Pho Khun Ngam Muang is former ruler of Phayao City. The statue is situated at the municipal public park in front of Phayao Lake. To the right is the main city park with water feature, sala and lots of fish. This is the main spot for most of the cultural events in Phayao.

Wat Sri Khom Kham

Located on the bank of Phayao Lake, called "Phra Chao Ton Luang" housing a Buddha image having the lap width of 14 meters, and a height of 16 meters.


The Temple's annual fair take places in May. The picture on the opening page is taken just behind the main Temple.

Mortar-Making Village

Located at Ngin Village, north of Phayao, on Mae Thum - Mae Jai road. The distance south from Doi Busarakham Route 1193 is 7 kms. Most of people in this village make spice grinding mortars and send them to sell in the city market nearby. Phayao is noted for the quality of the mortars.

Kwan Phayao

This natural lake having clear and clean water occupies a space of around 13,000 rai. It is beautiful and a breeding source for fresh water fishes, especially the freshwater pla buek catfish. There are numerous food shops located along the bank with very high quality Northern Cuisine but at low cost. Thia area is especially suitable for dining and relaxing in the evening watching the sunset over the lake.

This is the celebration of novice ordination which the Thai Yai tribal people hold to be a highly meritorious occasion. Traditionally, the candidate-novice, his head cleanly shaven and wrapped with head-cloth in the Burmese style, will don a prince-like garment, put on valuable jewels and gems and ride a horse or be carried over the shoulders of a male relative to the city shrine. Then he will visit Abbots of various Wats to beg for forgiveness. On the eve of ordination, a procession of offerings and other necessary personal belongings will be paraded through the town streets and then placed at the next day. It is usually held between March and May before the Buddhist Rain Retreat period. Today the tribesmen are encouraged to hold several processions at the same time with the result that they have become a major tourist attraction.

Chong Para Procession

The 'Chong Para' in the Thai Yai dialect means a castle made of wood, covered with colorful perforated papers and decorate with fruits, flags and lamps. It is placed in the courtyard of a house or a monastery as a gesture to welcome the Lord Buddha on his return from giving sermons to his mother in heaven, according to traditional belief. The rite is held during the post-Rain Retreat season from the full moon day of the 11 the Lunar month to the waxing moon night of the same month.
Another activity to celebrate the occasion is dancing in which the performers are dressed in animal costumes. This is based on the belief that during those long-gone days, both humans and the animal kingdom were equally joyful at the return of the Lord Buddha and joined together in a jubilant performance as a tribute to the Enlightened One.

Bua Tong Blossom Festival (1 November - 15 November)

Each year in November, the hillsides of Amphoe Khun Yuam and Amphoe Mae Sariang are filled with a host of golden Bua Tong blooms. As fresh as daisies and almost as large as sunflowers, the Bua Tong only blossoms for 15 days, a fine reason for Mae Hong Son province to hold the Bua Tong Blossom Festival over this period at Amphoe Khun Yuam.
At Amphoe Khun Yuam's Doi Mae U-Kho, the blossoms appear in profusion. Specialists previously classified these Bua Tong as weeds and because of this, they began to be cleared to make way for cash crops. Fortunately, researchers have discovered the flower's insect-repellent properties. Perhaps for this reason, rather than our enjoyment, they are now a secure part of the annual scene? Whatever, Bua Tong, a symbol of Mae Hong Son, is here to stay on the hillsides.

Loi Krathong Festival

Loi Krathong Festival is held on the full moon night in the month of November every year. Villagers make 'Krathongs' to float in rivers. At Nong Chong Kham, various entertainments and a contest of large krathongs are held near the central pond. Lamps and candles are lit all around the area. At Wat Phra That Doi Kong Mu, there is a ceremony to release candle-lit krathongs bound to balloons (known as 'Loi Krathong Swan') to the evening sky.

Tea Tasting Festival

This is anually held in February to promote tea products of the Rak Thai village. The activities include hot tea tasting, tea-making demonstrations combined with cultural shows. Visitors can also enjoy riding a horse around the village.

January 26-February 1
This features parades, cultural performances and competitions celebrating the founder of Chiang Rai and the Lanna Thai Kingkom.

