Lamphun

Lamphun is one of Thailand’s seventy-six provinces, lies in upper northern Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Chiang Mai, Lampang, and Tak.Lamphun is in the Ping River valley. It is surrounded by mountain chains, with the Thanon Thong Chai Range in the west and the Khun Tan Range in the east of the province. It is some 670 kilometres from Bangkok and 26 kilometres from Chiang Mai. The total forest area is 2,588 km2 (999 sq mi) or 57.8 percent of provincial area.Lamphun is regarded as the smallest province of northern region of Thailand.

Lamphun is host to one of northern Thailand’s most important temples, Wat Phra That Hariphunchai, featured on the reverse of the one-satang coin. The phra that in the title indicates the presence of a Buddha relic, in this case one of his hairs, which was interred in the chedi in 897, which is probably the founding date of the wat.