Blog
One subject at a time, checked on the ground: history, food, seasons and the streets between.
History & heritage
24 September 2026 · 11 min read
The full moon falls on 24 November 2026. What the city celebration involves, why the famous mass lantern release is a separate ticketed event, and how to plan your nights.
History & heritage
17 October 2026 · 9 min read
Not one light but several: the hanging lanterns of the temples, the ones carried in procession, the revolving lantern, the clay lamp and the sky lantern. How each is made, why only one flies, and what the lights mean at Yi Peng.
Planning your trip
15 October 2026 · 6 min read
Tour, driver, shared van from Warorot or your own wheels: how to reach Mae Kampong, how to get back down, and when a homestay night is worth it.
Food & drink
13 October 2026 · 9 min read
Kad Luang, Chiang Mai's big daytime market: the building and its neighbours, northern food to take away, opening hours by space, and a short walk around it.
Planning your trip
9 October 2026 · 12 min read
November to mid-February if you can choose, not March if you can avoid it, and a green season that is better than its reputation. Month by month, with festivals, closures and prices.
Planning your trip
28 September 2026 · 8 min read
When the smoke usually builds and peaks, why nobody can give you a start date, how to read the air on the day, and what we would do with fixed or flexible dates.
Food & drink
27 September 2026 · 8 min read
Why a morning market is best seen early, why lunch is often chosen by pointing, and why some of the evening meal leaves the stall in a plastic bag. The daily rhythm of eating in Chiang Mai, and where a visitor fits into it.
History & heritage
24 September 2026 · 12 min read
Mountain spirits, a white elephant in the chronicles, and a road built by volunteers in under six months. How Doi Suthep and its temple connect to the city below, and how to visit them on your own terms.
History & heritage
22 September 2026 · 9 min read
A kingdom assembled in the thirteenth century, a long absorption into Siam, and a word that outlived the state. What Lanna means now, what survives in the language, the food and the temples, and where it has become a brand.
History & heritage
2 September 2026 · 14 min read
Not one style but four traditions stacked in the same courtyards: Mon, classical Lanna, Burmese-Shan and Bangkok. How to read a roof, date a chedi, and stop calling everything gold ancient.
Food & drink
1 September 2026 · 11 min read
Green curry, pad thai, coconut milk in everything: none of that is northern. What Lanna cooking is, where it comes from, and the four decisions that make it taste unlike anything served in Bangkok.
History & heritage
1 September 2026 · 10 min read
Mangrai's first capital failed three kilometres from here. What Doi Suthep, the Ping and the slope of the plain decided in 1296, and what you can still read on foot today.
Food & drink
30 August 2026 · 8 min read
Khao soi, sai ua, gaeng hang lay, khao taen, khao lam: what each one is, where to eat it in Chiang Mai, and what a plate should cost.
The Lanna capital
Around three hundred temples inside the city, more than thirty within the old walls alone. Nobody sees them all and nobody should try. Here are the nine that earn a place in a short stay, in the order we would visit them.
Seven neighbourhoods
Chiang Mai is small but it is not walkable end to end. Pick the wrong side of town and you will spend your week in the back of a red truck. Here is what each neighbourhood is actually like.
Practical
How to get in from the airport, how to move around without being overcharged, and the single most important thing to know before choosing your dates.
Before you book
Every camp around Chiang Mai now calls itself a sanctuary. The word alone tells you little. Here is what to look at instead, what your money actually pays for, and what nobody selling you a day out can honestly promise.
Four markets
Four of them, not fourteen. Which one you want depends on the night of the week and on whether you came here to eat or to buy something.
2,565 metres
Worth a full day from November to May, for the ridge, not the summit. Outside those months we would spend the day somewhere else.