28 December 2014
Doi Inthanon National Park is located about 1.5 hours away by car from the city of Chiangmai, Thailand. For a tourist, the best way to visit the park is to engage a local guide and local driver. For our trip, we selected a private day tour with Lanna Kingdom which provided us with a guide, driver and car.
Our day started with our guide Natty and driver picking us from our hotel at 8.30 AM. We were soon heading southwest towards the Doi Inthanon. Doi means mountain in Thai language and Doi Inthanon is the highest mountain in Thailand.
Shortly after entering the park, we picked up our local hill tribe guide on the way to the start of the hiking trail (which was located several kilometers further uphill). Our guide was dressed in an red outfit, typical of his Karen tribe. There are many hill tribes in Northern Thailand, each with their own language, culture and traditional dress. These hill tribes originated from China and Burma and migrated across to Thailand. They are not considered as Thai citizens and are more or less confined to the protected mountain areas.
Trekking within Doi Inthanon National Park can only be done when led by a local hill-tribe guide, that’s the rule according to a sign at the start of the trail.
Our guide told us it would be about 3 km to his village. He provided us with a long slim pole each. Functional and appropriate hiking poles for the “eco-tourism” we were doing. No need for the fancy stuff.
December is a good time to visit Doi Inthanon as there is less chance of rain and temperature is nice and cool. So, no muddy trails and no sweat. The forest was quiet except for the sounds of birds singing but it was difficult to spot any birds through the thick foliage above.
We soon came to a clearing inside the forest where flowers were being cultivated. Our guide told us the villagers now grow flowers, instead of poppy plants (opium). Opium used to be worth its weight in gold but the Thai King Bhumibol had Royal Projects to rid the area of opium plantations and provided incentives to get the tribes to grow alternative crops instead. Now these tribes grow coffee, rice and flowers instead of opium.
White Chrysanthemums grown in this forest clearing. Flowers to replace Opium - part of the Royal Project.
Sounds of waterfall could soon be heard through the jungle and it got louder as we approached it.
There was a series of 3 waterfalls along this stretch. Our guide led us down along a steep path by the waterfall.
There was a part of the stream where we would be able to swim if we chose to. The water was not too cold but we don’t fancy a swim on this day.
The next stretch of the trail to the last waterfall required us to go down a makeshift wooden ladder. For those looking for some “adventure”, this would be it.
A shaky bamboo bridge at the foot of the last waterfall was a good photo stop.
The next stage of the trek involves walking along a footpath with nice views of the terrace paddy fields below us. The Karen hill tribe are the only group to have built terraces to grow wet-rice in this region. Water for the rice terraces came from the waterfall we just seen.
We came to the first or highest row of the rice terraces. The outlet of the light blue water pipe could be seen here. Unfortunately the rice had just been harvested. Only the stalks remained.
Rice is harvested by hand on these terraces. The rice are separated from the stalks by simply threshing them against wooden planks. They are de-husked using mortars, again manually.
We then continued down the trail and took closer looks at the water buffaloes. Our guide told me that nowadays the farmers don’t use these local buffaloes for ploughing anymore. They are using Japanese buffaloes.
“Huh? Buffaloes from Japan???”
“Japanese buffaloes” as in Japanese farm tractors. Ha ha.
He was telling me a joke.
These local buffaloes are bred for meat and will be sold for about 30,000 baht each. Little wooden bells are hung on their necks so the owners can locate them in the fields.
The farmers here worked on the field almost the whole day during the planting season. This hut is where they rest, nap and take their meals.
Leaving the terrace rice fields, we continued our trek through a forested path towards the village where our guide lives. He pointed out interesting insects and trees along the way.
He showed us a tree that produces the cinnamon bark and also a tree whose bark produces ingredients used in the famous Tiger Balm ointment.
The guide said “The bark has stripes that looks like a tiger skin.”
I am not sure if he was telling a joke again.
More gorgeous views of the rice terraces and also flower plantings were seen as we approached the Karen hill tribe village.
Our guide showed us coffee shrubs that were planted as part of the Royal Project as we approached his village. The coffee shrubs were planted under the indigenous tall trees as they are shade loving plants. The coffee fruits are green when young and harvested when they turned red. The coffee beans are actually seeds of the coffee fruit. The beans are roasted at the village before being ground into coffee powder.
After viewing the flowers and coffee plantations, we went down a 45% gradient footpath that was pretty slippery. Fortunately, we were pre warned and no one slipped.
We were soon at the little village where our guide lives. His village has a population of 380 people. His forefathers settled here about 200 years ago, from Burma, and he is the fourth generation. He was telling me about their customs and dressings. I only understood and remembered a few things he said.
“Girls before marriage are dressed in white. Once engaged, they wore clothing of another colour.
Once formally married, they wore clothing of another colour.
Wedding ceremony takes 2 days. First day the guy would come to stay with the girl’s family. On the second day both would return to the guy’s home…for good.”
There was even a small church in the village.
We were invited to their village coffee shop (Mae Klang Luang Coffee) and met other tour groups there. They came by car, not by trekking 3 km through Doi Inthanon. Nevertheless, all were fascinated by the tasty mountain coffee that were served and the nice environment in the village cafe. The only thing that spoiled the setting was the sound of the motor of coffee roasting machine that was in operation somewhere in the village.
The experience of sipping freshly brewed hot mountain coffee in a nice cool, breezy cafe, surrounded by greenery and fresh mountain air after a 1.5 hour, 3 km trek was simply wonderful.
The best thing about visiting a hill-tribe village with a guide is the opportunity to see how they lived. Being on a private tour, we were not constrained by time. After the other tour groups left, we were free to walk around the village and see the pigs and chickens that lived beneath the villagers’ huts and chat with our guide who was happy to share information about his village.
For folks that grew up in the city, spending a few moments to experience the sights, smells and sounds of the rural village was sort of eye opening and enriching.
A chance to see the pigs and little playful piglets wrestling; listen to the cock crowing and looking at the overall living environment of the village.
The adult pigs were tethered on a rope, else they would go eat up all the crops. Or bite the silly tourist who came too close. The piglets were allowed to roam and play. The piglets above were only 5 days old. Typically 5 to 10 piglets per litter, according to our guide. I counted 9 in this litter.
While we were exploring the village, our driver went to fetch the car we left at the start of the trail. He probably hitched a ride on the only road up or take a songtaew (Chiang Mai's bus and taxi service rolled into one).
After thanking and saying goodbye to our hill-tribe guide, we left in our car for our next stop…lunch!
