Travel Forum / Destinations / Asia / April 2005

Hill tribe treks are so popular that it would be hard not to find a
good company. When I was there, most backpacker's places and motels can
organise these trips, and there were people going on them & coming back
almost everyday.

My best advice is to talk to your fellow traveller's who are already
there, and who have done the trip & get their opinion on it. That would
be the most reliable & up-to-date info you can get.

Good luck, it's great fun, with a bit of hardship.

I did a two-day trek while in Chiang Mai that was enjoyable. (A brief
trip report on my time in Northern Thailand can be found here:
http://www.globosapiens.net/travel-information/Chiang+Mai-904.html?page=2)
I arranged it ahead of time in Bangkok at the Songserm travel office
on Khaosan Road through Top North Tours along with my other excursions
up North and paid for the whole trip at once; the quoted price for the
overnight trek, plus 1 night's stay in Chiang Mai, plus roundtrip from
BKK to CM via the night train on a 2nd class sleeper was 3400 Baht. The
itinerary/summary of my experience was as follows, with the trekking
group comprised of 10 people plus one English/Thai-speaking guide and
one Thai/Karen-speaking guide: 1) Depart the hotel by truck and drive
1.5 hours Southwest of Chiang Mai to the Doi Inthanond National Park
with one stop midway at a market for snacks, water and any "hong nam"
nature calls; 2) Spend 1.5 hours riding on elephants, with two people
sharing a bench seat on the elephant's back and the Karen driver
sitting on the neck of the elephant behind the ears barking out
commands to the elephant in his native tongue, swatting the elephant
with a stick when the commands are ignored and singing Karen folk songs
to himself; 3) Drive a short distance to a fairly modern Karen village
off the paved road for a lunch of fried noodles and fruit; 4) Strap on
the day packs and hit the trail for a three-hour trek that takes you
first up through a hillside Arabica coffee field and then over the
ridge and down into fairly thick jungle comprised on bamboo, fern and
large leafy trees and a few small waterfalls/rapids which make good
stopping points for brief rest breaks, then trek up through some
terraced rice paddies via the stairstepped levies and then a good 30
minutes of moderately steep hills until you reach the White (Skor)
Karen hill tribe village where you will spend the night (wood and
thatched bamboo/leaf huts with no electricity and meals cooked over an
fire pit; 5) Rest your legs and have a beer bought from the refreshment
hut or walk through the village while awaiting a dinner of Karen-style
fried chicken noodles and soup (kind of a cross between Thai and
Burmese), after which the main entertainment was drinking Thai beer and
rice wine by candlelight while one of the villagers sang and played
Karen folk songs on a makeshift harp, stopping at one point to pick up
a huge spider that was walking across the table to everyone's shock and
amazement; 6) Sleep on a bamboo mat in the cook hut next to a snoring
Karen tribesman because you had too much rice wine and the guide was
concerned that you might wake the other trekker that had already
retired for the evening; 7) Awake to the smell of smoke and the faint
crackle of the cook fire as village dogs and chickens meander about
outside the hut and then walk around the village before sunrise as the
villages start their day; 8) Enjoy a breakfast of scrambled eggs and
instant coffee and then begin the second day's 3-hour trek (the 2-day
trekkers head back to the drop-off point, the 3-day trekkers continue
up in elevation to the next night's destination), passing through
another village (this time the Blue Karen hill tribe...as I recall) and
making an extended stop at a more substantial waterfall with a natural
pool large enough for swimming if desired; 9) return to the drop-off
point by a different path (the last 15 minutes of the journey by truck)
and enjoy a lunch of fried rice and fruit; 10) After lunch, drive a
short distance to the river for one hour of bamboo rafting, where your
raft falls apart after sideswiping a large rock and you take time to
re-lash the large bamboo logs with the cut strips of truck tire while
your raftmates give you dirty looks; 11) Return by truck to Chiang Mai
for a hot shower, dinner and a soft bed.  All in all it was well worth
the effort; your experiences may vary.  Enjoy.

USC