As a destination for a weekend or extended break from Bangkok, Chiang Mai is hard to beat. Despite the fact that the city has experienced far too much uncontrolled development in years and suffers from bad pollution, I still have a deep affection for Chiang Mai. In fact I lived there for about six years, so know it extremely well.

With a dirt bike at my disposal for the weekend I took a blast up to Doi Suthep, a 1600 metre peak that overlooks Chiang Mai. It is also home to the famous temple, Wat Pra That Doi Suthep. The 15 kilometre journey is a winding rollercoaster ride, superb on a motorcycle.

The temple is incredibly popular with Thai visitors to the city who go to pay respect at what is generally regarded as one of the country’s most sacred religious sites. Once you reach the car park and market at the site, there’re 306 steps to tackle in order get to the actually temple. It’s definitely worth the climb but try to go as early as possible to avoid the crowds.

At the temple, it is tradition to walk around the golden chedi three times before lighting incense and a candle, and offering a lotus flower to an image of Buddha.

There are plenty of nice details to pick up on through the lens.

Getting there:

Chiang Mai lies 800 kilometres north of Bangkok and just over an hour away by air. Thai Airways and Air Asia fly direct whereas Bangkok Airways fly via Sukhothai.

The overnight train from Bangkok’s Hua Lampong station to Chiang Mai makes for an interesting and considerably cheaper travel option. The air conditioned carriages are comfortable and the train also features a restaurant car. Of the two trains that travel the Chiang Mai route the Nakornping Express is recommended. Be sure to book in advance and ask for a bottom bunk. They are wider and more comfortable that the upper bunks.

I was in Chiang Mai at the weekend on a photo assignment and took a ride to Bor Sang, about 10 kilometres outside the city. The town is renowned for making umbrellas from bamboo and saa paper. On Saturday and Sunday the annual umbrella festival was taking place. This involves lots of typically Thai fun, music, dance and parades.

A bevy of young beauties from the local school were performing a dance routine on Sunday afternoon and I was made to promise that I would post a few pictures on the website.

There were also demonstrations of the art of umbrella making and painting.

There are dozens of workshops in Bor Sang producing umbrellas for the local and international tourist market.

It was a good opportunity to capture some visually striking images for a book I am working on about Thailand.