Introduction
Chiang Mai is Thailand's principal northern city. A largely mountainous province,it has some 20,000 square kilo-metres in area.
Chiang Mai city is 700 kilometres north of Bangkok, was founded in 1296, and is located in a fertile valley some 300 metres above sea level.
Chiang Mai was the capital of Lanna Thai (Kingdom of One Million Rice fields), the first independent Thai kingdom within the fabled Golden Triangle. Chiang Mai flourished as a major religious, cultural and trading centre until 1556 when a Burmese invasion reduced it to a vassal state. The Burmese were expelled in 1785, whereupon Lanna Thai once again became part of northern Thailand.
Many lowland Thais regard Chiang Mai city and province as being something of a national Shangri-La, thanks to its beautiful women, distinctive festivals, historic temples dating from the 1300s, scenic beauty, temperate fruits such as apples, peaches and strawberries, and a crisp, invigorating cool season climate.

Local Culture
The people of Chiang Mai enjoy one of the most distinctive cultural identities in the whole of Thailand. Largely farmers and artisans, they have their own northern dialect, customs, festivals, architectural traditions, indigenous handicrafts, their own dances and distinctive cuisine. Hill tribes also lend a great deal of character and colour to the beautiful mountainous landscape.

City Attractions

Wat Phra Singh
Sam Lan Road
This lovely temple dates from 1345 and is one of the focal points of Songkran festivities from April 13-15 when people bathe the revered Phra Buddha Sihing image. The temple compound includes the lovely Lai Kham chapel with its exquisite woodcarvings and northern-style murals.

Wat Suan Dok
Suthep Road
This temple was built in a 14th century Lanna Thai monarch's pleasure gardens and is a favorite spot for photographers, particularly for striking sunsets. Several of the white chedis contain ashes of Chiang Mai's former royal family. The 500-year-old bronze Buddha image in a secondary chapel is one of Thailand's largest metal images.

Wat Chiang Man
Ratchaphakkinai Road
This is Chiang Mai's oldest temple and probably dates from 1296. The temple was the residence of King Mengrai, who founded Chiang Mai, and is noteworthy for a chedi supported by rows of elephantine buttresses, and a small ancient Buddha image, Phra Kaeow .

Wat Ku Tao
Near Chiang Mai Stadium
This temple is noteworthy for an unusual bulbous pagoda. The structure is decorated with colourful porcelain chips and is believed to represent five Buddhist monks' alms bowls which symbolize five Lord Buddhas.

Wat Chedi Luang
Phrapokklao Road
This temple is the site of an enormous pagoda, originally 280 feet high, and which was partially destroyed by an earthquake in 1545. At one time, Wat Chedi Luang housed the revered Emerald Buddha image now enshrined in Bangkok's Wat Phra Kaeo. A magnificent Naga staircase adorns the chapel's front porch.

Wat Chet Yot
Super Highway, north of the Huai
Kaew Nimmanhemin Roads intersection
This temple dates from 1458. The seven-spired square chedi was inspired by designs at Bodhagaya, the site of the Buddha's Enlightenment in north India over 2,500 years ago, and was built by Lanna Thai architects after visiting the holy site.

Wat U-Mong
Suthep Road
This delightful meditation temple is completely different from Chiang Mai's other major temples and enjoys a bucolic forest setting. The ancient chedi is of particular interest.

Chiang Mai National Museum
Beside Wat Chet Yot
The museum houses a collection of Lanna Thai works of art, ancient Buddha images, and war weapons. The museum opens daily, except Mondays, Tuesdays and official holidays, from 9.00 AM until noon, and 1.00 until 4.00 PM.

Out-of-City Attractions

DOI SUTHEP ROUTE (Road 1004)
Tribal Research Institute Chiang Mai University campus This contains a permanent cultural exhibition of northern hilltribes. The centre is open, Monday through Friday, from 8.30 AM until noon, and from 1.00 to 4.30 PM.

Chiang Mai Arboreum
next to Chiang Mai University
The attractively landscaped garden contains many kinds of tropical trees and lovely flowers.

Chiang Mai Zoo
next to the Chiang Mai Arboreum
This artfully landscaped complex occupies the lower forested slopes of Suthep mountain, and contains a fascinating collection of Asian and African mammals and birds.

Huai Kaew Falls
beside Chiang Mai Zoo
The cascade provides a delightful ambiance for relaxation and picnics.

