about the drug hub in the Golden Triangle with missing pieces

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Picture by johntrathome

From the Thai border near the town of Chiang Saen you see two golden domes dominating the Laotian side of the Mekong River. If you cross the river you enter the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone (SEZ). Welcome to the "Macau on the Mekong": The casino at Tonphueng in Bokeo province (see video on video 1 on youtube and video 2 on youtube) has been built by Chinese money and investors with links to Macau. Alongside the waterfront boats disgorge Lao and Thai businessmen, and gamblers. Beneath the Laotian immigration officers and some policemen you will meet a lot of Chinese people. The Casino has the Chinese name Jin Mu Mian (金木棉, "golden kapok"). The casino wants to attract visitors from countries, where casinos are forbidden: China and Thailand.

What is a Special Economic zone in Laos gives not mainly work to Lao people. "Of the more than 4,500 people employed in the zone, only around 500 are Laotian", notes Tom Fawthrop in South China Morning Post. And he continues: "The investors who signed the contract to create the SEZ with the Laotian government back in April 2007 have pledged to change the image of the Golden Triangle, once the epicentre of the global heroin trade, into a tourist haven with glittering nightclubs, ecotourism and a new international airport. Yet despite the influx of cash and grandiose plans, there are plenty of concerns about the project, with a prominent Thai business leader and a UN agency worried that the centrepiece casino will be used to launder money from the region's infamous drug trade." And he adds: "And despite the scale of the multibillion-dollar project, the identity of the investors remains largely a mystery."

The man who runs the operation in the name of the King Romans Group (KRG) is 60-year-old Zhao Wei(赵伟), chairman of the SEZ and KRG president (see Zhao Wei on youtube). He says he is vice-chairman of the Macau-Asean Business Association, but the journalist could not track this group down. Critics say that he is connected with the casinos of Mong La, in the Shan area of Myanmar, which many believe belong to the former drug baron Sai Leun, aka Lin Ming Xian (read asianews.it). Clear ist, that Zhao Wei has run a casino in Mongla, the Sin-City in Myanmar, situated opposite the town of Dalou in China's Yunnan province. Mong La in the 1990s established itself as a Chinese tourism hub for gambling, prostitution and transsexual cabaret shows - not to mention rampant money-laundering. 2005 Beijing, after reports of corrupt officials investing state funds on Myanmar gaming tables, banned Chinese officials and citizens from traveling to Mong La. The King Romans Group (Dok Ngiew Kham) is registered in Hong Kong. Its investors are said to be from Hong Kong, Macau and Yunnan Province.

For the moment, there is the casino, a restaurant and a two storey hotel, designed to resemble Beijing’s Forbidden City, and a 30-kilometre road to the nearest town, the regional capital Ban Houei Xay. Later the complex should include a golf course, karaoke bars, massage parlours, a swimming pool, hotels, clinics and shopping centres (see promotion video on youtube. KRG also dreams about an international airport. The government of Laos has signed over 10,000 hectares to the King Romans Group on a 99-year lease, including Don Sao Island. According to Tom Fawthrop KRG plans to invest US$2.25 billion US by 2020 (the entire Laotian national budget in 2009 was estimated at US$1.13 billion). And Zhao Wei is planning a city of 200 000 residents at the end. This would be the second largest town of Laos after Vientiane.

Crucial to the project is the Kunming -Bangkok Expressway. The China section is completed; the only major work remaining is the construction of a bridge spanning the Mekong and linking Laos and Thailand. The 4th Thai-Lao friendship bridge between Chiang Khong and Houay Xay is expected to be completed between late 2013. Some people fear, that Houay Xay could turn into the next Boten, a border town at the Lao-Chinese border, where Chinese traders and workers outnumber locals (read more on Chiang Rai Bulletin) and a Chinese casino had to be closed.

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Chinese stores and restaurants lining the road to the casino in the Lao border town Boten

The Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone (Homepage: laosez.com) lies "in the stomping grounds of one particularly powerful drug runner named Naw Kham", notes Lauren Hilgers. She writes: "Naw Kham is a Shan minority from the Burmese side of the border and a wanted man in Thailand, Burma, Laos, and China. His forces (called the “Hawngleuk militia”) exert control through Laos and northern Thailand. His speedboats are said to show up on the river and levy taxes on passing cargo boats, particularly the Chinese ones. In 2008, Naw Kham’s forces shot up a Chinese patrol boat. In April 2011, 34 crew members on three Chinese boats were briefly taken hostage by a group of pirates assumed to be answering to the drug lord. This past October, 13 Chinese were shot and killed while sitting in two small boats full of methamphetamine." Meanwhile Naw Kham has been arrested and waits in a prison in China for his trial.

Lauren Hilgers adds: "Border casinos are attractive to Chinese investors for two reasons — they fill a huge demand for gambling and they facilitate the process of getting money out of the mainland." And then she writes: "Zhao insists his intentions in Laos are good. His goal, he says, is to be here for a long time. But it is hard to see how he will do it without at least reaching an agreement with local drug runners."

Vice president of Kings Romans Group is Wenxin Zheng. He assured Lauren Hilgers "that there is no drinking or prostitution in the casino, but on the north side of the hotel I spot a shabby pink building with a row of dubious-looking massage parlors on the ground floor, and on the second level a bar whose windows have been blacked out by giant posters of pole-dancing ladies. A tall woman in short shorts stands outside one of the storefronts, sipping a Coke."

If you are foreigner and visiting Thailand it is not so easy to go to the casino. You are now allowed to exit or enter Thailand at Sop Ruak and exit/enter Laos at the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone. Here you need a Lao visum (30 days for 30 to 35 US-dollars.

Read also:
Gambling a Foreign Hand
Busted flash: How Golden City in Boten, at the Lao/China border, was shut down
Dams, Casinos and Concessions - Rising Powers. Chinese Megaprojects in Laos

The killing of 13 Chinese sailors on the Mekong:A puzzle about the drug hub in the Golden Triangle with missing pieces

February 20, 2013, 12:22 pm

≫ Next: After the Execution of Naw Kham in China: Mekong Safety remains an Issue

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See the locations on Golden Triangle Google Map

Posted February 14 in 2013

Picture by Mike UCL
The Mae Kong river from the Golden Triangle viewpoint. Thailand on the left, Myanmar in the middle, Laos on the right. Nearby 13 Chinese sailors were killed in October 2011.

Naw Kham was tracked down by a Chinese elite unit - in Bokeo province in the north of Laos, after he had crossed the Mekong River from Myanmar into Laos. He was arrested on April 25 in 2012. Only a few days later he was extradited from Laos to China. There he is wating now in the prison. His only hope is the appeal against the death sentence he got from judges in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province. A drug baron from Myanmar caught in Laos and sentenced in China - this has never happened before.


Naw Kham, presented to the media by Lao authorities before his deportation to China

Shortly after the two cargo ships Huaping and Yuxing 8 had crossed the boarder to Thailand on the Mekong near Chiang Saen they were entered by the elite Thai military unit called the Pha Muang Taskforce, named after an ancient Thai warrior king. What happened before and afterwards on October 5 in 2011? There are different tales from more than hundred witnesses. Clear is only: 13 Chinese sailors from Yunnan were found dead afterwards. The captain of one boat lay dead over an AK-47 assault rifle. The twelf other sailors had to be fished from the Mekong. Most victims had been gagged and blindfolded, with their hands bound behind their backs. Some had massive head wounds; others had been sprayed with bullets. "It was the deadliest assault on Chinese nationals overseas in modern times", reported Reuters. A shockwave went through the Chinese media. And the Thai government in Bangkok soon felt the heat of the diplomatic pressure from Peking. The Pha Muang Taskforce pointed to Naw Kham, in Thai media also written Jai Norkham.

