Lampang is a railway town in northern Thailand. It was where I first discovered Thai culture and was welcomed into a family home in 1997. Here I met the boy who was to make me understand Thai and who would become the bridegroom in that very modern Thai wedding I attended in Nakhon Si Thammarat ten days ago. It’s almost a second home.
The family home is still there – a nice old traditional teak house in a village – but many changes have been made to it like the addition of a kitchen and bathroom. But there are now three other homes: all built on what were once the family’s paddy fields.
Lampang is also a junction where traffic from Bangkok turns right for Chiang Mai or goes straight on to get to Chiang Rai, the north’s two main cities. So it makes a really good base for travelling as well as providing an opportunity to renew friendships from those early days.
Our first trip was to the south to the ancient capital of Sukhothai where the Historical Park always provides calm and lots of photo opps. ( loads of selfies for most visitors!!)
On the way we explored a couple of traditional Thai fabric shops in Sri Satchanalai – only to discover that we had chosen the very shop which had made the groom’s mother’s outfit for the wedding! Amazing!
We hadn’t booked accommodation in advance and I was keen to stay as near as possible to the Old City so that we could see what happened early in the morning.Looking at apps. proved unproductive but driving along the main road less than a mile from the gates to the Park we came across ‘The Old Stay’: simple, offering breakfast and free wifi, cheap – just right!
Once that was settled we were able to catch some lovely evening light at the ruins in the Park and watch the sun go down gently before setting off to find food near the hotel.
it was also interesting to see the brooms used for sweeping the res where people walk hidden up a tree for use of access by anyone who come to clean!
Up at 5a.m.,we went to the market for Somjit to buy food offerings for the monks before walking along to the temple where the monks approach the town across the bridge and create quite an early morning spectacle with their orange robes reflecting in the water.
But the offerings are often made less formally to a monk walking through the town or village with his bowl carefully concealed beneath his robe or as he passes the market where you’ve just bought breakfast:
Then we drove around the Park to get some early morning light on the ruins before returning to the hotel for breakfast. Clearly everyone had had the same idea and we were first in the breakfast area to enjoy fresh orange juice, some Thai dishes and toast before packing up and making our way north again.
One last little jaunt into the Park’s tourist car park brought a couple of happy encounters both with local salespeople and local fabric. Intricate designs are the mark of this area and they are beautifully made.
Living the Journey 
Hi Kath, another great set of photos, – such a variety of subject matter, – spoilt for choice! Also, I thought only bird wathers got up at 5am!!
All the best, Mike & Jenny