Discover Lan Na

Traditional Lan Na Temple near Chiangmai	Lan Na *The land of a million rice fields* Once a dynamic and influential empire Lan Na proper, is today split between five countries - China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, & Vietnam Traditionally, Lan Na is regarded as a founding kingdom of modern Thailand
The temples of Thailand are famous throughout the world and are favourite destinations for tourists from any country, but only in Thai Lan Na do you find the most beautiful and unspoilt.
Many of the tours you can preview here will include visits to important and spectacular northern temples. You can observe how their beauty and traditional style has changed little over the many centuries since the founding of Thailand's original kingdom	Map of the Thai States around AD 1300
Lan Na - A Quick History
The earliest records of there being a Lan Na come from Sri Langkan Buddhist records. The Gotama Buddha is recorded as having walked through the region and interacted with the indigenous Lawa peoples during his lifetime.
A thousand years or so later, King Lawacangkarat took up residence on Doi Tung (a mountain in modern Chiang Rai province of Thailand) and founded the temple there. Later descendants moved his capital to the banks of the Sai River to a yet unfound location called Muang Ngoern Yang and it was from there that Lan Na expanded.
In the mid-thirteenth century, King Mengrai the Great was born at Ngoern Yang. His Lawa father ruled Lan Na, and his mother was the daughter of the King of Chiang Rung (Now Kentung in north east Myanmar / Burma), which was then part of the Chinese Xishuanbanna region, known in Thai as Sipsongpanna. Mengrai, more than any other expanded Lan Na into an empire.
King Mengrai was a great city builder, and many that he built in the last half of the 13th century can still be visited today. Some, like Chiang Rai, Fang, and Chiangmai are busy commercial and tourism centres. Others, like Chiang Saen and Wieng Kum Kam are ruins, but are being excavated and developed as archaeological parks.	Throughout his lifetime, King Mengrai expanded Lan Na, adding more territory through conquest and alliance. Neighbouring states on the above map soon became part of the Empire - Phayao, Nan, Lan Chang, and parts of Sukhothai fell to the Chiangmai throne. Through marriage and conquest, Lan Na expanded south west to the Burmese Martaban coast, and north west into the Shan States. Early marriage alliances brought most of Chinese Xishuanbanna (to the north) into the Empire, and blood-ties welcomed most of northern Laos and parts of extreme north west Vietnam. It was not until the Burmese conquests of AD 1556 that most of this territory was lost, some to be regained briefly in the AD 19th century with Siamese assistance from the newly established Bangkok capital of today's Chakri Dynasty .
Lan Na's golden period of growth and expansion ended in AD 1556-58 when the long defence against Burman expansion failed due to royal family infighting and over-spending on civil and religious grandiosity (Chiangmai's Wat Chedi Luang being one such project). Over two centuries of vasseldom followed and the empire was stripped of assets and population.
Following the Burmese sacking of Ayutthaya in the late AD 18th century, a new dynasty and determination emerged in the southern part of today's kingdom. King Taksin granted permission for King Kawila of Lampang to take rulership of the north and to evict the Burmese. Kawila did so in a long and population-sapping campaign. Having secured the borders, he set about rebuilding the cities, and in need of people and artisans, he mounted raids into neighbouring states to bring back what was needed. Like Chiangmai's founder, Kawila also royally "invited" many from further afield, and as each ethnic or trade group arrived he established villages that specialised in particular skills. Today we can see the modern evidence of this in the many handicraft villages throughout the north.		Ceramics & Incense Just 2 of Chiangmai's specialty crafts
Traditional Ethnic embroidery & silverware Chiangmai Night Bazaar	Both the Mengrai and Kawila dynasties left open invitations for people of neighbouring states to resettle in Lan Na. For the last century and a half, many ethnic minority groups of the Dai-Tai-Thai linguistic groups have migrated into Thailand's border areas, either following those invitations, or to escape war in their original lands. They have become a major tourist attraction with their traditional villages and lifestyles, colourful clothing and fabulous handicrafts - especially embroidery and silverware. Visitors will agree that a holiday here is not complete without visiting them.