Kruba Sriwichai Monument
Foot of Suthep Mountain
This monument honours the man whose followers built the first motor road to Wat Phra That Doi Suthep in 1935.

Phu Phing Palace
This is located on the same road, beyond Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, on Doi Buak Ha, 22 kilometres from town. The royal winter palace was built in 1962. The lavishly landscaped gardens and grounds are open to the general public on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays,and official holidays, when the Thai royal family is not in residence.

Doi Pui Tribal Village
This Meo tribal village is some 4 kilometres from the Phu Phing Palace, and offers vignettes of modern tribal life.

Pha Dam (Black Cliff)
This area near Wat Phra That Doi Suthep comprises a scenic spot ideal for picnics.

WESTERN ROUTE

(Highway 108 & Road 1009)
Old Chiang Mai Cultural Centre
Located on the road to Chom Thong, the centre stages Lanna Thai cultural performanceswith a Khantoke Dinner. Objets d 'art are displayed.

Earthenware & Lacquerware Shops
These are clustered together, some 4 kilometres from town, on the Chiang Mai-Hang Dong Road.

Wat Phra That Si Chum Thong
This temple is 58 kilometres from Chiang Mai and dates from the mids1400s. The temple houses a collection of bronze Buddha images, and the secondary chapel contains a holy Buddha relic.

Mae Klang Waterfall
Chiang Mai's most photographed waterfall lies some 58 kilometres west of the city at the foot of Doi Inthanon Mountain, and provides a picturesque setting for picnics and relaxation.

Borichinda Cave
Visiting the cave, which provides a pleasant setting for picnics, entails a 10-minute drive and a walk of some 2 hours from the Mae Klang Waterfall.

Doi Inthanon National Park
The 1,005-square-kilometre park covers Thailand's highest mountain (2,565 metres). The lovely Wachirathan, Siriphum and Mae Pan waterfalls share the mountain with Meo and Karen hilltribe settlements. Forest above 1,800 metres is covered with lichens and wild orchids.

Mae Yae Waterfall
This is located 12 kilometres from Chom Thong market and is best visited by local mini-bus.

Ob Luang Gorge
This picturesque gorge is 88 kilometres from Chiang Mai provincial capital, and is framed by teak forests and mountains..

NORTHERN ROUTE

(Highway 107 & Road 1096)
Lanna Golf Course
This public 18-hole golf course is located at Nong Hoi, some 4 kilometres from town. The course is open daily from 6.00 AM until 7.00 PM. Golf club rentals and caddy services are available.

Chiang Mai Green Valley Golf Course
This is located some 16 kilometres from town along thesame road, and is open to the public.

Orchid & Butterfly Farms
Major nurseries in the Mae Sa Valley include the Mountain Orchid, Mae Rim Orchid and Sai Nam Phung Orchid complexes. Each provide opportunities for visitors to admire these exotic year-round blooms. Certain orchid farms also have special butterfly enclosures wherein exotic species can be seen in their natural environment.

Mae Sa Waterfall
This 8-tiered waterfall is 26 kilometres from town and occupies a natural setting among gigantic, towering trees.

Elephant Training Centres
Each morning, at Km 10 on the Mae Rim-Samoeng route, trained elephants demonstrate their formidable and highlyvalued forestry skills from 9.30 until 11.00 AM, at the Mae Sa Elephant Training Centre. The centre is some 30 kilometres from town. Admission is 80 baht per person. A jungle tour on elephant back, lasting more than two hours through adjacent forests, is offered after the show and costs 250 baht per person. Elephants can also be seen at the Pong Yaeng Elephant Centre at KM 19 on the same route.

Resorts
Several picturesque resorts, with accommodation and dining facilities, offer bucolic rural living on the Mae Rim-Samoeng route (1096) and include Mae Sa Valley Resort and Erawan Resort, and the Samoeng-Hang Dong route (1239) which includes Lanna Resort, Krisadadoi Resort and Suan Bua Resort. Some occupy hillsides, others secluded valleys.

Taeng Dao Elephant Camp
This riverside enclave, at KM 56 on Highway 107, features daily shows of elephants at work, from 9.00 AM until 10.00 AM, and from 10.00 AM until 11.00 AM, and offers elephant rides, and opportunities for bucolic river-rafting through largely pristine and tranquil forests, or jungle treks to neighbouring hilltribe settlements.

