Chiang Mai on Three Wheels

09/02/2025

Great to see the Three Wheels of Chiang Mai in action during this wonderful parade!

11/02/2024

08/04/2023

Tha Chalom is a historic community on the Tha Chin River, about 55km southwest of Bangkok. Tourists who travel by train from Bangkok to Maeklong to visit the famous train market pass through this community. You have to take the ferry from Mahachai to Tha Chalom to catch the train from Ban Laem Railway Station to the Maeklong Railway Market.
I recommend everyone to spend some time in Tha Chalom. The village has a very interesting visitor center with excellent information about the history of this Chinese settlement.
The community also has preserved the tradition of the samlor. It is a perfect example of how tourism can help keep the samlors on the road.
The Maeklong railway market was inundated by tourists and rather disappointing. I will certainly go back to Tha Chalom and spend more time there.

31/12/2022

Join us on a trip in 2023!

07/10/2022

https://www.chiangmai-alacarte.com/chiang-mai-tours/chiang-mai-evening-tour-by-samlor/

Price per person in THB 2 pax 3 pax 4 pax 5 pax 6 pax 7 pax 8 pax 1,500 1,300 1,200 1,150 1,100 1,050 1,000 The Chiang Mai Evening Temple and Food Tour by samlor tour is a lovely way to explore the quiet backstreets of Chiang Mai in the early evening. The traffic is light and the temperature is very...

07/10/2022

We have revised the itinerary of our Samlor evening tour. We will now start at Wat Phra Singh at 1800 and end the tour at the Night Bazar at around 2100. We will visit Wat Phra Singh, Wat Chedi Luang, the Chiang Mai Gate, and Warorot Markets. Enjoy the quiet back streets of Chiang Mai in the early evening.
Please note that we don’t operate this tour on a Sunday due to the Walking Street in the Old City.

23/09/2022

As far as I know, the samlor was introduced to Chiang Mai in the 1930s. In the picture, we see on the right the type of samlor that is still in use, with the passenger sitting behind the driver. We also a see a samlor with a sidecar. This type is called the samlor "theep phuang khang" (สามล้อถีปพวงข้าง). I have never seen it in Chiang Mai. I found an old one recently on display at the Jinnaluck Sa Paper place in Mae Sai district.

I suppose they took the samlors to Sankamphaeng on that day. Pendleton took a picture of the prince and a man called Chakrtong traveling in samlors on the old tree-lined Sankamphaeng road. The old pictures are from the photo collection of Robert Larimore Pendleton.

18/01/2021

05/12/2020

Yesterday I made a tour by samlor in Lamphun, something I wanted to do for a long time. Lamphun is the perfect place for a samlor tour because there is not much traffic. There are about 30 samlors still on the streets of Lamphun. Most of them are parked at the hospital but I found five of them at the Nong Dok market, the ‘Kad Luang of Lamphun’.
There I met driver Annej. He is 69 years old and has been riding his samlor since he was 20. He told me that there were at least 300 samlors in Lamphun when he started almost 50 years ago. He took me on a ride along the old moat to Wat Hariphunchai and back to the market. We had a great time. If you visit Lamphun, please make a trip by samlor. You will enjoy it and support the drivers. They deserve support. Contact us for a customized tour.

19/01/2020

Samlors are still on the streets of Nonthaburi. I have heard that their license will not be renewed. That really is a pity.

09/01/2020

This is a short, beautiful film of Bangkok in 1953. Focus is on the streetcar and temples but there is plenty of great footage of samlors in the first few minutes.

This is a 1953, black and white movie presented by Circle Film. It is called, Bangkok - Golden Temple Paradise. Produced and written by Sam Waagenaar. Narrat...

22/10/2019

Samlors (cyclos) in Hanoi are having lots of business from tourists. Let's hope we can achieve that in the future in Chiang Mai as well.

24/09/2019

Images of our Samlor food tour for travel agents from Australia! Thanks Wide Eyed Tours!

05/09/2019

Start of the samlor tour of USAC students last weekend

23/06/2019

Great initiative!

18/06/2019

Honoring Lung Nan Narin. Chiang Mai’s oldest samlor driver passed away on June 14. Lung Nan Narin was 100 years and 5 months old. He rode the samlor since World War Two. I met him three years ago at the monthly samlor meeting at Wat Upakud. I made a couple of pictures of him. Today I went to Wat Don Chai in Pa Daed to pay respect. What an amazing man. A real legend.

05/06/2019

Fantastic new samlors in the folklore museum in Pattani