Huay Tueng Tao Lake – Chiang Mai

In the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures. For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed.

Khalil Gibran

Huay Teung Thao Lake

If you live in Chiang Mai, or are planning to stay for an extended period, there are times when you will want to get away from the traffic and the hectic activity of the old city.  Luckily, it’s not very difficult to find very beautiful natural places to get away from it all.

One place I found to spend a quiet afternoon is about 20-30 minutes outside of the city and it’s called Huay Tueng Tao Lake or Huay Tueng Thao.

The weather was still pretty hot in Chiang Mai and I had wondered if there were any places nearby where I could go for a swim.  I grew up near the beach and after being land-locked for a few months with the sweltering heat, I was dying to find a watering hole to cool off in.  I knew about a few waterfalls but then I heard about a beautiful lake nearby.

I didn’t recall the name, so I called Maysa and asked her if she knew about it.  She offered to ride out to the lake with me, since her afternoon was free.  First, she brought me to a small lake just east of Chang Phuak Rd and north of the canal road.  I told her I didn’t think this was the lake I heard about.

Then she realized I was talking about Huay Tueng Tao, so, we left and drove further out on one of the larger outer ring highways.  We arrived at the last turn and stopped for a moment, she had received a phone call while we were riding and after returning the call, apologized to me and told she had to go back to the city.  🙁

I decided I would push on to at least check it out and maybe return another day.  It was a beautiful day and a little cloudy at times. There was a small entrance fee, maybe 30 baht at the most.

I rode my motorbike around the entire lake and just looked for good spots to take a few photos.  Many wooden or bamboo huts are lined up around the edge of the lake.  You can order food right there and some of the huts sat directly over the water so you could dip your feet in, and there were also areas to swim.

There are also hiking trails and ATV tours that you can take.  It was a weekday and I did not see many people at all.  I cruised around and stopped to take pics from different sides of the lake. Since, I was alone that day, I didn’t stick around to have something to eat. I explored around a little more and promised myself, I would definitely return, because it really was a beautiful, quiet and peaceful place.

I didn’t return to Huay Tueng Tao until I went to the Smile Party a little over a month later.

Maysa missed out on this afternoon at the lake, however she did make it up to me on a later date.

Maysa’s Raincheck at the Lake near Rama IX park and Tribal Museum.

A few weeks later, I met up with Maysa again to help her deliver some motorbikes to her clients and afterwards she suggested we get something to eat so I followed her on some backstreets out of the city center.  I was wondering what new and interesting place she was going to surprise me with this time.

Just as I was trying to figure out where we were, I recognized the entrance to the Tribal Museum by the Rama IX park.  We pulled up to a restaurant on the smaller lake that she took me to before, and she laughed at me as usual, when she saw the look of surprise on my face.

The food here was without saying… very good.  It’s always good anywhere here.  The only time you might be disappointed is if you ate something that wasn’t a Thai dish.

There are so many gems in Chiang Mai, I cannot wait to return to see my friends and enjoy more new and unique experiences.

Thanks again Maysa, for your love and hospitality.

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For more photos please check out my Gallery link above or click here.

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