Lamphun
Tourism

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This impression is particularly striking if instead of Highway 11 you take Highway 106, the older and more scenic road, lined by tall yang trees and with a whole host of interesting temples, ancient and modern, strung out along it like a string of pearls.

The people of Lamphun and the surrounding area make their living from farming and fruit-growing and from weaving the silks for which, along with its traditional silverwork, the town is famous.

The village of Pa Sang, about 10 km (6 mi.) from Lamphun, is well known as a center for hand-woven cotton.

By car: south on Highway 11 or, much the prettier way, on 106 from Chiang Mai (about 26 km (16 mi.)). Taxi from Chiang Mai.

By bus: several times a day from Chang Puak bus station in Chiang Mai.

By rail: on the Bangkok-Chiang Mai line (729 km (453 mi.) from Bangkok).

Originally the center of the Haripunchai kingdom, the city that was to become Lamphun retained its importance in the Lan Na kingdom, founded in the late 13th c. by King Mengrai and allied to the Mon empire. Modern times have done little to alter the venerable nature of the present-day city. Its people are also deemed to be the guardians of the north Thai dialect, virtually a language in its own right with many elements of the Mon tongue that was banned for a time under King Rama V but is now taught again in some schools.

According to legend this town of Haripunchai was first built for a relic of Buddha in Wat Phra That but soon took the form of a fortified city, founded and ruled over by the Mon princess Chama Devi (c. 650-700), brought here from Lopburi. As a principality Haripunchai lasted for about 600 years and only lost its independence with its conquest by King Mengrai (1281), when it was burnt to the ground. The first capital of the new Lan Na kingdom was at Kum Kam (now Saraphi), between Lamphun and Chiang Mai. (Important finds made in Saraphi around 1980 are currently being worked on for public access in the near future.)

Mengrai soon abandoned the new city, however, since it was constantly being flooded out by the Menam Ping, and the story tells us that the three kings of the three adjoining kingdoms - Mengrai, Ramkhamhaeng and Nareng Muang - chose the site for their new joint capital after climbing a mountain together to select it from the summit.

In 1369 King Kuna summoned the scholar monk Sumana here from Sukhothai to spread the teachings of Theravada Buddhism. These generally ran counter to those of Mahayana Buddhism, whose followers included the Mon peoples. Sumana also brought with him the relic which had so miraculously divided itself in two and King Kuna built Lamphun's Wat Phra Yun to house it - the relic stayed here until taken to Chiang Mai and Wat Suan Dok. In 1556 the Burmese captured the city as well as Chiang Mai, and both cities remained under foreign rule until 1775, when they were liberated by King Taksin. In 1873 they became part of the kingdom of Siam, under King Rama V, along with the whole of the former Lan Na kingdom. The city of Haripunchai became Lamphun, and today, like neighboring Chiang Mai, it is the capital city of a province with a population of around 400,000.

There are about 50 temples in and around Lamphun. The most important ones are described below, but its greatest glory is Wat Phra That Haripunchai. It is also the most visited of all the temples, but there are others whose beautiful architecture makes them equally worth seeing.