Doi Ang Khang
This royal agricultural station, 163 kilometres north of Chiang Mai provincial capital, is a demonstration site for planting and researching flowering plants, temperate fruit trees, vegetables and other crops, and enjoys the patronage of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

Fang Hot Springs
Located at Ban Pin, also 163 kilometres north of Chiang Mai provincial capital, 50 hot springs occupy a 10-acre forest setting. Three boil contin- usually with a string smell of sulphur. Water temperatures at the springs range from 90 to 100 degrees Celsius.

EASTERN ROUTE (Road 101)

Bor Sang Umbrella/Parasol Village
The world-famous village is 9 kilometres from town, along a road lined with handicraft-producing factories. In genuine cottage industries, young women manufacture silk and cotton umbrellas and paper parasols which are subsequently hand painted in various animal and floral designs. Generations of Bor Sang families have been engaged in umbrella and parasol making for more than 200 years.

San Kamphaeng
Cotton & Silk Weaving Village
This equally famous village is located 13 kilometres from town. The village is the major source of all Thai silk and cotton produced in Chiang Mai. The fabrics are woven by local folk on traditional wooden looms, and are sold in a wide variety of plain lengths, plaids, brocades, stripes, prints and checks.

San Kamphaeng Hot Springs
This is located 36 kilometres from town amid natural surroundings of trees and verdant hills. The water has a high sulphur content and possesses curative and restorative properties. Accommodation, a swimming pool, dining facilities and segregated mineral water bathing rooms are available. Accommodation can be booked by contacting the Sam Kamphaeng Hot Spring Co-operative Village, Chiang Mai 50130 or Tel: 01-510-0418.

TREKKING TOURS
Meo, Lisu, Yao, Akha, Lawa and Karen hilltribes live throughout northern Thailand's mountains.They share animist beliefs and honour numerous forest and guardian spirits. Each tribe has distinctive ceremonial attire, courtship rituals, games, dances, agricultural customs, puberty rites, languages or dialects, aesthetic values and hygienic habits.
Popular 'Jungle Treks', lasting from 2 to 7 days, take visitors through forested mountains and high valleys andmeadows, and indude visits to remoter high-altitude hilltribe settlements for overnight stays. The best guides are hilltribe youths who customarily speak English, Thai and at least three tribal dialects.
Treks commonly feature travel by foot, sometimes by boat, elephant-back, horse-back or jeep, frequently a combination of two or three modes of transportation. Prospective trekkers are advised to shop around companies offering such tours for the best conditions. All treks must be registered with the Tourist Police. This is done for trekkers' protection. Avoid companies that do not abide by this law. Visitors are welcome to enquire from the Tourism Police to confirm which tour companies have negative or bad reputations.
Also, avoid narcotics, essentially everything from 'soft drugs' such as marijuana to 'hard drugs' such as opium and heroin, both during travel and at hilltribe villages. There are severe penalties for such usage.
Valuables, such as passport, jewllery and money, should be deposited in the safe of your hotel or guest house whileyou are trekking upcountry.
Wear sensible clothing to protect your limbs and sleep under a mosquito net at night. Malaria is a real threat, and sensible precautions should be taken to avoid it.
Visitors should remember to
a) Respect hilltribe beliefs and religious symbols and structures .
b) Dress modestly. Hilltribe people are generally modest. Inappropriate attire may offend them.
c) Ask permission before photographing someone. Some villages do not permit photography.
d) Avoid trading western medicines and articles of clothing. Contributions to their welfare, items such as pens, paper, needles, thread, cloth and material used for embroidery are perfectly acceptable.
Trek prices are determined by the duration of the trip, transportation modes, meals available and the size of the trekking party.

Check directly with the Chiang Mai TAT office for current information.

Thai Etiquette
What is considered polite in your country is probably considered polite in Thailand, too.
However, there are a few cultural pitfalls, mainly social and religious taboos, the breaking of which can cause offence.
For example, Thais revere their royal family. Even social malcontents, who ignore legal and community standards, refuse to tolerate a faintly implied slur on the monarchy.
Outward expressions of anger are regarded as crude and boorish. Visitors who remain calm and smile will Emd all sorts of doors opened to them.
Visitors should dress neatly in all religious shrines. They should never go shirtless, or in shorts, hot pants or other unsuitable attire.
Shoes should be removed when entering a private Thai home, a Buddhist temple chapel, any of the Islamic community's mosques.
Each Buddha image, large or small, is regarded as a sacred object. Never climb onto one to take a photograph or do anything which might indicate a lack of respect.
Public displays of affection between men and women are frowned upon. Westernised Thai couples may hold hands, but that's as far as it goes in public.
It is considered rude to point your foot at a person or object.
Thais regard the head as the highest part of the body, literally and figuratively. Therefore, they do not appreciate anyone patting them there, even as a friendly gesture.
Thais customarily ask questions which are regarded elsewhere as being personal. If the visitor is asked, 'Where are you going?' or 'How much do you earn?' such questions are asked in a friendly manner and signify genuine interest. Joking answers such as, 'I'm not sure' or "Never enough!' are perfectly acceptable.

