Month by monthThe year

What is flowering, what is flooded, what is burning and what is being carried through the streets.

Doi Mae U-Kho, November

Time it right and you get four things at once

Clean air, the sunflowers out, the waterfalls still running and the lanterns going up.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Cool, dry, clear Sea of mist at dawn, cold mornings on the ridges, dry tarmac on every descent.
The hills burn Late February to late April. The viewpoints go white and the air is at its worst.
Poy Sang Long The Shan ordination festival. Boys in gold, carried, feet never touching the ground.
Songkran 13 to 15 April. You will be soaked, repeatedly, by strangers with buckets.
It clears The smoke goes, the first rain comes, and Pai drops from 29.8 to 10.0 µg/m³.
The green season The cleanest air of the year, waterfalls running, rooms cheap, roads empty.
Khao Phansa The rains retreat. Candles at the temples, and the province at its quietest.
Terraces green Pa Bong Piang and the Karen terraces at their greenest, above Mae Chaem.
Akha Swing Festival Late August — but east of here. Worth a trip; not this trip.
Terraces gold The rice turns before the harvest.
Bua Tong Doi Mae U-Kho above Khun Yuam turns yellow for a few weeks and then does not.
Loi Krathong and Yi Peng Floats on every river, lanterns in the north, on the twelfth full moon.
Mist season opens Pang Ung and Huai Nam Dang start working at six in the morning.

the reason to pick that monthgood, and onhappening, plan around it

And the air, the same twelve months

Jan10.9

Feb15.0

Mar26.1

Apr29.8

May10.0

Jun3.5

Jul3.0

Aug3.5

Sep4.6

Oct6.9

Nov8.1

Dec9.9

Pai, mean PM2.5 µg/m³, four years measured.

Everything with a date

Burning season

ช่วงเผา

Roughly late February to late April, agricultural and forest burning fills the valleys of upper northern Thailand and adjacent Myanmar with smoke. It…

Khao Phansa and Ok Phansa

เข้าพรรษา และออกพรรษา

Vassa, the rains retreat. It opens and closes with festivals, and it runs across exactly the months this circuit is quietest.

Loy Krathong. Yee Peng. Siamese Lantern Festival. Full moon of the 12th month in the traditional Thai lunar calendar. Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Loi Krathong and Yi Peng

ลอยกระทง และยี่เป็ง

The full moon of the twelfth lunar month, usually November. The river festival, and the northern lantern festival that shares its dates.

Poy Sang Long

ปอยส่างลอง

The Shan ordination festival, held in Mae Hong Son and across the province, most commonly in late March and April. Boys are dressed as princes for…

Songkran

สงกรานต์

The hottest days of the year, marked by pouring water. On a motorcycle this is a fact you plan around rather than a festival you attend.

The Akha Swing Festival

เทศกาลโล้ชิงช้าของชาวอาข่า

Yehkuja, the most important festival of the Akha year, held around a tall four-posted village swing. Worth timing a trip for — a different trip.

The Bua Tong bloom

ทุ่งบัวตอง

Tithonia diversifolia — Mexican sunflower, บัวตอง — flowers across Doi Mae U-Kho in November. It is the one thing on this circuit with a hard date.

The cool season

ฤดูหนาว

Dry, clear, cold at altitude before dawn, and the busiest and most expensive months on the circuit.

The hot season

หน้าร้อน

March to May. The low ground bakes, the high ground is bearable, and the difference between them is two thousand vertical feet and about eight…

Rice paddies and recently cleared forest land in Amphoe Mae Chaem, along road 1263 between the town of Khun Yuam (Mae Hong Son province) and the town of Mae Chaem (Chiang Mai province), on the west fl

The rains

หน้าฝน

June to October. Afternoon rain most days rather than all-day rain, waterfalls running, rooms cheap, and PM2.5 at a tenth of its March figure.