 When the rains return to northern
Thailand in mid-April, Chiang Mai residents of all ages flood the city’s
streets. Dressed in their best silk shirts and linen pantsuits, children pay respects to elders by pouring scented water (to
wash away bad luck) onto the hands of parents and grandparents. Water pistols
and buckets also enhance the good fortune—and incite shrieks from the children
during the frequent all-out water frenzies at the multiday Songkran festival.
The Mandarin Oriental Dhara Dhevi, located a few miles outside
of Chiang Mai’s city center, hosts its own Songkran celebration each spring.
During the procession, dancers and staff members wearing brightly colored skirts
perform movements to lively music while winding through the walled compound. The
60-acre resort is designed to resemble a self-contained village, or
chiang, that dates to the 14th century, when Chiang Mai was the capital of the
kingdom of Lanna ("land of a million rice fields"). Nearly 1,000 craftsmen,
working for more than four years, built the Mandarin Oriental’s carved-teak
structures, which replicate ancient palaces and traditional Thai homes.
 As in actual Thai villages, monks wrapped in golden saffron
robes often make their morning alms rounds in Bam Sam Lang, the resort’s arts
and crafts community. Guests can make their rounds of the sprawling Mandarin
Oriental property on bicycles, in trishaws, in chauffeured golf carts, or in
horse-drawn carriages. The resort’s accommodations—villas, suites, and
residences—are scattered throughout the grounds and include a compound within
the compound: The nearly 7,000-square-foot Royal Residence is a walled enclave
with six sleeping pavilions, a music pavilion, and a dining pavilion set around
a lotus pond and three swimming pools.
SETTING: A 10-minute drive from Chiang Mai’s city center, the 60-acre
compound is home to rice paddies, an arts and crafts village, lush gardens,
colonial-style mansions, and carved-teak buildings with pagoda roofs.  SLEEPING: Scattered throughout the grounds are 60 two-story villas (some
with private plunge pools or swimming pools), 58 colonial suites, and five
palatial residences, which come with butler service.
DINING: La Grand Lanna serves spicy pork curry and other northern Thai
specialties, while Farang Ses features à la carte and set French menus that may
include lobster bisque and roasted Bresse pigeon. DIVERSIONS: Tutorials on basket weaving and umbrella painting at the
resort’s arts and crafts village, Lanna music and dance performances in the
privacy of your villa, elephant rides to nearby hill-tribe villages, and river
rafting in the Mae Taeng River. RATES: $535–$8,885
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