Chiang Mai, Thailand, March 14th, 2025
A stunning hotel choice with the Smile Lanna on the outskirts of the old part of Chiang Mai. A painless flight with Air Asia and had the front five rows of the A320 to myself – it’s amazing what the extra £15 for zone 1 boarding, priority and legroom can do.
The temperatures are already into the mid-thirties – it was 41 yesterday – so a stroll through Old Town was interrupted by a lunch stop in the shade to rehydrate.
Much quieter than Bangers obviously – it reminds me of small towns like Hat Yai, Pattani, Nakhon Si Thammarat and Surat Thani in southern Thailand that we visited on the 4×4 Silverstone Rally of Asia quite a few years ago.
A lot of back packers on the flight here to find themselves but I managed to avoid the clueless ruck sack shoulder whackers during the boarding process.
A delightful lunch of brown rice, chicken, cashew and vegetables and then a Temple and Pagoda tour – including Wat Lok Moli and Wat Phra Singh – by foot until the heat got too much.
Wat Phra Singh was originally constructed in 1345 and was later restored in the early 19th Century. It is sometimes referred to as the ‘Temple of the Lion Buddha’, which was derived from the fact he was a member of the Shakya Clan, whose symbol was a lion.
Wat Lok Moli dates back to the Mangrai Dynasty and King Kuena (1355-1385). He invited 10 Buddhist monks from Burma to spread their teachings on Theravada Buddhism. They were housed in the temple. King Ket (also known as Mueangketklao or Phra Kaew Muang) commissioned the chedi in 1527 and had the viharn (assembly hall) built in 1545.