The story, that emerged from these newspaper articles: Since 2006 Naw Kham (43) - an etnic Shan and citizen of Myanmar - ran "a protection racket taxing drug smugglers along the Mekong" (the Shan Herald Agency). Xian Yanming, a member of the Chinese investigative team, told Chinese Central Television that Naw Kham had been operating with a force of around 100 men, known as Hawngleuk Militia. Equipped with weapons such as AK 47s, machine guns, pistols and grenades. He is said to have committed crimes including murder, kidnapping, drug trafficking and extortion. They were pirates taking a tax also from ships on the Mekong. Naw Kham and his militia had terrorized this part of the Mekong River for nearly a decade. So were the tales. He had to be caught. And then the extradition of Naw Kham and some of his men to China took a big burden from the shoulders of the governments of Thailand and Laos.

Naw Kham confessed his responsability for the killing of the 13 Chinese - according to some reports. During the trial in september 2012 in Kunming Hsang Kham, the number two of the militia, said according to telegraph.co.uk: "Chinese boats did not pay up, and reported us to Burmese soldiers, which hurt our gang badly." And he added: "Naw Kham wanted revenge. On October 5, after the boats were hijacked, he told us: 'Kill them all'". But Naw Kham denied the murders in front of the court.



What happened really on October 5 in 2011, in the famous Golden Triangle, where the borders of Thailand, Laos and Myanmar converge? Tourists looking out from the point of view in Sop Ruak see a casino on the Lao side of the Mekong, a casino on the Myanmar side and they can observe the Mekong River emerging from the mountains far behind. From the No Man's Land with isolated jungle valleys and mountains between Thailand, Laos, Myanmar and China. Looking out you may remember newspaper stories about a lawless land, where rebel armies inside Myanmar fight against the government, where governments and security forces are far away. You may have read that today Myanmar is the world's second-biggest opium producer after Afghanistan. You have heard, that Myanmar is the producer of Methamphetamine drugs known as yaba, ice, shabu or just "crazy drugs". Every year hundreds of millions of this pills - worth hundreds of millions of dollars - have to cross borders, find ways of transport into Thailand and Laos. Shan State Army–South (on the Thai-Myanmar border) and United Wa State Army (on the border to China) are said to make a lot of money in the drug business. This has been reported for example by Chiangrai Times. Someone has to organize and protect this business, find ways through the No Man's Land and onwards. Someone has to have good connections in Thailand and Laos.

Was Naw Kham with his around hundred men the big mastermind?

“Kham’s capture has taken a massive load off our shoulders. The fact that his gang is now destroyed means a new lease of life for trade and tourism on the Mekong,” said a Thai security official in Chiang Saen port (Thailand) according to Asia Pasific Defence Forum. "This is a warning in case similar cases occur in the future," said Liu Zhi, a professor of international relations at Yunnan university according to telegraph.co.uk. So this warning went to other criminals in the area. There are doubts about the role of Naw Kham. He has "become a near-legendary figure", wrote Andrew R.C. Marshall for Reuters. "So many shipping attacks are attributed to this 46-year-old ethnic Shan that it seems as if the Mekong ambitions of the Asian superpower are being foiled by a medieval-style drug lord with a few dozen hill tribe gunmen."

Despite the judgments by Chinese courts the murder of the 13 Chinese Sailors remains mysterious. No clear proves and motifs emerged from the courtrooms. Also investigations in Thailand raised questions. There are pieces of a puzzle - but some pieces are still missing for the clear picture. The pieces:

A Chinese patrol boat on the Mekong came under fire in 2008, three police officers were killed, one injured.

In April 2011 a casino boat was seized by pirates near Sam Puu Island and 19 crewmen were held. Zhao Wei, representant of the unknown owners of King Romans Casino seems to have paid for a 733,000 US-Dollar ransom. The Shan Herald Agency for News reported this. A Casino spokesman even denied the existence of the kidnapping. But Democrazy for Burma reported on April 11 in 2011: 13 Chinese who were kidnapped by Golden Triangle godfather Naw Kham were released Friday, 8 April, 4 days after they were taken by his men, according to a source close to the King Romans casino in Laos.

In September 2011 a raid on the casino of King Romans Group in Laos brought 20 sacks of drugs (worth 1.6 million US Dollars) to the daylight - according to Thailand’s deputy prime minister Chalerm Yubamroong.

On October 5 in 2011 the 13 Chinese sailors were found dead. The boats Huaping and Yuxing 8 wer not only carrying the officiall load - fuel, apples and garlic - but also 920,000 methamphetamine pills with an estimated value of 6 million US-Dollars. It remains unclear where the drugs came from and to whom they belonged to. Where the Chinese sailers involved in the drug trade? Or came the drugs on board on the way down from Yunnan?

After October 5 the men of the Pha Muang unit came under suspense to be involved in the murders. Again Reuters: "On October 28 nine members of the Pha Muang Taskforce appeared before police in the northern city of Chiang Rai to answer allegations of murder and tampering with evidence." The nine soldiers denied. A Thai parliamentary comittee investigated the massacre. "Circumstantial evidence suggests that Thai officials were involved in the sailors' deaths", the House Foreign Affairs Standing Committee said on January 12 in an apparent reference to the military task force. "However, their motive, and whether it is connected to the drugs found on the ships, remains inconclusive," it said in preliminary findings seen by Reuters. There were many versions about what happened on the two boats. One has been published on mathaba.net: "The first account of what had occurred was floated by senior Thai officers of the RTA Third Army's Pha Muang Task Force (...). According to this version of events, the barges had been hi-jacked and the crew killed north of the Thai border where the river flows between Myanmar and Laos by drug smugglers who were planning to use the vessels to smuggle drugs into Thailand. As they entered Thai waters around 1:30 pm on October 5, they were intercepted by a PMTF unit acting on a tip-off. A fire-fight reportedly lasting half an hour between the PMTF and the smugglers erupted during which it appeared the dead man on the deck had been shot and killed while all his associates escaped overboard."

The attacks on Chinese Ships did not stop after the killing of the 13 Chinese sailors. In January 2012 a Chinese cargo ship carrying logs on the Mekong river was fired on by unidentified attackers. The Shengtai-11 was returning to Xishuangbanna, in the Chinese border province of Yunnan, from Thailand when it was fired on from the Lao side of the river. No-one was injured, as Reuters reported.

Some tales underline the role of a Thai godfather: Chamras Phacharoen, better known as Pu Nuad (“Moustache”), is believed to be a close associate of Naw Kham. In September 2011 in Mae Sai (Thailand) his home was raided by joint Thai and Burmese officials according to Shan Herald. Nothing incriminating was found. But the Shan Herald wrote later: "Chamras Phacharoen aka Olarn Somphongphand had planned the killing of the sailors and planted 920 000 speed pills to implicate Zhao Wei, the owner of the Kings Romans casino in Laos’ Tonpheung." On Juli 13 2012 Changrai Times wrote, that Chiang Rai provincial court had approved a warrant for the arrest of Olarn Sompongphand, who is believed to have been involved in the attack on the two Chinese boats and to be involved in the narcotics trade. And he is also wanted for the murder of former deputy interior minister and former Chaiyaphum MP Santi Chaiwirattana in Chiang Rai in 2011. The Police believe that Olarn - whose wife is a Shan - has fled to border areas under the control of Myanmar’s Wa ethnic group. In the same time Police General Pansiri said according to Bangkok Post, that his team has issued arrest warrants for the nine soldiers for their suspected involvement in the murder of the 13 sailors. In November 2012 Thai police and military forces raided 50 locations in Mae Chan, Mae Sai and Mae Fah Luang in the northern province of Chiang Rai according to subzerosiam.com. Five locations were major drug warehouses and homes of drug syndicate network figures. The authorities, meanwhile, seized the assets of Jamras Sompongphand, alleged member of a drug trafficking ring in the Golden Triangle. Police confiscated assets of more than 500 million Bath from Mr Jamras in Mae Sai district to be determined whether they were acquired from illicit drug trading.

