Discover Lampang tour: Elephants and History

Lampang, the horse cart city

Your guide will meet you at your hotel at 0730. Start your Lampang tour. Drive to Lampang, one of the most exciting and under-visited cities of North Thailand. We love Lampang! Lampang was part of the ancient Haripunchai kingdom and a major centre of the teak industry last century. The city boasts many temples of great beauty and interest as well as many heritage houses from the teak industry era. Lampang is known as the horse cart city because the horse cart is still in use as a means of transportation.

Friends of the Asian Elephant Foundation

Our first stop today will be at the hospital of the Friends of the Asian Elephant Foundation, the home of elephants Motala and Mosha. These elephants each have a prosthetic leg after having stepped on a landmine in Myanmar. You will see a short and very moving video about Motala and Soraida Salwala, the founder of the foundation.

Wat Prathat Lampang Luang

After the foundation, we will continue our Lampang Tour to Wat Prathat Lampang Luang, considered by many to be the most magnificent temple of Northern Thailand. We will take our time to visit this superb Buddhist temple. It is another 20 km to Lampang, our destination of today. Our first stop will be at the iconic railway station that dates back to 1916. After this, we will pay a brief visit to Wat Si Rong Muang, a temple that clearly shows Burmese influences.

Heritage Houses on Kad Kong Ta

Kad Kong Ta (Kong Ta market) is the street where many heritage houses are located. We walk through this street to the Riverside restaurant where we will have lunch. The Moung Ngwe Zin House is one of the most striking “gingerbread” houses on Kad Kong Ta. Then it is time for lunch. After lunch, our horse carts are waiting for us. A horse cart ride is a must-do activity as the horse cart is the symbol of Lampang. Besides that, it is a fun thing to do.

Explore old Lampang by horse cart

We will pass the Wang River via the historic Rachadepisek Bridge on our way to the “Forestry Quarter”. Our first stop though will be at Wat Pong Sanuk, a beautifully restored temple, that earned an award from UNESCO. Well done! Next stop is the quaint Horse Cart Society of Lampang. Here the repair the famous horse carts of Lampang. It is a fascinating little place.

The famous Louis House

We continue to the “Louis House” (Baan Louis). It is the former office of the Louis T.Leonowens Company that was involved in teak logging a hundred years ago. Next stop is Ban Sao Nak, a unique historic teak wooden residence that once belonged to Burmese teak trader. The house is now a museum and very much worth visiting. The final stop is Wat Phra Kaew Don Tao, another fantastic temple. Here we say goodbye to our horse cart drivers.

Our minivan will bring us back to Chiang Mai, where we will drop you off at your hotel. Along the way, we will stop briefly at the Mae Tha “Jungle Market”. There are some unusual and interesting products for sale here. It is the last stop of your Discover Lampang tour.