I’ve always enjoyed mountain tops and mountain walks. The sense of exhilaration that comes from being “on top of the world”, the clear mountain air, the view of valleys below and distant hills, always thrills and inspires me. This visit to Chiang Mai, we went to the top of the tallest mountain in Thailand, Doi Inthanon, which is to the south of Chiang Mai.
It was about a 2 hour drive to the mountain, and we took the opportunity to chit-chat with our guide, Ata. He told us that he is of the Akha people (one of the hilltribes), near Chiang Rai. He was sent to the monastery when he was a child, and spent nine years there as a novice monk. Thereafter, he was given a scholarship to study in Bangkok for six years. He’s now back in Chiang Mai, working as a tourist guide to support his family. (He has three younger brothers to help put through school). Ata speaks 5 hilltribe languages, English and (obviously) Thai. Our driver, Ban, also speaks a little English but was busily focusing on the road.
As we drove along, we passed several fields, and villages, including several rows of plants covered by what looked like a plastic covering. Ata explained that a number of these were "Royal Projects", set up by the King of Thailand to help the hill tribes – by giving them access to new agricultural techniques, and introducing new crops. These included new fruits, such as strawberries and physalis berries, amongst others (I bought some berries at the hill tribe market on the way back to Chiang Mai). Quite clearly, the need to help the tribes people improve their lives is an important cause for Ata. He told us also about his friend who has set up a coffee business, roasting and preparing coffee for sale. Proceeds go to a foundation to help support the hill tribes.
Ata told us also that the King and Queen of Thailand typically come each year to Chiang Mai and spend some part of the "winter" months in their palace in the vicinity. The hilltribes in turn respect and revere the Royal Couple. We saw a few visiting the King’s and Queen’s stupas on the mountain to pay their respects on Songkran. We also met a park ranger during our trek, a Hmong man who was formerly from Yunan in China. He spoke Mandarin, though with a thick accent and apparently he is rusty from lack of use.
We were happy to be driven right to the top of the mountain, which was not particularly exciting beyond the shrine to King Chulalongkorn’s father-in-law, the 7th King of Chiang Mai (those were the days prior to the unification of Siam and King Chulalongkorn married a princess of Chiang Mai). But then, we took a walk on the mountain ridge – following the trail as it went up and down the various peaks.
Guided by a park ranger, we literally got to see two sides of the mountain. On one side, a lush cloud forest, with tall, majestic trees, ferns and flowers. Peaceful and intimate, but filled with the sound of birds and insects, of water falling.On the other side, the stark savannah grasses of the sub-Alpine meadows, but allowing us to see magnificent views across the whole range of the mountains and down to the valleys below. Each had their own special magic, but both offered very different experiences.
Our guide also pointed out a goral, a mountain goat which lived on the slopes of the mountain range. We could not see him at all and had to resort to taking photos of rocks, which, when we zoomed in to the photos later, revealed the elusive animal. Its brown coat with a black stripe indeed camouflaged it from our eyes. Photo is on my flickr page, if you want a look :-)
“The most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart”
- Panoramic view sign on top of the ridge.
After the walk, we visited the King’s and Queen’s stupa, on the ridge. From there, our guide showed us how far we had walked. We couldn’t believe it! It was indeed pretty far. From the picture below, we started off roughly near the hand on the left of the screen and stopped just before the little house on the right. Did we really do all that in a little more than 2 hours?
By this time, it was past 2pm and we were rather hungry. Lunch was at a small restaurant on the side of the road - obviously a tourist lunch spot as we saw many other buses there. It was one of those simple but tasty Thai meals, and we ate with relish.
As ever, check here for more photos!