What is clear: Drug trafficking out ot the Golden Triangle was not much disturbed by the arrest of Naw Kham. In May 2012 Thomas Fuller writes on nytimes.com: "The Thai authorities seized 31.3 million methamphetamine pills from October through March — a 45 percent increase from a year earlier, when 21.6 million pills were seized, according to a recently published Thai government report. (...) Over the past three years, corrupt officials in Thai hospitals have been complicit in the drug business, selling to Myanmar-based gangs millions of cold tablets made from pseudoephedrine, which is used in the production of methamphetamines. (...) An estimated 48 million cold pills have been seized or disappeared from public hospitals since 2008, according to Thailand’s Narcotics Control Board."
In December 2012 Thailands notional police chief Adul Saengsingkaew launched raids at 107 locations across the northern provinces of Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai, as Bangkok Post documented. "The police chief said that the region is known to be a major narcotics hub". Police also seized assets attributed to the cartel once headed by Naw Kham, included a house in San Sai district, cars, gold and cash with an estimated value of 25 million baht. In Mae Taeng district anti-narcotics agents busted a Laotian Hmong drug ring and arrested Chatchawan Atsawacharonekul (23) along with half a million meth pills and 7.3 million baht in cash. The suspect was hired to transport the drug shipment to dealers in Chiang Mai. A 74-rai opium plantation was also destroyed.

In January 2013 a special unit of the Pha Mueang Task Force killed three drug smuggling suspects in Mae Sai, more than 1.2 million methamphetamine pills were being seized during the operation. The drug smugglers were believed to be part of a drug caravan of Lieutenant Colonel Yi Say's drug trafficking network, as mcot-web.mcot.net reported. Five of them were killed earlier in a clash with the authorities on January 6.

On January 10 a Lieutenant, dressed in his uniform, was arrested with 1.3 million methamphetamine tablets and 30 kilos of crystal methamphetamine hidden in the panels of his black Ford Ranger pickup truck. It was Surapol Phromvijit, presenting the identity card of Internal Security Operational Command and stating that he was a special officer with responsibilities of border patrol and international security intelligence (see democracyforburma.wordpress.com). This was not the first arrest of officers delivering drugs. In Nan in 2012 a Lieutenant and four non-commissioned officers were arrested delivering drugs in a police car from Chiang Rai to Ayutthaya. In August 2012 Chiang Mai Provincial Police arrested Police Senior Sergeant Major Wasan Wisarutwetsaphu (45), a policeman belonging to the Border Patrol Police 33, in San Sai, with 24,000 yaba pills in his truck.

The questions remain: What was the role of Naw Kham? Thai MP Sunai Chulpongsatorn, who chaired the parliamentary foreign affairs committee during its investigation, believed that a Naw Kham legend had been created by attributing attacks by other bandits in the Golden Triangle to him. "There are many Naw Khams, not just one," he said. "It's like in a drama. He's a made-up character. He exists, but it seems he has been given a lot of extra importance." He Xilun, who lost his older brother and sister-in-law in the attack on the two Chinese ships, was doubtful too during the trial in China. “In this trial the truth has not been revealed”, he told "The Irrawaddy". “We have worked on ships on the Mekong for 14 years and never once heard that Chinese ships pay protection money to Naw Kham", he said, adding that only the tip of the iceberg has come forth in the case. The nine soldiers of Pha Muang, who were on the two cargo ships, until now have not been charged and remained on active military duty.

So only something comes out very clear from all the tales around the killing mistery: A drug trade business worth hundreds of millions of dollars attracts not only militia men but also poorly paid law enforcement officials across the region, in Myanmar, China, Laos and Thailand. May be the truth in the case of Naw Kham and the 13 dead Chinese sailors will remain hidden among many other secrets along the Mekong River in the Golden Triangle. Nearly for sure human rights activists will not protest against the death sentence for a militia leader from the No Man's Land.

What remains furthermore: China's presence in the Golden Triangle has grown. After the killing of the sailors joint ship patrols on the Mekong were sanctioned by China, Myanmar, Thailand and Laos. In December 2011, after less than a fortnight of patrols, three Myanmar soldiers were killed in a clash with suspected drug traffickers. The cargo and passenger shipping from Yunnan to Chiang Saen - blocked after the killings - has resumed. On October 7 in 2012 a tourist ferry carrying 21 Britons and 2 South Africans set off from China’s Jinghong to Thailand’s Chiang Saen. No incidents have been reported since then.




Added February 20 in 2013:

China considered using a drone to kill drug warlord Naw Kham in the Myanmar section of the Golden Triangle last year, the Chinese anti-drug agent who chased him for months has revealed. "One plan was to use an unmanned aircraft to carry 20 kilogrammes of TNT to bomb the area," said Liu Yuejin, commander of the Chinese anti-drug force based in Yunnan, in the Chinese newspaper Global Times. But then the Chinese officials wanted Naw Kham taken alive. According to Bangkok Post it was the first time any Chinese official has spoken openly of the development of drones by the country.


Added February 27 in 2013:

Myanmar drug lord Naw Kham and three of his accomplices, convicted of murdering 13 Chinese sailors on the Mekong River in 2011, will be executed on March 1 according to Xinhua. They will be executed by lethal injection in the city of Kunming in southwest China's Yunnan Province, the Kunming Intermediate People's Court said. Naw Kham's three accomplices were identified as Hsang Kham from Thailand, Yi Lai, stateless, and Zha Xika, Laotian.

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After the Execution of Naw Kham in China: Mekong Safety remains an Issue

March 9, 2013, 6:23 am

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After the execution of Myanmar Druglord Naw Kham by the Chinese authorities in Kunming the safety for boats travelling on the Mekong River from Yunnan in China to Chiang Saen in Northern Thailand is still an issue: A new drug gang controlled by Jasi Bo has taken over from Naw Kham in leading an armed group active along the river. This has been said by Vichai Chaimongkhon, director of Narcotics Control Office Region 5 in Northern Thailand according to Bangkok Post. The group is said to employ 40 to 50 armed men and to be based about eight kilometres north of Ban Samphu in Myanmar where Naw Kham's gang was based. The group is said to extort protection money from boats sailing up and down the Mekong.


Meanwhile Police from Xishuangbanna in southern China have presented a security cooperation plan to deal with crimes on the Mekong. They plan to establish a centre in Chiang Rai to jointly patrol on the Mekong River with Thai forces.

The drug trade in the Golden Triangle remains a big issue for Chinese authorities, as Global Times reports. In the 1990s it had around 165 000 hectares of opium poppy fields. This shrank to 18 600 hectares in 2006. But since then the drug plantations have been creeping back to 33,000 hectares. Hu Zujun, director of the anti-drug bureau under the Yunnan Provincial Department of Public Security, said, the Konkang area in the Shan State in Myanmar saw "the most severe resurgence". But also new types of drugs are flowing into China. Of the 16 tons of drugs intercepted by Yunnan police last year, methamphetamine accounted for around two thirds of the total, said Hu. "In 2010 Chinese police for the first time seized more methamphetamine than heroin over the course of the year, and over the following years, the share of crystal meth has risen", writes Global Times.

The Shan Human Rights Foundation, based in Chiang Mai (Thailand) has accused police and military authorities in the Shan State of “making money out of the (drug) issues, instead of trying to address them”.


Read more:
The killing of 13 Chinese sailors on the Mekong: A puzzle about the drug hub in the Golden Triangle with missing pieces

Enjoy Coffee from the Akha Hilltribes in Chiang Mai

March 10, 2013, 6:47 am

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See the location on Mae Chan Tai Google Map
See the location on Akha Ama Cafe Chiang Mai Google Map

Pictures by Aka Ama Coffee
Coffee is harvested in Mae Chan Tai village and served in Chiang Mai:

Picture by squarewithin
Akha Ama Cafe



Akha Ama Coffee กาแฟอาข่า อ่ามา - Ama means "mother" in Akha language - was the idea of a woman and her son in the Akha village of Ban Mae Chan Tai บ้านแม่จันใต้ (also: Ma Jan Tai). But it was a long way until 14 Akha families of Mae Chan Tai in 2007 began producing “Akha Ama Coffee” instead of selling the green beans to middlemen for a low price. The story of this coffee starts in the 1940s in the middle of the civil war between the Chinese Communist Party and the Kuomintang, as onourownpath.com notes. Many of the Akha people, living in the southern mountains of China, fled south out of the country by foot - to Myanmar, Laos and Thailand. Many then began growing opium. In the 1990s the royal family of Thailand startet projects to help them out of opium production, then coffee was introduced to the Akha people. But they got dependent from the coffee buyers, also because they had their own language and did hardly speak Thai. This began to changem when Akha Ama sent her first son, Lee, off to a Buddhist school at a temple in Lamphun. From then on he improved his Thai and started picking up English. To improve his English skills he started talking with foreign tourists. Lee finished high school and became a member of various youth groups and organisations in Chiang Mai, including UNICEF. "I wanted to do something for society, but I didn't know what," he explained to Chiang Mai City Life how he went on to study English at Chiang Mai Rajabhat University. And then he did an internship at Child’s Dream, an NGO run by former Swiss bankers based in Chiang Mai. There he learnt about community development. And he realized: His village was growing coffee. "But the problem was that we received very little benefit from it. We had knowledge but we were not business savvy."

