Entering the Traffic Bloodstream

November 4, 2025

Chiang Mai to Lamphun

Dear little friends,

The rainy season is having a little trouble getting itself out the door. People in this region are jingling their keys and loudly zipping their coats up and down. “Honey, it’s getting late.” Rainy Season is laughing it up with the weary hosts who put on a weak simper and give each other looks.

I opened the window and leaned out. Rainy Season was having a good ol’ time out there and it was pissing me off. We’re riding to Lamphun today, champ, get a move on already. Your wife, Dry Season, misses you. Things are plenty green already.

My complaining aside, Northern Thailand has it good compared to much of Vietnam and Laos, just devastating rainfall over there. In 2016 we endured 16 straight days of rain as we rode along the central Vietnam coast. I’ll bet it rained 14 inches during our 48 hours in Quy Nhon alone. Eventually we just got on a bus and moved south. We looked at Quy Nhon’s weather today. Yep. Raining.

But by the time we had eaten our lovely papaya breakfast and moved our stuff downstairs and donned our rain gear (mine was for an adult this time, fresh from Chiang Mai Plastics) it was actually sort of slowing down.

Another “backyard papaya” sitting on a table in front of a hardware store.

We had ridden with loaded bikes from the first guesthouse but this was FINALLY our first day of riding of the trip. We needed to get to Loi Kroh road, over the metal bridge, and on to 106. To get to Loi Kroh road we needed to join the fray along the moat road, along with the food vendors, motorbikes, kids going to school on the backs of motorbikes, buses, saengthaews, and distracted pedestrians.

But you know what? The instant we joined into the traffic bloodstream I felt calm, confident, ready. These conditions are very familiar to us and any nerves I’d had a few minutes before launch evaporated. It wasn’t raining hard. It wasn’t hot. We turned onto 106 and immediately the tall straight dipterocarpus trees that line that road for a good 15 miles appeared. We wouldn’t dream of taking any other route between Chiang Mai and Lamphun.

Each of these beautiful trees along 106 is venerated, numbered, and cared for.

After awhile the morning traffic eased, the rain stopped, we peeled off our plastics, and carried on with a lot of joy. We were full from breakfast but there was a lot of food we passed that smelled amazing. Garlic, chicken, smoky good things. It was almost as enjoyable as eating it.

Bruce raced after these two to get a photo. A short while later they waved at us from her nursery school. It wasn’t until later that we noticed what she is sitting on, I have these exact same chairs for my grandkids.

We stopped and gazed at this soup place across the road, we had some delicious soup there 3 years ago, made by a super sweet lady. And look at that enormous tree! It was a genuine debate whether we were too full to go slug down a bowl of noodles. We carried on.

Not gonna lie, and it’s no secret that I’m in rotten shape, no excuses. This ride was the perfect first day ride, flat, short, and a fun Thai road. But after the trees petered out there were still 4 miles to go and I was petering out too. The rain started again so we stopped at a covered roadside shelter, these are all over Thailand and we love them, and called my grandson who was relaxing before bed with his mama and papa. He wanted to see all around us. Why was it morning there? It’s night here. He was full of curiosity. He told me he was going to rake leaves at my house with Papa (my heroes!). And that he wants to see the candles floating down the river that we’re going to film for him.

A little roofed rest stop to wait out the rain and talk to Misha and his parents.

That was a really good rest stop.

Rest stop number 2 for a little bit more rain.

We arrived at our guesthouse mid-morning. It’s a lot nicer than the hotel we stayed at here three years ago. The owner speaks perfect English and went to school in Wisconsin and Rhode Island. We like Lamphun and rolled into town to our favorite coffee shop and sat at a wooden bar that faces the river. The town is all dolled up for its famous lantern festival. I’d read something about lanterns in Lamphun, but wasn’t prepared for the spectacle, it’s jaw-dropping. I don’t even know how to describe it so we’re going to have to just use photos.

We had heard Lamphun had lanterns but the scale of this installation was off the charts.

The owner of this coffee shop puts on a perfect little spread for our lattes. He’s of a similar vintage as we are and we’re not sure if he puts on his 70s American soft rock playlist when boomer farang show up or it plays constantly because he likes it. The coffee is magnificent, and we spent a long time just gazing out at the river and trying to ignore the music.

This street was beautiful in the daylight but incredible at night.

The main temple in town was a hub of activity, with people purchasing lanterns and hanging them in this courtyard.

The main street was lined with stalls of food, massage tables, clothing, and krathongs. The main krathong event will be tomorrow, when people release the adorable leaf and flower arrangements with a burning candle and incense, into the river. I want to release one too, but I have a day to think about what I’m releasing and why. I’m sure I’ll come up with something.

There was some sort of play going on by the old gate. These dudes are waiting off stage left.

Each krathong is hand-crafted of organic materials that break down in the water. Flowers, leaves, a candle and some incense atop a floating base.

We walked back on the dark road to our guesthouse. Frogs croaked in different dialects, each cuter than the last. It was a perfect end to our first day of riding.

Today's ride: 18 miles (29 km)
Total: 26 miles (42 km)

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Kathleen ClassenWow. So amazing.
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2 months ago

Scott AndersonWhat an amazing spectacle. I remember being blown away by a lantern festival in Taiwan, but it was nothing like this.
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2 months ago

Bruce LellmanTo Scott AndersonYes, and this was quite a smallish town! Someone told us that last year they had some lanterns up and it was such a success that they went ten-fold more! I bet next year they will have even more of them. They better watch out or they will be inundated with tourists like Chiang Mai. There were very few foreign tourists in Lamphun for this and we were so glad we made the decision to ride only 18 miles away to experience Loy Krathong there instead of Chiang Mai.
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2 months ago

Lisa LeslieDipterocarpus! Really? Now that is a tree name to remember. I would love to see what our buddy Ron would do to mispronounce that one.
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2 months ago

Andrea BrownTo Lisa Leslie🫣
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2 months ago

Kat MarrinerEven by Thai standards that is a gob-smacking display!
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1 month ago