Northern Thailand is, for me, the ultimate mix of culture, adventure, and amazing sceneries. Northern Thailand is home to the Lanna Kingdom which ruled the north from the 13th to 18th centuries.
In the old days, it was only permitted for temples and palaces to use stones as building materials. For ordinary houses, wood and bamboo were the preferred material, but both wood and bamboo do not last long in the hot, humid air, so mostly only temples are preserved to this day.
Chiang Mai is the 2nd largest city in Thailand and is the centre of education and culture in the north, and here you find a strong presence of Lanna Culture. This is especially evident in the many beautiful temples you will find within the moat of Chiang Mai´s Old Town.
It is in the mountains of northern Thailand I have been on the most amazing off-road trips. Many of the small mountain villages you find here are only connected to the outside world via primitive gravel roads. I really like exploring these little dirt roads. Mostly when I come to a village, I get the feeling that visitors are not an everyday occurrence.
Wat Suan Dok was built by the Lanna King Kue Na in the year 1370 It was originally built in one of the Lawa people’s walled settlement and is older than Chiang Mai itself. The Lawa people are an ethnic group from northern Thailand, they are still not integrated into the Thai society, and today…