Lee and his mother convinced the people of her village to not only produce, but also process and market their own coffee. The climate of the northern Thai mountains is suited to growing Arabica coffee beans. The majority of the coffee plants grown in northern Thailand are of the Catimor hybrid. But Mae Chan Tai village mainly grows the true Arabica varieties Catuai and Typica, which produce a much higher quality coffee. They also decided to produce in an organically sustainable way. The coffee plants at an altitude of around 1500 meters are now grown in between larger fruit trees and a wide variety of vegetables. This benefits the soil ecology, creates humus, stabilises hillsides against erosion and retains moisture during the dry season. Due to constant crop rotation, pests are less liable to negatively affect the plants. Therefore the use of chemical fertilizers, herbicides or pesticides can be reduced. And this is close to the system that the Akha people have used throughout their history.

Meanwhile Lee Ayu Chuepa runs Akha Ama Cafe in Chiang Mai (see video of Thai PBS), where you get not only Akha Ama Coffee but also a variety of teas and fruit juices as well als delicious cakes and muffins (9/1 Mata Apartment, Hussadhisewee rd, soi 3). He startet it after receiving a social entrepreneurship grant. And from here he distributes the coffee to other shops and also abroad. The Way of the Wai shows pictures of the cafe and the village. Mrs Red Has a Red Bag has also pictures from Lee's village. See more pictures of Akha Ama Cafe.

Every November and January now Lee organizes coffee journeys to Mae Chan Tai village with a homestay overnight at his familys home. A Teacher's Journey describes this experience: "They offered us tea and dinner which consisted of peanuts, green vegetables, mushrooms, and shredded shoots from some unidentified plant. I took a very chilly bucket bath in the bamboo shack out back by orange light of a candle and the blue light of the full moon." Read also this story.

Picture by onourownpath.com
The Akha village Ban Mae Chan Tai

Picture by onourownpath.com
Coffee beans

Picture by onourownpath.com
He gets a better price for the coffee beans now


Read about the marriage ritual of the Akha at Mae Chan Tai in a study by Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University.

Why the derailment of the Nighttrain from Bangkok to Chiang Mai is really alarming

July 17, 2013, 2:34 pm

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See the locations on Train derailment in Northern Thailand Google Map

See picture by Hollie Freestone on Twitter

No good news for who loves travelling by train in Thailand: 23 people were injured when the Bangkok-Chiang Mai Express - an overnight sleeper train - derailed. Almost 300 passengers were on board, when seven carriages of State Railways of Thailand fell off the tracks early on Wednesday. See video on youtoube.

The accident happened in Den Chai district in the northern province of Phrae, about 200 kilometers southeast of Chiang Mai, between kilometer markers 540 and 541, between Pak Pan and Kaeng Luang stations, at about 3.45am. Five second-class sleeping berths, one first-class sleeping carriage and one dining car toppled onto their sides.

Five of the injured passengers are Thais, the others foreigners from Australia, France, Spain, Japan, Belgium, Poland, China, United States, New Zealand and Chile. Bangkok Post has publihed the names of the injured. There were some broken arms and minor injuries.

The train service between Bangkok and Chiang Mai was supended after this accident. Passengers were transported by buses.

Who plans to travel by train to Chiang Mai, should note, what has been said after the accident: "Derailments happen quite often," said State Railway of Thailand governor Prapat Chongsanguan. "Initially we think that this time it's due to old rail track," he told Agence France Press (AFP). It was the second derailment on the route in a month. Therefore Nopparat Chaichalearmmongkol writes: "Thai railway officials have acknowledged that the country’s train network is suffering from poor maintenance after the sixth serious derailment in less than a year" and quoted Prapat Chongsanguan saying, that "the rail system has been missing out on improvement and maintenance". He added that the government has approved some 170 billion baht, or $5.5 billion, for maintenance since 2010. But only about a 10th of that has been received to date by State Railways if Thailand. Since October 2012 six similar accidents have taken place on the northern line, three each in Phrae and Lampang provinces, but this was the first that involved injuries.

Thai media reported, that the speed limit in the hilly region of Phrae is 45 kilometers per hour. The derailed train was travelling at 40 kilometers per hour.

Discussions about a new high-speed railway between Bangkok and Chiang Mai are ongoing. Thailand's cabinet in March has approved a plan to spend 68 billion US Dollars for the railway and other transportation mega projects. Under the seven-year scheme high-speed trains will drive across Thaila on four lines linking Bangkok with the north, south and east of the country. But the plans have yet to be approved by the parliament.

Loy Krathong in Mae Jo: Really an Adventure

September 2, 2013, 12:49 pm

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Loy Kratong in Mae Jo. Picture fredalix - อาลิกส์

In Mae Jo แม่โจ้ (about 20km North from Chiang Mai) the ceremony is usually hold at the Lanna Dhutanka temple (behind Mae Jo University) on Saturday night of the weekend before Loy Krathong, so this year it was planned for Saturday 13th. But there are reports on tripadvisor.com, that there has been some political pressure. So the date has been changed to Saturday 20th (read more). The result was magical: The full moon rose just in the middle of the round place in front of the wat, where far over tenthousand people gathered for the event.

Picture marhas1
Full moon over the temple in Mae Jo

Everybody sat on the floor for hours, taking part in long Buddhist prayers. Patience was needed, before the highlight of the night arrived:

Picture marhas1
Preparing the hot air ballons

Thousands of hot air ballons, called "Khom Loy", were launched at the same time. You cannot imagine this moment of joy shared by thousends of people around you.

Picture marhas1
Up they go - all together.


What followed, was not that joyful: Everybody tried to get home through a small street leading out of the temple kompound, for around one kilometer there was no more room between the bodies moving to the exit very slowly. And afterwards of course the streets back to Chiang Mai were full of traffic. One lesson learnt: You should not do this trip without a good guide, who is able to get contact with your driver and get you back to the car in all this traffic. And: We were grateful, that all people on the way out kept calm - it's hard to imagine, what could have happened, if some people would have got a panic attack.

See this video from 2009 by chipoisonphoto.

Loy Kratong in Mae Jo. Picture fredalix - อาลิกส์



Discover more:
Your Guide to Chiang Mai



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This blog post has been published on November 22 2010.


Update:
In 2013 Yee Peng Festival at the Meditation Center in Mae Jo is schedulded for Saturday November 23, from 5 pm as you can read here. It is specially arranged for international visitors. In the ticket for 100 USD a shuttle bus and food is included. The full moon day - the offical Loy Kratong day - is on November 17. For some days around this day Chiang Mai will celebrate the Loy Kratong and Yee Peng Festival. And in Mae Jo a religious ceremony is probably held on Saturday November 16. The exact date will emerge later this year.

Fire destroys set for Hollywood Film in Lampang

November 24, 2013, 10:39 pm

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The set of "The Coup", a Hollywood Movie filmed in Lampang, was destroyed by a fire on Wednesday night, as posttoday.com reports. The fire broke out in a building, which was used as a studio for the American thriller movie with the stars Pierce Brosnan, Lake Bell and Owen Wilson. The movie, directed by John Erick Dowdle, is about an American family moving to Southeast Asia but finding themselves caught in the middle of a coup and they have to escape an environment where foreigners are being immediately executed.

Chiang Mai Guesthouses - through the eyes of guests

November 24, 2013, 9:47 am

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See the location of the guesthouses on Chiang Mai Guesthouse Google Map


Pak Chiang Mai OLD TOWN Hidden Gem 39/5 Phra Pok Klao 2 Road. From 1800 Baht.

