8 hours of riding joy exploring a section of outer Chiang Mai region on ONE tank of petrol (7.7 litre tank). 8 different temples on fab roads on a glorious Rainy Season day.
8-Hours of Riding
Route
(Google Map Link 1)/(Google Map Link 2)
Setting off at 7:30 am I quickly visited my first temple of interest – สำนักปฏิบัติธรรมสันกู่ / San Pa Gu Meditation Centre.
1: San Pa Gu Meditation Centre
Having passed this impressive stairway entrance many times, I kept meaning to explore inside, but never had. I decided it was about time I went to see what was at the top of the steps.
It was very quiet inside the meditation grounds, except for barking dogs. There were a couple of ladies bringing items into a small room. We exchanged smiles and I quietly wandered on.
I did not go near the private residency area and stayed within the main walking zone.
I spotted a large ice chiller that had ice cold bottles of water inside. I took one and left a donation.
Whilst walking around I noticed that most of the Buddha statues had holes cut out of the heart region, although I am not sure why.
The meditation retreat also has another entrance area, which is really quite unsual looking.
En-route to my next temple stop I rode up the popular Mon Jam area. In recent years it has developed a fair bit, incorporating “glamping” spots for visitors.
2: Wat Pa Sukawadee
Next, I visited this fantastic hidden Vietnamese Temple that I had previously visited on my last ride (trip report HERE). This is the kind of amazing truly hidden gem you can find when going off the beaten track and exploring!
At the entrance to the Vietnamese Temple I stopped my bike to take a photo of the open gates and I am very glad I did, because I could hear some kind of chanting coming from the temple area. I decided to keep my engine off and roll down with my bike to the temple grounds.
I was trying to be quiet at the temple, but the dogs were very friendly and one got over-excited and was whining for attention.
A short moment later a lady rode past me from the temple grounds and I said hello, twice. However, she looked at me like she had been sucking lemons! She paused a bit further up, looking back at me, and then a driver in a pickup truck pulled up to me.
He asked me in Thai what I was doing and we had a short conversation. He told me that it is a special day today and that I should come back another time. He was friendlier than the lady on the scooter, but seemed wary. It was all rather odd and uncomfortable, in truth.
After the temple I looked again at my route and decided to try exploring a couple of possible alternatives, one of which led to this:
After retreating back to my original point I decided that I would forgo trying to do the route in dirt and ride an alternative route on pathed roads instead, which I am glad of in the end, because it took me to many other interesting places and the road is twisty fun. I do very much need to improve on dirt though, as well as gain more confidence in this kind of terrain.
By now I was craving a coffee, so I stopped in at Huan Ta Waa.
Coffee Stop: Huan Ta Waa
Whilst at Huan Ta Waa, I roughly plotted out a new route that would take me to the next temple I planned to visit, which turned out to be a fab route taking me though small farming zones and lush rice paddy fields.
3: Wat Mae Aen
Whilst riding I noticed this pretty temple Wat Mae Aen. Whilst there I suddenly had a flashback to when I used go exploring on a bicycle in Chiang Mai (back in 2006-7) and realised that I had once ridden out this way and had been to this temple.
4: Wat Prakan Tham
The next pretty temple I took a short moment at was Wat Prakan Tham. With so many amazing temples close to each other, it becomes hard to choose which ones to stop at. Also have to try pace myself as otherwise I may end up with temple fatigue!
After Wat Prakan Tham the route starts getting really good, especially the closer you get to Wat Phra Phatthaban Si Roi. A wonderfully quiet road lined with lush green trees and lots of twisty sections.
After a short fun twisty ride, I arrived at the temple entrance.
5: Wat Phra Phatthaban Si Roi
How fantastic is this temple entrance! Just look at the size of my bike!
Within the temple grounds there is a fab little coffee shop, clean toilet facilities, and stalls selling items for alms.
There are steps leading to a small temple and to the right there is the route to the main temple. I walked around for a bit and then rode on to the main temple. At the main temple there was a lady quietly practicing walking meditation. I took some photos and left her to practice peacefully.
