North of Chiang Mai

Northern Thailand is a lush, green, wild area peppered with modern cities. Fine tuning the desired urbanity to wilderness ratio is thus a breeze.
The Golden Triangle provides some of the most bizarre views in Thailand together with an illusion of adventure. A Burmese market where hill tribes’ women bring fresh fruits for the sellers to eat and hordes of Thai people search for bargains on a foreign land is nearby skeletal, skinny Laotian cows, which are begging for handouts at a coffee shop placed within a straw hut and both places can be visited in a single, delightful day.

Mae Hong Son is a point of pure charm, where the Burmese and Thai cultures blend around a magical little pond at the town’s center. The Burmese, tin-roofed pagodas are worth the whole trip, but the area has more than that to offer. Several Hill Tribes – far less visited than those around Chiang Mai – inhabit the area and even a Kuomintang village welcomes visitors.

Pai is nowadays usually referred to as ”sticky pie,” due to its tendency to tempt casual visitors into long, unplanned stays. Its secrets are open for all to see: a small village in a green valley surrounded by gentle hills, a good variety of Thai and Western restaurants and some of the best courses of Thai massage in the country create an irresistible blend.

Visiting the Hill Tribes in northern Thailand creates one of those eternal problems for travelers; on one side they need the income generated by our visits, on the other, visiting them means accepting the deep discrimination against them. There are no definitive answers, but I prefer the Human side: they desperately need the help. There are many tribes scattered along the northwest of Thailand; generally, the biggest the distance from Chiang Mai is, the less visitors the tribe gets. I visited the tribes on the very far northwest, which is accessible with a day trip with a rented car from Chiang Mai (a three days tour including a jeep, food, guesthouses and a guide cost around per person).

Quick Tips:

The mild climate of the city allows visiting Chiang Mai at all times; even the monsoon season should not stop a visit since the strong monsoon rains are limited to an hour or so per day and offer thus the perfect excuse for visiting a top-quality restaurant or coffee-shop until the rain stops. However, if staying in the east for a long period of time, it is sensible to schedule the visit to northern Thailand for the hot and dry season just before the monsoons. Then, this area is a bit cooler than the rest of the steaming country.
If traveling by bus, it is recommended to do that during the day, so that the beautiful way among the green north of Thailand would be fully enjoyed. The main destinations are served with many buses along the day and night, thus choosing the right one for you is a breeze. The cheap private buses offered by several guesthouses to Bangkok and other main destinations are better avoided due to safety concerns. In any case they are usually old and not match to the modern, air-con, first-class buses leaving from the terminals.
Pai is better visited in the way to Mae Hong Son and the Hill Tribes; combining the three visits in one, well planned trip is an efficient and delightful way to see the far north.
Chiang Mai’s center hosts a plethora of guesthouses and hotels; it is worth dedicating a few hours to a careful survey until the perfect place is found. There are choices for all tastes here and patience is the key for finding your place. However, the Tha Phae Gate area is the recommended spot to begin the search, due to its central location, the amount of travel agencies and other tourist’s services in its area and the charming setup of the mote and restored walls. These travel agencies are a good place for renting a car with a guide.

Best Way To Get Around:

The major means of public transport in Chiang Mai town is little open trucks which take passengers in two rows of seats places in their back. Locally they are known as son-tao, literally meaning “two rows,” a name that makes reference to the seats arrangement in the vehicles backside. The regular fare is ten baht, but the drivers tend to ask for more from tourists; negotiate the price before boarding, and if the driver is too greedy, wait to the next one. Some of them make long distance trips, including to Pai.
Tuk-tuks and motos are handy, but they tend to overprice tourists and may attempt to take the passenger to visit their uncle the tailor. If in a hurry, regular taxis are safer and not more expensive. Motorized vehicles can be easily rented at the several rent companies in downtown.
Chiang Mai’s international airport is connected to the main cities and islands as well as to cities like Xian and Kunming in China. From there, taxis and minibuses services reach downtown. First class hotels provide free transport, hence if planning to stay in such a hotel it is worthwhile to make an early booking.
A train connects Chiang Mai with Huanglamphu Station in Bangkok, but it is less safe and fast than a first class air-con bus.
The city has two main terminals of buses. Chang Phuak Bus Station near the Chang Phuak Gate, serves mainly destinations within the province, while the Arcade Bus Terminal (pronounced Akaed) on Kaeo Nawarat Road, serves the rest of the country. The buses to the destinations described in this journal leave from the Arcade Terminal, and it is recommended to arrive at least an hour before the departure to get the good places (some buses have marked seats). The nearest 7 Eleven is on the main avenue; it is recommended to get enough snacks to make the trip pleasant, in some routes the stops are scarce.
Private taxis to the destinations described here are worth consideration if you plan a long stay in them. A taxi to Pai would cost B2000 (around sixty dollars) one way, while renting a car for a whole three days trip would cost around a hundred dollars; hence, for stays of around a week, a taxi may be convenient.

