Chiang Mai (Northern Thailand) Tourist Guide


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A Rainy Day Outing to Phrao

by Mim Saisin

The rainy season is the time of Pansa - when Buddhist monks stay in their temples, meditating, and people go to pay their respects by offering the giant candles you can see burning next to the Buddha images in the temples for much of the rest of the year.

My monthly trip in July was made in arrangement with my family. They wanted to visit relatives in our home town of Phrao, about 90 kms north of Chiang Mai city, and build up our merit (tam boon) by making offerings at our own local temples.

We left Chiang Mai in our pick-up truck at just after eight, and passed a small parade of school children carrying a big candle, and making an impressive noise of chatter, clatter and music with their band (mainly drums). First stop was at the Maejo market, near the Maejo University on route 1001 - breakfast: sticky rice with chili paste, some succulent bits and pieces, and gafe ron, red hot coffee, with milk and sugar in a thick glass, strong enough to wake the dead.

Next stop was at the edge of the Sri Lanna National Park, (a minor park called Namtok Buatong and Nampu Jedsee Forest Park) which is at the end of the long and deep Mae Ngat Dam. There’s an interesting story about this dam, which claims the jao thi, the spirit of the land there, demanded a certain number of lives as payment for permission to build the dam…and although quite a few people have disappeared since then while swimming in the murky waters, the spirit is still short by a couple of bodies of full payment. My advice is wait a few more years before swimming there. Let someone else pay the price!

Actually it rained on us while we were having our second breakfast here, and everything was wet and muddy, but the forest is so lushly green we hardly noticed. And it didn’t stop the younger members of the party trotting off to see the Buatong Waterfall and the Rainbow Spring. The waterfall runs over a limestone cliff, and is very scenic. As is also the Spring, which gets its name from the fact that some currents in the water are clear, and others have colours, including blue - which no-one can explain. There’s an interesting little legend associated with the pond, explained on a board there. It goes like this:

Long ago, the rulers of a nearby city were killed by an attacking enemy, but their two daughters - named Buakaew (Crystal Lotus) and Buatong (Golden Lotus) escaped, and hid in a cave nearby. When the enemy was closing in, the two princesses prayed to the spirits of the place for help, and also for a pond to cool themselves in during the heat of the day. The tewada responded by creating a pond, and appointing a khummapan to protect it - the villagers to this day calling the pond Huay Phi Du - the Pool of the Fierce Spirit. What happened to the princesses the board didn’t say, but let’s hope there was a happy ending to the tale: rescue by twin princes, perhaps.

Leaving the park, we then went a further 2 kms off the road to visit Wat Buatong Cave, joining a candle-procession in its way to the nearby temple of that name. Quite an interesting place! My father and I walked up the 300 odd stairs to the cave entrance, which has inside a large Buddha image and a colony of bats - a little bit smelly. We paid our respects to the Buddha, and noted that there were images also of two girls, probably the princesses of the legend.

Then we hit the road again, on our way to Phrao - passing but not having time to visit another very famous temple - Wat Doi Mae Pang, about which there is another remarkable story…but that’s for another day, maybe.

Now when we were visiting the waterfall and pool, we saw lots of varicoloured mushrooms growing: and all along the way to Phrao we passed lots of stalls where these mushrooms were being sold, and at very good prices. My grandmother told us that when she was a girl some 60 years back, she used to go with her friends mushrooming in the mountains, and knew well which varieties were the ones that were most saleable. Het Torb, a ball-shaped mushroom with a thick skin and a soft inside, used in curries, was a favourite, and still is today, fetching a price of around B.100 per litre. However, she warned us that you have to know your mushrooms pretty well, as there are some that are very poisonous.

And so, eventually, we came to Wat Torn Khok in Patoom district, where the village I was born in is situated. And at the temple there we paid respects to the monk whom my family knows well, and my granny acquired some sueb chada candles. The sueb chada ceremony is one used to get rid of bad fortune and strengthen one for the years ahead, and the candles have been made so that as they burn, all bad luck is got rid of.

Markets are great places for learning about the life of the people, and the one in Phao is no exception - full of life and bustle and lots of good fruits, vegetables and so on. Naturally we stocked up on the mushrooms. My father is a good cook so that night back in Chiang Mai, he prepared all kinds of delicious dishes for us, and we ended the day in the best way possible - with a splendid meal of fresh and varied local produce.

I can recommend a visit to Phrao, even in the rainy season. It’s possible to hire bikes and cycle there. We saw some young tourists on the road going that way. There’s so much to see on the way and when you get there, you won’t be disappointed.

Oh, and by the way, I’ve now burned my sueb chada candles, so I’m looking for a trouble-free year ahead…