CHIANG MAI – CHIANG DAO - LAMPANG – LAMPHUN – CHIANG MAI 23rd December 2020 – 3rd January 2021 PART 5 LAMPANG - (VIA LAMPHUN) - CHIANG MAI Time to reluctantly leave Lampang, a great place and accommodation for a long weekend. It has a really nice atmosphere about it and is easy to get to via public transport with flights & trains from Bangkok. Due to the outbreak of Covid in Samut Sakhon I had brought all of my belongings with me, with the idea that if it looked like Bangkok would go into lock down, I could return from there. Fortunately, the progress of the situation allowed me to continue my trip. Lampang has many interesting styles of temple and I look forward to returning there in the future to check out more. We took the shorter route back to Chiang Mai with a stop off at Wat Si Rongmuang, a Burmese Temple, along the way. We also passed through a small town called Lamphun where we stopped briefly at a pretty café called “The Temple” (due to its proximity to a very impressive temple complex across the road) Here we had excellent homemade cakes Yum! Yum! For the last 24 kms of our journey we took the very scenic Old Lamphun Road (route 106) rather than Route 11. I would say this is a must travel route as it includes a lovely 15 km stretch lined on either side with Giant Yang Na trees wrapped in orange material to show they are protected. I so liked the look of the temple in Lamphun that I decided I would return the next day on my own while my friend worked.