How to name a small canyon in Chiang Mai? Mmmh… Grand Canyon
Well this originally named place is part of the Hang Dong District in Chiang Mai, specifically in Nam Phrae, to be more accurate just click on the location here.
Due some neglected visitors the park was temporarily closed (actually we heard that someone died), still without certain of it being open, we took our changes and decided to go and explore, at the end of the day that’s why we are here, so we drove our nice and not so fast scooter and even when people say that the place is about an hour from the old city, we actually made it in no more than 25 mins, at the end the scooter wasn’t that slow 😜
You don’t really need a ‘tuk-tuk’ nor a ‘songthaew’ to get there, we think its more fun to drive there and rely on maps and directions, once you arrive, just park your bike/car, no charge at the parking lot.
This place is a natural body of crystal clear water, for some reason its divided into two mayor water parks, one more natural that the other, we decided to go for the natural one, don’t get me wrong, both look great and fun but the one with the panda is more for kids.
You can choose between relaxing swim, not intense swimming Topi no!, or daring jumps, hell yeah Topi! They actually have a rock climbing area where, in case you fall, the water will be your mattress, unfortunately this area was closed to the public, besides that, there is another big area where you can do paddle boarding and kayaking.
The view is simple great, surrounded by the green and light brown landscape, this is a perfect place to spend a hot day, right at the entrance they have a cool fountain with a particular offering: a lemon soda and I guess strawberry soda with some eggs to the multi-headed dragon, I promise to research and tell you the deity’s name because I’m not sure if it is Nāga.
A funny think that you will see around Thailand is the restroom signs, so far my favorite ones are here.
Hungry after swimming? No problem, they have a nice restaurant where they view is also great, we brought our own food, but it is not allowed to bring it inside the park, they actually check your bags, but you can leave them there and pick them up later, we actually went out of the park just to eat our delicious sandwiches, fruit and candies, where? Right outside they have a big bamboo bench with bamboo canopy, so just perfect and you can even listen to the magnificent DJ set of the Security guy.
We had a great day, the main events:
- We were the first persons swimming that day.
- The only ones swimming the whole canyon, all the way to the back part and around.
- We took a sun bath on the bamboo raft that Alex’s (blanquita) skin didn’t appreciate much later.
WeTopi jumped out of the cliff (Alex tried but they closed it right when she was trying, security reasons… bummer)- We had fun watching and cheering on people jumping into the water.
Well… Above everything, I keep this image in my mind as the best part of the day!
