A Rainy Day with the Lanna Museums

Three small museums around the Three Kings Monument that explain the north: its kings, its walls, its weaving and its quiet, elaborate rituals.

Area

Old City

Start from

Three Kings Monument

Distance

walking distance

Time needed

half a day to 1 day

Best season

Any time; ideal during the June – October rains or the hottest afternoons

Difficulty

Easy

Transport

On foot inside the old city

Tickets & rules

Museum tickets, often sold as a combined pass for the three museums; check current prices

Why go

When the afternoon storms roll in from the mountains, or the April heat becomes too much, there is no better shelter than the cluster of museums at the very centre of the old city. They are compact, cool and well designed, and they answer most of the questions that build up after a few days of temple-hopping: who built all this, how people lived, why northern temples look so different from Bangkok's.

The Chiang Mai City Arts and Cultural Centre fills an elegant white colonial-era building behind the Three Kings Monument. Across the road the Lanna Folklife Museum, in a former court building, recreates temple interiors, textiles, lacquerware and village rituals. Behind it, the Chiang Mai Historical Centre hides a surprise in its basement: excavated remains of an old temple wall, preserved under glass.

Together they take three or four hours at a gentle pace, which leaves time for lunch, a Thai massage and, if the rain stops, a stroll to Wat Lok Molee just outside the north moat, with its tall, dark brick chedi.

The story

The Three Kings Monument shows Mangrai of Lanna standing between his allies Ramkhamhaeng of Sukhothai and Ngam Muang of Phayao. According to the chronicles the three met to help choose the site of the new capital, and the statue has become a kind of civic shrine. Locals leave flowers, candles and small offerings at its base, especially before exams and job interviews.

The building behind it was the provincial hall, built in 1924 in a style that mixes Western symmetry with Thai detail. It is a reminder that Chiang Mai was only absorbed into the Siamese state gradually: the local princely house kept a degree of autonomy until the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and the railway from Bangkok only arrived in 1921.

The Lanna Folklife Museum is especially good on the symbolism of northern temples: the naga serpents on staircases, the hanging paper tung flags, the small carved panels above doorways. Once you know what the motifs mean, every temple in the city becomes easier to read. Lanna also had its own script, Tai Tham, still visible on temple signs and manuscripts and taught in some monasteries today.

Getting there

All three museums sit within a few minutes' walk of each other around the Three Kings Monument on Phra Pokklao Road, in the middle of the old city. Any songthaew or Grab driver knows the monument.

Wat Lok Molee is about fifteen minutes on foot to the north, just across the moat from Chang Phueak Gate's western side.

A suggested plan

1. 9:00City Arts and Cultural Centre for the overview of the city's history.
2. 10:30Cross to the Lanna Folklife Museum for textiles, rituals and temple symbolism.
3. 12:00Lunch nearby; khao soi or a plate of northern sausage with sticky rice.
4. 13:30Chiang Mai Historical Centre and its excavated ruins.
5. 15:00Thai massage to wait out the storm, then Wat Lok Molee if the sky clears.

Where to stay

The central old city around the monument is ideal, but anywhere inside the moat puts these museums within an easy walk. Nimman and the riverside are a short Grab ride away.

Good to know

• Buy the combined ticket if you plan to see all three museums.
• The museums close on some weekdays; check opening days before you set out.
• A light rain jacket is better than an umbrella on the narrow, scooter-filled lanes.