Chiang Mai, Thailand's principal northern city, some 700 kilometres north of Bangkok, was founded in 1296 and is located in a fertile valley 300 metres above sea level.
Chiang Mai was the capital of Lan Na Thai (Kingdom of One Million Ricefields), the first independent Thai kingdom in the fabled Golden Triangle. Chiang Mai flourished as a religious, cultural and trading centre until 1556 when a Burmese invasion were expelled in 1775 and Lan Na Thai once more became part of northern Thailand.
Many lowland Thia regraded the city, and province of the same name, as being a national Shangri-la thanks to beautiful women, distictive
festivals, historic temples dating from the 1300s, arresting scenic beauty, temperate fruits such as apples, peaches and strawberries, and a crisp, invigorating cool season climate.
Mountains surrounding Chiang Mai form lower extremities of Himalayan foothills and host several hill tribes of Tibeto-Burman origin. Forest still worked by elephants, waterfalls, caves, gorges, cultivated orchards and plantations adorn mountains that invite detailed exploration.
Until the late 1920s, Chiang Mai was isolated from Bangkok and could be reached only by an arduous river trip or an elephant-back journey through jungled mountains that took several weeks.
Such isolation accounts for much of Chiang Mai's present charm. The
people of Chiang Mai have their own lilting dialect, their own customs, a wide range of indigenous handicrafts, their own architectural traditions, their own dances and their own cuisine.
As countless travelers have discovered, Chiang Mai's manifold attractions enthrall, delight, and to visit this northern city merely
once is to remain forever enchanted.
City Attractions - Temples
Northern Thai religious architecture is a flamboyant mixture of Mon,
Burmese, Sri Lankan and Lan Na Thai styles, and liberal use of
accomplished woodcarving, Naga staircases, leonine and angelic
guardians, glided umbrellas and pagodas laced with gold filagree.
Major city temples include Wat Chiang Man, Chiang Mai's oldest temple;
Wat Chedi Luang, site of a massive pagoda partially destroyed during a
1545 earthquake;
Wat Phra Sing, founded in 1345, where the lovely Lai Kham chapel houses the reverend Phra Sing Buddha image;
Wat Ku Tao with its porcelain-studded, exotically bulbous pagoda;
Wat Suan Dok, built in a 14th century Lan Na Thai monarch's pleasure gardens; and the ancient, extensive forest temple of Wat Umong.
Chiang Mai's most important, and visible, temple is Wat Phra That Doi
Suthep, (15 kms. from town) a major landmark overlooking the city from its forested mountain backdrop (atop which Thailand's royal family
maintains a winter palace). The temple's 16th-century golden pagoda
contains Buddhist relics and attracts visitors and Buddhist pilgrim
throughout the year. A 12-kilometre switchback mountain road trip
-- which begins beside Chiang Mai's lovely zoo (6 kilometres from town) -- precedes a steep climb up a Naga staircase (the less energetic can by funicular cars) to the temple's compound from where an exhilarating view of Chiang Mai and surrounding countryside can be enjoyed .
Handicrafts / Shopping
Chiang Mai is, quite simply, Thailand's major centre for quality handicrafts.
The visitor need merely visits the nearest city emporium or night market to purchase an extraordinary variety of antiques, silver jewellery, hilltribe opium pipes and embroidery, Thai silks and cottons, basketry, celadon, silverware, furniture, lacquerware, woodcarving and parasols.
A major advantage of shopping in Chiang Mai is that the visitors can watch artisans within the city and several outlying villages, particularly along the Bo Sang - San Kamphaeng road where, in genuine cottage industries, parasols, silk and cotton weaving, jewellry, woodcarving, silverware, celadon and lacquerware are manufactured and number among popular purchases.
A soothing bonus, particularly after an extended shopping trip, is to
visit San Kamphaneg'a Hot Springs (36 kilometres from town) where
water with high sulphur content possesses curative and restorative
properties.
Diving
Maps
Seasport
Hotels
Pictures
OUT-OF-CITY ATTRACTIONS
Seven major hill tribes, the Meo, Lisu, Lahu, Yao, Akha, Lawa and Karen, live in Chiang Mai's mountains.
The tribes share animist beliefs and honours innumerable forest and guardian spirits. Each have distinctive courtship rituals, games, dances, agricultural customs, puberty rites, languages or dialects, aesthetic values and hygienic habits.
Popular 2 to 7-day "jungle treks" include visits to remoter high-altitude hilltribe settlements and often feature elephant rides.
Best guides are hilltribe youths who commonly speak Thai, English and at least three tribal dialect.
