You may have never heard of Phayao, and it’s understandable. It’s probably one of the most quiet provinces in Thailand. Sandwiched location-wise between its more well known neighbours Chiang Rai and Nan, it is admittedly often overlooked. But it is this very fact that makes Phayao the perfect off the beaten path gem of the north.
A drive into the city of Phayao itself you feel like it’s just a small sleepy town. The buildings and streets looking generic, and there aren’t even many people to be seen. The city wraps itself around Kwan Phayao, Thailand’s fourth largest lake, but even a drive along the waterfront in the day time doesn’t show many people around the area. There are of course some pretty lakeside restaurants and at sunset you start to see some more people come out.
Neither the city nor the lake is the main draw of Phayao, more of just a stopping point, perhaps for lunch or dinner. We were driving from Lampang, where we had spent the previous night, on our road trip around the north. The destination in Phayao for us is Phu Langka, about 2.5 hours from the city. So we stopped for coffee and desserts at Lakeland cafe, an unassuming looking wooden house not far from the lake. Sitting here you can see that they’re more than just a cafe, selling various hiking gears and clothes, an indication that the city is merely a gateway to going up the mountains and spending time up in nature.
We left the cafe for a little side excursion before going to Phu Langka, to a scenic place that is only 20 minutes drive from Phayao City, “Paa Hua Reua” translated literally as “ship head cliff”. This actually turned out to be some of our favourite part of the trip. This place requires a bit of a trek, and we did get a bit lost trying to find the cliff so instead of it being a 20 minute walk we might have been there for double the time. But once you do find it, it was so scenic, this place was a total gem for photos. It’s a place worth checking out if you do have a bit of time between Phayao city and your next destination.
We were aiming to get to Phu Langka around sunset, and despite getting lost on the trek, we did manage to arrive in good time. The winding road up the mountain was not too bad at all, our initial fear that our van would have a hard time driving up to our accommodation was unfounded. But our other worry, about not having a place to stop for dinner in the area, was quite valid. For this reason, we had arranged to have dinner at our accommodation, Chidlom Chommok (https://maps.app.goo.gl/8VS8zD7VMYDzJvM99). This place is not a hotel, nor a homestay, there are 6 dome tents, and one VIP room in a building. The lady who we spoke to on the phone was the one who does everything at this place, including buying groceries and making food for us. She greeted us as we arrived, showing us where everything was. There wasn’t so much to show, really, just the tents, the VIP room, one more room type that we weren’t staying in, and a tall wooden tower where we would be having our dinner and breakfast. She said the dinner would be ready around 19.00 so we can just chill in the meantime.
The tents were pretty interesting, almost space station-like with the all white fabric and triangular shapes that make up the dome; great view because they are the most front of all the room types. The bathrooms for the tents are outside though, but the nice thing is that they have air-conditioned, which is not the case with some of the other tented accommodation in the area. Of course, you won’t need air-con in the winter months, but we were there in July so the temperature at night was still in the mid 20s. The VIP room is more of a convention room, it’s upstairs, has an outdoor bathroom that is connected to the bedroom, and has amenities like a mini fridge and a clawfoot bathtub with an open view.
About 20 min after 19.00 our dinner was ready and we went up the tower. She had cooked up quite the feast for us. Simple local dishes that were really tasty. By now it was completely dark so no view even up in the tower. There were some insects here and there, there were a few times when some of the more squeamish people in our group shrieked because some of the bigger bugs landed on them. But amazingly no mosquitoes at all. Believe me, I get bitten even in my own home in Bangkok, but sitting here for over an hour with all the bugs around us, I didn’t get bitten by anything. We ate, drank, laughed in the cool breeze of the mountain where everything around us was dark, it was simple, natural and pretty magical.
After we were done with dinner and drinking we retreated to our rooms for the night. This was going to be the most challenging part of the trip. How will sleeping in these tents go? Well as it turns out, all right but not without glitches. In one tent the electricity went out completely some time around 3am, so no air-con or lights. In the VIP room, one of us managed to have a shower just before the water ran out. We called the lady, feeling bad about it because it was past 11pm. But she picked up and said to wait 10 minutes, she will get the water pump going. It’s not because there isn’t enough water, she had made sure before we arrived that there’s plenty of water in the tanks. But the water pump probably just needed to be restarted. After about 30 minutes, still no water. So I decided to walk down in my towel to one of the tents to shower. Not bringing a phone with me was a mistake, as it was pitch pitch black and I had to swing my arms around to make sure I didn’t walk into the bushes. As the bathrooms of the tents are outside of the tents, it wasn’t a disturbance to anyone that I used it.
