A Pretty Little Canal and a Riverside Walk

Chiang Mai, Days 71

So we didn't do an awful lot today (Wednesday - 29th) as we were taking it pretty easy and had plans to go out later in the evening for a walk to the Mae Kha Canal.

Mae Kha Canal

Khlong Mae Kha is a residential development along a Khlong (canal) area with many local residents. Previously the area was home to lots of unofficial / squatter residences and Chiang Mai City Municipality wanted to clean up the area.

The waterway acted as an outer moat around the city of Chiang Mai. It is a drainage route to the Ping River. A 1km stretch has now been cleaned up, with colourful plants and flowers planted and two new Japanese bridges (with lanterns) installed.

The Chiang Mai City Municipality plans to clean up further stretches of the waterway over the next few years, investing millions into the transformation of the area, and hopefully making it a tourist destination.

The riverside village at Khlong Mae Kha is (slightly) Japanese-themed and full of stalls, shops, street food stalls, and the occasional bar and sitting area.

Many of the Khlong Mae Kha residents have converted the outsides of their dwellings to become shops, restaurants, or cafes – whilst it is meant to be Japanese-themed, the vast majority of the businesses and shops are selling Thai souvenirs or food (elephant pants, pad thai, etc).

This area was quite sweet looking, and it was terrific to see the community work together with the local council to clean up the area and turn it into a pretty and useful tourist attraction, which will hopefully result in increased prosperity for the local vendors. It was also a lovely change from the Night Markets which are all quite similar.

Chiang Mai, Day 72

So today (Thursday - 30th), we plan to do another loop in the local area where we are staying and see what we come across. We know there is at least a temple on the riverside that we want to check out.

As usual, we also have a few diversions. We also have a bit of a mission that we are on, as from our apartment balcony, we can see some sort of water tower that every so often has water spouting out of the top of it. We are intrigued to see what this structure is and if we can find it but the roads are quite windy, so there is no clear route to where we think it is located, and we may not be able to access the area anyway if it is behind a building, so we shall just need to follow our instincts (& Google maps!).

Wat Chai Mongkhon

Before too long we come across Wat Chai Mongkon temple. The Temple was built in1857, late King Rama IV period. The reason it was given the name Chai Mongkhon was because it was the victory point of boat racing while Wat Sanam Chai was the starting point of the race. Inside the temple have modern murals.

Inside the Ubosot or ordination hall are mural paintings mixed with modern arts, such as light and shadow, reflexive colours, realistic drawing, the value of light and dark colours, etc. In addition, there is a change in the position of pictures, like on the wall above the windows is only one line of the picture of the angels’ gathering, or on the wall opposite the principal Buddha image is the drawing of Lord Buddha being seated on the throne instead of subduing Mara.

We loved the position of this temple, right on the river. Two lovely little areas were set out so that people could read, sit, write, and contemplate under these beautiful little shaded wooden areas that looked directly onto the river, and the only requirement was to be quiet - it was just lovely, and I could easily have spent an afternoon here reading my book and gathering my thoughts.

Next, we thought we would take a little stroll in Charoen Prathet Public Park. However, we initially walked right past it, so the signage was not great for this park, and then double-backed to find it. However, it didn't look particularly inviting. I don't know if it has perhaps suffered from a lack of funding or a little bit of neglect over the last few years but it was a little sad looking which was a shame and we didn't stay here very long.

Duomo coffee house

By this time, we were looking for a nice little spot to have a drink, and we stumbled upon the Duomo coffee house, which was just perfect. I had an iced cafe latte, and R had a Coke. We initially sat outside in the garden area, which is lovely, but a few bugs started to annoy us, so we went inside. The staff were really lovely, and the place very much reminded me of an old church hall that is run by the parishioners. The proceeds from the coffee house, which is affiliated with the church across the road from it, help with various education initiatives.

We continue our walk for a bit more, trying to locate the route for where we think this 'water tower' thing might be, but we have no luck, so we start to head back to the apartment.

Por Pong Restaurant (ร้าน ป.ปอง อาหารตามสั่ง)

It's about 3 pm by this point, and we're quite hungry, so we decided to go into a little restaurant (https://maps.app.goo.gl/ibqHQf4mBx8TB6TN7) that we had tried the evening before when we were on our way back from the Mae Kha Canal. The food in here was exceptionally good and brilliant value.

Spoiler Alert: we have been 3 times in total so far, and it is by far R's favourite place near us. The food is really tasty and so much better than some of the dishes we have had in the night markets and at other restaurants. It's a really simple and quite nondescript place that appears to be run by the same family. They are very friendly, and all the dishes we have had have been excellent. The prices are unbelievably good for the quality of the dishes. I'm sure we will be visiting them again before we leave Chiang Mai.

And that about wraps up another day (or an evening and a day) for us in Chiang Mai. Tomorrow we are leaving our current apartment for another one, but we will still be in Chiang Mai.

Today's loop walking route

Chiang Mai, Thailand

29th & 30th January 2025