Wednesday 11 February 2026
Last day of my 13th Winter in Chiang Mai

My 13th winter in Chiang Mai has come to the last day. Late tonight I leave flying from Chiang Mai to Seoul/Incheon, then to Los Angeles. Last night I had dinner with John and Rose at Bella Madre Pizza across the Ping River from the old city of Chiang Mai. Bella Madre has excellent pizza with a delicious sourdough crust.

Night Before the Last Day

After dinner, I decided to walk back to the old city-it is a long walk, but being a very nice night, I headed out. When I got to the intersection of Tha Phae Road and Charoen Prathet Road, just west of the Nawarat Bridge, I noticed the median in the middle of the road was different. When I walked out to the Railway Station a couple months ago, I saw a flower sculpture I did not remember, and thought I had just not noticed it before. Tonight, it is different with planted flowers. My guess now is that this is changed occasionally. Here are photos of what I saw two months ago and what I saw tonight.

I walked back to See You Soon and started packing, not a difficult process.

The Last Day

On the agenda for my last day is breakfast, laundry, a last walk to the Story 106 co-working space, some blog updates, finalize packing, and dinner. I’ll be going to the Chiang Mai airport at about 8:30 PM tonight.

For my last breakfast in Chiang Mai, I returned to The 3-Sis to have the Thai omelette. It is my favorite breakfast in Chiang Mai. Then I took my laundry to Bear Wash, and headed down to Story 106 to try to catch up on my blog.

Wat Buppharam

Directly across Tha Phae Road from Story 106 is Wat Buppharam. This is a much older temple, having been first built in 1497 by King Mueangkaeo, the 11th king of the Mengrai Dynasty. The Mengrai Dynasty was started by King Mengrai, and ruled Chiang Mai from 1292 to 1558. When the Kamphaengdin, the second, earth and clay wall was intact, Wat Buppharam was just inside the original Tha Phae Gate, the gate in the Kamphaengdin on Tha Phae Road.

I have not been to Wat Buppharam for a couple years, even though I walk by it frequently on my way to the Story 106 co-working space. When entering Wat Buppharam from Tha Phae Road, there is a charge of 30 baht (about $1). I typically walk down through the sois, and on Tha Phae Road Soi 3, there is a back entrance to Wat Buppharam, an almost hidden door. Today, the door was open, so I entered there to take a look around (for free). The first thing I noticed was the chedi. It has a similar look to that at Wat Saen Fang. Similar, but not the same.

There are a few older and small viharns here (worship hall or assembly hall) here. The first one I came to was closed, but only with gates preventing one from entering. I like this one. Here are photos of the outside and the inside looking in from the gates.

Next door is an all wooden viharn. The entrance is protected by mom creatures typically seen guarding the entrance to a ho trai (library of Buddhist and temple documents). I really like the rustic look of this viharn. I stayed outside, not wanting to disturb the lady inside.

The main viharn is on the second floor of this two-story structure. It was built in 1996 to commemorate the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s 50th accession to the throne. Its style is quite unlike the typical Northern Thai style, constructed on two levels with a ho trai on the ground floor and a shrine on the upper floor. The building decoration and finish is very detailed as can be seen in the second photo.

Out front is this tall shiny gold standing Buddha. While it matches the structure behind, it does not particularly inspire me. I prefer the more rustic appearance, and I like the standing Buddha images made of teak, like that at Wat Phra That Doi Suthep.

Walking back to the Soi 3 entrance from which I entered, I saw this very small pavilion or viharn I do not remember seeing before. It has a fairly small looking door and is open and uncluttered inside. The decoration on the doorway matches that of the base of the altar inside. All very interesting.

Wat Saen Fang

After an interesting visit to an old temple, I went cross the street to Story 106, and decided to check out Wat Saen Fang, next door to Story 106. Wat Saen Fang was built in the 1870s, so not old by Chiang Mai standards. In particular I wanted to have a look at the chedi which was undergoing a needed renovation last year. The renovation has completed, and the chedi now looks very clean and almost new.

After some time at Story 106 finishing an entry in my blog, I headed back to pick up my laundry, finish packing, and get prepared for the journey home.

Sign at Wat Pha Khao

I had my final dinner in Chiang Mai at La Fontana, an Italian restaurant close to See You Soon. I could not help but take this photo of the corner sign at Wat Pha Khao, across the street from La Fontana. I have often written that the “thewada” aeen depicted at temples are angelic beings that live in the heavenly realms. They have no gender but can appear very male or female depending on the artist, the setting, and the context.

On this sign, the thewada definitely look very female.

After dinner I returned to See You Soon to finish packing and wait for a ride to the airport at 8:30 PM. The Korean Air flight is scheduled to leave Chiang Mai at 12:15 AM. The journey home has begun.

Next: Traveling home and Reflections on my 13th Winter in Chiang Mai