Chiang Dao

We caught a local bus two hours north to a small town called Chiang Dao. We chose this place kind of haphazardly after minimal online research, but we thought it was on the way to Chiang Rai. Our accommodation, called Chiang Dao Nest 1, was outside of Chiang Dao proper and turned out to be absolutely gorgeous with little individual bungalows scattered discreetly around the property, little paths winding among towering dipterocarp trees, and even a couple of goats! Super steep jungly mountains rose up in the background.  

After settling in, we walked about a kilometer back down the road to the Chiang Dao Caves. The caves themselves were surrounded by several temples and large Buddha statues as well as a huge spring-fed fishpond containing some enormous sacred koi and carp. We hired a local guide to take us into the caverns themselves. It was quite an eerie experience, following this tiny woman carrying a super bright kerosene lantern. A couple times, we had to squirm through some pretty tight spaces which made Chandler a bit uncomfortable. Meanwhile, our guide was pointing out some interesting rock formations, “Look like elephant” or commenting on the spiders that we thought were already pretty damn big, “That one baby.” There were also a couple simple shrines located deep within the cave that had been in use by monks at the temple for several hundred years. All in all, a pretty cool experience, if mildly horrifying at times.

At our guest house that evening, they were having a weekly all-you-can-eat barbecue with everything cooked on a huge open-air grill on the property. We treated ourselves to it even though at 375B (about $13) per person, it cost at least quadruple what we were used to paying for meals. But the spread turned out to be absolutely amazing with a huge array of grilled meats and veggies as well as a variety of side dishes and sauces. We sat with a British couple we met on the bus, Dmitri and Lucy, who were at the tail end of a five-week trip in Lao, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand, and had a really nice time chatting and eating. Afterwards, the four of us walked around the corner to a small bar and hung out til nearly midnight.

The next morning, we rented bicycles and visited Wat Tham Pha Plong just down the road from our bungalow. We walked up several hundred feet of steps and arrived at a large monastery complex including temples and housing for monks and a large communal eating space all surrounding a huge cave filled with Buddhas, photos, and offerings for a famous monk (Luang Poo Sim Buddhajaro), who had established the monastery after spending years as a wandering ascetic.

We had heard about some hot springs in the area that we wanted to check out, so we biked a surprisingly difficult 7 kilometers from the Wat, mostly through gorgeous jungle-y farmland with scattered water buffalo and the towering hills ever-present in the background. There were a bunch of people at the springs including a huge group of locals having a super fun-looking picnic with lots of food, alcohol, and music. The springs themselves were organized into a series of makeshift concrete tubs filled with super-hot, super-sulfury water, fed directly from the spring by PVC pipes. There was an cold stream right next to the tubs to provide a hot-cold-hot-cold kind of experience. We hung out there for over an hour, even getting to speak some Spanish with a Catalonian couple.

After the mercifully downhill ride back to our guesthouse, we went to dinner at the sister location just down the road. It was another expensive meal for us (about 700B total), but the food was once again incredible, and it felt good to indulge a little. After dinner, we went back to the little bar with Lucy and Dmitri. It was much more lively than the previous night, bustling with a combination of tourists and expats, and we spent a really enjoyable couple hours there before retiring for the night.

Next up: After much debate, looking at logistics and timing, and listening to Dmitri and Lucy’s experience, we have decided to skip Lao entirely. We bought a plane ticket from Chiang Mai to Hanoi on Feb 6. So we’re heading north to Tha Ton, almost at the Burmese border, then looping back south and east to Chiang Rai before heading back to Chiang Mai for our flight. 

Our bungalow at Nest

 

Various Buddhas near Chiang Dao Cave

Cave entrance with fish pond

In the caves (Karen's nightmare)

Hike up to Wat Tham Pha Plong

Bike ride out to the hot springs

View from our front porch