Chum Phae is not on most people’s minds when they are planning their Thailand itinerary.
“So, where you going next?” asked the host of our hostel in Phitsanulok. The look on his face when I replied, “Chum Phae,” said it all.
Don’t Visit Chum Phae
There is literally no reason to visit Chum Phae as there is nothing to do there. TripAdvisor has 2 entries in its ‘Things to do in Chum Phae’ page. One is an ancient burial ground which apparently is impossible to find. The other is a little more vague as one of its two reviews translates as “The whole hotel. Travel and symptoms in the same place. Including a car break point as well as points of sale.” Great.
But TripAdvisor is not the only way to find out about a place, right? After some research, I discovered that Chum Phae has a Facebook page which includes a ‘things to do’ section. I figured this would be more informative as it is written by locals. I clicked on the page to find a single picture of a tractor in a field. Oh, boy.
Location, Location, Location…
What Chum Phae does have in its favour is its location. It is situated on the highway 12 which is the long highway that runs all the way from Myawaddy to Khon Kaen, passing through Sukhothai, Phitsanulok and many national parks along the way. For us, this meant that we could break the journey from Phitsanulok to Khon Kaen down a little and relax in this nondescript town on the way.
How To Get To Chum Phae From Phitsanulok
We took the bus from Phitsanulok station (late as always) and settled in for the 4 hour journey. The bus was not air-conditioned and had no toilet so it was not the most comfortable. We made one toilet stop on the way and then stopped again so that some locals could try to sell us various unusual snacks. These stops meant that the journey took around 4 1/2 hours. We were glad we had decided to break it down as we were more than ready to get off that bus!
Where To Stay In Chum Phae
These are some of the best budget hostels in Chiang Rai, according to user reviews. These are affiliate links to the Agoda web site. I found Agoda to be much better than booking.com in Southeast Asia. I receive a small amount for any bookings made through these links at no extra cost to you.
Tummi House Boutique Hotel
From Chum Phae bus station, it was a 20 minute or so walk to our accommodation, ‘Tummi House Boutique Hotel’ (map). There didn’t appear to be much happening in the town. We checked in and made our way to our room.
Tummi House was a great place to stay. Each room had its own WiFi router so the internet was excellent. The rooms were spacious and clean and the beds were very comfortable. I would definitely recommend it if you are in Chum Phae.
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Click here to book a stay at Tummi House.
Tummi House Boutique Hotel
Our room: pretty nice!om was good. It was clean and everything worked. We had a fridge with water (which they replaced) and the bed was super comfy. I liked the Beatles pillows! The WiFi seemed to work well (although it became frustrating over the next 2 days) so we were satisfied overall.
Chum Phae Restaurants
Once we got settled into our room, we went out looking for food. We found a few options on the main road but nothing took our fancy. We headed back towards Chum Phae bus station where we had seen a market but it was all pretty much closed by the time we got there. Eventually, we ended up in a place called ‘Mr Max Food & Drinks’ (map). The menu was a curious mix of Thai and Italian but the prices were reasonable so we decided to give it a go. The waitress was very nice and enjoyed trying out her English with us. They didn’t seem to have anything vegetarian apart from a mushroom tom yum soup for Joanna. I had a pork steak, served with spaghetti and salad. Joanna wasn’t too keen on her food but mine was OK. We were tired and hungry and they served us food. Job done.
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- Mushroom Tom Yum
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- Pork Steak with Spaghetti
Chum Phae Coffee Shops
The next morning, we headed out for coffee. We had heard good reports about a place called ‘Dong’ but both times we tried to visit, they were closed (despite us visiting at their advertised opening time). Bad business!
Just across highway 12 was a place called ‘Rich Coffee’ (map). It didn’t look much from outside. It actually looked like a service station cafe. But on further inspection, it was actually a really nice small cafe. The woman who runs it obviously likes flowers and plants as she has them everywhere. She was very happy to see us and impressed us with her English language skills. The coffee was good and the service was excellent. Dong’s loss was our gain!
Breakfast In Chum Phae
We then headed towards the local market for breakfast but didn’t have any luck finding anywhere with a vegetarian option. This was proving more difficult the further we travelled east.
Sok Nam Sai Health Garden
We came across a small park and lake called ‘Sok Nam Sai Health Garden’ (map) so we had a wander around the lake. It was a pleasant, short stroll and at the end we came to one of those free outdoor gyms you see so often in Thailand. Some people were feeding the fish so we stopped and had a look. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many fish! There were carp and catfish and they covered the surface of the water, jostling to get food. It was quite a sight!
We headed back into the market. It was proving quite difficult to find vegetarian food here and the market showed us why. We had seen some crazy food in Thailand and none more than in the smaller towns. We were quite relieved to find a simple fruit stall!
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- Surely a bag of nuts would be better?
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- I don’t know what this is!
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- I like frogs’ butts and I cannot lie!
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- Not for me.
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- Fermented fish sauces. The smell was terrible.
Chum Phae Public Park
From the market, we walked over to the ‘Chum Phae Public Park’ (map). This is where they have a walking street on Saturday nights. Unfortunately, we were not there for this so what we found was a big, empty space. We did spot a trio of decrepit elephants and a massive owl though. There were doors to get inside the owl, but they were all locked so who knows what goes on in there.
Chum Phae Park Owl
Night Time Food In Chum Phae
In the evening, we found a bar with some live music that did food and even managed to find us an English menu! Again, there was very little for vegetarians so Joanna had to have Thai omelette with rice (which they charged her twice for) and I had a very tasty and quite spicy chicken green curry. I believe the English name for the bar, which was popular with workers from the local Makro, is ‘The Pop’. This is as exciting as the Chum Phae nightlife gets. Map.
Leaving Chum Phae
And that was it for Chum Phae. Our host from the previous hostel was right; there really isn’t much to do. But as a place to break down a long journey from Phitsanulok to Kohn Kaen, it was pleasant enough. Chum Phae has enough to offer to justify spending a day there and has a small amount of restaurants and bars to keep you happy in the evening. We were, however, looking forward to our next stop being a little bit livelier.
On to Khon Kaen…
