Thailand Chiang Mai Province (Chapter) Edition 14th Edition, February 2012 Pages 62 PDF Page Range 232-293 Coverage includes: Chiang Mai, Northern Chiang Mai Province, Mae Sa Valley & Samoeng, Chiang Dao, Doi Ang Khang, Fang & Tha Ton, Southern Chiang Mai Province, Bo Sang & San Kamphaeng, Mae Kampong, Hang Dong, Ban Wan & Ban Thawai and Doi Inthanon National Park. Useful Links: Having trouble viewing your file? Head to Lonely Planet Troubleshooting. Need more assistance? Head to the Help and Support page. Want to find more chapters? Head back to the Lonely Planet Shop. Want to hear fellow travellers’ tips and experiences? Lonely Planet’s Thorntree Community is waiting for you! © Lonely Planet Publications Pty Ltd. To make it easier for you to use, access to this chapter is not digitally restricted. In return, we think it’s fair to ask you to use it for personal, non-commercial purposes only. In other words, please don’t upload this chapter to a peer-to-peer site, mass email it to everyone you know, or resell it. See the terms and conditions on our site for a longer way of saying the above - ‘Do the right thing with our content. ©Lonely Planet Publications Pty Ltd Chiang Mai Province Why Go? Chiang Mai ...................234 The province of Chiang Mai, with its cooling mist-shrouded Mae Sa Valley & mountains bursting with dense jungle, has long enticed Samoeng ......................284 travellers intent on exploring this southern slice of the great Chiang Dao ...................284 Himalayan mountain range. Doi Ang Khang ..............286 Highlights include the laid-back city of Chiang Mai, with Fang & Tha Ton ............. 287 its moated, partially walled old city; its celebrated ancient temples, built with teak money refl ecting the aesthetics of Bo Sang & San Kamphaeng ..................290 an ancient trade dependent on the forest; and a traveller- friendly scene catering for those here to party through to Mae Kampong ..............290 those who prefer their cocktails by the saltwater pool. Hang Dong, Ban Wan Outside of the urban sphere is very accessible country- & Ban Thawai ............... 291 side and two of Thailand’s highest mountain peaks: Doi Doi Inthanon National Inthanon (2565m) and Doi Chiang Dao (2195m). Boasting Park .............................. 291 more natural forest cover than any other province in the north, activities such as cycling, hiking, elephant trekking, Best Places to Eat birdwatching and river rafting off er an escape from the steaming plains. » New Delhi (p 266 ) » Lert Ros (p 266 ) When to Go » Palaad Tawanron (p 271 ) The weather in Chiang Mai province is best for travel during » Ai Sushi (p 271 ) the cool season, roughly from November to February, when » Chiang Dao Nest (p 286 ) temperatures are mild and rain is scarce. Temperatures can be cool enough to warrant a jacket at night and in the early Best Places to morning, particularly at higher elevations. During the hot season, from March until June, Chiang Stay Mai often experiences a ‘fi re season’, when a thick haze » Villa Duang Champa forms over the city, a combination of dust and smoke from (p 258 ) the burning off of nearby rice fi elds. April is a great time to » Mo Rooms (p 261 ) be around for the Songkran Festival. » Riverside House (p 263 ) » Sakulchai (p 263 ) » Chiang Dao Nest (p 285) 110 Doi Pha Hompok Mae Salak National Park Tha 0 50 km Ton 0 25 miles Fang Chiang Rai Doi Ang Khang (1300m) 109 1 MYANMAR 107 (BURMA) CHIANG RAI CHIANG Huay Nam Dang MAI National Park Doi Chiang Doi Luang Dao National Park (2195m) Si Lanna Mae Hong Son Chiang Dao National Park Phayao Mae Taeng MAE Doi Suthep-Pui Chae Son HONG National Park 118 SON National Park Mae Rim Samoeng Chiang Mai Doi Saket LAMPANG Bo Sang Ban Wan 108 Doi Inthanon Hang Dong CHIANG MAI PROVINCE PROVINCE MAI CHIANG Kheuan PROVINCE MAI CHIANG (2565m) Ban Thawai Mae Chang 108 Lamphun 1 Doi Inthanon Pasang National Park Doi Khun Tan Salawin National Park National Park Chom Thong Ping 11 Lampang Nam Mae Hot ae Sariang 1184 108 M Ob Luang 11 PHRAE National Park g Mae Ngao an Yom W National Park Nam ae M Mae Ban Sop 106 Ngao CHIANG 1 M 105 LAMPHUN ae Nam MAI 101 Thoen Mae Ping National Park 102 Moei LAMPANG Kheuan Phumiphon 1 Chiang Mai Highlights 1 Taking in the sacred Wat 4 Dodging the relentless city (p 284 ), and tucking into fi ne Phra Singh (p 238 ) and Wat traffi c on a river cruise (see cuisine afterwards Chedi Luang (p 238 ) boxed text, p 244 ) and fl oating 7 Getting nice and wrinkly in 2 Picking up bargains at lazily past stilted houses the curative hot spring waters the Saturday Walking Street 5 Escaping the brutal city of Doi Pha Hompok National (p 245 ) and Sunday Walking heat in cool, lush Doi Suthep- Park (p 287 ) Street (p 235 ) Pui National Park (p 250 ) 8 Scaling the heights of Doi 3 Stretching out for a 6 Exploring the mystical Inthanon (p 291 ), and posing traditional massage or cave at Doi Chiang Dao for pics among the conifers meditation course (p 256 ) and rhododendrons 234 King Phaya Mengrai (also spelt Mangrai) CHIANG MAI เชยงใหมี ่ is credited for founding the Lanna kingdom POP 174,000 and expanding it into the Ping River valley. Are you here yet? OK, good, breathe a sigh of Once he reached the valley, he built a tem- relief – you’re in Thailand’s second city, but porary capital at Wiang Kum Kam (p243 ). it ain’t Bangkok. Now, have a look around Around 1296, King Mengrai relocated the you, because this nonchalant city encapsu- Lanna capital to a more picturesque spot lates much of what is unique and breathtak- between Doi Suthep and the Ping River and ing about Thailand. named the auspicious city Nopburi Si Na- Piercing the foothills of northern Thai- khon Ping Chiang Mai (shortened to Chiang land, and snuggling up to Doi Suthep, Chi- Mai, meaning the ‘New Walled City’). Traces ang Mai contains hundreds of sacred tem- of the original 1296 earthen ramparts can ples, with chedi and gabled rooftop tiers still be seen today along Th Kamphaeng Din soaring skyward, and then billowing out in Chiang Mai. protectively as they swoop to the ground. In the 14th and 15th centuries, the Lanna The city’s enduring Lanna characteristics kingdom expanded as far south as Kam- are evident in these revered, merit-making phaeng Phet and as far north as Luang Pra- houses of worship, along with the quaint, bang in Laos. During this time, Chiang Mai moated old city where so many temples are became an important religious and cultural housed. The surrounding mountains, their centre and the eighth world synod of Thera- legendary, mystical attributes ever watchful vada Buddhism was held here in 1477. over the steamy metropolis, loom large over The Lanna kingdom was soon confronted CHIANG MAI PROVINCE PROVINCE MAI CHIANG the city. by challenges from Ayuthaya, the powerful Chiang Mai is laid-back, creative and rev- city-state that had fl ourished in Thailand’s erential. It’s a city with heart – most NGOs central plains and that would later consoli- working with Burmese refugees have their date the region under Siamese control and headquarters here. In reality, the city is dy- help shape the broader ‘Thai’ identity. But namic and modern without having lost its it was the Burmese who would overtake the down-to-earth charm. There’s certainly traf- city and the kingdom in 1556, an occupation fi c, pollution and ugly concrete buildings, that lasted 200 years. but this is a very Thai place – Thai culture The fall of Ayuthaya in 1767 to the Bur- overwhelmingly pervades a city wrapped up mese marked another turning point in Chi- CHIANG MAI CHIANG in Western sensibilities and striving for ad- ang Mai’s history. The defeated Thai army vancement. Fortunately the university stu- reunited under Phraya Taksin south of Ay- dents keep Chiang Mai looking and feeling uthaya in present-day Bangkok and began youthful. Head down to Th Nimmanhaemin a campaign to push out the occupying Bur- and you’ll glimpse the city’s future movers mese forces. Chao Kavila, a chieftain (known and shakers, intent now on moving and as jôw meu·ang) from nearby Lampang shaking it in the nightclubs, bars and discos principality, helped ‘liberate’ northern Thai- that crown this area as Chiang Mai’s night- land from Burmese control, which led to the life headquarters. eventual integration of the Lanna kingdom Oh, and don’t forget the eating scene. into the expanding Thai kingdom based in Specialities of the city include Japanese Bangkok. sushi bars around the university, Burmese Under Kavila, Chiang Mai became an im- curries and salads, and of course Thai: from portant regional trade centre. In 1800 Kavila delicious street food to white-linen riverside built the monumental brick walls around dining where fi ne wines and twinkling can- Chiang Mai’s inner city and expanded the dles fl oating on the water create a special city in southerly and easterly directions, Chiang Mai indulgence. establishing a river port at the end of what is today Th Tha Phae (tha phae means ‘raft History Chiang Mai and Thailand’s other northern pier’). Many of the later Shan- and Burmese- provinces share more of their early develop- style temples were built by wealthy teak ment with the Shan state of present-day My- merchants who emigrated from Burma dur- anmar (Burma), neighbouring parts of Laos ing this period. and even the southern mountains of China There were many political and techno- than with Bangkok and Thailand’s central logical factors that ultimately led to the plains.