Mae Hong Son
Mountain Provincial Town Near The Myanmar Border; Shan Style Temples Reflected In Chong Kham Lake · Mae Hong Son, Mae Hong Son
Mae Hong Son is a small, quiet provincial capital in a narrow valley ringed by forested mountains in the far north-west of Thailand, only a few kilometres from the Myanmar border. Long isolated from the rest of the country, it grew up as a Shan town, and its temples show it: at Chong Kham lake in the centre, Wat Chong Kham and Wat Chong Klang raise tiered white and gold roofs in the Shan and Burmese style that are mirrored in the water, above all at dawn and at night when they are lit. A lakeside night market runs in the cool season, and on the hill above town Wat Phra That Doi Kong Mu looks down on a sea of mist at sunrise. The town is called the city of three mists, for the morning fog, the rains and the smoke of the dry season. Around it lie the Su Tong Pae bamboo bridge, the Chinese tea village of Ban Rak Thai, the misty lake of Pang Ung, the fish cave of Tham Pla and villages of many hill peoples. It sits on the famous loop road from Chiang Mai, or a short flight away.
Chong Kham Lake, Chong Kham, Mae Hong Son, Mae Hong Son, 58000, Thailand
NO OPENING TIME HERE WAS CHECKED. The typical pattern: the lake temples and Wat Phra That Doi Kong Mu are open every day from about 6 or 7 am to 5 or 6 pm, with the temples lit in the evening and viewable from the lake at any hour; the glass painting room at Wat Chong Klang may keep shorter hours; the lakeside night market runs in the cool season, roughly November to February, from about 5 to 10 pm; Tham Pla and forest parks open roughly 8 am to 5 pm. The traps that ruin a trip are arriving in the smoky season and seeing nothing, missing the dawn mist by getting up late, finding no flights running and facing the long road both ways, and driving mountain roads in the dark. Confirm current times before relying on them.