Chiang Mai’s Ping River cruise gets rainy delight instead of sunset

Chasing the sunset down the Ping River is clouded with folly, but a fresh rain shower provides unexpected joy

Cruising the Ping River is fine when the weather’s good, and possibly even better when it’s not

A storm is looming over Chiang Mai in northern Thailand, threatening to shatter every preconception of a sunset cruise through the country’s second-biggest city.

It is a late afternoon near the end of the wet season and the Ping River is mostly empty. Once a busy traffic route for logs headed downstream to Bangkok, today’s traffic is largely confined to the roads, leaving the slow-flowing waterway quiet and serene and an ideal location, under other circumstances, for a pink-hued sunset.

But thick clouds have been hovering all day, and in the past hour they have increasingly darkened, casting dramatic shades of grey across the sky and the sweep of mountains that skirt this charmingly traditional city. From the riverbank, where our roofed but open-sided long boat is waiting outside a small Buddhist temple, a shaft of rain shoots down behind an apartment block. Retreating to our luxury riverside hotel, Anantara Chiang Mai Resort, becomes an increasingly appealing option. But our two-man crew is waiting, along with canapes and French champagne, and so we head off — not away from the storm but towards it.

With the flower-draped bow of our small boat pointed upstream, our passage is slow and smooth as the first few drops appear, a minimal interruption that ceases briefly as we pass beneath the first of a handful of bridges where locals gather to mark national holidays and festivals. The sprinkling continues as we amble beside patches of palm trees, past a cluster of benches occupied by couples and students not yet bothered by the change in weather.

When the sky inevitably opens and the natural light dims, the rain does not ruin our cruise but lends it an unexpectedly magical air as we pass small hotels and even smaller riverside cafes, their lanterns and strings of fairy lights illuminating our passage. The Ping River is mostly ours as the rain falls and we continue upstream, past a sprawling former royal residence and a rowing centre, until we are on the outskirts of the city, and riverside development becomes more sparse.

The plots of palm trees are interspersed occasionally by a couple of grand-looking residences, and two old barges, once used to transport rice, that now lie idle and rusting on muddy banks. By the time we reach a rickety bamboo platform on a stretch of water where most other signs of civilisation are obscured by the dense foliage, the rain has stopped. We alight to inspect a local garden where two resident black pigs grunt loudly in welcome.

On the return journey, the world appears cleansed. The air is clear, the humidity gone and the clouds lighter. Street lights now glow as dusk falls and then, as if the storm has been just a passing shower, the clouds finally break up to reveal an indigo sky.

As night falls we disembark where we began, at the local temple, to the soothing chants of the resident monks at their evening prayers. This was not the ending we had expected two hours ago. Same, same, but different, as the locals would say – and possibly even better.

Fiona Harari was a guest of Anantara and Qantas.

CHECKLIST

Cruises on the Ping River can easily be arranged through local operators and are offered to guests of Anantara Chiang Mai Resort. More: anantara.com.

Qantas has a series of Bangkok deals for departures Mondays-Fridays until November 15 and from January 16-June 22. From $675 economy class return ex Perth; $717 ex-Melbourne; $768 ex-Sydney; $769 ex-Brisbane; $849 ex-Adelaide. More: qantas.com.