Songkran Festival

April 16-18
Traditional Thai New Year celebrations are best seen at Chiang Saen where 4 nations (Thailand, Laos, China and Myanmar) compete in boat races on the Mekong River. Beauty contests and cultural shows are added attraction.

Lychee Fair

May 19-28
Celebrating the province 's tastiest fruit, this fair features agricultural displays and exhibitions, local handicrafts, folk entertainment and beauty contests.

NOTE:

Chiang Rai has a lot of smaller fairs and festivals. Often these are held at the old airport south of town. Asking at any local restarant, Guesthouse or hotel shold get you more information. You can also check our ChiangRaiNewsNet site below for up to date information on events in and around Chiang Rai.

Bo Sang Umbrella Fair & San Kamphaeng Handicrafts Festival

Almost everyone in the small village of Bo Sang, near Chiang Mai derives a livelihood from making gaily painted paper umbrellas. This fair, held on the main street celebrates their traditional skill and features contests, exhibitions, stalls selling umbrellas and other handicrafts, and procession decorated by umbrellas and cycling ladies with umbrellas.

Tawai Village Wood Carving Fair

This fair features demonstration, contests and sales of wood carvings and local handicrafts. Products can be made within the fair. And includes local folk performances and a procession highlight on the entire range of popular northern Thai wood crafts. Hosted by the Tawai village, Hang Dong district.

February

Flower Carnival

Buak Hat Park, Chaing Mai
A festival centered around flowers. Features a parade with beautiful flower floats, a beauty contest, flower displays. and judging, gardening techniques, and flowers for sale. Takes place throughout the main city streets and at Buak Hard Park.

Makha Buccha Day

An important Buddhist holiday honoring the event when 1,250 of Buddha's disciples congregated without previous agreement. Buddha gave an important sermon at this event. Buddhists carry flowers, lighted candles, and joss sticks while walking around a Chedi at the temple three times under the full moon.

April

Chaing Mai Songkran And Lannathai Festival

Tha Pae Gate and citywide, Chiang Mai
Traditionally the Thai New Year, this festival is celebrated by making merit, constructing sand chedis, and pouring lustral water over respected elders and Buddha images. As the years went by, it became a part of tradition to splash water on one and all. It is a city-wide festival, and one of the most popular in Chiang Mai, so expect to have a good time and get wet!

Chaing Mai Great Arts And Culture Festival

Tha Dton Payom Market on Suthep Road, Chiang Mai
The Chiang Mai Great Arts and Culture Festival will be held from April 2 - 6. The objectives are to promote the image of Chiang Mai as an important center of art and culture, and to stimulate the preservation of local arts and the cultural heritage for future generations.

April 3-6.

A fair to promote Lanna arts and culture at the open space opposite the Dton Payom Market on Suthep Road. There will be demonstrations of the various activities of the original lifestyle of the Lanna people. Stalls will sell various items significant to the local culture highlighting. Northern cuisine. Daily useful implements will be on exhibit.

May

Visakha Bucha

A Buddhist holiday, in commemoration of the birth, enlightenment and death of Buddha. Chiang Mai Buddhists walk up to Suthep Temple at night to make merit.

June

Intakin Festival
Held at the Chedi Luang Temple, it lasts a week and is used to ask for peace and for rain to fall during the right seasons. The temple holds the city pillar which traditionally marks the center of a town.

July

Asalha Puja

Commenorates the first time that Buddha, his teachings, and his disciples were present. According to Buddhism, all three are needed for wholeness. On this day, Buddhists make merit at temples and sermons are preached.

August

H.M. The Queen's Birthday Celebrations
August 12, Nationwide

September

Salakpatt
Sept - Oct.
A festival special to North, it involves making merit by taking necessities to temples without designating which monk is to receive them. This festival varies slightly from place to place.

October

Auk Pansa

The end of the three month period when monks are not permitted to traval. An important merit making ceremony is held at Chiang Mai University, where monks from several different temples are asked to receive contributions of rice and dry food.

November

Loy Krathong

An important Thai festival, it is a way of paying respect to the goddess of the river for the water that was provided, and to repent for dirtying the river under the full moon, creating a beautiful sight. In addition, there are float contests, boat races, and a beauty contest. Lanterns similar to balloons are also lighted and sent drifting up into the sky.