What I really wanted to do was ride up the steep section to the upper level of the temple complex. As I approached incline on my bike, it looked a bit precarious and I was concerned about how tricky it might be when coming back down, but it looked far too interesting not to ride up.
I noticed a monk talking to some lady monks whilst I was on my bike at the base of the route, so I asked if it is ok to ride up. He nodded, smiled and gestured “yes, go! Go!”.
It was indeed a steep ride up, but short. At the top is a meditation residential area and some interesting cave style concrete structures. I took a small look around and then headed down via an alternative route, that actually turned out to be much less steep. This route took me out to just before the temple entrance way, so I went back through for another look, before heading off home.
By this time my phone battery was low and sadly my USB port on my bike seemed to not be working, so I turned off my phone to conserve the battery. My GoPro battery was also dead. I figured I already must have some good footage of the day, so I wasn’t worried. Anyway, in the past I never really recorded anything, so it was nice to not even think about it and just enjoy the ride.
On the way down the mountain I switched off my engine to conserve fuel, and rolled my bike down to the bottom. I enjoy the quietness when doing this.
At the bottom of the mountain I relied on my mini compass along with intermittent signage, to get me back to Chiang Mai. I enjoyed this ride back, switched off from all technology, only turning on my phone for quick snapshots or video footage. It reminded me of how I used to go exploring, before technology took over.
6: Wat Nong Kai
One the route back home I stopped at วัดหนองก่าย / Wat Nong Kai and as I entered I remembered that I had been there once before, many years back. Possibly five or more years ago.
This temple is unusual because it has a coffee shop and a grocery store and an ATM. There were so many cats there that I have decided to term it วัดแมว / Wat Maew / Cat Temple. Some very beautiful cats too. I drank a coffee, chatted to a monk, petted cats, left a donation and headed back on the road to home.
7: Wat San Pa Tueng
At a junction I noticed a lovely reclining buddha in the making. Wat San Pa Tueng
I connected onto the R3009 and headed along this route. Which is when I noticed this interesting temple entranceway, so pulled in to have a look.
I rode along to the temple, but the frenzied barking of many dogs put me off from sticking around. I headed back out. Wat Suwannawa.
8: หมิงธรรมะสถาน
Not far from here I noticed a huge and interesting development. Quite an amazing sight! I rode in to have a closer look, but did not disturb the men working. หมิงธรรมะสถาน / Ming Tummasatan. Fantastic looking! Some of the building designs in Thailand really blow me away. From the humble stick house to giant temple arches. Really amazing!
I looked up the name on the archway entrance when I got home and seems to be a meditation retreat. There is a Facebook page HERE showing the progress.
By this time it suddenly hit me that I was weary. It was around 3pm by this point, and I had been out since 7:30. I now just really wanted to get home and take a cool shower. It had been a very hot day, and I was done with exploring.
Thankfully the Inuteq cooling vest worked well in bringing down my body temperature. On this ride I filled it up completely, and realised that it does actually make a big difference if fully topped up, even if looks odd and bulky. It will become a staple item for me now. Some details on this vest here:
Around this area is the fabulous Erotic Garden & Tearoom. So if you find yourself out that way, I do recommend stopping in (or even making a dedicated trip there to visit the grounds. Beautiful garden and interesting erotic art)
This photo from a few years back when I was at the garden. The photos are a bit silly really, but it is hard not to take some silly kind of photos like this in this amazing garden. More details HERE)
Heading home I took some sidetrack routes that I know of, which eventually link to the main R107 Mae Rim road. Once I hit that main road, with all it’s jostling traffic, it was quite a depressing contrast to the beautiful quiet scenic roads I had been on for most of the day. This was also the point when my fuel light came on (I have no fuel gauge, so have to set a km timer on my bike when riding), but I knew I had enough to get me home. So yes, a full day of riding on just one tank!
I was home by around 3:30pm. Tired, but happy.
Amazing what you can see in just one day..and on just one tank of petrol! I hope you enjoyed this trip report on exploring around Chiang Mai area.
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