Northern Thailand - Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Northern Thailand - page 914

Chiang Dao Nest
( 0 6017 1985; mains 300-500B; 6am-10pm) Wicha, the owner and chef, received her
culinary training in the UK and creates a menu that reflects the seasons.

INTERNATIONAL $$$

Getting There & Around

Buses to Chiang Dao (40B, 1½ hours, six daily) leave from Chiang Mai's Chang Pheuak
Bus Terminal. The buses arrive and depart from Chiang Dao's bus station from where
so ̆ rngta ̆ aou drivers charge 150B to deliver passengers to guesthouses on the cave road.
Buses also travel to Fang (60B).
Some guesthouses rent mountain bikes for 100B a day.

TOP OF CHAPTER

Fang & Tha Ton

053
For most people Fang is just a road marker on the way to Tha Ton, the launching point for
river trips to Chiang Rai. If you do hang around this large, bustling town, there are some
quiet backstreets lined with little shops in wooden buildings and the Shan/Burmese-style
Wat Jong Paen (near the New Wiang Kaew Hotel), which has an impressive stacked-roof
wi ́ ·hă hn . Along the main street in Fang there are banks offering currency exchange and
ATMs.
The petite settlement of Tha Ton is plonked on the banks of a pretty bend of Mae Nam
Kok, which is lined by a few riverside restaurants and the boat launch for river trips to
Chiang Rai. There is a tourist police office ( 1155) near the bridge on the boat-dock side.

Sights & Activities

Wat Tha Ton
( 0 5345 9309; www.wat-thaton.org ) In Tha Ton, this temple sprawls up the side of a wooded
hill. There are nine different levels and each level affords stunning views of the mountain-
ous valley towards Myanmar, the plains of Tha Ton and the winding river.

BUDDHIST TEMPLE

Hill-tribe Trekking

ADVENTURE SPORTS