Shopping
Chiang Mai is, quite simply, Thailand's major centre for quality handicrafts. The visitor need merely visit the nearest city emporium or night market to purchase an extraordinary variety of antiques, silver jewelry, hilltribe opium pipes and embroidery, Thai silks and cottons, basketry, celadon, silverware, furniture, lacquerware, woodcarvings and parasols.
A major advantage of shopping in Chiang Mai is that the visitor may watch artisans working within the city and in several outlying villages, particularly along the Bor SangSan Kamphaeng road where, in genuine cottage industries, parasols, silk and cotton weaving, jewelry, woodcarving, silverware, celadon and lacquer ware are manufactured, and number among popular purchases.
Major Chiang Mai products include:

Cottons & Silks
First-class Chiang Mai cottons and silks are of incomparable quality. Cottons and silks have innumerable fashion and furnishing applications. The largest possible selection is available in San Kamphaneg.

Umbrellas/Parasols
These are inextricably associated with Bor Sang where villagers have been engaged in their manufacture for at least 200 years. All materials, silks, cottons, sa paper (manufactured from the bark of the mulberry tree), and bamboo are produced or found locally. MIsitors to Bor Sang will see literally hundreds of designs and sizes ranging from the miniature to the gigantic.

Silverware
The finest Thai silverware is exquisite, and is made in Chiang Mai, where certain families have prectised their art for several generations. Traditional skills and a guaranted content of at least 92.5% pure silver invest bowls, receptacles and decorative items with authentic value. Silver shops are concentrated on Wualu Road, where silverware artisans and their families live.

Lacquerware
Striking black and gold designs give lacquerware its visual appeal and sheen. This decorative art enhances items made of wood, bamboo, metal, paper and baked clay, in the form of receptacles, ornaments and various souvenirs.

Fumiture/Woodcarving
Chiang Mai is a major centre of furniture making. Major woods and materials include teak, rose wood and rattan. Items may be unadorned or, especially with teak and rose wood, artfully carved in traditional or modern designs. Woodcarving is a traditional northern Thai art featured in numerous temples. In recent years, wood carving has increasingly embellished furniture, gracing screens, chairs, tables, beds, indeed anything bearing a wooden surface large enough to be carved. Carved elephants, figurines and tableware number among other popular purchases.

Hill tribe Products
These include silver ornaments, such as bracelets, necklaces, pendants, hairpins and pipes of intricate design, and embroidered items including tunics, jackets,bags, purses, caps and dress lengths.

Gold Plated Orchids & Butterflies
Orchids and butterflies are preserved and plated with 24carat gold to create unusual gift items such as necklace pendants, hairpins and earrings.

Pottery
Chiang Mai is the major centre of Thailand's pOnery industry. Prized items include high-fired celadon which is produced in many forms, including dinner sets, lamp bases and decorative items.

Major Events & Festivals
Chiang Mai celebrates many annual festivals. Three are particularly lively and lovely. They are theFlowerFestival, the first Friday and weekend of every February, Songkran, 13-15 April each year, and Loi Krathong on the full-moon night of the twelfth lunar month, generally in November.

Flower Festival
The 3-day event occurs during the period when Chiang Mai's temperate and tropical flowers are in full bloom and at their colourful best. Festivities include colourful floral floats, parades, music and dancing, and beauty pageants.

Songkran
This festival celebrates the traditional Thai New Year with religious merit-making, pilgrimages, beauty parades, dancing, merriment and uninhibited, good-natured water throwing.

Loi Krathong
People float away under the full moon, onto rivers, canals and lakes, banana-leaf boats bearing a lighted candle, incense, flower and small coin to honour the water spirits and wash away the previous year's misfortunes.

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Last updated : 18/02/01 0001hrs