Sedentary travelers may visit more accessible hilltribe villages by road, such as during a full-day visit via route 108 to Doi Inthanon National Park (47 kilometres from town) on Thailand's highest mountain. The beautiful Mae Klang, Wachirathan, Siriphum and Mae Pan waterfalls share the mountains with Meo and Karen villages and work elephants, while exotic ferns and lichens decorate cool, silent forests cloaking the 2,554 metres summit.
Further hilltribe settlements can be visited along the Mae Sa Valley
where major attractions include an Elephant Camp, orchid nurseries,
the Mae Sa and Mae Yim waterfalls, and increasingly numerous, artfully
landscaped hillside resotrs catering to those who want to experience
rural Chiang Mai at its most bucolic.
Yet other hilltribe villages can be seen on the highway linking Chiang
Dao and Fang. The road passes the Chiang Dao Elephant Camp where
elephants display their forestry skills, the sacred, Buddha-image filled caves of Wat Tham Chiang Dao, (72 kms. from town) and spectacular mountain scenery before entering Fang, famous for hot springs and Yao settlements in surrounding mountains.
FESTIVALS
Chiang Mai celebrates many annual festivals. Three are particularly lively
and lovely. These are the Flower Carnival, the first weekend of every February;
Songkran, 13-15 April; and Loi Krathong, on the full moon day of the twelfth lunar month, generally mid-November.
The Flower Carnival celebrates the period when Chaing Mai's temperate and tropical flowers are in bloom and is characterised by colourful floral floats and parades.
Songkran celebrates the traditional Thai New Year. Chiang Mai
celebrates Songkran with special elan in a 3-day carousels of
religious merit-making, pilgrimages, beauty parades, dancing and
uninhibited, good natured water throwing.
Loi Krathong is Thailand's loveliest festival when, under the full
moon, people float away onto rivers, canals, lakes and streams
banana-leaf boats bearing a lighted candle, incense. a flower and
small coin to honour water spirits and float away the past year's
sins.
Visitors fortunate enough to be in Chiang Mai during either of these
festivals will see the city at its vibrant, joyous best.
FACILITIES
Accommodation
Comfortable airconditioned accommodations is available at first-class
and economy class hotels. Budget travelers prefer clean, inexpensive
guest houses. Accommodation outside Chiang Mai is largely concentrated in the Mae Sa Valley where guests are housed in hillside resort bungalows and cabins. Comprehensive listings of Chiang Mai's
accommodation are featured in complimentary tourist publications such
as Tourist Guide To Chiang Mai, available in major tourism outlets,
including the Tourism Authority of Thailand's Chiang Mai office.
Dining / Nightlife
Besides excellent Thailand Chinese food, visitors can enjoy Italian,
French, German and Muslim food in specialty restaurants. American-style steakhouses, sandwich bars, fast-food outlets,
English-style pubs and vegetarian restaurants offer a broad range of
cuisine, and international fare is widely available in teahouses and
coffee shops. Local culinary specialties include highly spiced Naem
sausages and midly curried Khao Soi noodels. Most visitors enjoy a
traditional Khantok dinner which is often accompanied by a display of
northern dances.
Transportation
Chiang Mai city is compact enough to explore on foot. Visitors may use an urban bus service, mini-buses which average 5 baht per urban ride, or pedicabs (tricycles) where fares must be bargained in advance.
Transportation is included in all guided tours. Automobiles may be
hired on a dialy or weekly basis for provincial exploration.
How To Get There
Chiang Mai and Bangkok are linked by daily, regular rail, bus and air
services. Flying time aboard a Thai Airways Boeing jet is 55 minutes.
Bus time, from Bangkok's Northern Bus Terminal on Phahonyothin Road, is approximately 12 hours. Rail time from Bangkok's Hualamphong Station is approximately 14 hours.
NEIGHBOURING PROVINCES
Chiang Mia's central location allows for convenient exploration,
either by road or air, of other northern provinces. These include Mae
Hong Son to the west, nestling against the Burmese border with
spectacular rugged mountain scenery, innumerable hilltribe settlements
and Burmese-style temples, Chiang Rai to the northeast, the very heart
of the fabled Golden Triangle with majestic mountains and many
high-altitude villages; Lampang to the southeast, home of many
Burmese-style temples and sole remaining provincial capital in
Thailand where horse-drawn carriages are used for daily urban
transport; and Lamphun (26 kms.) to the south, seat of the ancient
Hariphunchai kingdom, famous for beautiful women, woven cloth,
bountiful lamyai orchards and stunning temples such as Wat Phra That
Hariphunchai, a supreme example of classical northern Thai religious
architecture.
