Remote trek in northern Thailand offers taste of a slower, simpler life
No Wi-fi, showers out of a saucepan: a three-day trek with homestays in the peaceful forests and hills of little visited region makes a welcome change from Thailand's overly commercialised hiking tours
There’s movement on the river bank, a crab making a dash for its hole. “They taste very good”, says Rang-sri Prasopturm, hiking guide and member of the Red Lahu, as we wade through the water. “I eat all the animals in the forest: crabs, cicadas, spiders, worms… And beer and whisky,” he jokes.
The occasional glass of whisky aside, these items aren’t on the menu for us, thankfully, during a new hill-tribes trek in northern Thailand, not far from the border with Myanmar (Burma).
The three-day expedition is a chance to see how local people live in the remote hills and forests of this little visited region – a rural way of life that’s close to nature. Homestays in small farming villages along the route are basic; we sleep on mattresses on the floors of wooden houses. There’s no Wi-fi, a welcome break from the modern world. Showers involve pouring cold water over yourself with a saucepan. The new trek and homestays have been created, in part, to help bring money and development to these rural communities.
Before starting the trek I spent time in Chiang Mai, the “capital of the north”, staying at 137 Pillars House, a quiet boutique hotel whose creature comforts are a world apart from the simple life I’ll experience in the hills. Chiang Mai is a far mellower city than Bangkok. There are busy, frenetic streets filled with traffic, but there are also peaceful golden temples where monks in saffron robes stroll around and the air’s filled with incense. I spend a day exploring the numerous temples inside the Old Town, checking out golden statues of Buddha and carvings of serpents and dragons.
I team up with my trekking group and we drive out of Chiang Mai, the road twisting and winding (we were warned of “2,000 bends”) as we climb higher into lush, green hills. Most so-called hill-tribe treks start around two hours outside Chiang Mai, but these easy-to-access areas have grown popular over the last 20-30 years, with some trails reported to be overrun with travellers and overly commercialised, with local hawkers putting the hard sell on hikers to buy handmade crafts and jewellery. We travelled further afield, driving four-and-a-half hours northwest from Chiang Mai to start our trek at the roadside Pa Mai Deang (Red Wood Forest) trailhead in Mae Hong Son province.
