thailand: lovely laid-back lamphun
a short distance away from chiang mai is a little town called lamphun. it sits quietly on the mae kuang river, minding its own business giving away little about its storied past.
actually, we would probably have missed it if it wasn't for our friend tyler. we met him in 2014 when he was serving at wallkill, and after receiving a new assignment, decided to use this new-found freedom wisely by serving as a need-greater in thailand. he kindly welcomed us to his new city, and discovered the most amazing little hotel.
every little thing in this hotel seemed to be carefully thought out. the older lady who kept it told me that it had always been her dream, and after having enough savings, engaged an architect to incorporate all her ideas into the hotel.
if anyone happens to be visiting lamphun, its called 'baan lapoon hotel'. look them up. we had an excellent time here and one of the highlights was a trip to the 'sticky falls'. by the way this is tyler and his girl, tyese. in thailand ahahaha.
the sticky falls are actually called the bua tong falls. the drive there is just stunning. the road winds upwards through the mountain forest, and the dappled light of the sun shines gently through the leaves overhead.
the water from these falls comes from some sort of natural spring. it has some kind of mineral in it that deposits on the cliff as the water bubbles over. it looks slippery but it is in fact grippy as a brillo pad.
the result is that you can walk right up the face of the waterfall. the water is cool and refreshing, and the grip is so reassuring that you start to understand how spiderman feels.
down at the bottom of the falls, there was an idyllic pool with vines hanging down - almost as though someone had designed and planned this beautiful little spot.
you can see clearly the white mineral deposit. at first it goes against all your instinct to walk on it, but soon confidence builds.
of course, thailand is quite warm - 30 degrees celcius and up - even though they told us that this was the cool season! so it was extra refreshing to frolic in the cool water.
everywhere we looked there were exquisite little pools, plants and details.
once we climbed back up to the top over the falls we were completely soaked. so we enjoyed the clear pools above the falls.
i couldn't get enough of how pretty and green everything was. its a little bit off the beaten path as well, so no large hordes of tourists.
we drove home happy and satisfied.
i almost forgot to mention lamphun's storied history! it is one of thailands oldest cities. around 750ce there was an ancient kingdom named hariphunchai. this was before the modern thais moved to this area. the capital was....lamphun. eventually however it fell in 1281 to the thais. however there is an old fortress and city wall that survives this era.
thanks to t and t, we had a great time in lamphun. it was a special pleasure to join in the ministry with many of our dear brothers and sisters who are self-sacrificingly serving in thailand and get to know them better. they work so hard and we love them for that.
so after a final bowl of khao soi (a delicious spicy soup served with crispy noodles in northern thailand), we jumped on the train for the long ride back to bangkok.
every little thing in this hotel seemed to be carefully thought out. the older lady who kept it told me that it had always been her dream, and after having enough savings, engaged an architect to incorporate all her ideas into the hotel.
the sticky falls are actually called the bua tong falls. the drive there is just stunning. the road winds upwards through the mountain forest, and the dappled light of the sun shines gently through the leaves overhead.
the water from these falls comes from some sort of natural spring. it has some kind of mineral in it that deposits on the cliff as the water bubbles over. it looks slippery but it is in fact grippy as a brillo pad.
the result is that you can walk right up the face of the waterfall. the water is cool and refreshing, and the grip is so reassuring that you start to understand how spiderman feels.
down at the bottom of the falls, there was an idyllic pool with vines hanging down - almost as though someone had designed and planned this beautiful little spot.
you can see clearly the white mineral deposit. at first it goes against all your instinct to walk on it, but soon confidence builds.
of course, thailand is quite warm - 30 degrees celcius and up - even though they told us that this was the cool season! so it was extra refreshing to frolic in the cool water.
everywhere we looked there were exquisite little pools, plants and details.
once we climbed back up to the top over the falls we were completely soaked. so we enjoyed the clear pools above the falls.
i couldn't get enough of how pretty and green everything was. its a little bit off the beaten path as well, so no large hordes of tourists.
we drove home happy and satisfied.
i almost forgot to mention lamphun's storied history! it is one of thailands oldest cities. around 750ce there was an ancient kingdom named hariphunchai. this was before the modern thais moved to this area. the capital was....lamphun. eventually however it fell in 1281 to the thais. however there is an old fortress and city wall that survives this era.
thanks to t and t, we had a great time in lamphun. it was a special pleasure to join in the ministry with many of our dear brothers and sisters who are self-sacrificingly serving in thailand and get to know them better. they work so hard and we love them for that.
so after a final bowl of khao soi (a delicious spicy soup served with crispy noodles in northern thailand), we jumped on the train for the long ride back to bangkok.