In the far Thai Northwest, Mae Hong Son is the steepest green spot in the country. It offers inexpensive treks, a charming centre with a magically beautiful combination of a pond and two Burmese tin-roofed pagodas, traditional Thai wooden houses, a relaxing atmosphere and a fascinating ethnic mix. Mae Hong Son is easily reached from the Arcade Bus Terminal in Chiang Mai, from where daily buses leave early in the morning and arrive at the afternoon.

The town has an enchanting centre, built around the beautiful Jong Kham pond, which some claim that it was constructed as an elephants’ bathing pool. At its southern shore there are two enchanting Burmese pagodas, Wat Chong Klang and Wat Chong Kham; the multi-tiered roofs and spires of their viharns are decorated with tin ornaments in the Burmese fashion. Two blocks to the north is the Morning Market which serves as the transactions centre of the whole area, every day arrive there people from all the Hill-Tribes settlements in the area, fact that creates the opportunity of travelling with them to their villages as well as meeting them in-situ with their fascinating merchandise. The tiny settlement can be fully observed from the top of the Doi Kong Mu Mountain on the western side of the town; on its summit is the Wat Phra That Doi Kong Mu, with an unusual marble statue of Buddha.

A tour from the town to the Kuomintang village of Mae Aw, on the northern border with Myanmar, passes through Karen, Lisu and other Hill-Tribes villages and is not to be missed. If you are ready to skip the expensive tours from Chiang Mai and the trekking packages sold in the town itself to the Hill-Tribes, then you can experience those places at your own pace by using the local transport serving the market. Everyday, between 8:00 to 8:30am a yellow truck leaves from the market doing a mini-loop among the villages up to Mae Aw and back. It is possible to perform a day trip around all the villages, to get down at a village and wait there till the truck stops there again in the way back, or simply to stay to sleep in the villages for a day or two.

The town is a bit colder at night than the rest of Thailand, thus it is highly recommended to bring some warm clothes. Speaking with the locals it is highly rewarded here since they have fascinating families’ stories; look around for Burmese influences and people, soon enough you’ll learn to distinguish the round, soft, pleasant faces of the Shan people, who migrated from the state of the same name in Myanmar. They are usually eager to tell about themselves, their language and culture as well as of the Thai ones. If you befriend them, then some secrets of the local food may be revealed to you in the process.

Few places have such a potential to stir our imagination: dense jungles, wide, low-flowing rivers, soft light through green branches opium smugglers and Burmese Pagodas. Reality is different, the jungle gave way to an opium museum and boats cross the Mekong River to a tourists’ market in Laos.

The best way to reach the Golden Triangle from Chiang Mai is with one of the direct buses leaving often during the day from the Arcade Bus Terminal to the town of Mae Sai or with the help of a rented vehicle. Beginning early would allow to make the whole circuit and to include in the trip the towns of Mae Sai, Tachilek, Ban Sop Ruak, the Don Sao market and Chiang Saen.

The towns of Mae Sai and Tachilek are the Thai-Burmese interface in the area; there it is possible to renew the Thai visa, join the Thais shopping in the Burmese Market and get an awesome view of the area from the Scorpion Temple.

Ban Sop Ruak is the closest point to the triple border; from there it is possible to take a boat tour along the Mekong and reach the Don Sao Market in Laos. For the first timers in Laos, the market is an impressive experience taking the visitor back in time to a place of basic huts, undersized farm animals and hand made souvenirs. It is not possible to continue from Don Sao further within Laos, since the market is on an island and there are no roads in the nearby mainland. The only open option is from Chiang Khon, the first town south from Chiang Saen, trucks doing the fifty-three kilometres way cost thirty baht and leave from 07:30 from the post office in Chiang Saen. Across Chiang Khon is the town of Huay Xai.

The Opium Museum is in Ban Sop Ruak and provides an intriguing look into that dark side of the area’s past. Chiang Saen played a key roll as a fort during the endless wars between the Thais and the Burmese. Nowadays the ruins are the main attraction, with a wonderful and almost unique circular gate. From the new port it is possible to navigate all the way north to China through the Mekong River.

Trucks from Mae Sai to Chiang Saen leave from the Top Charoen Optical shop near the Seven Eleven at the main road; they cost thirty baht whether you go down at Ban Sop Ruak or Chiang Saen. From Chiang Saen to Mae Sai or Ban Sop Ruak you can catch them in their way back at Chiang Saen‘s northern exit. Ban Sop Ruak is only eleven kilometers north of Chiang Saen; the way is suitable for a delightful walk along the river, but small trucks do the way for B10.