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Beautiful courtyard with trees, hanging plants and a little fish pond, living areas around it. The romms have a CD-Player. The owners are very attentive to their guests, you feel like part of the family, Nat, his sister Noon and their father care for the nature, serve a wide choice of delicious organic breakfast, lunch and dinner, avoid plastic, and, and, and... The location is very close to Chiang Mai Gate market, where you can enjoy the delights of local food stalls in the evening. You can have a traditional Thai massage in the living area, done by very experienced women and men. The whole guesthouse is decorated with great taste. And you have wireless internet. The guesthouse opened in july 2008. See lovely pictures here and read the reviews on tripadvisor.com and see more in this blog. Noon has been a former staff of Phranakorn Nornlen in Bangkok, before she opened Pak Chiang Mai with her family.


Picture marhas1


Picture marhas1


Baan Orapin บ้าน อรพินท์: From 1600 to 3800 Baht. 150 Charoenraj Rd., T.Wat Kate. Lovely oasis, according to reviews on tripadvisor.com



Picture Yiqun Ding


3 Sis Bed and Breakfast ทรี ซีส - OLD TOWN: 1650 Baht. 1 Soi 8 Phra Pokklao Road. Built 2007 beneath the old 3 Sis. See their gallery. See Photos by Vitold and miss_michelle. Good reviews on tripadvisor.com. And travelfish.org has the story of the three sisters, running the original guesthouse.


Alley Nine Guest House OLD TOWN: From 9 USD. 38 Soi 9 Moonmuang Rd.


Baan Hanibah OLD TOWN: From 1250 Bath. 6 Moonmuang Rd. Soi 8. See picture by erika. Excellent reviews on tripadvisor.com. See gallery by jeffreyhsu


Baan Kaew Guesthouse บ้านแก้ว: 800 Baht. 142 Charoenprathet Rd., opposite Wat Chaimongkol. A blit like an American motel, according to Frommer's. Quiet location with good reviews on tripadvisor.com

Picture baankaew


Banilah Guesthouse: From 300 to 600 Baht. 11 Sotesueksa Road. See pictures on teakdoor.com, Bath looks not so well. Read review on tripadvisor.com. Good reviews on boo.com

Picture มุก

Picture pittaya


Ban Kong Rao Guesthouse: From 700 Bath. 2 Soi 4 Morakot Road


Ben Guest House เบน: 250 Baht. 4/11 Chiangmai-Lamphun Rd, Soi 2 Muang. Basic, say reviews on tripadvisor.com


Bann Say-La บ้าน เส-ลา: From 500 to 950 Baht. 4-4/1 Nimmanhaemin Rd., Soi 5. In a old white building in French colonial style, rooms with shared and with private bath, private balconies and shared seating areas. There is one "downside" according to the review of Lonely Planet: It's behind the music bar "Fine Thanks", some rooms can be noisy. Nice pictures on flickr.com

Picture baansayla

Picture baansayla


Brick Road Cafe & Guesthouse OLD TOWN: From 150 to 250 Baht. 141 /8 Ratchadamnoen Road.


Chaba House: From 300 Bath. 19/26 Jedyod Soi 4. Good reviews on tripadvisor.com

Picture Akuppa

Picture Akuppa


Chez Allan Bed & Breakfast: From 600 Baht. 26 Kampangdin Road, Soi 3. A traditional teakwood house with a large garden. Mentioned in Gay-Guides.

Picture chezallan


CM Blue House - OLD TOWN: From 300 to 600 Baht. 30/1 Moonmuang Road Soi 6. Good reviews on tripadvisor.com and travelfish.org. See pictures by nporiord and Geri's Travel Log


Galare Guest House: From 950 to 1150 Baht. 7 Chareonprathet Road Soi 2. Located along the Ping River, open air restaurant right on the river with Thai, Western and Japanese food. Some guests find it noisy in the night becaouse there are restaurants with live music across the river, others say it's quiet. Good reviews on tripadvisor.com

Picture Galare Guest House


Gap's House แก๊ป เฮ้าส์ OLD TOWN: From 470 to 750 Baht. 3 Rachadamnoen Soi 4. They don't take reservations. There is a cooking school. And daily you can get a vegetarian buffet dinner here. Good reviews on tripadvisor.com. See pictures by Mulia and Adam Torrey and WatchourWanderings.

Picture Alex Valavanis
Gap's House courtyard


Hollanda Montri ฮอลันดา มนตรี เกสท์เฮาส์: From 450 to 550 Baht. 365 Charoenrat Road. Relaxing restaurant with view over the river. Guest recommend it on tripadvisor.com and also on boo.com



Picture genmaichaita


Jonadda Guest House OLD TOWN: From 250 to 450 Baht. 23/1 Ratvithi Road soi 2. Water heated by solar cells. Read review in Lonely Planet and on travelfish.org. See picture by Miss Primt.


Julie Guesthouse จูลี่ OLD TOWN: From 70 to 350 Baht. 7/1 Soi 5, Phra Pokklao.Relax in the pleasant garden or on the rooftop. MIxed reviews on travelfish.org and on tripadvisor.com

Picture Rod

Picture rhymeswithcycle

Picture MattC


Mountain View Guesthouses เมาเทน วิว: From 250 to 800 Baht. 105 Sri Phum Rd, (between soi 4 & 5). A couple of teak buildings and a tropical garden in between. Good reviews on tripadvisor.com. See picture by turtlequeen


Lamchang House OLD TOWN: From 100 to 180 Baht. 24 Moon Muang Road Soi 7. The wooden house has basic rooms with shared bathroom, the owners live upstairs.


Na Inn - OLD TOWN: 136/7 From 450 Baht. Ratchapakinai Rd. Read the review on travelfish.org


Nat Guesthouse OLD TOWN:. From 200 Bath. 7 Prapokklao Rd Soi 6. "The rooms are basic but a good size and, like the pastel green building, a little on the grotty side", comments travelfish.org.

Picture marhas1


Panda House: USD 15.64. 427/4 Vichayanon Road. Large rooms, near a crossroad, so you hear the traffic. Good reviews on boo.com


Pakinai Guest House: From 300 to 400 Baht. 173 Ratchapakinai Rd (north end), opp. Soi 9. Good reviews on travelfish.org


Parami Guesthouse OLD TOWNปาระมี: From 300 to 600 Baht. 210-212 Charoenrat Road. Thai teak wooden house with 8 rooms in a Thai neighbourhood. Very good reviews on tripadvisor.com. See picture by Katling


Parasol Inn OLD TOWN: From 990 Bath. 105/1 Prapokklao Rd. Good reviews on tripadvisor.com

Picture marhas1


Pat's Klang Viang OLD TOWN: 154/1-2 Phapokklao Rd. From 990 Bath. Nine rooms in an old commercial building, that has been transformed to a guesthouse. Very good reviews on tripadvisor.oom

Picture Josh


Rendezvous Guesthouse OLD TOWN: From 400 Bath. /1 Ratchadamnoen Rd. Soi 5. Good reviews on tripadvisor.com


Royal Guest House รอยัล เกสเฮ้าส์ From 150 to 700 Baht. Kothchasarn Rd. Soi 4 T.Chang Karn. Read one review by .

Picture Royal Guest House


Sarah Guesthouse: From 300 Bath. 20 Tapae Rd., Soi 4. Mixed reviews on tripadvisor.com

Pictue Orang Asli


Sevens Suns - OLD TOWN: 800 Baht. 155 Ratchamanka Road. Good reviews on tripadvisor.com.See room-picture by Last Known Location.

Picture Seven Suns


Soho Bar & Guesthouse: From 1100 Bath. 20/3 Huay Kaew Road. No reviews until now. They say they are gay-friendly.


S. K. Guesthouse OLD TOWN: 30 Moon Muang Road Soi 9. Negative reviews on travelfish.org and on tripadvisor.com


Sri-Pat Guesthouse - OLD TOWN: From 250 to 1000 BAht. 16 Soi 7 Moon Muang Rd. Good reviews travelfish.org> and also tripadvisor.de

Picture Brian


Thapae Gate Lodge: From 250 Bath. 38/7 Moonmuang Soi 2. 21 rooms, run bai a Thai-German couple. Basic rooms according to tripadvisor.com

Picture Alain in Vancouver
Frontyard of Tape Gate Lodge.


