Here's an excellent thing to do with the kids, or family members young (at heart) enough to be your kids, as it may be: take the train to Lampang, and back. A lot of it seems stuck in time; even Lampang seemed stuck in time, as we hit it at Chinese New Year so it was remarkably quiet, as we took one of the horse drawn carriages around town.

This is also one of the most scenic stretches of rail in Thailand (the other being the Kanchanaburi line), especially in between Lamphun and Lampamg where you go through Khun Tan National Park, and cross through the famous tunnel which finally unlocked Chiang Mai from the rest of Thailand for regular travel back in 1907.

You truly get the sense that nothing much has changed.

The same applied to the feel of Lampang itself. Let me indulge in some 'then and now' type stuff, below the Lampang Railway station in the past, and then a picture I took from one of those horse carts yesterday.

I highly recommend the coffee shop (Coffee Blue) on the corner on the right. Lovely people, lovely coffee and smoothies.

Thai People: No Sign Shall Be Left Un-photographed, Since 1955:

But to be honest the main attraction is the train trip itself. You go through some excellent forest and mountains, with great views. (Best on the left side of the train when coming from Chiang Mai) A somewhat shaky video (not mine) is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=QVtBn8IMRd0#t=103s

And just about anything on the Thai rail network has this beautiful old feel to it; lots of steel and wood and mechanical stuff. Lovely machinery and manual/wire operated signs.

^ Just look at that ancient stuff! ( CRT monitor and dot matrix printer! )

So then you get to Lampang, where you can ride through town in a horse carriage and drink beer. Those are Lampang's two attractions. Oh and there are some temples around, but ours back home in Texas Chiang Mai are bigger.

Trip Details:

There are three sane departures to do this as a day trip, I edited the below out of the full SRT time table. (You don't find all trains on the SRT English site, or some English schedules)

Out of the above, the 8:45 departure is a good one, as it is an air-conditioned second class train, so you get good seats and less noise; overall it wears you out less than third class. It costs 50 baht for the trip to Lampang.

Then for the return, there is a third class diesel railcar at 12:41, but it is pretty much always late, giving you more time in Lampang. It left 2pm yesterday.

The other one is at 18:11 and is again a second class one; so perhaps a bit more punctual, and less noise and dust. Could be a bit late though, it'll be dark most of the trip so I would still recommend the "12:41". (Or bus, or let someone drive over by car and pick you up for the return.) The advantage of going back by car is that you can also easily stop at the Elephant Hospital & Conservations Center on the way to Chiang Mai.

By the way, the Third Class ordinary trains are completely free. They still issue (and check!) tickets even through they state '0 baht'. That's for Thai people by the way, yet another BLATANT EXAMPLE OF DUAL PR..... .. oh wait, the Farang price is 23 baht. BUT IT'S not the amount, IT'S THE PRINCIP.. .

Edited January 23, 201214 yr by WinnieTheKhwai

Thanks for sharing.

Hope to go next year to Lampang for the Ceramic Festival in the first friday in December 2013

Thanks! Yes, some very nice and affordable ceramic stuff being made in Lampang, both decorative and practical like plates and cups. Many of the factories also do discount sales (not sure if they do that during the festival or at other times..)