December

H.M. The King's Birthday Celebrations
Nationwide

Chiang Mai Food Festival

The Pae Gate, Chiang Mai
A dishes, the n annual festival of Chiang Mai's great demonstrations on fruit carving and ancient Thai desserts, and beauty Lanna culture shows. Good food selling at a cheap price.

Chiang Mai Winter Fair
Annual festival held at the Chiang Mai Government Center. Featuring a variety of products for sale, especially handicrafts show a beauty contest and games. Comes alive at night.

February

King Ngam Muang Ceremony
- Various Colorful traditional Processions

Thai Lua Tribal Legendary Fair
- Featuring Demonstration of Tai Lua
- Various Colorful Traditional Processions
- Demonstration and Exhibition of Tai Lua Lifestyles

April
King Phraya Lor Ceremony
- Traditonal Processions and Kantoke Dinner

May
Lychee Fair
- Lychees Market and Selling Local Handicrafts

Pha Cho Ton Luang Festival
- Processions and Entertainment

November
Loy Krathong Festival
- Beauty and Big Krathong Contests
- Local Performance and Boat Racing

Thai cuisine is marked by the 4 tastes - sweet, sour, salty and hot. The northern people like food with a touch of a salty hot taste and not as much sweet or sour tastes. Meat preferred by the northern people is pork followed by beef, chicken, duck, bird etc. Local fresh water fish is also eaten in the northern.

The northern breakfast consist mainly of sticky rice and some kind of spicy fried protein often pork and egg or boiled rice.

Lunch is often a noodle based dish either fried noodles or noodle soup.

Dinner is an family affair and is served on raised wooden tray 30 inches in diameter or laid out on the floor. Everyone sits on mats on the floor and helps themselves. A typical dinner in a northern house would include - sticky rice, chili paste, bamboo soup, fried fish, grilled pork and chicken. Normally dessert is not served.

Typical Family Meal at home in Northern Thailand

Eating Out

There are many noodle shops in every part of Thailand. The quality of the food is often very good. The odd time my wife has taken me to small restaurants that I would never ventured into if alone, every time the food was superior in quality even if the surroundings were sometimes shabby. When I selected the establishment the food was always inferior to the small Thai place. If the Thai people are eating there the food is normally very good, if it’s on the tourist trail you often pay extra for poor quality. It’s often a good idea to take a bit of a walk off the beaten track to look for a place to eat later and often small carts pop up in the same location every day at dinner time. I’ve never been ill from eating in a small shop but have been eating in a tourist trap.

Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep

The most famous temple in Chiang Mai, sitting on a hill it commands a view of the entire vally floor. This temple dates from 1383. Its builders placed a relic of the Lord Buddha on an elephant's back and letting the elephant roam until it came across a place where it trumpeted and circled before lying down. They took this as marking an auspicious place to build the temple. You can walk the Naga stairway if your heart can take it or the more modern railway. I like this temple but it's not my favorite as it's loaded with local and tourist traffic and you almost feel like you are at the carnival.

Wat Chiang Man

The oldest temple in Chiang Mai. King Mengrai lived here while overseeing the construction of the city. This temple houses two very important and venerated Buddha figures - Phra Sila (a marble Buddha) and Phra Satang Man (a crystal Buddha).

Wat Phra Singh

Located within the old city walls it dates from 1345. Classic Northern Thai style architecture at it's best. It houses the Phra Singh Buddha, a highly venerated figure, transferred here many years ago from Chiang Rai. This temple is one of the most important temples in the city. Visitors can also take part in meditation classes here at set times.

Wat Chedi Luang
Founded in 1401 and dominated by the large Lanna style chedi which dates from the same time, but took many years to finish. An earthquake damaged the chedi in the 16th century and now only two-thirds of it remains.

Wiang Kum Kam
The site of an old city situated on the southern outskirts of Chiang Mai. King Mengrai used this for ten years before the founding of Chiang Mai. The site has a large number of ruined temples. This place is awesome. Last time we were there they were having a local festival that we just happened on. Elephants, local dancers, song and they had a small train that you could go on for 20 Baht each way. The site is huge and was totally covered in mud from the Ping river flooding over the centuries.

The Very Old and the New at Wieng Kun Kam

Wat U-Mong

A forest and cave wat in the foothills in the west of the city, near Chiang Mai University. Wat U-Mong is known for its grotesque concrete fasting Buddha and hundreds of Buddhist proverbs in English and Thai posted on trees throughout its grounds. This is another wat that is off the beaten track but worth a walk around. There is a small lake with lots of fish.