If the day ends too quickly, the best place to stay over in the area is Chiang Rai, which is easily accessible from all the towns in the area.

Visiting the Hill Tribes in northern Thailand creates one of those eternal problems for travelers; on one side they need the income generated by our visits, on the other, visiting them means accepting the deep discrimination against them. There are no definitive answers, but I prefer the Human side: they desperately need the help.

There are many tribes scattered along the northwest of Thailand; generally, the biggest the distance from Chiang Mai is, the less visitors the tribe gets. I visited the tribes on the very far northwest, which are accessible with a day trip with a rented car from Chiang Mai (a three days tour including a jeep, food, guesthouses and a guide cost around $100 per person).

Huay Sua Thao

Huay Sua Thao is southwest of Mae Hong Son, was founded in 1988 by refugees who crossed the border from Myanmar and is the only hill tribe's village with an entry fee (250B). The main bulk of the village consists of regular persons, but beyond a small current, there are two rows of houses climbing a hill. The lower row hosts the "long neck" people that are called so since their women put a copper spiral, which gets bigger with time, around their neck. In fact, they do not have long necks; they have low shoulders, as these are being constantly pressed down by the spiral. The upper row hosts the "long ear" people; their women use heavy earrings. They sell souvenirs and postcards with their own pictures.

Mae Aw

Much north from there, in a small valley completely surrounded by hills, is Mae Aw, a Chinese village of former Kuomintang people. At the centre of the town there is a beautiful lake, with water-buffalos enjoying its deep mud. Low, simple houses climb the hills around and a church stands by the village’s entrance. Their main businesses are green tea and tourism. At the tea houses it is possible to taste the tea for free and buy a nice packet of Oolong; they serve it Chinese style with a smaller cup inverted inside a bigger one, while the tea is trapped between them.

Ruam Thai

Close to the Pang Tong King's Palace, is this mixed Karen and Shan from Myanmar and Thai people village; on its one street live thirty families. There is no electricity, no phones and no running water; the water is brought with pumps from the nearby river, but some houses have electric lamps powered by batteries connected to solar panels. In the first house, there is a big garden with coffee trees, and it is possible to buy it fresh from the tree (a cup for 20B and 50 grams for 30B).

Ban Huay Ma Keau Som

Down of Ruam Thai, is the Tomato Village (Ma Keau = tomato in Thai). H'mong people live at its centre, while a other ethnic groups live in the outskirts. There is an unusual monastery there, which looks like a dormitory in an open Thai pavilion.

Pai is usually referred to as "sticky pie," due to its tendency to tempt casual visitors into long, unplanned stays. Its secrets are open for all to see: a small village in a green valley surrounded by gentle hills, a good variety of Thai and Western restaurants, hot springs and some of the best courses of Thai massage in the country create an irresistible blend. However, the same things have attracted developers who are rapidly transforming Pai into "more of the same;" it is not hard to find more tourists than locals in the town streets. Except for the monsoon season, Pai is dry and hot, with temperatures slightly cooler than the rest of Thailand – yet another reason to spend there a few days.

Getting to Pai from Chiang Mai is easy; direct buses leave from the Arcade terminal between 07:00 AM and 04:00 PM, and cost B72. However, some of the buses to Mae Hong Son pass through Pai as well, so it is worth checking out since they are less packed. First class buses (the Golden Dragon line) are sporadic. Trucks and taxis are available as well.

Many guesthouses crowd the valley, with many of them favoring the bamboo hut construction style. Finding a place to sleep is not a problem and thus reserving rooms is not necessary.

This small town hosts an incredible number of tourists, which sometimes outnumber the locals on the streets. It is a popular site to start treks from, but since the town sits on the flat banks of the River Pai, 650m above the sea level and is surrounded by 1500m mountains nothing is gained by relocating here from Chiang Mai. The local majority of Burmese Shan people are surrounded by Karen, Akha, Hmong and Lisu villages living high in the hills; visiting them from town is easy.

Tha Pai Hot Springs are eight kilometers south of Pai, where cold river water and hot springs water meet in several pools surrounded by unspoiled nature. Sadly, there is an entrance fee of B400 for foreigners, while Thais pay B20; the money doesn’t even go for local development, since the site is owned by the Thai Forestry Department in Bangkok. Luckily, nearby private pools charge a set fee between B40 to B100 per person, regardless its nationality.

There are two remarkable markets in town. The weekly Wednesday Market brings crowds of local villagers and is a good opportunity to meet the different cultures living together in the area and their handicrafts. The other one is the daily market, on the sidewalk along the bank (being Pai a small place, these types of addresses are the most descriptive), which is the best place to taste Thai Northern food. However, the tourists’ influx has created many places offering excellent versions of Western foods. Amido's Pizza Garden offers a good pizza and decent pies, which will supply the acute shortage of wheat products for anyone overstaying in the East.