The Garden Chiang Mai: From 450 Bath. 139 Ratchadamnoen road. Just three rooms. With massage center. Live music on Sundays (Jazz, Rock).


Tiptop Thai House: 27/2 Singharat. A few rooms in a wooden home. Kitchen available, Thai style hut with mattress to practice massage.

Picture Josh


Walai House: From 350 Bath. 13 Soi 3 Santisuk. Good reviews on tripadvisor.com

Picture Joyce


White Chalet OLD TOWN: 900 Baht. 9/1 Arak Road T. Sriphum. It's close to a main road. The own bakery guarantees for a good breakfast. Good review on tripadvisor.com

Picture White Chalet


Yourhouse Guesthouse ยัวร์ เฮ้าส์ - OLD TOWN: From 250 to 900 Baht. 8 Soi 2 Ratwithi Road. Yourhouse 1 is in a traditional thai teak wooden building and has rooms with fans and shared bathrooms, Yourhouse 2 is in a more modern building and offers private bathrooms. Yourhouse 3 opened in Jun 2008 and has rooms with air-conditioning. Good reviews on boo.com

Room in Yourhouse 1

Pictures Your House
Room in Yourhouse 3


More places to stay in Chiang Mai:
Chiang Mai Hotels
Chiang Mai Boutique Hotels

Discover more:
Your Guide to Chiang Mai



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Tuk-Tuks, Songthaews and Buses in Chiang Mai - what you should know

January 4, 2014, 9:39 am

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See the locations on Chiang Mai Songthaew and Bus Google Map

Chiang Mai city has no buses. You use Tuk-Tuks, Songthaews (Pickups with seatbanks) or taxis. The buses are for travels to other provinces.

Learn the colours of the Songthaews: Differend colours mean different directions:
Red Singthaews: They roam around without a fixed route. Just stop one - by extending your arm in a downward motion - and ask for your destination. If the driver doesn't go to this destination take the next one.
Orange Songthaews: They travel to Fang in the north. Depart from Chang Phuak Bus Terminal.
White Songthaews: They travel to the eastern suburbs, to San Kampaeng. Depart from Waroros Market.
Yellow Songthaews: They travel to Mae Rim in the north and Hang Dong. Depart from Waroros Market.
Blue Songthaews: They travel to Sarapi and Lamphun in the south. Depart from Chang Phuak Bus Terminal.
Green Songthaews: They travel to Mae Jo in the northeast. Depart from Chang Phuak Bus Terminal.
The fare for the fixed routes is 20 Bath within Chiang Mai town. The price for longer distances has to be negotiated.


Tuk-Tuks: Fares are usually 40-50 Bath for a short way and 50-100 Bath for longer distances. Tuk-tuks parked near train- or busstations will ask for a higher price.


Buses to other provinces: These buses leave from Arcade Bus Terminal. There are buses from state and private companies.
Green Bus: See Green Bus schedules. For a reservation you call their Call Center 0-5326-6480. They will give you a reservation number. Then you have 2 hours to get to a Seven Eleven shop, where you can pay with the reservation number and get your ticket.
. Chiang Mai - Chiang Rai
. Chiang Mai - Golden Triangle
. Chiang Mai - Mae Sai
. Chiang Mai - Mae Sot
. Chiang Rai - Fang
. Chiang Mai - Phayao
. Chiang Mai - Chiang Khong
. Chiang Mai - Thoeng
. Chiang Mai - Nan
. Chiang Mai - Chiang Muan
. Chiang Mai - Phrae - Nan
. Chiang Mai - Phrae
. Chiang Mai – Phrae – Nan – Thung Chang
. Lampang – Phrae
. Chiang Mai - Phuket


The Transport Co.: The state bus company. See their routes and numbers in Thai. See their timetable in Thai and English. You can translate with Google Translate.
. Chiang Mai-Bangkok
. More buses Chiang Mai - Bangkok by other companies.

Prempracha Transport Co.: See their routes.
. Chiang Mai - Pai - Mae Hong Son
. Chiang Mai - Mae Sariang -Mae Hongson
. Chiang Mai - Chiangdao - Prao
. Chiang Mai - Sansai - Prao

Nakhonchai Tour Bus Company:
. Chiang Mai - Nakhon Ratchasima

Sombat Tour:
. Chiang Mai - Hua Hin, See timetable. Read an experience by Four Letter Nerd.
. Chiang Mai - Khon Kaen

Chakrapong Tour:
. Chiang Mai - Udon Thani via Uttaradit, Phitsanulok, Loei and Nong Bua Lamphu

Bus Schedules and Fares from Chiang Mai: Read more here.

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Kuan Yin Palace: A Chinese Temple in Chiang Mai undiscovered by most of the Tourists

April 16, 2014, 11:59 am

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See the location on Chiang Mai Temples Google Map

Kuan Yin Palace, also called Kuan Yin Bodhisattava's Hall ตำหนักพระแม่กวนอิมโชคชัย (Chok Chai 4), is a Chinese dragon temple, which impresses with its decorations and Buddha statues. A huge dragon stands at the entrance to the shrine. When you enter the mouth of the dragon you proceed through a tunnel to a platform. Then through another tunnel you exit out a tigers mouth. Both tunnels are decorated with colorful murals. The temple was established by the female abbess Bhiksuni Shi Kuang Seng (Thai-born as Varaporn Lertrangsi), who got her Bhiksuni ordination at Puji Monastery, Mount Pu Tuo, in China in 1991. The hall features many of the gods worshipped according to Chinese beliefs.

Picture by fletchy182

Picture by fletchy182

Picture by fletchy182

Picture by Itagaki

Are people in Chiang Mai really annoyed by Chinese Tourists?

April 17, 2014, 6:48 am

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Picture by Chinese Tourists
A reason to be annoyed? Chinese tourist posing in Chiang Mai

"Anti-Chinese feelings in Thailand high as influx of tourists angers locals", writes Hongkongs South China Morning Post. Chinese tourists are said to have "clambered aboard student buses at Chiang Mai University, made a mess in cafeterias and sneaked into classes to attend lectures". They are said to be "loud, uncouth, culturally unaware".

Do people in Chiang Mai really have a problem with Chinese tourists? "The number of Chinese tourists visiting Chiang Mai is huge — last year it was over 200 000, and the percentage of troublemakers among this is tiny", writes Peerawat in Bangkok Post. And remembers: "Three or four years ago, Chiang Mai’s tourism industry was facing a big problem. Oversupply of hotel rooms put operators in the red. Hotels were mostly empty, and the room rates were pretty low." Restaurants, souvenir shops, and other businesses now enjoy the Chinese boom.

And Chiang Mai traffic police is now learning Chinese. A photo showed on their Facebook Page shows, that the police members not only learn words as "red light" and left turn", but as well phrases like "you’re cute" and "I love you". Therefore Chiang Mai City News asked: "Chiang Mai Traffic Police Learn Chinese to Reduce Accidents... and Date Chinese Girls?".

There is another point: Chiang Mai has its own Chinatown near Warorot market and its own Chinese temples. "The old, local Chinese have established here for a long time and have lost a lot of their original culture and (...) mixed very well with the Thai locals. Many Thai have some Chinese blood in their veins and those who claim to be fully Chinese are in fact not really Chinese anymore in their behaviour, but more Thai", writes Chiang Mai Locator. For example: Yingluck and Thaksin Shinawatra, the present and former Prime Ministers of Thailand, are the children of a Chiang Mai family of Chinese descent. And Thai-Chinese people control a big part of Thailands economy, as Paul Richard Kuehn notes.

Picture by marhas
Pung Tao Gong temple in Chiang Mai

Picture by marhas

Picture by marhas

So, may be, the anger of Chiang Mai people about Chinese tourists, is reported by newspapers, who don't exaclty know the influence of people of Chinse origin in Thailands society. And some readers remember, that American und European tourists can be loud, uncouth and culturally unaware as well. And may be many people in Chiang Mai are just happy, that the Chinese comedy film "Lost in Thailand" (see on Youtube) has been turned here and became a blockbuster in China (read more). And this is the reason, why tens of thousands of Chinese people now flock into Chiang Mai.

