Thailand road trip from Chiang Mai reveals fascinating sights, with few tourists
- A loop through Phayao, Nan, Phrae and Lampang offers stunning scenery, distinct architecture, creepy attractions and historic wonders
With a spear lodged in his chest, the soldier topples into a fiery pit as his comrades scale a wooden fort. Amid the carnage, two giant elephants ridden by sword-wielding warriors collide head-on.
These scenes tower above me, painted across an entire wall inside a monumental complex in Mae Rim, a district on the northern outskirts of the city of Chiang Mai in northern Thailand.
Outside, beneath the 1,685-metre (5,528-foot) Doi Suthep mountain, sits a colossal statue of Thailand’s King Naresuan, who in the murals is shown defeating the Burmese crown prince in a celebrated 1593 battle that finally freed Thailand from Burma.
One of the most revered figures in Thai history, Naresuan is beloved in northern Thailand, which suffered heavily at the hands of the Burmese.
This history lesson came at the start of an eight-day road trip through the region: a 720km (447-mile) loop from Chiang Mai past national parks, a haunted canyon, a fluorescent cave, the remains of an ancient kingdom, a quaint town of teak architecture and a horrifying garden of death.
