This was a very varied and enjoyable day out.

Heading out on the main road to Mae Rim, we took a left turn shortly after the intersection with the end of the Canal Road. Its a fork off the main road, before you get to Mae Rim.

After a short 5 minute ride down this quiet tree lined road you will see the entrance to the Northern Farm Project on your right hand side. Unfortunately a problem with formatting my memory card means that the photos I took are not available, but I shall be returning in the near future to do a much fuller report on this fascinating place. It is, in essence, a working museum of the craft and agriculture of  Northern Thailand.

As you enter the left of the main car parking area are a group of small buildings, each housing displays of various crafts, pottery, wood carving and weaving.

Whilst we were there we observed a craftsman working on a huge elephant carving in teak wood.

Further left of these buildings is a much larger, 2 storey building which is more of a static museum.

Then, to the rear of the compound is the agriculture area, where, if you book ahead, you can see demonstrations of ploughing with Buffalo ploughs, and even take part in planting rice in a paddy field and other such activities.

It is clearly popular as an educational trip destination for local schools but of equal interest to visiting tourists and there is some English translation on some of the information boards.

To the left of the front of the compound is a delightful Thai cafe, run by a very friendly Thai family, with a balcony over the large pond behind.

We discovered that it is an ideal spot for ornithologists with a stunning variety of birdlife inhabiting the area.

It certainly seems like the sort of place you where could spend a good part of the day, which plenty to see and do if you have an interest in historic culture. Oh, and its free.

After a brief walk around and breakfast at the cafe we set off for our next destination, Wat Pa dara Phirom. To get there we turned right out of the car park and carried on down the road which follows the continuing canal from Chiang Mai, to a small intersection with a bridge.Turning left over the bridge and immediately left again going down the otherside of the canal took us to the very impressive Wat Pa Dara Phirom.

An alternative way to get here would be to go to Mae Rim and turn left at the Police Station, follow the road until you meet the bridge, crossing it and turning left.

This Temple wat developed in the 1890s, on land donated by a decendant of the great Lanna Princess, Phra Raja Jaya, born Chao Dara Rasmi, 11th daughter to Chao Inthawichayanon, one of the last rulers of Chiang Mai and the Lanna Kingdom. Doi Inthanon was named after this King. For an excellent history of Chao Dara Rasmi visit this link.

Or, alternatively, visit The Princess Chao Dara Rasmi museum in Mae Rim.

Although a relatively ‘new’ Temple, this development employs much original Lanna style, in accordance with the Princes’s wishes for the cultural heritage of the Lanna Kingdom to be preserved.

The extensive compound holds various Temple buildings and Viharns and is has feast of historical relics spotted all around.

The plush main Temple has exquisite decorations on the outside and equally extravagant decor inside, including chandeliars and a silver metal beaten image of the Princess.

There is some remarkable art work inside the white Chedi to the right of the entrance, including an interesting ‘Buddha foot’ impression in the centre.

The gardens are as stunning as the architecture with such a wide variety of trees, many of which were in glorious bloom when we visited.

For many more photos please visit our photo bucket album here.

From here we left, at around 2.30pm, and then had to decide which way to go, as the rest of the trip was unplanned.
Our first idea was to try and find a way back to Chiang Mai along mountain village roads.
Turning left out of the Temple road, towards the mountain we soon came to another Temple at a small village,Wat Ampa Wan.

Though nowhere near the scale of Wat Pa Dara Phirom and not particularly striking in any immediate sense, it nonetheless had something in its overall atmosphere. For more photos please visit our photobucket album here.

We then tried taking the side road that the Temple stood at the corner of and ended up on a mud track passing some local women harvesting Jack Fruit, who happily informed us that we could carry on and just keep turning left. Well we tried, but ended up returning the way we came. Still, it was fun.
We then turned left back at the Temple onto the road we had come up on and followed it up to where it meets the Samoeng Loop road, just before the Maesa Elephant Camp.
Once on that road we stopped outside the Elephant camp for a fresh coffee, passing one of the camps elephants on its way home from work, before carrying on around the Loop that takes you around the western side of Doi Suthep and its neighboring peaks.

There is so much to see and find on this road that I think it will become a regular feature here as there is no way you can see it all in one day, let alone the 2 or 3 hours of decent light we had left ourselves.

Look out for mountain streams;

a surreal Pumpkin house nestled amongst the trees on the left;

the Queen Sirikit Botanical Gardens;

a beautiful terraced landscaped resort which we discovered, on our next trip that way, has a Thai cookery school, with classes held in the wooden construction you see at the top of the garden area.

Perfect motorbiking territory, we stuck to the main road this time, first stopping at yet another stunning Temple complex that comprises of a lot more than you initially see from the road.

Wat Bong Yang Chalerm Prakiat.

This Temple is on the right hand side of the road, at the village around 10 minutes ride after the Queens Botanical Gardens, silly me forgot to get the name of the village.
It is not until you get to the top of the entrance steps that you realise that the grounds then extend up the hillside behind the Temple and that there are many more steps to explore the whole site.

The views from the bottom level were quite something so I can only imagine how things would look from there as we decided that time was to short to do the full visit on this occasion.

There is a wonderful Monks building to the left of the main Temple with a roof completely covered with a lush climber with orange flowers. There was also a large courtyard which then led through to a large school in the land adjacent to the temple grounds. For more photos, please visit our photobucket album here.

Wat Tay Par Lam (my translator is not 100% sure on this as the sign is in Lanna language)

A little way up the road on the left is another Temple, small and cosy this Wat had some more of that wonderful Temple wall art.

Nothing grand to see here otherwise, but like many of the more inconspicuous Temples it has a very calm and welcoming atmosphere.

After a slightly embarrassing moment when a friendly young Monk had cause to point out that I had a large rip in the seat of my trousers we set of once more to complete the Loop. For more photos please visit our photobucket album here.

Needing to get back to the business there wasn’t much time for stopping elsewhere other than to catch the many fantastic views along the way.

Indeed this is one of my favourite local routes at the moment especially as we discovered that it can lead to further, equally visually spectacular routes.

There will be another report up very soon on a more recent trip in which we concentrated on finding more points of interest along the Samoeng loop and visited Samoeng itself.

For more photos from this day please visit our photobucket album here.