Chiang Mai (Northern Thailand) Tourist Guide


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UP THE MOUNTAIN TO THUNG LUANG

by Choo

Tripping’s good any time, but up in the North in the winter, the weather makes it special - cool, cold even: clear, sunny skies: tremendous views...

Well, now, this trip was done at the end of the rainy season, but it’ll be perfect right now, so I really recommend it - whether going to Thung Luang, as we did, or anywhere else round Chiang Mai city. So many places!

Now I’m a Chiang Mai native - a kon muang - but even I haven’t been everywhere, so it’s nice to get a chance to go somewhere new in office time, and on the office expense sheet. So I was looking forward to getting up into the hills, seeing the forest and flowers, visiting the hill people, enjoying country life again. Because I’m a country girl at heart, for all my assumption of big city sophistication these days.

I and my friends did the trip in a car - that’s ideal, but motorcycles are also great for those who like them and the road’s good the whole way. We took the Hang Dong road south of the city and at Sanpatong turned right at the Maewang Junction. Our sense of priorities being right, we stopped off in Maewang market for breakfast. And remembering that an army marches on its stomach, we didn’t stint ourselves - sticky rice, kaeng hang le - sweet pork curry - yum! -ssaa makue -eggplant spicy salad, and boiled egg with fish sauce...I tell you, out on the road in northern Thailand, you don’t need to go hungry. And we didn’t, either.

On then up the mountain towards our destination, but stopping at some of the tourist attractions on the way. The first is the Mae Wang Elephant camp, and you might well feel it worthwhile to try a ride one of these large and loveable pachyderms. The second is bamboo rafting on the Maewang River, but I wouldn’t recommend that to non-swimmers. The water’s cold, wet, and stops you breathing. And the rocks aren’t always friendly either. And a little bit off the road to the left is the Wat Tham Doi Meditation Cave, which might be worth a look into - dark, mysterious, otherworldly.

And as we went on the scenery grew more and more lovely - so green and fresh and brushed by the breezes. If you’re there at this time, also, you’ll see the lovely Sakura pinking out delicately everywhere.

We got to Thung Luang - ‘the Big Field’ - Project late morning, and getting out of the car were embraced by the cold, fresh air, enlivened by the scent of the countryside: it’s like going to the beach, you feel new all over. And calm, peaceful: that’s nature’s magic for you.

Now you don’t need to worry about a place to stay: there are plenty. We dumped our gear in one of the guesthouses, but if you’re into camping, there are tents too, very much cheaper. But rather cool too, this time of year. Then, settled in - what do you know - it rained! And not a slight shower, a downpour! Quite out of season. How...how very...Well, we made the best of it. Put our heads down on the pillows, took a short trip into the Land of Nod. And when we woke - evening already. The rain gone to Spain and the air like champagne. A cold, quiet night, with the stars out and twinkling.

Sunrise in a strange country setting - well, it’s the same old sun, but how differently it seems to look on you. Newly minted. And getting the air into a more friendly range of temperature too. We breakfasted, looked round the agricultural project area. It’s a research station, so there are lots of things growing there - flowers, fruit trees. The avocado trees surprised me with their size. I was reminded of the big shaggy jackfruit tree in my own back yard. But plums too, and apples, and flowers like chrysanthemums, antheriums, and roses among them. There’s a Karen village nearby - the Karen are hill people who used to be animists but mostly have become Christians, with little churches and so on. This being Sunday, the one here was full, with the sound of hymn singing bursting out of it - very exotic for us Buddhists. Colourful people, the Karen. They do their own weaving - each sub-tribe with a differing pattern and style to distinguish them. Long white dresses seem de rigueur for the girls here.

Gladiolus Garden

Lunch back at the project was delicious - and what with the coolness we were more than ready for it. Simple, local products and all the better for that - stir-fried cabbage, fried fish, red chicken curry all straight from nature and packed with goodness. As was the fresh passion fruit juice we quaffed down afterwards. Though beware! I hear that some migraine sufferers get laid low with all that vitamin C. Then - our stomachs full and our brains on automatic - we tottered into the guesthouse and had a little snooze. Now, don’t look so disapproving. It was our holiday, and we work so hard the rest of the time...

Three in the afternoon already. How quickly time passes! We had another stroll, down to the lake, and the avocado grove, where the gardener told us that this royal project has brought a degree of prosperity to the area, no need now to grow the pernicious opium poppy - so beautiful in flower, but so destructive in its employment.

Evening drawing in, so we went back to the guesthouse, packed our bags and hit the road back to the city, hugely refreshed, ready for more prodigies of labour in bringing out this magazine...And talking already of another trip: plenty of royal projects in the most scenic parts of the North, and all with reasonably cheap and comfortable accommodation and provisions. Look forward to more news from the tripping front. And get some in yourself. There’s nothing quite like it.

For more detail contact Royal Project Office T.Suthep, A.Muang, Chiang Mai Tel.053 - 810 765 -8, 278 204.