Chiang Rai Holiday activities

For arts and crafts, stop off at the PDA Hill Tribe and Handicraft Museum, which offers an insight into several aspects of hill tribe culture. A recent addition is the display and slide presentation about the significance of bamboo used in cooking, tools, fishing and decoration. Another informative display focuses on opium and how it came to be a thriving part of the black economy of south-east Asia. In the walk-through shop there are many items relating to the culture explored in the museum, but also beautiful handmade silver jewellery and ornaments, plus handmade cards.

The private “Oop Come” Textile Museum at the intersection leading to the Mengrai Barracks, has beautiful displays of ancient textiles, with antiques amid displays of items used in Lanna ceremonies – the ancient kingdom north of Chiang Mai that included Chiang Rai - centuries ago.

Just outside the city is the Queen Mother's Garden, with more orchids than you probably knew existed on show in gorgeous grounds. You can also visit the spectacular Royal Residence. A note of caution – don’t wear shorts or the people there will lend you a pair of denim pants which look like prison garb.

The Wat Phra Kaeo is a Buddhist temple in Chiang Rai is famous for having housed Iin the 14th Century) the Emerald Buddha - one of the most famous Buddha images in Thailand (it is now housed in Bangkok).

Further afield, there is the Princess Mother Hall and Doi Mae Salong - about 70 km north-west of the city.on a fascinating road from Mae Chan which is quite steep in places and well worth the view from the temple, while the Princess Mother (mother of the King of Thailand) Hall itself is breathtaking. In Mae Salong there is a museum for the Kuomintang (KMT) where you can learn what happened after they got kicked out of China by Mao Tse Tung, then kicked out of Burma and finally bounced into Thailand where they helped the Thai government to fight the Communists for many years.

Continuing the royal theme, there is the Doi Tung Royal Villa - final residence of the Princess Mother, 12 km west of the city – which is a magnificent house was built on the mountain overlooking the surrounding hills and valleys in a unique mix of Swiss and Lanna architectural styles. Adjacent to the villa is the Mae Fah Luang Garden, a large beautiful flower-filled garden and a memorial hall commemorating the Princess Mother.

And should you enjoy a round of golf in between the sightseeing, perhaps bizarrely there are two high class golf courses outside Chiang Rai. In particular, the Santiburi course is one of Thailand’s best courses in the country, situated 10 km east of the city; there is also a nine-hole course at the Old Airport and an excellent nine-holer in Waterford Valley, 35 km northwest.