Wat Suan Dok

A 14th century temple located just west of the old city-wall. The temple was built by the King of Lanna for a revered monk visiting from Sukhothai to spend the rains retreat. The name translates as "the field of flowers temple." There are several unique aspects to this temple. One is the temple's large ubosot (ordination hall), see picture below - for scale I'm 6 feet tall. This is unusual not only for its size, but also that it is open on the sides instead of enclosed. Secondly, there are a large number of chedis housing the ashes of the rulers of Chiang Mai. The temple is also the site of Mahachulalongkorn Rajavidyalaya Buddhist University.

Of all the whats in Thailand this is my favorite. There is just something magical about Suan DoK for me. On Tuesday evenings they have a program, Monk Talk, where novice monks will talk to you in English, this helps them learn English and helps you understand Buddhism.

The Chiang Mai Zoo is located at the Huay Kaew road on the left, a short distance after the entrance to the University area (take bus no. 3 or a songthaew). The entrance area does not really give away how large the area is, but it is really quite large.

Most of the animals are concentrated fairly close to the entrance, - beyond the flower garden there are few animals, so a walk in this area is almost like having a forest to yourself. The front part of the zoo is more like an ordinary zoo, though this one is prettier than most, partly because of the luscious vegetation (many flowers) and partly because the zoo is positioned on a slope which makes for many fine views. In places you can look right down to the center of Chiang Mai 6 kms away. Even inside the large walk-through aviary there are considerable altitude differences, which has the effect that you don't really notice the wire surrounding it. Many animals still live in cages, but the tendency is toward open enclosures. The gibbons now live on several small islands in a lake.

Luk and I always laugh about our last visit to the Zoo. One of the exhibits she had trouble with was the "Cape Fur Seals". That is hard to say if you are a native speaker she had a real problem with that tongue twister. Their building is one of the few places you can cool off, it's air conditioned, inside the zoo and it's always fun to watch their antics. If you are going to walk around the zoo be warned that it's a real workout. You change altitudes constantly and the zoo covers a lot of area. There is a mini tour train and we would recommend that for your first visit. This will allow you to get a general overview and an idea of the lay of the land. You can spend a large amount of time if you are walking and want to see everything so prepare to spend the better part of the day. Also take some water (Nam) with you if you are walking. All in all, this is a very impressive zoo, one of the best in the region and comparable to the finest zoos abroad.

Chiang Mai Night Safari

T^he Night Safari was opened shortly after we left Chiang Mai and we have not been there yet. The reports we hear are that it is a first class facility. We will post some info and a link to their site so you can read more about it.

Chiang Mai Night Safari is a government nature theme park which is built to promote Chiang Mai tourism regarding to the government's policy apart from arts, cultures, traditions, and the beauty of nature which are the main fascinating tourist attractions. The government also works for the promotion of Chiang Mai Airport in order to make it an international airport which will allow Chiang Mai to be the tourist center in Indo-China and Southeast Asia. Therefore, if you are looking for a place to visit, a place to hang out at night amid the real natural environment where you can relax and learn ecosystem, wildlife and natural resources not only in terms of quantity but also quality, Chiang Mai Night Safari is the best answer for you,

The Night Market comes alive every night in Chiang Mai, everyone visits here and it‘s a great place to haggle for almost anything. It‘s often so busy that it‘s almost claustrophobic at times. The variety of items is staggering and you have to wonder where all the sellers come from, it‘s just as interesting to watch them setup shop. Be warned that the road is not closed and there is still traffic whizzing by, for those of you that drive on the right remember the traffic comes at you from the other direction in Thailand just like England.

The Kalare Center is down a lane but easy to find. Here they have some very good restaurants as well as entertainment provided by traditional Thai dancers.

Have fun and you will want to return often.

University Night Market

This is a temporary type market that springs up from time to time normally on weekends. It is also interesting as it's not as formal and has lots of CDs, DVDs, VCDs and knockoff designer clothing aimed at the university crowd. Often you will one of the few Westerners there. You could inquire at the hotel desk.

There are also night markets set up at all the festivals so if there is something going on there will be at least a small market.