Thailand – October 2022
My stay in northern Thailand begins with a wonderful journey on the night train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai. In contrast to my first night train journey in Southeast Asia, this time I get the last ticket for a lower seat. This means that I am woken up in the morning by the first rays of sunshine, which bathe the lush green landscape in a warm red-golden light. At the train station, I then have to find a Songthaew shared cab to take me to the old town, where my accommodation is located. Together with a few other tourists, I am taken on a tour through the side streets of Thailand’s northernmost metropolis.
In the morning, the city seems sleepy and pleasantly quiet. When I arrive at my hostel, I can already check in despite the early hour. I then sit down in the lobby, which is also a café open to the street, and order an avocado toast with Egg Benedict and an iced latte. What can I say – the “digital nomad” vibe is infectious. I work a little on a freelance marketing assignment until lunchtime and then decide to go on my first exploration tour. I visit a few temples and wander haphazardly through the shop-lined streets of the old town.
In the afternoon, I eat a bowl of khao soi in a small restaurant and pick up a portion of mango sticky rice on the way back to the hostel. Delicious! On the opposite side of the street, a tattoo studio catches my eye. It’s closed, but a sign on the door points to the Instagram channel. I memorize the name, go back to the air-conditioned hostel café and make a phone call to a few friends in Switzerland.
In the evening, I stroll through the night market and eat my first portion of Pad Thai in a while. Back at the hostel, I bump into a Thai woman and a German woman who are deep in conversation about a place I want to visit. I join them and we spontaneously make plans for the next few days. Unfortunately, the Thai woman has to leave the next morning – so Verena and I head off to Wat Pha Lat Temple on our own. There we enjoy the wonderful atmosphere of the surrounding nature with the waterfall and overgrown statues. We then spend the evening – like every other – eating street food at the night market.
Verena is a member of a Couchsurfing group for Chiang Mai. So we meet up one evening in a bar in a new neighborhood with two guys from Russia and Japan who have been living in Thailand for a while as digital nomads. As we’re chatting about their preferred destinations for visa runs and their living situation, it suddenly turns out that the Japanese man and Verena are both in contact with an Indian guy from the Couchsurfing group. Sagar is due to arrive in the next few days and will be staying in the Japanese man’s Airbnb. He plans to visit other places in northern Thailand with Verena.
I mention that the place Lampang was recommended to me. When I show Verena a photo of the temple in the mountains, she is immediately hooked, and it’s just a matter of convincing Sagar. He also spontaneously agrees, and we immediately start looking for a suitable guesthouse for the three of us with an arrival in two days. I have my tattoo appointment the next day, so I go to bed a little earlier than usual. Verena is up early and accompanies me to the Zeroo Tattoo Studio, where the talented artist tattoos a magnificent butterfly on my stomach in just an hour.
We spend the rest of the day relaxing in the various cafés and restaurants in Chiang Mai. In the evening, we pay a quick visit to a jazz bar that was recommended to me. Then it’s time to pack, because the train to Lampang leaves early! We have an appointment with Sagar at the train station at around 8 a.m. and take a private Songthaew to get there on time. It turns out that we have to show our passports to buy tickets. Sagar then sends a picture to Verena and I show it at the counter. Fortunately, this seems to be enough and we get 3 tickets for 2nd class.
Sagar soon appears and after our initial greeting, we make a short detour to 7/11 and a street stall to buy breakfast. Then it’s already time to go to the platform, as the train is surprisingly ready to leave on time. The 2-hour journey through the national park flies by, and we soon find ourselves back at Lampang train station. Now we have to negotiate with the cab drivers who want to take us to the Lampang Lanna Home. There aren’t many other tourists here, so we are welcome donors.
For the sake of simplicity, we finally decide to call a Grab taxi and arrive at the guesthouse a short time later. The hosts — a nice couple — are already waiting for us and show us to our room. They then show us the bikes, which we are welcome to use, and ask us to be there for breakfast on the terrace at 8am the next day. By now it’s almost lunchtime, and we set off on our first exploratory tour on the bikes. Because Sagar is a vegetarian, our options are limited. However, we find a great café that serves delicious burgers and curry in a beautiful location by a river.
On the way back, we pass a stall selling writhing eels in plastic bags on the small country road. We have officially arrived in the province. In the afternoon, Sagar and I devote ourselves to our work, while Verena takes on the adventure of “doing the laundry”. Fortunately, we all manage our tasks with flying colors and so we reward ourselves with another meal in the tried and tested restaurant by the river. That evening, Sagar casually mentions that the festival of lights, Diwali, is being celebrated in India this week. Verena and I remember this information as we plan our excursion to the national park the next day.
Sagar stays behind because he has to finish customer projects. So we girls can take the 3rd class train to Khun Tan. The journey takes a good hour and we get off at the small station that caught our eye when we passed through yesterday. We spend a few hours hiking in Doi Khun Tan National Park and even come across a military troop on motorcycles carrying their rice supplies through the jungle. In the afternoon, we travel back to Lampang in a 3rd class coach and enjoy the view of the sunset from the open door in the rear coach.
Back in Lampang, we set ourselves the task of finding a driver for the next day who can take us to Wat Chaloem Phra Kiat. It turns out to be more difficult than expected – one of them suddenly claims to be ill when he hears that we are tourists. Somehow, however, our hosts manage it and Verena and I can take Sagar to a surprise Diwali dinner in an Indian restaurant. The candle-decorated restaurant wins him over and we enjoy dhal and naan with Bollywood music playing in the background.
The next day, we get up early to have enough time for a Thai breakfast before setting off. Strengthened, we climb into the back of the blue Songthaew and enjoy the breeze as we speed out of the city and into the jungle. The stores on the roadside give way to rice fields, and finally, we catch our first glimpse of the mountain peaks where the temple we want to visit today is located. To get up there, however, we first have to take an adventurous ride in a 4×4 truck together with other Thai tourists. Then it’s time for the final ascent.
The climb up the stairs is definitely worth it! The view of the surrounding lowlands is fantastic and the temple itself is one of the most impressive I have seen in Southeast Asia. It consists of several small buildings scattered on the rocks in direct contact with the surrounding nature. Then we take the pick-up truck back to the park entrance, where our songthaew driver takes a nap. We take the opportunity to buy some delicious Pad Thai from one of the many food stalls.
We spend the drive back to Lampang eating and sleeping. In the evening, we take one last tour of the city by bike and discover a bridge that is quite busy on a Friday evening. We park our bikes and then sit down on the steel structure, which causes astonishment among the local teenagers. Then it’s time to return to the guesthouse to pack. Finally, the next day we head back to Chiang Mai, where we part ways at the bus station. Sagar and Verena want to go straight to Chiang Rai.
And I drive on to Pai and the Mae Hong Son Loop. Read more about that adventure here:
thattravelstory 
4 thoughts on “Butterflies in Chiang Mai and temples in Lampang”