"Enjoying the San Kamphaeng H ..." a Chiang Mai Travel Page by DarkRay

One of the things in which Chiang Mai is famous for is its hot spring and really what is there not to like about soaking in a warm pool of water with therapeutic properties?

During my visit to Chiang Mai, I hired a tuk tuk to take us to the San Kamphaeng district, in which there are 2 notable hot spring areas, the government managed San Kamphaeng Hot Springs and the privately managed Roong Aroon Hot Springs.

Under the advise of my tuk tuk driver, we went to San Kamphaeng Hot Springs and it was a great place to spent a couple of hours. Admission fee was 30 baht, and its facilities were well-maintained.

In my case, I paid my tuk tuk driver 400 baht (about US$10) for a return trip, which was supposed to include an hour of waiting time at the hot spring. In the end, I actually made him wait for about 100 minutes outside the hot spring, because well, I had spent too much time taking photos, soaking in the tub, boiling well-done eggs (what fun!), and of course, eating the eggs. So, I did tip him an additional 40 baht.

My driver refueled the LPG of his tuk tuk just before we set off for the main leg and we simply could not resist this photo opportunity.... :-P

Another photo opportunity which I could not resist presented itself. ;-)

As you can see from the photo, the main garden was immaculately landscaped.

There were altogether 2 of this fake geyser in the hot spring. I know they were actually just mechanical pumps because my very adventurous buddy simply touched the water and said that it was cold. The water around it on the ground was steaming hot though.

One of the most obvious would be to soak in the pool. The rates are as follow:

- 15 Baht / 30 minutes for a private bowl (like a large urn)
- 30 Baht / 30 minutes for a private tub (like a bath tub)
- 200 Baht / hour for a group tub (like a huge jucuzzi which can fit about 10 people).

My buddy and I took the group tub so that we can yak and the very hot water (80 ~ 90C) is mixed with cold water so that we do not cooked ourselves in it. The water is high in sulphur content, which is why the water is especially good for those with skin problems. Just remember to not go for a date immediately after a soak, unless your date has a strange fetish for smells of rotten eggs. ;-)

The other things to do is to buy the chicken eggs (5 for 20 baht) or quail eggs (a lot for 20 baht) from the ticketing office and then cook them in the hot spring.

I am not sure if this is a property of eggs which had been cooked in the hot springs, but the whites of the eggs were somewhat more translucent looking than the "normal" one.

Regardless, when the eggs were properly cooked (8 minutes for well done), they were delicious! :-P~~