Chiang Mai Hotels and Reviews by Guests who have been there

April 26, 2014, 12:10 pm

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See the locations on Chiang Mai Hotel Google Map

Amari Rincome: From 1851 to 8195 Baht. 1 Nimmanhaemin Road. Two pools. Free shuttle service to the city centre every 30 minutes. Good reviews on tripadvisor.com, read also the review of professionaltravelguide.com

Picture Amari Rincome


Amora Tapae Hotel: From 1550 to 12250 Baht. 22 Chayapoom Road. See view from 10th floor by rokapi. "A little worn down, but okay", say some comments on tripadvisor.com.

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Ayatana Resort อายตนะ: From 3300 to 16000 Baht. 99/9 Moo 14, Suthep Road. A little out of the city. There is a shuttle bus to Night Bazaar. Quiet, guests love it according to tripadvisor.com. See pictures by Anne & Lane.

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Baantai Hotel: From 900 to 1600 Baht. 41/9 Wiang-ping Tud-mai Road. An old hotel with dark rooms, mixed reviews on tripadvisor.com

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BP Chiang Mai Hotel บีพี เชียงใหม่: From 725 to 2825 Baht. 154 Rachamanka Road. The hotel is dated, as comments on tripadvisor.com say.


D2 Hotel ดี ทู: From 3900 to 22000 Baht. 100 chang klan road. In contemporary Thai design, that is shown on Flickr.com. Fresh funky look. Devarana Spa ("Garden in Heaven") with professional staff, according to very excellent reviews on tripadvisor.com. Read also the review of professionaltravelguide.com
Chiang Mai Gate Hotel เชียงใหม่เกตุ: From 1000 to 3500 Baht. 11/10 Suriyawong Road. Small pool. Good value, according to reviews on tripadvisor.com

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De Naga เดอ นากา โฮเทล: From 2300 to 5700 Baht. 21 Soi 2 Ratchamanka, Moon Muang Road. Nice inside, but views from the rooms show ugly buildings around the hotel. Mostly good reviews on tripadvisor.com.

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De Naga Suite


Kod Chasri Thani Hotel: From 2421 Bath. Quiet pool area. 54/3 Rajaphakinai Road. Very good reviews on tripadvisor.com. See video on youtube.com.

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Manathai Village มานาไทยFrom 3100 to 9000 Baht. 39/9 soi 3 tapae road. Reviews on tripadvisor.com. But if your room is on the side of the small street, you may be disturbed by scooters early in the morning.



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Mandarin Oriental Dhara Devi แมนดาริน โอเรียนเต็ล ดาราเทวีเชียงใหม่: From 12699 to 280000 Baht. 51/4 Sankampaeng Road Moo 1. "An astounding place", according to reviews on tripadvisor.com. Two pools. Be aware, that it is outside of the town. "A teakwood fantasia modeled on a northern Thai village, with vegetable gardens, lotus ponds, moats and fortified walls, towering palaces, a marketplace, a town green, even a temple, all of it occupied by a veritable army of merchants, servants, farmers, weavers, cooks, woodcarvers, and massage therapists", writes Travel+Leisure.

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Picture by modus



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Ping Buri Hotel พิงค์ บุรี From 650 to 2950 Baht. 49/1-8 Arrak Road (Suandok Gate).

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Rachamankha ราชมรรคา: 5500 to 18000 Baht. 6 Rachamankha 9,T.Phra Singh. A combination of Lanna art and design and temple style architecture create a heaven of peace. The design is taken from the viharn (chapel) of Wat Phra That Lampang Luang in Lampang province. The hotel is planned according to ancient principles of Chinese architecture because the architecture and interior designer want the hotel to reflect the Chinese roots of Thai architecture. The hotel is full of Chinese antiques. There is a wood-panelled library full of architecture books. "What a gem", is the tenor of the reviews on tripadvisor.com. "You can hear birds in the morning, crickets in the evening, and not one throb of the motorcycles that pulse through the city", writes the New York Times. Read also the review of The Independent.

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RatiLanna Riverside Spa Resort: From 13600 to 100000 Baht. A luxury boutique resort nestled along the bank of the Mae Ping River, it belonged to the Sofitel Group, now it's part of the Preferred Hotel Group. With "Aspara Spa". Very good reviews on tripadvisor.com. Read also professionaltravelguide.com

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Tamarind Village แทมมาริน วิลเลจ: From 4200 to 12600 Baht. 50/1 Ratchadamnoen Road. You enter by a long shaded lane lined with bamboo. In a lush garden, very quiet, "pure paradise", says one guest on tripadvisor.com. The rooms at the Tamarind are "marvels of concrete flatwork burnished to an almost shining glow and, complimented by straw mats and chic contemporary Thai furnishings, make for a pleasing minimalist feel (if you're a minimalist, that is)", writes frommers.com. It has been built by Rooj Changtrakul and Ongard Satrabhandhu, who later created The Rachamankha. It took its name "from the tamarind orchard that occupied the land on which the hotel was built - one large and venerable tree thought to be over 200 years old has been left intact in a courtyard", you can read in Lonely Planet. Consult also professionaltravelguide.com. See the video of Open Chiang Mai

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The Chedi เดอะ เชดี เชียงใหม่:From 11440 to 17200 Baht. 123 Charoen Prathet Road. It has a swimming pool with water lillies and small fish. The old British Consulate building houses the restaurant. The guests love it ("Excellent is an understatement"), one points to the fact, that you hear some traffic noise from the street, read the comments on tripadvisor.com. Good review on professionaltravelguide.com

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U Chiang Mai Hotel: From 3400 to 4400 Baht. 70 Rachadamnoen Road0. Opened in june 2008. Guests are welcomed in the Resident’s Lounge located in the restored former residence of Chiang Mai’s governor. Read a comment on tripadvisor.com





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Read an article by Bangkok Post on packages from 14.8.2008


More places to stay in Chiang Mai:
Chiang Mai Guesthouses
Chiang Mai Boutique Hotels

Resorts outside of Chiang Mai:
Hotels and Resorts in Mae Rim แม่ริม: Holidays next to the ricefields and in the hills

Discover more:
Your Guide to Chiang Mai



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Wat Phra That Doi Suthep วัดพระธาตุดอยสุเทพ: A holy Place choosen by a White Elephant

April 29, 2014, 10:32 am

≫ Next: Temples in Chiang Mai outside the Old City Wall - for your individual Walking Tour

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See the location on Chiang Mai Temples Google Map


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The Chedi


Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, about 15 kilometers from Chiang Mai, is an important pilgrimage destination among Thais. And according to their legend a sacred white elephant has choosen the place for this temple: A part of a Buddha relic was placed on his back. The elephant climbed up the Suthep Mountain, trumpeted three times, knelt down and died. This was taken as a sign by King Ku Naone: He built the chedi on Doi Suthep from 1386 onward. The temple on 1053 meters above sea level is also a great lookout, from where you see Chiang Mai and its surroundings. A naga staircase of 309 steps is leading up to the temple. And if you don't feel fit enough, there is a funicular.

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Monks are praying


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More temples in Chiang Mai:
Temples in Chiang Mai Old Town
Temples outside the Old Town

Where to eat:
Chiang Mai's Restaurants and Food Stalls: Food prepared with love

Discover more:
Your Guide to Chiang Mai



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Temples in Chiang Mai outside the Old City Wall - for your individual Walking Tour

May 1, 2014, 10:46 am

≫ Next: After the Coup In Thailand: Informations you can trust

≪ Previous: Wat Phra That Doi Suthep วัดพระธาตุดอยสุเทพ: A holy Place choosen by a White Elephant

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See the locations on Chiang Mai Wat Google Map

Chiang Mai is overflowing with ancient, mostly Buddhist Temples: There are over 300 temples inside and outside the old city walls, some dating back to when the city was founded in 1296. You will discover a rich mix of Thai and Burmese influences in temple bulding. The following overview helps you to decide, which path you want to choose: Leave the old city for the northern, eastern, southern or western direction? You decide.


North of the old city wall

Wat Chiang Chom วัดเชียงโฉม: Picture by Prince Robert.


Wat Chiang Yuen วัดเชียงยืน:
Manee Nopparat Road. It is unknown, when this temple has been built. But it was maintained by the Burmese during their occupation of Chiang Mai, most of the structures date from this period. The white chedi with golden details and Shan style lion dogs guarding the corners is the main feature of this temple. The viharn is guarded by two naga serpents along the stairway. Women are not allowed to go inside. The bright red doors are decorated with gold leafs. Every King of the Kingdom of Chiang Mai had to pay homage to the Buddha image called Phra Sapphanyu Chao พระสัพพัญญูเจ้า (in the viharn) before his coronation.

Picture by Flying Pharmacist

See a gallery by ludwig_zwei


Wat Khu Tao วัดกู่เต้า เชียงใหม่: There is a very special Chedi. It is thought to have been built in 1613 to hold the ashes of Prince Saravadi (1578-1607), the first Burmese overlord of Chiang Mai. Tao is the name for melon in northern Thai. "The unique design of the pagoda is probably derived from prototypes in Yunnan Province, China, which were introduced to Thailand from traders and migrants hailing from that area. The series of five diminishing spheres comprising the body of the pagoda represents the five Buddhas of the present age", notes orientalarchitecture.com.

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The Chedi at Wat Khu Tao

Picture by marhas

Picture by marhas

Picture by marhas

Picture by marhas

See also picture on panoramio.com


Wat Pa Pao วัดป่าเป้า: 58 Manee Nopparat Road. The Burmese style temple was established in 1883 by the Ngiew people (also known as Phugam people), Tai tribesmen, who lived in Chiang Mai and belonged to the Shan. Pao trees gave the temple shadow and its name. In 1891, King Inthawichayanon ordered the construction of the chedi and a wooden wiharn. The wiharn has been replaced by an unusual stone one. Today the temple is a community center for the Shan in Chiang Mai. In February 1997, the Abbot of the temple, with other community leaders, set up a foundation to promote the education of Shan people and preserve their culture. One of the biggest celebrations here is the annual Poi Sang Long festival in april. Poi Sang Long is a ceremony for Tai tribe youths, when they become novices and enter monkhood. Read more on chiangmai-mail.com and about the Wat Pa Pao Foundation.

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The stone Chedi

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Picture by marhas
The wooden viharn

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Details of the roof

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See also gallery by ludwig-zwei



East of the old city wall

Pung Tao Gong: Chinese shrine in Kad Luang, the chinatown of Chiang Mai, constructed during the reign of Rama V., it is believed in 1878. Around 1996 the temple was rebuilt. "Approaching from the main road you walk through (...) colourful arches, columns and pagodas all richly decorated", notes chiangmai-chiangrai.com.

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Wat Buppharam วัดบุปผาราม: Founded and constructed in 1497 by King Phra Mueang Kaeo. When the Burmese conquered the city in 1561 Mon monks took over the temple, therefore it's also known under the name of Wat Mon. In 1819 king Thamma Langka let restore the white Viharn. The big Viharn (วิหารหลังใหญ่) was founded by King Kawilorot Suriyawong some years later. Its image of Buddha has been created from brass. Mural paintings tell the story of prince Vessanatara. The doors were decorated with wooden carvings in 1983 showing the mythological wood of Himaphan at the sides of mount Meru.The Ho Monthian Tham หอมณเฑียรธรรม (Dhamma-Hall) was constructed by Phra Udom Kitti Mongkon instead of an old wooden construction and finished in 1996. Here you don't find the traditional Lanna style, the construction has a cruciform shape, in the center there is a structure in the shape of a mondop. The entrance is guarded by Makara's, a creature from Hindu mythology, partly sea animal, partly land animal. On the second floor you will see two important Buddha images: Phra Phuttha Naret Sakchai Phairi-Phinat (พระพุทธนเรศร์สักชัยไพรีพินาศ) in the Bhumisparsha posture. This is the largest teak wood Buddha image in Thailand. The wood carvings behind show the history of the Buddha image. The legend says that King Naresuan let create the image after he had defeated the Burmese in 1604. The Chedi in Burmese and Mon style, more than 400 years old, is guarded by four Burmese style lions, called Singha in Thai. All four sides of the base of the chedi contain a Buddha image. Read more on renown-travel.com and see video by Jean Dupont.

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Ho Monthian Tham หอมณเฑียรธรรม

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Donald Duck in front of the temple

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Phra Phuttha Naret Sakchai Phairi-Phinat พระพุทธนเรศร์สักชัยไพรีพินาศ

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Phra Chedi

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Wat Saen Fang วัดแสนฝาง: Built in 14th century, present buildings are from 19th century onward according to orientalarchitecture.com. Like Wat Phan Tao the viharn at Wat Saen Fang used to serve as the ho kham (palace residence) of Chao Kawilorot in the 1860s. His successor converted the structure into a viharn in 1878. The Burmese-style chedi is the central building of the wat, with a ho trai and ubosot located to the west. Phra Chedi Mongkol Saen Mahachai looks similar to Shwedagon pagoda in Yangon.

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The prayer hall - Phra Viharn Lai Kham - has a carved front.

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Picture by marhas


Wat U-Pakut:

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Wat Ket Karam วัดเกตุการาม:

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West of the old city wall

Wat Suan Dok วัดสวนดอก: This translates as Flower Garden Temple. A legend says, that the Lanna King Ku Na invited Sumana Thera, a monk from Sukhothai, to bring the Buddhism of Sri Lanka to Chiang Mai. The King in 1370 offered him the royal flower garden to build a temple. The monk brought a holy relic from Buddha with him, that had been buried near Sukothai. When the relic was about to be placed at the temple, he discovered that it had split into two pieces. One of these was buried at Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep, the other one kept at Wat Suan Dok, within the 48 meter high bell shaped chedi, built in Sri Lankan style. Stairs on all four sides originally led up to a terrace encircling the chedi, but they have been replaced by ramps, which are decorated with seven-headed nāgas emerging from the mouths of makaras. The large viharn is located east of the main chedi. It was built in 1932 by the monk Phra Krubra Srivichai, who also built an ubosot and restored the chedi. The main Buddha images inside the viharn look out at opposite directions. The statue of the Buddha seated in meditation (Bhumisparsha Mudrā) looks towards the east, the other image, a standing Buddha holding a bundle of straw, faces west towards the chedi. Placed in front of the seated statue one finds a smaller Buddha in Lanna style, created during King Kue Na's time. The feet of this statue are unusual: the toes are individually formed. The ubosot to the South contains a 4.70 m high bronze Buddha statue in the Bhumisparsha-Mudra posture, which was cast in 1504 during the rule of King Mueang Kaeo. A groupe of white washed mausoleums in the northwestern quarter of the temple house the cremation ashes of members of the royal family of Chiang Mai. At the beginning of the 20th century, Princess Dara Rasmi, one of the wives of King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) and daughter of the Lanna king Inthawichayanon, had the ashes collected from different sites around Chiang Mai.

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Wat Saen Fang:



South of the old city wall

Wiang Kum Kam เวียงกุมกาม: The former King Mengrai built his residence from 1287 onwards. He let also build Wat Ku Kham, similar to the Chedi Ku Khut at Wat Chamadevi in Lamphun. Today the Chedi in Dvaravati style has the name Wat Chedi Liam. Around the beginning of the 16th century Wiang Kum Kam has been devastated by a flood. After 1986 Wat Chang Kham วัดช้างค้ำ (built 1291) and Wat Chedi Liam วัดเจดีย์เหลี่ยม were restored.
Also part of Wiang Kum Kam: Wat Pu Pia (วัดปู่เปี้ย) has an Ubosot, a Viharn and a Chedi.


More temples in Chiang Mai:
Phra Doi Suthep
Temples inside the Old City Wall of Chiang Mai - for your individual Walking Tour

Where to eat:
Chiang Mai's Restaurants and Food Stalls: Food prepared with love

Discover more:
Your Guide to Chiang Mai